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I dont get the iah vacancies on the fo side. Planned 737 ca displacments and they are pushing for vacancies. Euther they are planning a large iah base Or its a push to bump jr fos.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy (Post 1868343)

The earnings call covered future 747 retirements ---
2 are being retired in 2015 but the rest of the fleet is now planned to fly until 2020. When they get to 2020, they'll reevaluate, as heavy checks will be due at that time.
From the earnings call, it sounds like the 2 being retired had reliability issues.

From the call:
Jeffrey Dastin - Thomson Reuters
How does the 747 fits into United’s fleet --planned fleet, retirement plan in 2015 and how do you only considered retiring a significant portion of 747s going forward?
John Rainey - CFO
The 747 is something that we do intend to keep for a few more years we have a couple coming out of our fleet in the near future but some of these we’ve made some improvements to the operating reliability of the aircraft and we could expect to keep them for another few years. They have another sort of big maintenance events in the 2020 time frame that that will be another decision point for us whether we want to extend them further at that point or go ahead and retire them.

If you look at United's cargo revenue, it increased 15.8% year over year. A lot of that's probably due to the Long Beach dock workers' strike, but is probably a factor in deciding to extend the life of the 747. With fuel prices down (after hedge losses/writedowns) more than 30%, the profitability numbers on the 747 are probably looking pretty good.

I think his "a couple" and a "few more years" are intentionally vague, especially since the consensus during the 777-300ER rumor talks was they were 747 replacements. I bet you will see a trickle of 747's leave as the 777's come on line. Some left until 2020. Time will tell and the fleet plan will change 50 times between now and then

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpecialTracking (Post 1868212)

Actually, it was very sincere without vilification. You greatly benefited from the fence. My congratulations to the fo's and non scab captains. If you still want to play us vs you, knock your socks off.

Maybe those hanging out on the 787 benefitted, but all in all the fences sucked for many on the CAL side. Instead of having a replacement for the LAX 747 pilots to fly out of LAX we saw a lot of those pilots go to other bases for an upgrade, or to be senior 777 FO's. Since most of the CA positions on the 787 are occupied by scabs, and even some of the FO positions, it seems we simply protected those who chose to cross a picket line. Bravo!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by blockplus (Post 1868377)

I dont get the iah vacancies on the fo side. Planned 737 ca displacments and they are pushing for vacancies. Euther they are planning a large iah base Or its a push to bump jr fos.

Because they need them sooner than the displaced pilots will be awarded them. They said the displacement won't be until after the summer. They probably need these guys before then.

The company has figured out the costs of not having pilots/too many pilots/retraining pilots and they just work to optimize that. We can rationalize it all we want because its disruptive to our lives.

We've been doing it that way here for the 19+ years I've been here. I've been displaced 7 times (All in my 1st 8 years) here. Three of them were being displaced as a Captain (727, Airbus, Guppy) so it happens.

I'm hoping the surplus is small and mostly volunteers. At least one friend of mine was saved on the last bump in IAH because someone senior volunteered. No one wants the disruption. None of the guys getting bumped deserves it either.

It a business decision by the company.

I'm hoping to be based in IAH as soon as possible. I know the quickest way is the 320. As a newhire, will I then be displaced out of IAH on the 320 after the 737 displacements begin or do there have to be 320 vacancies in order for the 737 guys to remain in IAH on the Bus?

Hope what I'm asking makes sense? Just hate to end up getting a crashpad/car/etc in IAH and then be displaced out of the base right away. I do understand seniority rules though and respect that.

Someone with more knowledge than me will chime in for you but I believe in a displacement, those folks getting displaced can bump into any category their seniority can hold.
So yes, they could take Airbus slots being senior to you

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firsttimeflyer (Post 1868603)

Yes they can bump to any category their seniority can hold. A more senior person can voluntarily bump but they use the seniority on a one for one basis of those being displaced.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpecialTracking (Post 1868612)

Yes they can bump to any category their seniority can hold. A more senior person can voluntarily bump but they use the seniority on a one for one basis of those being displaced.

So if I understand correctly, there doesn't have to be any vacancies? They can bump anyone junior to them out of the 320 in IAH if they want to stay in IAH?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 24/48 (Post 1868417)

I don't think those -400 pilots enjoyed being displaced. I honestly don't have a number of how many-400 displacements there were, but how does that compare with the vacancies created by the growing 787 fleet.

Yes, scabs should never have a refuge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UAL97 (Post 1868617)

So if I understand correctly, there doesn't have to be any vacancies? They can bump anyone junior to them out of the 320 if they want to stay in IAH?

Yes but the company would try to minimize the 320 surpluses by not advertising a large 320 vacancy bid.