Usapa
 

ATLANTA (AP) -- US Airways' pilots union said Monday it is concerned a deal with Delta Air Lines to swap takeoff and landing slots could lead to higher fares and a reduction in service to smaller communities.


The US Airline Pilots Association said it sent a letter to the Justice Department seeking a full investigation on the impact of the proposed transaction between US Airways and Delta at New York's LaGuardia and Washington's Reagan National airports.
The dispute pits the US Airways pilots union against its counterpart at Delta, which supports the slot swap deal. The Delta pilots union encouraged members in a memo Nov. 6 to help in the effort to get government approval.
In August, US Airways said it had agreed to transfer 125 operating slot pairs to Delta at LaGuardia. In exchange, Delta agreed to transfer 42 operating slot pairs to US Airways at Reagan National.
Slots, especially at peak times of day and in busy corridors like the Northeast, are valuable to airlines.
A slot is an interval of time during which an airline can take off or land its aircraft at an airport. A pair refers to cities airlines fly between.
The same week as the Delta-US Airways deal was announced, it was disclosed that AirTran Airways planned to stop flying to and from Newark, N.J., effective Oct. 25 and would give its takeoff and landing slots there to Continental Airlines Inc. in exchange for Continental slots at LaGuardia and National airports.
Continental has a hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, which is used by many travelers heading to or from New York City.
US Airways' pilots union said it believes the Delta deal may raise antitrust implications.
"We are extremely concerned about the market concentration that this transaction would create if it is allowed to be consummated," union President Mike Cleary said in a statement. "Those conditions raise the prospect of much higher fares and, if history repeats itself, a reduction in service to smaller communities."
A spokesman for Delta Air Lines Inc., based in Atlanta, said nearly 10,000 of Delta's customers and employees have voiced their support for the proposed transaction directly to the Transportation and Justice departments. US Airways Group Inc. spokeswoman Michelle Mohr said her airline, based in Tempe, Ariz., believes the transaction will pass government review.
It's not clear when government regulators will reach a decision.
The transaction would add 11 gates to Delta's LaGuardia operations. The world's biggest airline operator has said the deal would allow it to create a domestic hub at LaGuardia, even as Delta maintains a strong presence at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. At the Washington airport, Delta said previously it expected to cut its daily departures from 89 to 55.
If its deal is approved, Delta has projected it would operate nearly 30 percent of the total available seat miles from the three main airports serving New York City. Available seat miles measure an airline's capacity for carrying passengers. It equals the number of seats available multiplied by miles flown.
US Airways, meanwhile, has said it would expand its service at the Washington airport and reduce its Express flights at LaGuardia, while mainline and Shuttle flight levels would not be affected.
The airline's regional carrier Piedmont has been expected to be hit hard by US Airways' plans to discontinue service to 26 destinations served by US Airways Express. The airline has said that would result in the elimination of roughly 300 Piedmont positions at LaGuardia when the reduced flight schedule is implemented in early 2010.
The US Airways pilots union is concerned the deal will place a burden on many of US Airways' New York-based employees whose jobs will be eliminated.
But Delta's pilots union said the agreement will allow more than 2 million additional passengers to fly at New York's preferred domestic airport every year without increasing congestion, moving Delta closer to its goal of becoming the top airline in New York. The union urged members to contact lawmakers in Washington to express their support for the slot swaps.

What a shock, east idiots.

east pilots sticking up for piedmont pilots?

Heaven forbid pax start paying higher fares. Matter of fact, let's all take some more pay cuts to prevent this.

Yes, If US Airways goes out of business it will cause a concentration of service by some carriers and loss of service to smaller communities. We need to legislate that US Airways cannot fail.....

Actually, this doesn't surprise me. The reasons they give (higher fares, etc.) are complete BS. What they're really fighting are the base closures in NYC and BOS. And to be honest, I can't really blame them.

If the slot swap had gone the other way and Delta announced it was closing NYC as a base, I'd bet our MEC would be fighting this too.

Bottom line is that the base closings are going to affect a bunch of Easties' QOL and their union is sticking up for them. They can't use the QOL argument, so they're using higher fares, reduced service, etc. to try to stop the process.

Why not? Weren't the Us Airways guys the first to not only take pay cuts but to also give up their pensions?
These guys are amazing!:rolleyes:

Where do we find such men?

Yall remember these are the same geniuses that walked out on a industry standard contract offer back in '07 and are now working under the worst contract any airline pilot has ever seen voluntarily.

I'm glad we can find some objectivity in this discussion. Letting one's emotions and personal biases dictate opinions is where well informed stances are born. Thanks

I find it amusing that Easties are wearing "UNION PILOT" badge backers now.

How about facts, do they count? Why don't you pontificate away the situation as you see it thru your pure unbiased eyes? Toodles.

...not worth it.
 

This discussion is probably worth only about one opening and closing sentence (combined), considering the subject is USAPA, and considering the fact that everyone here fully understands (as stated above) that the real issue has nothing to do with market concentration in DC, and everything to do with pilot positions in New York, which in turn implies that there will be little point in anyone outside USAPA (and amateur economists) needlessly wasting bandwidth arguing market concentration issues, but all kinds of interest from the West side in reminding the East what boobs they are, and vice-versa, as this thread evolves, as everything involving USAPA, into abject failure and raw hatred.

Not just everyone here. The Justice Dept. knows it too.

USAPA concerned about higher air fares? Its just laughable.

US Airways is circling the drain. Sad to watch.
The real tragedy is the America West guys who got caught in the vortex.

