It really is going to be a mess for the next year or so. They claim they have the training issues sorted. Yeaaaahhhhhhh right. Sure they do. What's worse is that much of this is of their own making. Shoving a few hundred 737 Captain's through training right before the SLI was biblically stupid. Now that fleet is WAYYYY out of seniority, and as soon as you start bumping you realize how many training cycles it will take for it to be normalized. Millions wasted yet again. Sigh. I feel for all of you who will be displaced and uprooted. I hope you take FULL advantage of the paid move and commuter passes. Another cost the company earned

 

What was stupid was not sending more pilots through 737 Cap training. The 737 CA position has been woefully understaffed for more than two years.

I think than many people will be surprised at how few 737 Captains have secondary bumps. Remember, the plan is subject to change.

 

We will see but I'm thinking the majority of folks under about 4,000 ish seniority get bumped out of 737 Cap In a Denver.

 

What is going to be interesting is IAH needs 100 Bus Captains and is overstaffed 100 guppy Captains. So do they put the vacancy bid first for Fifi, or the bump for the guppy first?

 

Stupid question I guess but why does the 320 work better in IAH and the 737 better in Denver? Seems like a lot of shuck and jive for very little real world benefit?

 

Based on some stuff I heard from a management brief at TK last week, I think it is two-part:

1. Supposedly, the Bus has better lift at hot and high airports. Not DEN, which has plenty of runway, but Central America.

2. (This one wasn't a direct statement, but pieced together): Only 36% of the 737 fleet has wifi, or any entertainment at all, from my understanding! However, all the A-320s and A-319s do.

Question: do you put a bare-bones (but new) airplane on an international route, where people are bored silly, and lose revenue, since international is where we make most of our money?

Or do you put them on short 1-2 hour flights domestically?

I kind of think it is the latter.

There was a rumor the Company is looking at used Airbuses/Airbii. Also, from multiple sources (including management), hiring is going to go up to 80 a month for nearly two years. Block hours going up slightly (1%).

Just passing it along. Not sure how they would handle the training load. But they seem pretty serious about it.

 

I thought most of the 737 fleet had gone through the wifi/entertainment update and all new 737 are equipped with wifi/entertainment system from the get go. 36% seems a little low - doesn't sound right. What do you 737 guys say?

What's happening to Jeff's 2 class / 2 airplane type airline. Did somebody educate him?

 

T38,

Fwiw, via a flight mgr, the airbii used acft order has been quashed.

 

This was also said in earnings statement! Did you hear the numbers they were looking at?

 

They are trying to better match departures with the bases. The Airbus are better on longer flights and the guppy on shorter ones. So ORD and DEN airbus shrinks, and guppy grows there, and the Bus grows on the coasts. (via one of the crew planning managers)