Thanks Hoss!

I guess you can be forgiven the error for believing the propaganda at the time, since you weren't actually at CAL.

CAl was hiring in 97. CAL was in contract then and pilots got a 35% raise, increase of vacation, A-Plan funding increase. New aircraft on order and being delivered to replace DC-10 and B747's. Second JD Power award in a row. RASM was highest in the industry. Air Transport magazine "Airline of the Year"

With the stock options I received starting then, I funded my kids college accounts and bought myself a Mooney.



Bethune's book Worst to First was published the following year describing the turnaround.

Koolaid was strong at UALALPA

OK this thread started in the positive and has degraded into the chest thumping I'm better phase.

I attended OET yesterday and here are the cliff notes that apply to pilots:

1. Minimize APU use, except wide bodies because of special needs.
2. Lot's of time explaining SABRE flight planning. Seems that ACF numbers are new to some at UAL, so time is spent how to use this number domestically for fuel planning. Different game/isues for international again.
3. SCAL Dispatchers are understaffed by a large amount and have to do lots of mandatory overtime (Dispatcher facilitator was from SCAL side and he talked a lot about being short staffed).
4. There is a new Policy Flight plan coming soon.
5. Attempt to not add fuel above Flight Plan Policy.
6. A section was given that good flight planning, based on CRM and TEM, starts by having the whole crew meet in the FPA, Flight Planning Area, before the flight. It was pointed out the FOM said "should" but emphasis is given to it being a very good idea, think CRM/TEM.
7.There is new guidance coming about CI numbers by fleet for early or late arrivals.
8. Definition of on time is two fold, D0:00 and A0:00 no longer A0:14. Need to be both on time in departures and arrivals to meet the business customer's expectations.

Go enjoy the 5 hours pay (line holders and reserves who have exceed min pay).

Fight on!

Not worth the trouble and not going to get sucked in again.

Congrats on your Mooney BMEP. I had a Cessna 180 back in the day.

And.....average cost of a divert.... $9000.
number of diverts last year.... 1300
cost.............$11.7M
1 year cost to add 15 min of gas to all flights (to perhaps cut down the number of diverts)...$45M

To expand on that math, if you look at the gas REMF from now and several years ago, we now carry around 15-20 min more gas than we used to, but the divert rate is exactly the same. They posed the question at the standards meeting: "How many of you have diverted in the past year?" Some hands go up. Then they asked "How many of those diverts would have been saved by carrying 15 min more gas?" About 2/3 of the hands went down.

Not saying that it's right or wrong to carry more gas, just that its something we need to think about. It's certainly not a cut and dry issue. The telling number is how much REMF we carry compared to our peers at DAL, SWA and AA. We are hauling WAYYY more gas than they are.

"Gas, grass, or a**...... Nobody rides for free."

I did the math with a guy who claimed that he added 1k on every flight to potentially save a divert because diverts "cost the company money". We calculated that he diverted once in every 200 flights, based on the last few years of flying. So he was carrying 200,000 extra pounds to save maybe 8k pounds which is what a divert costs.

Did they break those numbers down or just through them out there?

Damned ain't that the truth!!!!!!!