AA news

[Isla Mujeres]

This is Captain Ralph Hunter, APA President, with the APA Information Hotline for Monday, January 31.

APRIL 1 FURLOUGHS: Today American Airlines management announced an additional 70 pilot furloughs effective April 1, with March 31 the last day of work for this group of pilots.

The Flight Department has been notifying the April 1 furloughees today. The most senior pilot scheduled for furlough is First Officer XXXXX, seniority XXXXX. According to the Flight Department, the furloughs break down by base as follows: BOS, 10; DCA, 1; DFW, 4; LAX, 3; LGA, 18; MIA, 6; ORD, 1; SFO, 1; and STL, 26.

Although I've already announced pilot furloughs a few times in my seven months as APA President, it hasn't gotten any easier with practice. My heart goes out to the pilot families affected by today's announcement. We wish you the best under what are clearly difficult circumstances, and look forward to the day when all of our furloughed pilots return to our cockpits. With the group of 70 on April 1, we will have a total of 2,892 American Airlines pilots and their families on furlough.

 

[doh]

Jeez, I keep hoping that it will end...

 

[blzr]

I thought AA was getting their Shizzle together?

 

[Snoopy58]

What do the new furloughs equate to in terms of date of hire for nAAtives and TWA pilots?

 

[Andy]

Good luck to all of you AAers. I hope that things turn around for you and recalls start very soon.

Tailwinds.

 

[CitationLover]

were these in addition to the 425 announced for this year (which was 325 in jan and 100 in mar) or is this a new batch in addition for them?

 

[BigMotorToter]

What do the new furloughs equate to in terms of date of hire for nAAtives and TWA pilots?

TWA-Oct. 1988

AA-?

 

[Hoot R. Hunter]

Welcome to the CRAAPA hotline for Monday, January 31st. Well, I was over at the mansion with the boss last night. After I got finished unclogging his toilet, he told me the company would be furloughing yet again. I was somewhat surprised but when he introduced me to the concept of spreadsheet management I walked away in complete agreement. In this case its simple. You take the number of mainline whores willing to work 1000 hours per year (look for software shortly on the ASSociation website to facilitate tracking) + the number of mainline whores willing to work OT for premium dollars over the holidays (remarks about latent scab tendencies will not be tolerated and will be persecuted and procescuted to the fullest extent possible) + the number of mainline pilots afraid of their own shadow + the number of junior whores willing to work for $19.00/hour (look mommy, I'm a jet airline pilot) - 31% = three thousand plus excess mainline jobs. Me and my peeps will be meeting shortly (I can't tell you exactly when otherwise those non-team players from NY and south FL will insist on coming) to discuss all the ramifications of this latest decision. However, the prospects for some quality Spring Break/Easter trough time are looking mighty sweet. That's all for today, thanks for calling.

 

[furloughfodder]

Good post Hoot. These pilots at AA are the lowest of the low, they have been whoring themselves out for 2 years now, and it is only getting worse. They have one motto: "EAT THE YOUNG!!!"

PS- For those wondering, the most senior AA pilot on fulough now will be a Feb 2000 hire.

 

[On Your Six]

Seriously, AA is a shadow of what it once was - it is now a floundering, weak, pathetic legacy carrier. The DFW situation only puts more pressure on it and will likely result in more layoffs to cut costs... UAL is also a POS legacy. These are sad days - c'mon Virgin America - we're waiting for your super-low salaries to drop the bar even further...

 

[Bandit21]

You take the number of mainline whores willing to work 1000 hours per year (look for software shortly on the ASSociation website shortly to facilitate tracking) + the number of mainline whores willing to work OT for premium dollars over the holidays (remarks about latent scab tendencies will not be tolerated and will be persecuted and procescuted to the fullest extent possible) + the number of mainline pilots afraid of their own shadow + the number of junior whores willing to work for $19.00/hour (look mommy, I'm a jet airline pilot) - 31% = three thousand plus excess mainline jobs.

