AA: How to Address/Phone change?

[dirkdigler]

I am one of the guys who went all the way through the employment process and was waiting on a class date just before September 11th. Does anyone know how we are supposed to go about notifying them of address/phone number change?

 

[HA25]

Are they even keeping the paperwork on us lost soles? I never heard what our disposition is, have you? The number I got to call is not answering.

 

[Riddy]

I'm in the same boat. It'd be nice to know if/how we'll be considered when they start hiring again. I don't have another $100 to apply again.

 

[Clownpilot]

hiring

The recruiting office has been closed. All personnel in that department have been reassigned. AA will not man it again until there is an imminent need. Their last projection was that it would be at least 2 years before they looked at opening the office again.

 

[HA25]

Re: hiring

The recruiting office has been closed. All personnel in that department have been reassigned. AA will not man it again until there is an imminent need. Their last projection was that it would be at least 2 years before they looked at opening the office again.

Its gonna be tough to go back to the pre-sept 11th schedule later this year as announced in the New York Times two days ago, if they don't re-open that office sooner than two years, I would think. They are still loosing some 300 guys just due to age 60, let alone early retirements and any kind of expansion, should the economy grow as predicted by most economists.

I am a bit more optomistic, I say with in a year American will be holding new hire classes.

 

[Poland Spring]

Not to be a smart-a#@##, but two years in this industry is like an eternity! I think the move to reach pre-Sept capacity, however is to flush out the weaker carriers, i.e. bleed them out of cash. AMR just raised a ton of money and they know that other carriers such as CAL and U can't expand, much less gain access to cash (they are already so highly leveraged). I am at one of the weaker carriers (on furlough) and I think there will be some major consolidation in the future. Just my two cents, and I hope things get better before they get worse. I agree with the opinion that things may get back to normal (whatever that is) by this time next year (barring another terrorist act) and keep hearing that NWA may be recalling this summer. I have several buddies on furlough over there and they keep me posted, probably with the same rumors we have heard, but hey, at least they aren't rumors of more furloughs! All the best

-P Springs

p.s. like the woman in Jaws who said, "24 hours is like three weeks" so goes 2 years in the airlines is like 20 years in the real world!

 

[HPaul3]

American Airlines, Other Urban Legends

I was in the same boat with respect to class at AA. Based on what I have heard from them (absolutely zero) since Sept 13th, 2001, I would have to believe they are not even considering bringing new pilots on board in the next year, probably more like two years. Why so pessimistic (not really my nature)? Put yourself in their shoes. If you had a list of people who you had interviewed, medically screened, background checked and scheduled for class, and you had heard the *slightest* rumor that the company would need pilots in the near future, wouldn't you have the foresight to at least crank out a form letter to the people on that list, saying essentially "you're still in the running, but don't call us, we'll call you"? I would. The letter could be as non-committal as is humanly possible, but I would still want to throw something at the people on the list, just for goodwill sake. Since I've not seen the slightest gesture of that nature, I must believe the pilot accession plan is locked away as tightly as the cache of moon rocks at the Smithsonian.

Sorry for the bummer post; send me a note and we'll talk about something happy, like my tulips breaking through the snow here in IL.

Cheers!
HP

 

[bayoubandit]

I am a bit more optomistic, I say with in a year American will be holding new hire classes.

Not to be a pest and burst the optomism bubble. I'm not sure this is realistically possible. AA still has about 700 (TWA & AA) guys on furlough. The training department has said they can only do appr. 50/month. If AA continued to recall all 700, it will take 14 months just to train the recalls. Word has it that there will be no further recalls in 2002. Remember, the 727's are or will be gone in the next month, that leaves a lot of guys and gals to be obsorbed into the system. IMO, the amount of retirements is not enough to offset the fleet retirement. As for expansion, AA would have to accept 50 new delieveries before any true expansion (pre-Sept) could be justified. I don't think this doesn't mean vacancies won't appear and recalls won't happen before we take delieveries, it's just food for thought and hopefully I am wrong. These are just my thoughts and am hoping for recall in '03.

I'll try to find an answer for those of you who had or are awaiting class dates after the furlough as to what your status is.

 

[Magic]

Why only 50/month?

The logical question is why only 50/month? I was in the last class at AA that started on 20 Aug. 36 out of 51 of us went to the 727 as FEs. There are no more 72s hence all that training capacity is lost. Initial training will now be in the F100, S80, and occasionally the 757 (LaGuardia). There are only so many sims of those types, thus 50/month is the estimated max. I will be surprised if any furloughees are back this year. 450 727 crewmembers being retrained in other types will probably fill any needs for the rest of the year. IMO it will take most, if not all, of next year to get all the furloughees back. There will be one less to call back. I start at Southwest on March 27th. I don't mean to be pessimistic, just realistic. Lets hope I'm full of it and everyone is called back soon. Nothing would make happier. Good luck to everybody.

Cheers,

 

[bayoubandit]

Magic,

Congrats on the job! So I take it your not going to accept the recall back to AA. If not, thanks for the extra #.

 

[HA25]

I'm sure Southwest made him resign his AA number anyway, but to each his own. Good luck at SW.

