On a final note, and I haven't seen this published anywhere else yet, it has been rumoured that Ryanair have finalised a deal with a US company to take all their -200 series B737's starting with immediate effect. The last aircraft to leave the fleet are supposed to be the Dublin based aircraft and it is expected that they will be gone by May 2005. How this information will affect those long standing pilots based in Dublin is anyone's guess but with the alleged threat of no conversions to the -800 unless they ditch the idea of unionisation, may well put extra pressure on them.
Simple!
Drop the "idea" of I/BALPA untill June 2005 if the above is true, it's not that far away.
The article in the Travel section of the Sunday Times was not a glowing indicment of FR and proves that not all publicity is good and how far the majors have fought back. For about £1 extra you could fly to Milan on BA with 23kg of baggage from an airport which is much easier to get to to an airport much closer and get fed and watered on the way.
As opossed to flying from a remote airport which cost alot more to get to for most of the cathcment are of London to an airport 35kms away meaning an even more expensive journey into town plus around £15 for two sandwiches and a drink for a couple on holiday.
Years ago i remember seeing a programme on the B777 with Mullally talking to some of the workers in the canteen. He was chating about United airlines buying the 777 and the CEO being interested in the Price of the aircraft and not the Cost. He is not interested in how much it cost Boeing but only in what price he will pay.
More and more passengers are weighing up the total expenditure for a low cost flight and certainly in my experience it costs more to go low cost. When the SLF start adding up the extras maybe they might start thinking that "Ummm yes nice cheap flight but i've had to pay more than the cost of the flight for excess baggage or such like". The down side to this is that at some stage people are going to go back to the majors and the LCC boys will suffer and consequently so will jobs.
I have the greatest respect for the FR pilots because you work in a pressure cooker that most could not and though i hate unions i firmly believe you should join one as i have because this industry is up ****e creek without a paddle and we need some protection from predetary management who only believe in share price and therefore their share options.
Is it time for directors to be paid a wage based upon the profit of the company rather than what the city believes the company is worth and share the profits along with the workers.
That bloody nose that a certain CEO has taken may turn into a 10 second count but they cant see that even the best pugilists know to stay down when beat or at least throw the towel in and be big enough to admit defeat.
Stand your ground lads but continue with the dignity that so far you have displayed as opposed to others in some quarters.
Good luck