Cancelled Flights
 

FlightAware > Live Continental Air Lines Flight Status

FlightAware > Live United Air Lines Flight Status

Monday, 25 July
 

Cal: 12
Ual: 16

FlightAware > Live Colgan Air Flight Status

(only relevant because these are UA/CO codeshare)

A lot of stranded pax today.

I.M.S.A.F.E.

These are trying, exhausting times. Do not operate an aircraft if the outcome of the flight is in doubt. Fly safe, fly the contract.

Tuesday, 26 July
 

Cal: 8
Ual: 22

My freaking phone has rang all day......:eek:

I love this thread!

In regards to Monday in EWR, weather turned the operation at all three NYC airports into a complete mess. Holding at all sorts of fixes along all arrivals into the area. I'd take the cancellations with a grain of salt on that day as some may have been "canceled to avoid a three hour tarmac delay" type.

Yea, but I still got a Jr Man call. ;)

BQN and POS both canceled on Monday. It was blamed on lack of FA's. Givin how late they leave and the fact they sat in FO open time all day, I doubt tarmac had anything to do with it. They never got an FO for either. Takes a special kind of desperate fool to burn days off doing those god awful trips.

But that doesn't mean we or they can't spin it.

"Dozens of Continental flights were canceled Wednesday because too many pilots called in sick. Officials said about 21 flights were canceled because of the illnesses. Airline officials did not release a list of the cancellations, but said they were primarily out of the New York area. No Houston flights were affected."
Continental cancels 21 flights due to sick pilots - MSNBC Articles

No one's fooled that this isn't directly related to the pace of negotiations and the merger.

For the company, it's a way to establish the foundation for alleging an illegal job action and start playing hardball.

This is not a withdrawal of enthusiasm, a sickout, or anything like it. The cancelled flights are a direct result of deliberate short staffing by the company, which has worked for them in the past and isn't working now.

The company has been offering a voluntary junior manning premium of 150% for straight pickups for most of the summer. Many pilots have responded, but apparently not enough. Those who haven't are not part of an organized conspiracy. The union is not telling people to refrain from picking up open time. The decision to work voluntary overtime is an individual one that rests with the employee.

Nobody is doing anything against the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, or the 2008 injunction against United's chapter of ALPA. Continental is simply reaping the fruit of the seeds it sewed by not hinging enough pilots.

No unfair labor practices are occurring!

You are right. My use of the phrase "withdrawal of enthusiasm" was incorrect as it implies an organized or directed job action. I should have said that in these challeging times people are being especially careful about safety so they're not coming to work sick. They are also choosing to spend time with their families by flying just their assigned schedules. That the airline is under staffed is a problem, just not a pilot problem.

+1 to the above posts, and If the union doesn't take the ball and run with it....shame on them. Frankly, I've gotten tired, (literally), of a now photographed in uniform Pierce, offering updates upon updates....with no substance other than a sermon to the choir. I think Fred and his merry band of minions have served one up on a tee myself. We'll see. :confused:

This reminds me of summer of 2000 when there were allegations of an organized job action. It was BS then, just like it's BS today. Pilots aren't doing anything except making the individual decision to fly their contract, and the system is imploding around the edges due to inadequate staffing models. When the contract includes language like "voluntary" and "at the pilot's option" it doesn't take a labor union for individual pilots to determine what goodwill looks like.

It is even more maddening that ALPA told the company six months prior to the summer of 2K that their manning levels were inadequate for their upcoming summer schedule.

On the other hand, it doesn't matter whether you are right or wrong, it only matters what you can get someone else :rolleyes: to believe.

There's no way that CAL ALPA isn't prepared for this. I credit JP for keeping in mind the UAL injunction pretty much hangs over the CAL side as well. I know they have everything saved from last year when it was clear there was no freaking way Summer 2011 would ever work. We all know these cancellations all hang squarely on Fred's neck. Now for god's sake CAL ALPA don't blow it. See you in court Harvard Law.

ALPA's response was: "No comment"

???????????

Agreed; this and many other actions can make one think that the company is trying to goad us into some rash, angry act that will violate the injunction. 70 seaters in IAH & EWR, the creeping RJ affect into our mainline gates in ORD, the 767-200 sale and as of today, the fish-wrap "Update" mailed to our homes ?!? Everybody stay cool and don't take the bait; these geniuses have turned to another chapter....

Management sure seems to have a hard time realizing pilots get sick. We can't chug DayQuil & come to work. Plus, when companies already fly their reserves to the max in normal ops what do they think will happen when the poo-poo hits the fan? :rolleyes:

Like someone said earlier..... IMSAFE. If ya can't complete that checklist, ya shouldn't be coming to work.

