ASA Rumor Mill
 

We all know how this goes, but given the times I thought it warranted me posting the following.

Rumor has it: 40 people will be laid off upstairs at A-tech. Two each from various departments and who knows where else.

Take it for what it's worth. Don't tell little Bobby or Cindy I said so. ;)

I hear Delta deliberately sabotaged our performance this year so that Skywest will be forced to sell ASA back at a discount so that we can be merged with Comair/Compass/Mesaba and then stapled to the bottom of the Delta seniority list, but only after Delta furloughs 2000 pilots so that we will become cheap replacements.

Seriously, true or not, why contribute to the rumor mill?

When it comes to the performance #'s there has been a lot of crap when it come to the gate agents putting in delay codes to try and push the delays on ASA. Not sure whats up with that but, geesh...........these people have no integrity. There have been several times that the gate or the ramp has failed to achieve their jobs so that the aircraft can depart at D0. This has been happening a lot lately, weather it be a Delta gate or some other regional gate (ASA has little to no gate agents or rampers esp. in ATL FYI). When I get to my destination the crew awaiting our delayed flight asks why did we request a delay in boarding or which crew member was sick, or the imfamous crew late completion of checklists. Never do they admit to their wrong doing and put in the right delay code which would put the delay on Delta, not ASA. I have seen lots of that lately and I assume that it has a bunch to do with the #'s we have been getting.

I have mentioned it to crews as well when they arrive late due to late departure and the delay was put on them as the crew. They explain they had nothing to do with it and put in the proper delay code which was somehow over ridden. They just shrug it off and don't really care any more if that is happening. This might turn into an issue down the road especially now that it is taking money from our perf. plus checks when we miss the goals by like .001%. That's like 3 flights for the month.

I keep hearing that the remaining 40 or so not protected under contract will be let go this fall and the lawyers are crafting up language to release more currently under contract.

From what I'm hearing the situation is dynamic. The Mesa ruling (they won their lawsuit against Delta) kind of threw a monkey wrench into the mix. I keep hearing that Delta still plans to dump Mesa, but now they need to buy out their contract. This cash infusion will keep them going through the fall. This means they probably won't go bankrupt this fall, and may not lose their UAL flying, as many suspected. I also keep hearing that there is another 2 for 1 deal coming our way, which I suspect is for the -900s Mesa is operating for Delta.

Nevertheless, I'm fairly sure that the remaining 60 unprotected pilots will be furloughed. There may also be some captain downgrades, if we don't pick up more flying. ExpressJet is finishing their 3 month UAL contract in Sep. and they may or may not get the flying after that. I've heard we're getting it, but everything in this industry is subject to change at a whim.

Someone mentioned Delta deliberately torpedoing ASA to make us a more attractive buyout, and the possibility of a merger/staple. From what I've heard coming out of ALPA and DALPA that's actually not as far fetched as it seems.

I want to point out that a lot of the doom & gloom coming out of SH is the company posturing for PBS negotiations. They want to paint a picture of the company being desperate and that if we don't give them PBS on their terms, bad things will happen. This is why I think they'll furlough the last 60, as a show, or in union jargon "taking them hostage". Then we'll agree to PBS and suddenly all of this flying (that I mentioned above) will come our way. Conversely, if we don't accept PBS, and some of the flying doesn't come our way (for reasons I mentioned above) they will say it's because we didn't go with PBS. I know this, because it's the same tired play book ASA has used for the last decade.

I guess the bottom line, is just hold on and watch. Big things are going to happen this fall, whether they're good or not. The pieces are starting to fall into place, and we'll have a good picture soon. Personally, I think the doom & gloom are B.S. and it will work out in our favor.

Mesa doesn't fly 900s for Delta, only ERJs.

Correct me if Im wrong, but Im pretty sure Mesa doesn't currently perform any DCI 900 flying. 5 a/c were given to us at Mesaba and you guys got the other 5 or 10, correct?

Also, what is this talk about a buyout or merger/staple with you guys? Are you talking about Skywest?

ASA didn't get any of the Mesa -900s. Not sure where they went but Mesa definitely lost those.

Also, I was joking about the buyout/staple.

As I sit in the crew room, I've heard in the last minute that we're getting another 2/1 swap, Comair is not going to exist this fall and that we're furloughing at least 200.

While I agree that I'll likely be furloughed this fall, it's still just a rumor.

Mesaba got 5 of the Mesa 900s and ASA got 10 of them in the 2 for 1 deal. Mesa no longer flies 900s for Delta, only ERJs.

The only -900s we can pick up are from Mesaba or Comair, since Pinnacle owns theirs and SkyWest ain't gonna let us have any of theirs.

Does Mesa's contract end in 2010 or 2011? It seems that if United is going to pull flying from Mesa in April '10 and if that sends them into bankruptcy then it would be smart for Delta to just wait it out and not buy out their contract.

Although I would be thrilled to pick up some United flying, it seems like quite a stretch of the imagination to think that ExpressJet's temporary summer gig will miraculously transform into permanent autumn flying for us--in 50 seaters, no less. Now, if we could find some extra 70 seaters then we might be in the running, but I don't see any spares lying around.

It would be nice to hear some good news for a change.