Air Tran vs. Jet Blue

[jetblue320]

I have heard that JB was set up nicely to be purchased in the future. When it comes to corporate finance I sit right next to Forest Gump, so I would like to hear about this from anyone who is knowledgable. I would fear any type of change of command at JB, David and Dave seem to have their stuff wired and any change would have to be for the worse.

Also, would love to hear thoughts on union vs non-union as well as thoughts on whose long term benefits are better.

Thanks to all.

Fresh

Firstly, JB is not likely to be sold anytime in the future, near or otherwise. It was not, repeat not, set up that way even though it may appear to be that way. I know both David and Dave on a personal level and speaking for David's own beliefs, jetBlue is not now, nor ever will be for sale. This ship is David's dream come true and believe me, he is not in it for the money. The man has probably over $100 million + and it's not a "financial venture" for him. I have heard him say these exact words.... "I have enough money for me and my family and their families for years to come, it's not about the money". Besides, David is only about a 5% +/- investor in jetBlue and only has one vote on the Board of Directors. Here's a factoid that is public info but a lot of people may not know; David contributes his entire salary ($200k a year) to a jetBlue employee crisis fund. Get the picture? As far as Dave B. goes, he is our General and you won't find a more committed individual around. He will be here for a long time to come. He turned down a very high level, high paying job at DL to come here from the start and will be here to put the padlock on the gate if it ever happens, which I doubt.

Secondly, as far as a union at jetBlue; possible? yes. Probable? no, not any time soon if ever. If there ever is any "organization" in my opinion it would be in-house representation. You would be hard pressed to find 10 pilots on the property to date that would even consider ALPA/Teamsters or any others. Could this change someday, sure, I guess, but it is highly unlikely. We have a large contingent of pilots here now because they were furloughed or otherwise "let down" by their ALPA buddies and believe me it has become a bad word on the streets at jetBlue.

Anyway, I hope this helped you.

 

[UAL'01]

I could not agree more with most of the posts. Both are good companies and everything else being equal, why don't you go with the one that invites you to ground school first? Unless you have two job offers, I would think it would be prudent to take the first job to come up.
Good luck to you.

 

[jaxgus]

Rumors

Jetb is a great company with a good buisness plan. However, I elected a few years ago to never work at another carrier without a contract and so things will eventually change at JB. It only takes getting burned by an airline once or twice to develope this mind set. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the company just shelve a raise promised to you guys at JB?

My jetBlue contract spells out yearly raises based on seniority like any other carrier. As for jetBlue " . . . shelving a promised raise . . ." this is not correct! We were never promised a raise which was subsequently cancelled.
There was a lot of speculation we might receive one, by us pilots, so I asked Al Spain (VP of Operations) as to the status of a raise and he publically stated "there are no official plans to provide a raise to the pilots at this time." Bottom-line, we weren't burned by management over a raise, all I had to do was ask them a direct question and I got a direct answer with the rationale behind it (see next paragraph).
jetBlue is committed to cost-control and the market is extremely competetive at this time. I would like a raise like any other person working in America, but I am happy we aren't arbitrarily raising salaries while Song, American and TED are agressively targeting jetBlue's market share. Having a good paying job at a growing company is a lot better (IMHO) than a great paying job at one who files bankrupcy because of sky rocketing costs.

jaxgus

P.S. My lawyer (like this really adds credibility) really like jetBlue's contract and felt it was a very thorough employment contract. Yes, I had him review it before I signed.