In an industry which is operated by subcontractors, this simply isn't a reality. The lowest bidder has the greatest advantages. While service and reliability were once important considerations, cost has become the overriding factor in choosing who will survive.

 

Oh dear!
That's kinda like Comair's slogan..."Ready To Go!" Well, yeah...ready to go away!

 

Flying out of ATL has nothing to do with the performance. ASA has been in ATL for 30 years....they should know by now how long it takes to fly to
SAV.

 

True but ATL did get some unusual weather this year. Besides, this rumor was probably started by a Comair person.

 

Getting rid of ACA actually improved the UA operation. Reliability with the new carriers has been much better than when ACA was doing the flying. I am not buying that the passengers preferred a J-41 versus the RJ's now offered. I think the current mix is pretty good with the exception of ASA. Expressjet, Skywest, Republic and TSA seem to offer better service than in the past. Don't think I have ever been treated better than I have by the new UAX carriers when I have ridden on them, versus ACA and ARW. UA has fixed some of the issues at ORD, revamped the old ACA gates at IAD with good FIDS screens in the gates, at LAX we moved UAX to the 80 gates. It has been an evolving process.

I think letting ACA go was the best thing for UA the company. ACA was like the lazy guy that lives on unemployment and plays video games all day. It wasn't until the checks stopped coming that they realized they were in trouble. At any rate UA won the ACA war and has been financially and reliability better off without them. Too bad the employees of ACA bought into the big ideas of their management.

 

All regionals are sub-contractors. We're all at the mercy of the major we feed. No matter how low your cost or how good your service is, you will always be subject to replacement.

 

except the jumpseat war that was going on 3 years ago... where some of the UAX carriers were being told not to take mainline JSers??? Sounds like being treated pretty well IMO.
Speaking of LAX... What about the E120's? Should UAL get rid of skywest because they fly props?
So what your saying is UAL should pick the lowest bottoms feeders in the regional industry; saying they won the war with ACA because they cost more? I know many of the people you work with would totally disagree with that.

 

Mental midgets on both sides. I never had any issues with the express crews. The new carriers have been very accomodating

No they should get rid of the E120's. The weight restrictions on those are enormous. The problem with ACA was they were flying J-41's in markets that everyone else flew RJ's. Not sure that is the case with the E120's.

All the express carriers are willing to sell their souls for the next contract. I just hope my mainline carrier gets the best deal. In the case of ACA, UA was paying a premium for shotty service. With the new agreement they got better service at a lower price. I am sure when you are doing repairs around your trailer you forgo the best estimate for repairs and choose the most expensive but least favorably rated service provider.

Let me guess? All those people are ex-ACA employees. Why not allow the numbers to speak for themselves. UAX passenger satisfaction numbers are well above any level attained by ACA. Perhaps if you ACA folks had spent less time hating UAL and more time understanding where you stood in the food chain the times would have been so difficult for you. Sorry you chose bravado over reality. Maybe you are wiser now and wouldn't be as foolish if presented the same situation again.

L

 

This never actually took place, it was all negotiating (threats) to ensure jumpseat priority on UAX carriers. It got resolved, and to my knowledge no jumpseats were denied over this.

 

Some of us who worked at ACA were proud of the job we did for United customers.