AA recalls

[HA25]

I'm curius to see if the recalls continue at AA... Age 65 or greater than 60 sure seems to be heating. AA recalls (for now) are predicated on attrition not expansion. Everyone else seems to be expanding except for AA. Is that a bad thing? Not to the share holders. AA stock is higher than it has been in at least 6 years. Arpey and the bean counters seem to be happy with the way things are. Keep containment on capacity driving ticket prices higher.

I hope age 65 waits another few years.. it would be bad to pass that with all these guys on the street, but then when did congress or the FAA ever care about pilots.

As for not expanding, I'm sure they're waiting for a time/place.. no company can just hold it's ground for ever.. dynamics are a part of the game.

 

[JAM-BRO]

I hope age 65 waits another few years.. it would be bad to pass that with all these guys on the street, but then when did congress or the FAA ever care about pilots.

As for not expanding, I'm sure they're waiting for a time/place.. no company can just hold it's ground for ever.. dynamics are a part of the game.

Expansion at AA is called BUY NWA!! I think it is going to happen. I am not happy about it but then conditions here suck. One thing is for sure, if we get bought out, it will be great for NWA. That will mean Wilson, Steenland and Cohen will be gone.

 

[75M]

For Everybody at NWA, if you're gonna get bought, I sure hope that ANYBODY BUT American buys you.

It's always better to make it as a stand-alone carrier than to get caught up in the quagmire of an acquisition. That holds true whether you're buying or being bought.

 

[NuGuy]

None of the above, The Tranny is where I sit now. Beats being furloughed any day of the week.

That's interesting considering that AirTran has required letters of resignation if they hired furloughees (since prior to 9/11). How'd you get around that?

Nu

 

[JAM-BRO]

For Everybody at NWA, if you're gonna get bought, I sure hope that ANYBODY BUT American buys you.

It's always better to make it as a stand-alone carrier than to get caught up in the quagmire of an acquisition. That holds true whether you're buying or being bought.

I agree. AMR would be the worst scenario for us. I would preffer that NWA go at it alone. There is nothing we can do about it but hold on for a bumpy ride!

 

[AA717driver]

75M--You home next weekend? I'll give you a call. TC

 

[STL717]

Its about game time so Ill keep this short. I don't know what to think about this industry. If I was at SW, Fedex, or UPS I'd be thrilled, Im not. I do have 250 guys below after a year with 300 + more coming next year. I made more money last year as a first year fo for Airtran than Ive ever made flying. I have a line and atleast 15 days off a month. I will have the opportunity to upgrade in the next 3 years. If I went back to American, I would be at the bottom, on reserve, and not upgrade for what maybe 10 years? A roommate from college was hired there a few months before I got on with TWA. He hated it from day 1. He was very disappointed the way he was treated by other crewmembers when they found out his background wasn't what they determined appropriate. Now he is at Eagle and is has been contemplating getting out of flying all together. I think, but don't quote me, American has furloughed every decade they've been in business. Airtran may not be around in a few years but I don't get treated like dirt by fellow pilots, and we fly good equipment. The contract is a whole other ball of wax. But we could go back and forth on that. My uncle always says when we are hunting "no matter what we do it's gonna be wrong." I feel like that sums up my career to this point; Allegheny, TWA, Flight Options. Hopefully Airtran makes it. Hopefully everyone makes it, this sure isn't the career it used to be. But unless we're gonna go back to school, or buy a franchise, this is all some of us know how to do. So the simple answer to your question for me Airtran or AMR, is Airtran. Feel free to pm me or charbroil me. So much for keeping it short.

Ditto!

I'm exTWA flying for Airtran. I'm goin' to ride this until I get thrown off.

===============================

American will not be number 2. They will buy to maintain their "largest airline in the world" title.

 

[75M]

TC, Home On Wednesday night, til Sunday AM. Gimme a shout.

 

[Cobraair75drvr]

Jam bro,

Unless you are a wb capt. you will be hosed. The only thing aa would want with nwa is the pacific and would only take less 500 wb capts, and staple the rest of us behind TW. Our best hope is our mgmt has the ego to be the surviving airline in a merge with dal or cal and we get doh or get blended via current posistion. Basically no flush or windfalls.

 

[AA717driver]

Cobraair--Management only cares about how THEY come out. If they can get a huge payout by merging/selling, they'll do it. The only other consideration is if they can pull enough weight to be slotted into the #2 spot behind a 65 y.o. CEO...

That's where the BIG bucks are. TC

 

[HA25]

I predict that Airtran gets absorbed into either a post-DAL/AAA merger American Airlines, or UAL.. in the end, the only LCC that is fit to survive is SWA, JB and Airtran are ripe for the buying when the Legacy airlines get strong again and start to put pressure on them in their route structure.

Time will tell, and in the end we can all rest assured that the Managements will win, and the pilots will lose out of any deals that come out.

 

[JAM-BRO]

Jam bro,

Unless you are a wb capt. you will be hosed. The only thing aa would want with nwa is the pacific and would only take less 500 wb capts, and staple the rest of us behind TW. Our best hope is our mgmt has the ego to be the surviving airline in a merge with dal or cal and we get doh or get blended via current posistion. Basically no flush or windfalls.

That would be a big hosing!!!

 

[Lowpayisgreat]

Who buys F9

Well any takers

 

[STL717]

Guessing which airlines are going to merge is just that, guessing.

