Yep, gotta shake you head a bit.... I just finished a 10 leg UAX pairing ..thats 700 available seats.... ( not knowing the non rev #s I know ) but we put butts in 659 seats... ( plus two ACM's on full legs ) ..... personally I dont think nearly as many people will stop flying ( well maybe in the very short term ) as we might think if the tickets were priced even just to break even.

 

The problem isn't one specific management team. A buddy of mine operates an online bookstore. He is constantly checking competitors' prices. Same titles will be priced one penny less than his, or vice versa. And that penny makes a difference.

Same with airline tickets. Many people buy online at sites that allow them to comparison shop prices. They will buy the cheapest connection. So United or American or US Airways is forced to keep the prices lower than the competition.

No doubt there are greater efficiencies to be had. But the way prices are set kills the possibility of profit.

Southwest is one of the few that bucks this trend. But they have the best operation anyway.

 

SWA has the best operation in a number of ways...corporate philosophy, management/employee partnership, etc.

But their actual operations are not so much better, as different. Their techniques fit well in a certain market niche, and it's a pretty fat niche at that. They are also very aggressive about implementing their method, which gets back to having employees who mostly care (about bonuses if nothing else).

But there are some things that SWA can't do as well as hub-and-spoke. My folks live in a smallish town in the Northwest, and despite flying once or twice each month for decades, I'm pretty sure that they have never been on a SWA flight.

In order to serve smaller towns or international markets, SWA would have to make some fundamental changes...and I give them a lot of credit for not going there lightly, since it could screw up their core business.

 

This is probably a really stupid question, but I was one of the guys who was in an AE new hire and my class was cancelled due to this crap storm. Any ideas when they we'll start training classes again. Talked to a pilot there and he says optimistically...around 6 months. Is this realistic or should I just forget about AE.

 

Me likes that Cinnamon trail mix, I have one for breakfast, lunch and dinner

 

I'd be looking elsewhere and open to taking something else if you can find it. They'll have to call back and furloughees before they start training again...and for that matter they have to figure exactly what they are going to do. I'm still not sure anybody really knows what is truly going on. So you might want to consider taking something else. This job, while nice, isn't exactly worth the wait. Others will be just like it!

 

alright here's the latest and greatest that i've heard...optimistic food for thought (it's hard)....

eagle still claims they are short 250 FO's. With this reduction in flying will it even out???

eagle does not wanna furlough ppl...it is like throwing money out of the window. if each person costs 16k to train and they are gone for a few monthes they have to go back through a good portion of training again. this would lead me to believe that the cost of a furloughee in training and retraining can add up to 30k really quick.

granted there are about 230 pilots displaced bc of the saab. they will probably start training on the EMJ, CRJ in the fall and it will take some time to move them through. in that time it would seem that eagle could catch up with itself and possibly figure out that they might not necessarily have a staffing problem. this is a assuming tho that all 39 emb135s won't get parked. most of those probably will.

i dunno...just tryin to make myself feel better about this whole thing...

 

That's what folks were saying about AA in Nov 2001. Well, here we are seven years later...

The reality is that when airlines furlough, the retraining costs are such that it only makes sense if the furloughs are going to be out for at least 1-3 years. Look for another gig...if you don't find one you like, maybe you will still get recalled later this year.

 

correct me if i am wrong do you get furlough protection with less then a yr of service to the company? if you started training were you furloughed or just sent home? i dont know when eagle considers you an employee

 

Day 1. If you're in training, you have furlough protection. Probation excludes you from the grievance process but contractual protections in general still apply.