Happy holidays Jeffy style..
12-26-2013, 07:45 AM
#23
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,253
Thank you for your moral clarity. I'm sure you not giving a "pass" to the furloughed is going to solve this problem immediately if not sooner. And of course, are you going to personally go out and find and deliver the thousands of lost bags that our customers are doing without this holiday season? That might actually make a difference and fix some problems.
12-26-2013, 09:29 AM
#24
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Joined APC: Apr 2008
Position: Sleeping in the black swan’s nest.
Posts: 5,717
We need to do anything we can to get rid of Jeff and his current team. His incompetence is driving us into the dirt. There isn't a single solitary thing the individual line guy can do to change the downward vector if they are not given the basics needed to do the job.
Those basics include a reservation system that allows customers to purchase our product seamlessly. A team of players that are willing, able and motivated to support the operation in a timely, efficient and competent manner. A leadership that is excited and motivated to move forward and compete and win instead of simply wage war against their front line people. I or you or any other pilot can not push back on time if they are not loaded, fueled and the airplane isn't correctly serviced. We as pilots can not stop the company from employing a faulty IT infrastructure with poorly designed and antiquated software that doesn't adequately support the reservation systems. We can't stop the idiots at the top from furloughing key people right before the peak travel period of the year.
If the leadership of this company decides to **** on the heads of our front line people, especially during the heaviest travel season of the year can you really expect anything other than the disaster we are currently experiencing? That is pretty basic. It doesn't really matter if they have a bad contract or not the outcome is the same. And that outcome will have long term negative effects on this company for years to come.
So if you want to assign blame here's a clue, it isn't you, it isn't me, it isn't the ramp guys it has nothing to do with LCAL or LUAL pilots. It's the morons at the top that are causing the operation to go sideways. Plain and simple, PERIOD, end of story!
Last edited by UAL T38 Phlyer; 12-26-2013 at 11:41 AM. Reason: TOS/Pressed the wrong button!
12-26-2013, 09:55 AM
#25
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Joined APC: Jan 2008
Posts: 400
If you read the article it says 2 billion over 4 years, half of which comes from cost savings via cheaper fuel and 7% increase in aircraft efficiency. They are projecting a growth rate of 1-2% a year every year for the next four years. We will likely be hiring in droves.
I think your right but so is Hoss. Been there done this with UAL. Watch you pennies till this plays out at least. Anything goes.
12-26-2013, 10:57 AM
#26
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Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: Curator at Static Display
Posts: 5,681
Check; Checkmate
Hoss & Intrepid:
Hoss, good rant about what's wrong. Intrepid, excellent question: what can we (the line pogues) do to fix it? Hoss, good in general, but short on specifics on how to implement.
I ask:
1. Is Jeff the sole problem, or merely the figurehead? I think he mostly acts as a mouthpiece for the BOD.
Or at the very least, the BOD approves his actions.
2. Do Jeffy or the BOD view "success" in the same light as you or I? I believe not.
You and I see it as safe, efficient, reliable, and if not convenient, then the least INconvenient transportation from A to B.
I think the BOD, like all those that follow the modern business-school model, care only about stock price and capital-value. They don't care if the product is good or bad, or if passengers found it to be a pleasant or repeatable transaction. (Hence the "success" of companies who deal only in poorly-made 'goods' from low-cost overseas manufacturers.)
In the modern school of business, the customer is the Investor, and I'm not talking about Ma & Pa buying 500 shares, I'm talking the major Banks. You know, the ones who brought us the financial meltdown of 2008. The ones who sponsor the Airline Credit Cards for United, Delta, American, etc.
Passengers are no longer the "customer." They are just cogs in the machine that make the investment vehicle work....sort-of.
3. If my assertion is true, how does one convince the BOD that a CEO who drives passenger satisfaction to consistent, consecutive lows is bad for the company, when the stock value holds steady, or even climbs a little?
(Consider what I think is their determinant of "success.")
4. Keep in mind that the BOD (the last time I saw a pospectus on them) is largely composed of people who have NO KNOWLEGE of airplanes, pilots, or most of the time, airlines.
They sit on BODs of multiple businesses. What they know is money. They have no passion or invested emotion, such as Pat Patterson, Juan Trippe, or Bill Boeing.
They love money. And because they sit on multiple BODs, if one fails? Next. They're making money somewhere else.
Strategies:
A. Can ALPA deal directly with the BOD? I'm guessing not, either by legal restriction, or tradition of not dealing with the "hired help." (The unwashed masses). That is my assumption, as I have never seen ALPA try to deal with them; at least, not publicly announced.
Whether ALPA as an entity can deal with them directly is unknown. But could ALPA send a blastmail to all pilots saying "Write these guys in the BOD and tell them what's wrong with the company"?
I'd like to think we could...we certainly can do that with Senators and Congressmen.
B. If we could communicate with them, what tactic would convince them? How would you 'fix' the company, knowing it means one thing to you, and another to them?
I've read in Jeff-communiques that we need a better rate of return on our investment; that while we are making a profit, we should be making more. (They use Delta and SWA as examples).