None of these mergers are logical; they only make sense, or actually cents, to the various people that make large sums of money off the deals. Once they get involved they will see the deal to the end, so they get their money.

 

[tubelcane]

Nuguy,

I didn't get around anything, Flight Options supposedly made you do the same thing. Funny though, nobody asked me to at either place.

 

[jstarav8r]

I predict that Airtran gets absorbed into either a post-DAL/AAA merger American Airlines, or UAL.. in the end, the only LCC that is fit to survive is SWA, JB and Airtran are ripe for the buying when the Legacy airlines get strong again and start to put pressure on them in their route structure.

Time will tell, and in the end we can all rest assured that the Managements will win, and the pilots will lose out of any deals that come out.

If AA buys AirTran, I guess I'll have to staple myself.

 

[AVRO_FO]

In 1999 I left the corporate world making slightly less than $50K a year and had a pile of 401-K money already built up. I was a freshly minted CFI and promply made $7,000 the next year doing that. In 2001 I was hired as an FO at Mesaba and never made more than $36K the whole time there. My ariline career included 9/11, contract negotiation that resulted in the much trumpted "virtual strike", dangled CRJ carrot and airline bankruptcy. My wife and I were arguing about how many holidays I missed while I was there. Thanksgiving was my best one, I only missed three of them.

There isn't a sentence that can be written anymore that would make me consider another airline job. I don't care how much hope you guys put on schedule expansions, fleet upgrades, mergers or whatever. The airlines are like cheap furniture stores, in business to go out of business. The real issue is the capacity in the system. By taking concessions, pilots and all other labor groups are enabling the airlines to continue paying themselves bonues while not addressing the real problems. I just wish I had never known how fun it is to fly planes.........

 

[AA717driver]

Avro--Try getting laid off less than a year after you had been a MD80 Capt. making 160k.

Flying is great. The flying business sucks. Putting in 15 years at TWA was no picnic--constantly looking over your shoulder, waiting for the banks to pull the plug, working for chief pilots who, after 20 years still barely had 2,000 hours of flight time with the company.

But, once I knew I was getting laid off, I came to the realization that flying is what I do. It's what I am. I can't separate "me" from "pilot". There is no "getting out of the business". But that's just me. This is all I've ever wanted to do--literally since I knew what an airplane was.

There will be no Jiffy Lube or Dairy Queen franchise in my future. Hope you find something that makes you happy. TC

 

[AVRO_FO]

Career-wise, I am an aspiring Powerball winner. If I am sucessful watch their website for the press release. On being happy, that comes with being home with my family every night and not in Montreal or OKC or Des Moines.

When I told my wife I was ready to leave the airline, I told her that the things I wanted to do in aviation no longer involve flying airliners. I want to fly a P-51 (there is a place in FL where you can) and I want to find a way to share aviation with my boys, whether it is RC, a small plane that we buy/build or just rent a 152 every once in a while.

I agree that it is hard to seperate the pilot from yourself, but what is easy for me to seperate is the union mentality. I was never a good ALPA member. I vote Republican and had a fiance background. Maybe I should have been an airline manager instead, but I can't treat people as bad as they do and still sleep at night so there goes that career option. ALPA just seems to want to fight something every day. If the airlines came out and said they like the color blue, ALPA would respond that the color blue is a direct assault on the working conditions, saftey and career stability of its membership. If the real problems ever got solved, there would be no need for ALPA so why would ALPA want them solved? The membership that I belonged to at XJ in my opinion approved a luke warm contract in 2004 (which I did not vote for). They just approved concessions that would have further reduced the miserable pay rates I worked under. I have decided to vote with my feet and allow the next generation of XJ pilots to find these things out for themselves.

So, no franchise for me either. I am content to be hopeful that I will find a source of income that is fun. I enjoy being home with my family. I can now implement my personal policy of never doing business with a company that is operating under bankruptcy protection (even if it means not driving a US made vehicle if GM files to get away from there pension obligations (and I would debate you about that a Honda Accord is more of a US car than my Suburban) because I know what it is like to work for a company like that. I may even get a new subscription to AOPA since I am no longer part of the ALPA movement, but I am still a pilot and believe that it is one of the great freedoms that we have in our country, atleast for now.

A month or so ago I was driving along and spotted a CRJ overhead about to enter at mid-field for a downwind at my local airport. In my head I could see what they were seeing, the field there, slowing down, getting the plane configured and so on. I imagined that they were probably wondering if the cafe was still open, if they could get a bite to eat before the return passengers boarded. I'm sure they turned on their cell phones on the taxi in to see if they had any messages from home. All of those things hit me in a moment and I thought I missed them. I then turned and looked in the seat next to me, and the birthday cake that was there for my son. I thought about how nice it was that I didn't have to call in sick to be there that day, that the seniority I had wouldn't have allowed me to bid a schedule to be there. That I wouldn't have to pack a bag and leave the next day, or worse that afternoon. I haven't had a meal out of a bag in the last two months hardly. I wont bore you with anything else but this. The above things I have seperated from myself very nicely. What is left is still a pilot to the core.

 

[HA25]

If AA buys AirTran, I guess I'll have to staple myself.

Why? IT should go by earnings.. A 3rd yr guy at AirTran made a lot more money than a 3rd year AA..