+1. Reserves are meant for when things go bad. That's why they're called "reserves." When the company flies them like line holders, then there is nothing left when things go bad.

A message that needs to be sent by ALPA!
 

You are absolutely correct. As one that worked for the SSC both during "summer of love" and then the operational meltdown prior to UAL recall (another summer), the company was advised (not as a threat and at least 6 months prior) on numerous occasions that their "plan" was flawed based on the number of pilots on property. They were making assumptions that REQUIRED pilot goodwill outside the requirements of the contract (and well outside historical averages) to work. Both times were not conducive to most pilots feeling any type of goodwill whatsoever.

As to pilots calling in sick, they're sick. The company's lack of adequate manning caused the cancellations and is not ALPA's fault. Pilots are mandated not to fly if they are in anyway incapacitated to the extent they cannot fly safely. As we all know, that mandate comes from the FAR's.

Perhaps it's time for ALPA to start throwing out some numbers regarding manning vice block hour, etc. Might find some type of correlation to the cause of the issue and elevate the fact that fatigue is a safety issue as well as a precursor to being more susceptible to illness through a reduced immune system function.

Frats,
Lee

Back in the summer before the first recalls were started, reserves at UAL were maxing out well before the end of the month.....

For some reason, the company couldn't correlate that fact with the fact they didn't have enough pilots. This is in the days of 10 days off a month and movable RDO's, etc.

It takes them a number of months to usually see that fact. Of course, there are huge CANX numbers generated for a few months, lost revenue, pax payments, etc......

And, of course, they were advised well prior to the event happening by their counterparts at ALPA.

As to this issue regarding SL, I'd say a little deflection for their flawed plan, a little negotiating in public, and trying to put the pilots into the spotlight as the problem. Sounds somewhat in violation of that "negotiate in good faith" requirement under the RLA.......but what do I know?

Lee

Maybe something IS going around
 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Approximately 240 cadets at the Air Force Academy have been sickened by a stomach virus, academy officials announced Tuesday.

Some active duty personnel are also exhibiting symptoms of viral gastroenteritis, officials said.

Some of those 240 have already recovered and are back to normal basic cadet training and duty activities but currently, there are approximately 180 cadets recovering in isolation at Vandenberg Hall, one of two cadet dormitories.

I hope they bought them some super Charmin!! :eek: :D

Well clearly the Air Force is looking at a small group trying to form a union. That is the only logical explanation.

Wednesday, 27 July
 

Cal: 24
Ual: 19

CAL has been reporting being short staffed since March of this year in daily meetings. Especially in IAH. This shouldn't be a surprise to management that they have run out of flight deck crews.

I have a "special name" for calls from the crew desk. I call them "voice mail".

TW

When there was no hiring reflected on the system bid last winter the union presented them data showing they would be short. This is completely their responsibility.

Just how short IS Cal
 

According to this website the UAL side employs 17.386 pilots per a/c. The CAL side...a mere 13.491. If you work the numbers the CAL side needs @ 1,370 pilots to have the same staffing as the UAL side. Managment is clearly full of $h!t. Not that anyone didn't know this already!!!

Part of that is the fact that UAL has more widebodies than CAL and they're staffed at almost three times as many pilots per airframe as the narrowbody fleets.

That's the other part.

GOOD NEWS!!! Looks like ya'll won't have to worry about anymore "sickouts" on the FO's side of things. Just came off a flight (pax in the back) where the FO was a training department scab captain. Glad to see he's helping make sure you don't have anymore canceled flights!:mad:

Training scheduling is already calling some 737 pilots with training in the first week of August advising them that their annual training has been canceled. Seems the company is short of pilots and needs the bodies flying the line.

Does that mean we have a sickout a whole week in advance?:rolleyes:

3 calls a day for the past 3 days for Jr. Manning opportunities. Ooopppsss, I'm sorry, I'm unavailable...

Funny stuff. Blame it on the pilots again. Personally I think it is the tea parties fault. :)

I blame global warming. It's too hot to fly. :rolleyes:

What took so long?
 

Fly the contract, especially when you have furloughed pilots off property. So, what took so long, union brothers??

I guess if they staffed at a reasonable ratio all UAL furloughed pilots would back at work... We could complete negotiations and life would be good! Oh wait! Were dealing with airline management who forgot the "Working Together" mantra after fall 2001.

Thursday, 28 July
 

Cal: 9
Ual: 28