Agreed. So we need to communicate to the BOD that with better leadership, and by correcting misguided cost-cutting (or ham-fisted employee-relations), we can actually improve the operational metrics, reduce outlays for cancelled/delayed trips, increase satisfaction and marketshare, improve employee relations, and as a by-product, the stock value /market Cap will rise.
C. As far as I can tell, only the BOD can hire or fire the CEO. Sure, they have shareholder meetings to vote on such matters (including the composition of the BOD), but the BOD holds the vast majority of the shares, if I remember correctly. In other words, we can't vote him out...they hold most of the cards. Self-licking ice cream cone.
So, to effect change, we have to convince the major sharefolders---the BOD--that it is in their best interests.
D. I think the BOD is complicit in this. If we had a better CEO, he might be able to convince them that their strategy for success is flawed.
The first step is to establish communication. ALPA, step up to the plate, and show us how. Coordinated with the mass of 12,000 voices, the BOD would have to listen.
But one at a time? They'll pay as much attention to us as they do to Jeffy's own "Welcome aboard video" when they ride in First.
I'm ready to take up my musket. We just need someone to organize the charge.
Hoss, good rant about what's wrong. Intrepid, excellent question: what can we (the line pogues) do to fix it? Hoss, good in general, but short on specifics on how to implement.
I ask:
1. Is Jeff the sole problem, or merely the figurehead? I think he mostly acts as a mouthpiece for the BOD.
Or at the very least, the BOD approves his actions.
2. Do Jeffy or the BOD view "success" in the same light as you or I? I believe not.
You and I see it as safe, efficient, reliable, and if not convenient, then the least INconvenient transportation from A to B.
I think the BOD, like all those that follow the modern business-school model, care only about stock price and capital-value. They don't care if the product is good or bad, or if passengers found it to be a pleasant or repeatable transaction. (Hence the "success" of companies who deal only in poorly-made 'goods' from low-cost overseas manufacturers.)
In the modern school of business, the customer is the Investor, and I'm not talking about Ma & Pa buying 500 shares, I'm talking the major Banks. You know, the ones who brought us the financial meltdown of 2008. The ones who sponsor the Airline Credit Cards for United, Delta, American, etc.
Passengers are no longer the "customer." They are just cogs in the machine that make the investment vehicle work....sort-of.
3. If my assertion is true, how does one convince the BOD that a CEO who drives passenger satisfaction to consistent, consecutive lows is bad for the company, when the stock value holds steady, or even climbs a little?
(Consider what I think is their determinant of "success.")
4. Keep in mind that the BOD (the last time I saw a pospectus on them) is largely composed of people who have NO KNOWLEGE of airplanes, pilots, or most of the time, airlines.
They sit on BODs of multiple businesses. What they know is money. They have no passion or invested emotion, such as Pat Patterson, Juan Trippe, or Bill Boeing.
They love money. And because they sit on multiple BODs, if one fails? Next. They're making money somewhere else.
Strategies:
A. Can ALPA deal directly with the BOD? I'm guessing not, either by legal restriction, or tradition of not dealing with the "hired help." (The unwashed masses). That is my assumption, as I have never seen ALPA try to deal with them; at least, not publicly announced.
Whether ALPA as an entity can deal with them directly is unknown. But could ALPA send a blastmail to all pilots saying "Write these guys in the BOD and tell them what's wrong with the company"?
I'd like to think we could...we certainly can do that with Senators and Congressmen.
B. If we could communicate with them, what tactic would convince them? How would you 'fix' the company, knowing it means one thing to you, and another to them?
I've read in Jeff-communiques that we need a better rate of return on our investment; that while we are making a profit, we should be making more. (They use Delta and SWA as examples).
Agreed. So we need to communicate to the BOD that with better leadership, and by correcting misguided cost-cutting (or ham-fisted employee-relations), we can actually improve the operational metrics, reduce outlays for cancelled/delayed trips, increase satisfaction and marketshare, improve employee relations, and as a by-product, the stock value /market Cap will rise.
C. As far as I can tell, only the BOD can hire or fire the CEO. Sure, they have shareholder meetings to vote on such matters (including the composition of the BOD), but the BOD holds the vast majority of the shares, if I remember correctly. In other words, we can't vote him out...they hold most of the cards. Self-licking ice cream cone.
So, to effect change, we have to convince the major sharefolders---the BOD--that it is in their best interests.
D. I think the BOD is complicit in this. If we had a better CEO, he might be able to convince them that their strategy for success is flawed.
The first step is to establish communication. ALPA, step up to the plate, and show us how. Coordinated with the mass of 12,000 voices, the BOD would have to listen.
But one at a time? They'll pay as much attention to us as they do to Jeffy's own "Welcome aboard video" when they ride in First.
I'm ready to take up my musket. We just need someone to organize the charge.
12-26-2013, 01:11 PM
#27
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Thread Starter
Joined APC: Apr 2008
Position: Sleeping in the black swan’s nest.
Posts: 5,717
T38,
You are right on the money.. However, I think as far as Jeff is concerned, his days are numbered. He has and continues to fail to produce or make good on his plans.
You are right on the money.. However, I think as far as Jeff is concerned, his days are numbered. He has and continues to fail to produce or make good on his plans.
12-26-2013, 06:23 PM
#30
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Joined APC: Apr 2008
Position: Sleeping in the black swan’s nest.
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