AirTran MEC CYA

[redflyer65]

Bubba . . . whatsa matter? You don't seem yourself today. Did you forget to bid this month?

In case anyone's forgotten, before the 717, AirTran used to operate 737-200 and DC9's. When I was a newhire, we only had a dozen 717 . . . everything else was DC9, and if you think the 737 classics were byzantine, you should catch a ride in a DC9 sometime.

I would suggest that most pilots playing at this level are not going to have an issue with hand-flying or scan . . . As someone who sat on the bench for two years, I can tell you that 90% of returning to flying involved FMC/Checklists/Changes to SOP's/Re-establishing habit patterns. Hand-flying the airplane has become so ingrained, it's like driving a car.

Seems to me like this is just one more turd offered up by those who want to find reason #29 to justify taking things from AirTran pilots and giving them to SWA pilots.

Speaking of turds . . . A friend who transitioned to SWA last year related a pretty amusing story about a rather clueless SWA FO who was telling everyone at the table how AirTran pilots couldn't possibly be ready for the left seat at SWA . . . When pressed for a reason, he stated that " . . . SWA operated in the Northeast in winter, and they have to deal with deicing and things that the AirTran pilots weren't used to". :erm:

He was SHOCKED to learn that AirTran had been operating in LGA, PHL, BOS and other places long before SWA got there.

So, I guess we could say that a few turds waltzed in the front door, too. :laugh:

Safe to say you weren't the AAI guys high fiving themselves when the purchase was announced.

or the FI guys begging to be stapled because Airtran was so bad?

 

[SWA Bubba]

Bubba . . . whatsa matter? You don't seem yourself today. Did you forget to bid this month?

In case anyone's forgotten, before the 717, AirTran used to operate 737-200 and DC9's. When I was a newhire, we only had a dozen 717 . . . everything else was DC9, and if you think the 737 classics were byzantine, you should catch a ride in a DC9 sometime.

...

Nah, just a joke because he was ragging on our "old" airplanes vs. your "new" airplanes. I wasn't actually questioning anyone's flying competence. Mainly I was just twisting his tail about him not knowing the differences or timeframes between types of 737s. Trust me, I know about old airplanes; I was in the military. I'm also familiar with AirTran/ValueJet history and former aircraft (old DC-9s, etc), although I didn't remember them having 737-200s. I think I even remember seeing an Airbus at MCO painted in AirTran colors once, but I think I heard that was a wetlease from somebody else.

Bubba

 

[redflyer65]

Ryanair lease for the west coast cities.

They needed to get some experience to help with the west coast long haul since the 717 hardly made it out of the Southeast. Savannah turn anyone?

Just kidding of course.

Pretty sure it was only to get the routes going immediately while they waited for their own 737s to make it on line. Were all the AAI 737s new off the Boeing line?

 

[fletch717]

Ryanair lease for the west coast cities.

They needed to get some experience to help with the west coast long haul since the 717 hardly made it out of the Southeast. Savannah turn anyone?

Just kidding of course.

Pretty sure it was only to get the routes going immediately while they waited for their own 737s to make it on line. Were all the AAI 737s new off the Boeing line?

When jetblue announced atl to long beach, Airtran had to act quick to protect their future growth plans. The 73's were on order but we had yet to receive them. Hence the sublease with Ryan air. The 71 was going to lax and las thru DFW.

 

[maxblast72]

Both Southwest and AirTran have a majority of great pilots with a few weak pilots mixed in.

The question the SLI arbitration panel would have answered was did Southwest's superior brand recognition/revenue generation potential/financial balance sheet strength add to the AirTran pilot's career expectations and job security. Some AirTran pilots like PCL128 thought the arbitration panel would have ignored this while the AirTran Merger Commitee did not.

 

[FlyinGuy]

Would you all quit farting on the interweb....

 

[Luv2BFlyin]

Both Southwest and AirTran have a majority of great pilots with a few weak pilots mixed in.

The question the SLI arbitration panel would have answered was did Southwest's superior brand recognition/revenue generation potential/financial balance sheet strength add to the AirTran pilot's career expectations and job security. Some AirTran pilots like PCL128 thought the arbitration panel would have ignored this while the AirTran Merger Commitee did not.

This clown got "negotiating" and Stockholm syndrome confused. He thought is was doing one, when in reality, he was being affected by the other.

 

[redflyer65]

Both Southwest and AirTran have a majority of great pilots with a few weak pilots mixed in.

The question the SLI arbitration panel would have answered was did Southwest's superior brand recognition/revenue generation potential/financial balance sheet strength add to the AirTran pilot's career expectations and job security. Some AirTran pilots like PCL128 thought the arbitration panel would have ignored this while the AirTran Merger Commitee did not.

Max is exactly right.

The arbitration panel would not have turned their back on the strength of the Southwest job vs the question marks at Airtran.

I agree, alot of great people at both airlines and I look forward to flying with the cool ex-Trannies. The non-cool, not so much (both SW&AAI).

 

[DonVerita]

Were all the AAI 737s new off the Boeing line?

Yes, all were brand new from the factory. Once AirTran got rid of the old DC-9's way back when, they always bought new equipment from then on. All 717's were bought new, however we did pick up our last 2 a couple of years ago from a foreign carrier due to some sort of provision in the agreement with Boeing that got executed as a tie-in with 737-700 deliveries.

A question for you: Is there somewhere on SWALife where the current fleet count can be found and that gets updated regularly? I see a count on AirlinePilotCentral but have often wondered where those posters get their information.

 

[redflyer65]

Type the word 'fleet' in the search box in the up right side. There is some good information there that's updated monthly.

There is another location that shows the aircraft mx schedules in real-time, but I can't seem to find it right now. If I do, I'll post the way to get there.