Further more there are 14 B767-300 2-class airplanes going over to EWR for Atlantic ops...Something to do with putting the right aircraft on the right markets. The JFK B767 pilots have been getting their Route quals since early January....These airplanes were used on the Hawaii flights.
If you look a future flights out of LAX and SFO to the Islands there are quite a few S-CAL airplanes on those flights...(Seat config 16/144 and 24/194). I think those are B737-800 and B757-300.

 

[QUOTE]Good question. Why does CAL maintain ETOPS on the whole 737NG fleet? Other than Hawaii, which is new to the 737, I've never seen an ETOPS leg in it. Some Guam flying, which isn't much. Maybe Caribbean when Bermuda is down, but that's rare. I wonder how much it costs?[/QUOTE
You don't even need etops for EWR/ to the Caribbean. You can stay within 1 hour on those routes.
I don't know the exact cost, but there are many additional maintenance requirements to maintain the certification. If CAL is maintaining etops on an entire fleet just to fly a few flights to Hawaii, they are wasting money.

 

Not directed at you, just an observation. I think realistic expectations are a no-brainer:

It's called binding arbitration. Easy to get those expectations in place for this entire pilot group if you ask me.

1. Open dictionary
2. Find "binding"
3. Read definition
4. Find "arbitration"
5. Read definition

Those are the expectations that this group needs to have about the process. We aren't going to control it in any way, shape or form. Our two sides will make their arguments and then it's up to the panel to make the decision, as we know we aren't going to agree on a combined list on our own.

I, too, fear us ending up in a US-AW type of situation. But that is definitely of their own making, well more of one side's making since they didn't follow steps one through five above.

 

Unfortunately, ALPA has a long history of not representing "all" of it's member fairly.

 

Hey Boss, Out of curiosity, weren't those the same B757s that were running out of gas simply trying to cross the North Atlantic recently? Headlines!! "Dozens of Continental Airlines flights to the East Coast from Europe have been forced to make unexpected stops in Canada and elsewhere to take on fuel..." "757s had to stop 43 times..." Then, reminiscent of the 1920s and 30s, CO Ops placing blame on mother nature - something about winds??

Guess LUAL's idea was why spend the money for 757 ETOPS certification if at the very least, the crossings themselves are troublesome in weather worse than clear and calm. Just guessing...

 

Why is this our, (CAL's), concern for the SLI? If I'm reading you right your management made drastic changes so that we would merge with UAL, correct?

I'm not quite sure why that should or would affect us in any way for an SLI arbitration. Again, as I'm reading it, YOUR OWN management made those changes to make the merger more agreeable to CAL. Shouldn't have any bearing on anything post-merger. It was accomplished before the merger agreement and not after.

As a matter of fact I'll bet your merger committee would probably like you to stop mentioning this as its proof that UAL reduced its fleet at CAL's request, (which quite frankly I dont believe but blame it more on your loose scope).

For the umpteenth time, the SLI will be accomplished regardless of what supposed facts are posted here. If you think your theory will help your merger committee, then by all means e-mail them your thoughts and see what they say.

I think your over here now. Welcome aboard but I'd caution restraint when trying to sell your above statement with our line Pilots.

 

There you go - threaten sombody will you?

If any UAL guys working at CAL is attacked or threatened at work, please let the UAL MEC know. Also post on every forum you can to get the word out.

 

Oh for God's sake, Dexim, don't be such an idiot. 757Driver was just pointing out the obvious - don't make a big stink over your SLI opinions on the line. It's just good CRM. When I've occasionally flown with the returning UAL furloughee, I avoid the whole topic like the plague.

 

Fortunately I have the multi-personality Dexim/Catan/Whoever on block. No threat was made and I was mearly suggesting that Coto not push his SLI agenda in the cockpit over here. As you stated, it's just good CRM and if I were in the same boat at UAL, I wouldn't bring it up either.

 

That's why the 767-300's are needed in EWR. Not to make light of the above situation you accurately pointed out but this year was the worse on record for our 757's. Now i'm going to point out something you are not going to like at all.

Since we have been putting the "right aircraft in the right market" for almost a year now, let's review what the almighty s-UAL widebodies have done for business.

1. IAH-LIM needed the extra lift the 767-300 can provide. The reliability of that flight has been so poor that we have lost numerous corporate accounts to AA and DAL. The VP of the IAH hub personally told me that she has received several calls from corporate travel offices from Houston companies telling her that her clients would rather fly to DFW and down to LIM than fly "us" these days. We turned away a lot of money in cargo when we used our 757's on the IAH-LIM route but we supposedly LOSING MONEY now with the aircraft that was supposed to allow us to INCREASE PROFITS exponentially.

2. The 777 that replaced our 767-400 on the HNL-GUM-NRT-GUM segment has cancelled so much that passengers are willingly going over to DAL that now flies widebodies on the GUM-NRT segment and is stepping up operations out of GUM and really giving us a run for our money. The on-time percentage of the 777 flying out of GUM has been cut in half. This is a market that we used to "own".

Now I don't know what the problems are with these aircraft in the two above mentioned markets but I do know that they are the right sized aircraft for the markets. Was it a mistake to place UAL aircraft on these once extremely profitable routes? Is it maintenance? I really don't know the answer.

I think in 2-5 years this airline has the ability to be a huge player in the world. I really hope we don't completely screw it up over the next 2 years with lawsuits etc. and allow Delta to thrive at our expense.