American cuts back schedule in face of more sick pilots and Mx write-ups

[Wino]

You know its an interesting thing. There have been changes to the entire operation recently, not just the pilot's contract. All the other contracts changed on the same day, do you think everyone else is pleased an enthusiastic at the new changes as well?

Until recently AA used to have mechanic meet or watch the gate arrival of every flight. They did away with that. No mechanics meet aircraft arrivals unless one is specifically requested or something is specifically due (IE airplane going out to Europe in two hours and it needs an ETOPS1 before it can go...) At an Airport like JFK or DFW, the mechanics are actually several MILES away from the aircraft when they hit the gate... Think about that for a while... A well oiled machine they have set up.

Cost cutting... Gordon Bethune, ex CEO of continental was brilliant. He said Imagine 10 pizza places competing against each other. Well one decides to compete on costs. It is possible to make a pizza so cheaply that no one will eat it... They won't do a lot of repeat business... And so it goes...

[aterpster]

AAL's future bookings are toast, which probably assures their demise.

[WhatsaLizad?]

AAL's future bookings are toast, which probably assures their demise.

Is Willie Walsh saying "No problem, I don't care"?

[brak]

To me (as an unrelated outsider) it looks like AA pilots really would like to speed up the demise of their airline. Do they all expect an early retirement? I doubt bankrupt airline will pay them much in pensions

[Clipper811]

brak,

Eff. Nov. 1, all Pension contribution goes away to include any matching of self provided funds. This in contrast to the Management fund which was bifurcated from the same plan almost 15 years ago and placed in a trust.

This looks like another EAL or PAA type situation akin to a divorce after decades of fighting, false promises, and unmet expectations. Adding in the hard press to toss out any pre-nuptial agreements (retirement & work conditions) questions the ability to recover.

It's the quintessential tri-partite airline destruction. Both Management and the union to blame and to a lesser extent the baggage of AA's legacy structure.

A lot in common with QF.

Cheers

[Two's in]

In all fairness, it is worth noting that AA pilots work for less than 1993 hourly pay rates, following the 2003 agreement; they have seen their salaries cut the most among AMR Corp. employees and they, along with the rest of the company employees, made huge sacrifices and gave away lots of things (in the billions of $) early last decade to keep AA solvent.

- Right, but the Pilot's beef isn't so much their actual salary as the fact that while they took a huge cut in 2003 to save the company, the senior management promptly paid themselves obscene bonuses and partied on. So it's not just the sacrifice per se, it's the massive injustice and inequality across the company that causes so much resentment.

/Don't work for AA either.

[Airbubba]

Right, but the Pilot's beef isn't so much their actual salary as the fact that while they took a huge cut in 2003 to save the company, the senior management promptly paid themselves obscene bonuses and partied on.

Looks like the campaign to chase off the customers to get back at the mostly long gone 2003 AA management is working according to this hit piece from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/op...afkaesque.html

Not sure that the author understands the implications of entering RVSM airspace on the NAT tracks with an inop altimeter but the subsequent poor customer service made him want to complain with ink by the gallon in the NYT.

Of course, some of this story could be found on many U.S. airlines, inflight service is often a bad joke compared to Asian and Middle Eastern airlines:

Travel Well: Why Asian Airlines Are Better Than Their U.S. Competitors - Scene Asia - WSJ

Maybe Parker and US Air will be the savior for the APA but I'm not convinced.

[Romeo E.T.]

“If the pilots don’t show up, it’s called a shutdown. If the managers don’t show up, it’s called the weekend.”

now that is a classic quoute...loved it

[Airbubba]

Yet another AA hit piece on CNN.com this morning:

Who wants to fly American Airlines? - CNN.com

[Bigmouth]

- Right, but the Pilot's beef isn't so much their actual salary as the fact that while they took a huge cut in 2003 to save the company, the senior management promptly paid themselves obscene bonuses and partied on.

Sounds like just about every legacy airline out there. Of course you canīt say the same thing about the locos. The pilots there have never had much of a salary to begin with.
Happy flying!

[stepwilk]

Not sure that the author understands the implications of entering RVSM airspace on the NAT tracks with an inop altimeter but the subsequent poor customer service made him want to complain with ink by the gallon in the NYT.

Gary Shteyngart is not just a nameless "author," he's a hugely admired, famous and respected satirist. That Op-Ed piece was like Kurt Vonnegut writing one, were he still alive. AA couldn't possibly have done worse in having somebody unload on them.

[gtf]

Right, but the Pilot's beef isn't so much their actual salary as the fact that while they took a huge cut in 2003 to save the company, the senior management promptly paid themselves obscene bonuses and partied on.

Right but the pilots conveniently forget they were offered a choice:
#1 - Big cut now, bonus later if profits are made;
#2 - Small cut now, nothing later.
Salaried employees (incl. management) took option 1. No prize for guessing which option the pilots picked only to bitch about the missed opportunity later...

In all fairness, it is worth noting that AA pilots work for less than 1993 hourly pay rates, following the 2003 agreement;

And they fly less than their legacy colleagues. To be fair to them, one should point out they accepted lower flight hours to reduce furloughs. Senior pilots could have made more by sticking to higher flight hours, junior pilots would have been looking for employment elsewhere...

[aa73]

Right but the pilots conveniently forget they were offered a choice:
#1 - Big cut now, bonus later if profits are made;
#2 - Small cut now, nothing later.
Salaried employees (incl. management) took option 1. No prize for guessing which option the pilots picked only to bitch about the missed opportunity later...

If you are referring to the Last Best Offer a couple of months ago- you are completely misguided and flat out WRONG. That POS offer had us flying the A319 at Bombardier C-series wages (not even a B-scale, but a C-scale!). It was also a 6 year contract (which means 10 years in AMR-speak) and had a clause that basically said APA was not allowed to protest management bonuses. It gutted scope to 79 seats. I could go on and on. Yeah, great, where do I sign?

Otherwise, if you are referring to our 2003 Cram Down, as I recall we had no choice but to ratify it or they would take it to BK. A lot of good that did us, eh?

And they fly less than their legacy colleagues. To be fair to them, one should point out they accepted lower flight hours to reduce furloughs. Senior pilots could have made more by sticking to higher flight hours, junior pilots would have been looking for employment elsewhere...

Another BS statement. Do you know why we fly less? Because our illustrious Top Talent management schedules us that way - despite the fact that our contract allowed MUCH MORE productivity. I lost track of the amount of times I'd do a leg into DFW and sit for up to 4 hours before going on to another destination. Now who's fault is that??

I also never recall seeing ANY kind of deal allowing us to fly less. We have always had a monthly max of 78hrs with the option to pick up to 83. That hasn't changed in over 15 years, at the very least.

[StrongEagle]

From an SLF perspective:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/op...afkaesque.html

[BigFootDriver]

Airbutthead...

You are certainly an AMR managment shill!

Please refrain from typing until you at least familiarize yourself with the facts. Here are some....

the rejected LBFO would result in the lowest wages in the nation.. that act alone would place downward wage pressure on most pilots on this planet.


The rejected LBFO gutted 75 years of hard fought gains for what? So Americans big fat nasty flight attendants could continue to be paid $61 USD per hour to be the worst, rudest flight attendants in the world?

The LBFO would have resulted in the highest paid managers in the world. Some $800 millions USD for the managers for what? Have you flown on an American airlines flite lately? It's worse than bad.

Are you that special? Again you must be a AMR management troll.

Go away and let these guys fight the battle that needs fighting for ALL pilots.

[Airbubba]

Looks like the union campaign to chase off the paying AA customers is working:

American Airlines is losing important customers - Oct. 8, 2012