Sorry, But AA was a long way to go!!! At UAL the Whores can fly to 95 hours a month... ( on 737&A320---89 on widebodies ) Then there is Junior manning where they get 1 1/2 pay to work on days off to cover open trips when they are short... You think 2800+ furloughs is bad...
Wait until your MD-80 Monthly CAP is raised to 95 hours...And it will be or the company will go bankrupt, or at least that'll be the ecxuse...That should throw several hundred more on the street...

Pre 9-11 UAL 10400 pilots, now 7000...That's with 2132 furloughed ( 40 recalled )

Good luck to you all...

 

[Hoot R. Hunter]

These pilots at AA are the lowest of the low......

Probably a better statement would be amongst the lowest of the low. Plenty of behavior, not limited to one pilot group, that must be making those who risked and lost life, limb, family, and fortune to better the profession puke in their graves. Flying the Line III ain't gonna be a pretty story.........

Regards,

 

[BFC Lone Wolf]

Sorry to hear about more furloughs.

The good news is you are not loosing your jobs all together. You get to move into American Eagles top paying job as captain. As fast as AA is shrinking and Eagle is growing there will always be vacancies because they will just displace Eagle guys out of the seats.

 

[enigma]

In relation to Mainline pilots doing things like whore-ing OT when junior pilots are out on furlought............I was flying a couple of weeks ago with an FO who came to our company from one of the famous "buy a job" operations. He related to me, that most of the non-foreign PFT'rs were the sons and daughters of major airline Captains. It seems that solidarity takes a back seat to selfishness to all too many of these guys.

Ironically, the downward pressure on wages comes from nothing more than the availability of cheaper replacement labor. Guess where that cheap replacement labor is coming from? ....That's riiiiight folks. We continue to crank out low timers, who are using Captain Daddys money to undercut Daddy's junior FO's. It sort of makes you feel all warm and cozy don't it?

enigma

 

[PastFastMover]

Back in 1978 when the airlines were deregulated it was my opinion that the main reason was the gutting of the unions. It has taken over 25 years but it seems that the industry is in the last thows of that act. Unfortunately, there are way too many pilots willing to work for anything just to get into the door so that they can one day be considered an airline pilot. The problem as I see it is that crap entry level job may be the end game not the entry level. Too many seats chasing too few passengers.

Who was the loser at AA that had to be the biggest no matter what. Buying aircraft and hiring tons of pilots right into the biggest downturn the industry has seen. Some of you might not like this but AA should have never hired or bought aircraft the last number of years. (The union never decides how many pilots are needed, the marketplace does.) Plus didn't they buy several carriers for God knows what reason right into the downturn.

It always amazes me that pilots love to bash other pilots for all the ills that befall them. Do you see doctors or lawyers doing that, or any other profession?. Maybe the venom should be directed elsewhere.

I retire soon, but wish all that are still in the industry good luck. It seems this job has always been just a fluke of when you were born, and who was hiring when you were of age. Only prolbem now is that there are more than enough management types willing to start companys and pay crap and dump excess capacity into the mix. And a ton of pilots eagerly waiting to work for them at non professional wages. Goofy situation.

 

[75M]

The good news is you are not losing your jobs all together. You get to move into American Eagles top paying job as captain. As fast as AA is shrinking and Eagle is growing, there will always be vacancies because they will just displace Eagle guys out of the seats.

That's the good news?

 

[LAXSaabdude]

That's the good news?

Actually, it's not even the truth. Eagle takes its last jet in July, so no more growth. Nice try.

LAXSaabdude.

 

[Hoot R. Hunter]

.... You get to move into American Eagles top paying job as captain....

Gee, I guess this is what the HR folks meant when they said they expected the time to captain to drop significantly in the near future.

 

[aa73]

were these in addition to the 425 announced for this year (which was 325 in jan and 100 in mar) or is this a new batch in addition for them?

These are part of the 425 announced for 2005. So far, we had 123 + 60 + 44 + 70 = 297 total so far. Everyone seems to think that they are not going to go the full 425, rather between 300-350.

Let's hope these are the last round. Although I'm probably wrong.

73

 

[Pilotbob3]

the announcment was "up to 450"