I still think that if AA wanted to they can train 150 a month, you forget that TWA also has training facilities. As for 727 retirements, yes, but they are still taking 9 777's, 15 767's and 40+ 737-800's. They will sell off the 717's and some of the TWA 767's but that is not imediate. I also think that as the economy heats up, the airline with the capacity will be the airline that gets the business. And as mentioned above, AA has the cash to add capacity while the others just shrivle away into 2nd tier airlines. I'll bet on it.

 

[BacktoAA]

I believe your figures on deliveries are incorrect. Previous announcements by the company show that it will take deliveries of 9 aircraft this year, in a mix of 75s, 76s, and 777s (press releases immediately after 9/11.). All 737 deliveries have been deferred at least until 2003. There are going to be many fewer airplanes on the property at the end of this year as opposed to last. Here are a couple of ask and answers addressing this:


Q: Does the 2002 operating plan call for opening DCA 737 domestic bid status this year or in the near future? If it's not addressed in the plan, do you have any guesses as to when it might happen if at all?


A: No. Since we are not taking delivery of any new B737s for more than a year, it is doubtful we will open up any new B737 bid status.

Total Number of Aircrafts

Q: After buying TWA last April, how many aircraft did the combined companies have at that time? After the retirement of the 727's, how many aircraft will we have as of June 1st?

A: In April 2001 we had 897 aircraft combined with TWA and AA. By June we will have 828 aircraft combined.


Bottom line - we need to start taking deliveries of some of these deferred aicraft to get everybody back off the street.

 

[HA25]

Ok, I don't know how old that info is, and you may well be right. But I read in a press release about a month ago, that AMR and Boeing came to an "agreement" on the delivery of aircraft and those were the numbers that were given thru 2003. So either, they changed their mind, or I read a phantom release (which I doubt). If you go to smiling jack's hangar and read their Message board, you will also see a similar post there stating that they are indeed getting these planes, but that they are also retiring a similar number of 727's and TWA stuff. So make what you want of it, I still say that if American wants to go back to pre-911 schedule as they are soon to announce, they can't do it with 60+ fewer airplanes.....unless they were planning to use those 126 RJ's to replace mainline flying

 

[BacktoAA]

Believe me, I am trying to be an optimist as much as anyone else, being on furlough sucks. I'm just trying to keep the chaff separate. Be careful of the context from which that "pre 9/11" schedule was stated. What you are referring to was a press release regarding our Atlantic flying out of New York. It stated that American would be returning to the "pre 9/11" schedule - out of New York for Atlantic flying (although the press release did not specifically state that, a little ambiguous) - that is true. However, it has been stated several times by company folks that we will not acheive a true pre-09/11 schedule for a couple of years. Again the driving factor is - aircraft. Again, I hope I did misinterpret everything I've been reading on the company ask and answer forum, but I'm betting that the last furloughees will be recalled by late 2003 - at best. I hope they keep you guys in the queue and get you on board as soon as possible, I don't want to be ~100 from the bottom forever. Good luck to all.

Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst.

 

[BacktoAA]

By the way, those last couple of ask and answers that I posted were both from within the last 10 to 20 days.

 

[HA25]

Thanks for the info. That is indeed different if they are just returning their atlantic schedule. Again, I remain optomistic that the economy will change all of this. Good luck all.

 

[TWA Dude]

From today's A&A:

Q: I'm hearing rumors that an American spokesperson said AA will be to 100% pre 9/11 by the end of this year, is this true?


A: We will be 100% of our aircraft utilization by year end. We will not be at 100% of the operating schedule of pre-September 11th. We will be at about 90% of our pre-September 11th operating schedule. Ten percent of the fleet was grounded (B727/B717).

Anne Evans
Director Flight Administration

 

[HA25]

That is too bad indeed. However I think there are two variables that can effect this:

1. Section 6 negotiations with AMR

2. The business traveller has YET to return. This rebound in traffic is mostly low yield leasure travel. As the economy build back up, so will high yield business travel. I say, that when business travel picks up to pre-911, so will American.

 

[Nocturnal1]

I was just at AA last month going through the sim. The door to recruiting is locked shut...and all inside is gathering dust. I tried to persuade some contacts I had there to give me the latest and there is no "latest". Wish I had better news! I too was one of those scheduled to start in Oct. 01. Best of luck to all of us.

 

[bayoubandit]

Hiring

For those of you who were waiting for a class date, here;s the answer to your question. This is from Ask & Answer

I know this is a long time away, but when hiring resumes, does AA have any plans to bring in the people who were hired (passed interview, medical) and awaiting a class date when the furlough occurred, or would those in that position have to reapply when pilot recruitment opens up again. Thanks in advance.



A couple of things will determine AA's policy when hiring starts. The first, as you pointed out, is the length of time before AA hires again. The second is any new regulations that might be a product of the September 11th events.

Obviously the longer period that passes before AA hires the greater the chance candidates will have to reapply. At a minimum, the medical will no longer be valid and the candidates experience gained during AA's non-hiring period will need to be reviewed. Also, we can predict with some certainty that new government hiring regulations/requirements will be in place which must be met making it hard to predict future requirements.

Kathy Gilmore
Flight Department
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