Very sad indeed. Guys who had career expectations of being a captain on a 757 flying from Phoenix to Honolulu for the rest of their lives now got integrated in such a way that a senior cactus pilot (probably 45 years old) will be sitting left seat on a 330, overnighting in Rome while their FO is a 55 year old USair guy. Haha, the indecency! I'm sorry to be so glib, but do you really feel their lot was a tragedy?

I don't have a dog in the fight so theoretically and hopefully, I'm less biased. That being said, I don't really favor one side over the other, but the way I see it: USair was restructuring in bankruptcy and AmericaWest was staring down the gun of a likely bankruptcy pre-merger so its not like anybody magnanimously saved anybody else. The airlines saw the possibility of a symbiotic partnership, hoping their synergy would be enough to overcome the hard times. For the record I understand that a lot is at stake for both sides so this was bound to be a contentious issue, but as a west guy, deep down don't you guys feel like you got a pretty sweet deal with the proposed list intergration?

Guys who had career expectations of being a captain on a 757 flying from Phoenix to Honolulu for the rest of their lives now got integrated in such a way that a senior cactus pilot (probably 45 years old) will be sitting left seat on a 330, overnighting in Rome while their FO is a 55 year old USair guy. Haha, the indecency! I'm sorry to be so glib, but do you really feel their lot was a tragedy?


I don't have a dog in the fight so theoretically and hopefully, I'm less biased.


When will we see this happening?
Your ability to see the future is astounding.

Pardon me siiiirr... is this your ...deugg?

Thanks :) and its no secret that it would've happened if the east guys weren't fighting the list integration so hard.

The Nicalou agreement awarded the top 517 slots on a combined list to the East.
Assuming senior pilots want to fly international on the A 330 its safe to assume it will be East pilots flying these trips.

You seem to be somewhat ignorant of what is actually taking place in the integration.

Not to mention the fact that I would bet that Rome is one of the, if not the most senior trips they have.

Half a sentence wasted.

My question to you is how many of those top 517 pilots will retire in the 5 years following 2012? If their list is anything like CAL, AA, UAL or the old NWA (DAL bought out many of their older pilots), there will be a quite large number of baby boomers retiring very soon (often upwards of 20% of the respective seniority lists), at which point all those senior slots will be vacated and filled in by a larger proportion of West guys.

I'm sure I don't have all the facts you do, but I'm also pretty sure that I'm more objective about what I do know based solely on my apathy to the outcome. Both sides of this merger are so emotionally charged that I don't think you could make both sides happy simultaneously, just on principle!

I absolutely have no dog in this fight. The only conclusions I can draw come from impartial courts and arbitrators (at least they are supposed to be) who seem to continually side with the West guys.

At the risk of wasting more bandwidth (hey, that's what it's there for) I would like to weigh in as well.

The problem with this USAPA release is not that they are trying to hold on to a base. That is understandable, if misguided. The problem is that USAPA has no credibility with half the operation and, most importantly, they have zero credibility with management. When union president Cleary came out to PHX last month for a meeting with the (few) members out here he tried to get a face to face with Doug Parker and Parker refused to meet with him. It is no secret that management will not talk with USAPA unless it is to argue a grievance or through the diciplinary process. No negotiation progress, nothing accomplished in any way, shape or form that would benefit either pilot group.

LAS is being closed as a base. We are not happy about it because it is the result of the draw down of our LAS operation (you're welcome, Allegient and SWA) but we understand the reason. Our costs have gone up 50% since the merger and places we could make money as AWA we can't as US Airways. Our biggest beef with LAS closing is that the company is violating our contract by not having a displacement bid for the base closure. The union is not going to work very hard on a West contract violation, they are going to go protest a management decision that actually makes sense.

Go figure.

Only an America West pilot would think a 4 year deal with 3% raise (total) is 'industry standard'.

From this pilot who is on the outside looking in, USAPA appears to have been a failure on every front. That said, aren't you guys coming up on the two year point that you can vote someone else.... anyone else.... in?

Is there a move afoot yet for that?

The thing is that every active AAA pilot on the list also moved up 517 numbers before they got ratioed in by comparable category and status.

Regardless, it really doesn't matter, the process for achieving an integrated list was agreed to by both sides and it was ultimately submitted to a final and binding arbitration process. It's long past time for the east pilots to honor their commitment and accept the list and move on.

Sooner or later a federal judge will shove that list down the east pilots throats and there won't be a damn thing they can do about. Hopefully they will learn to move on.

It is not the union name which makes the union, it is the character of the pilot group. In LCC's case, you have a collection of individuals who feel they came up short and are trying to rewrite arbitration law. Regardless of where you sit on the fairness meter regarding Nicolau, you cannot ignore the fact one side started down this path and sucked the smaller group with it, attempting a cramdown. They got caught by a federal judge, but their character will probably not change, at least not any time soon. That is the essence of the problem.

So the east going from $124 to $164 an hour for type 2 is 3%? 10 more days vacation? 3 more days off on reserve? Only in the world of east

I've been reading your post for awhile.

You seem to always complain and cause trouble. Maybe you are part of your pilot groups problem. Every airline has them.

Yeah it's just we have about 3000 of them, yep it's my fault and the rest of the awa's pilot fault, that's why their scum bag union was found guilty of dfr in record time.

Yeah, anyone know when USAPA is in front of a federal court again? It has been several months since their last appearance.

Dec. 8Th in san fran they are appealing their conviction on dfr on the fact that the judge was "biased" and that the case was not yet ripe while being " over ripe" at the same time. Stand by for another loss and chants of "biased judges" as they try to go to the supreme court.

Any update on the outcome of the Dec. 8th appeal?

Nothing heard yet.

The east pilots prevailed today.