Airtran posts 4th quarter profit of 1.9 million

[T3700]

Ty, there are now stickers at SWA that has your name with circle/slash to show the displeasure of this purchase. You are becoming infamous in a Lee Harvey Oswald kind of way.

Wow, is your life so meaningless that you actually make up stickers about some anonymous person on the internet?

 

[gt1900]

Not true. My domicile rep says they were briefed by an outside consultant and that even a staple gives every pilot on your seniority list an increase in career earnings when the payrates, rigs, and retirement are factored in.

What you forget is that its not all about earnings. And like I said before, you are comparing current contracts. If AAI was to merge with ALA and take their contract, then everything changes. Besides, its not all about the money all the time. Quality of Life is very important. Im currently a senior FO who gets pretty much any schedule I want. I get weekends, Holidays, can pretty much pick my trips, and can get any time off that I need. Currently, I'll also retire in the top 1% at AAI , so I will hold very good schedules again once I get towards retirement. Right now, quality of life is more important then the pay. And I do just fine on my AAI pay. I don't want to retire in the top 30% and not be able to get good schedules when I want to spend time with friends and family as I get older. I don't mind falling a little in relative seniority, but I do not want to fall much.. The SWA contract is great, but it wasn't worth it to the F9 guys to get stapled, and they were a bankrupt airline in the midst of pay cuts. AAI has been profitable for 8 of the last 9 years, had movement (if it weren't for the SWA merger), and is a pretty stable company, so it REALLY isn't worth it for us. Don't get me wrong, Id love to come to SWA and help build a better airline with you guys and take over the world. But I do not want to do it at the risk of losing all me seniority and starting near the bottom, no matter how good the pay is.

 

[Ty Webb]

. . . .

 

[S3sundowner]

GT, a sensible post. After the "proposed" hiring and a fence for, say, 2 years, retirements kick in and new hires will mean that you might never see a significant degradation in your qol.

 

[roughneck]

GT, very sensible indeed. I hope your M/C is wise enough to know that relative seniority isn't an option. They would be doing a service to your group if they begin to work on fence restrictions that protect your QOL after you are placed on the bottom end of our seniority list. You should absolutely keep what you brought to the table. Fence off ATL to protect your QOL longterm and call it a day. That sure beats the alternative.

 

[gt1900]

Roughneck... It would be nice if you tried to keep this sensible as well. Do you honestly think we will be happy at the bottom end of your seniority list? The "alternative" as you say, is that AAI keeps growing, keeps expanding into the caribbean, and we possibly look to merge with a company such as ALA. While SWA continues to have the best contract out there, with relatively no growth, and no international flying.

Heres an idea. Put SWA's top 850 (the guys hired before AAI was even a company) on the top, put AAI's bottom 100 (the guys hired after SWA stopped hiring) on the bottom, and integrate everyone else 1-4 (or whatever the ratio would be between the remaining pilots), and then put up a 3-5 year fence. The AAI guys would lose a little relative seniority overall (they would lose a lot the first 5 years, but it wouldn't matter if there was a fence), but it wouldn't efffect anyone short term.

IMO, that would fall somewhere between relative seniority, and date of hire. At the end of 5 years, most of the top SWA guys would be gone (and a few of the AAI guys) and I "think" everyone would be only slightly unhappy. And IMO that would be a very good success.

 

[Ty Webb]

If you put up a big ol' fence, how am I going to fly with my new fan club?

Ty

 

[roughneck]

The "alternative" as you say, is that AAI keeps growing, keeps expanding into the caribbean, and we possibly look to merge with a company such as AL

How are you going to grow? You no longer have any airplane orders. Nobody wants to buy you other than SWA because we want your gates in ATL and a few slots. The alternative is a lot closer to Muse Air than it is Delta.

Do you honestly think we will be happy at the bottom end of your seniority list?

You seem to keep confusing yourself with the acquiring carrier. It doesn't matter what you are happy with in the end.

 

[MILPILOT17]

If you put up a big ol' fence, how am I going to fly with my new fan club?

Ty

Maybe we could put a special exclusion in for Ty to jump the fence every couple of months or so Oh, and you buy the beer!

 

[gt1900]

How are you going to grow? You no longer have any airplane orders. Nobody wants to buy you other than SWA because we want your gates in ATL and a few slots. The alternative is a lot closer to Muse Air than it is Delta.



You seem to keep confusing yourself with the acquiring carrier. It doesn't matter what you are happy with in the end.

Why don't we have any airplane orders? If it weren't for the SWA deal we would still have 50 or 55 on order, and theres 20 or so 717's sitting in the desert. AAI was growing, and "was" hiring pilots, unlike SWA.. Who cares if nobody else wanted to purchase AAI, making money 8 out of 9 years and a growing economy would look pretty good to me. AAI doesn't need to be bought by anyone to remain profitable and grow. The alternative is a company that continues to grow slowly and continues to make profits.

You keep confusing AAI with a company that was bankrupt and needs to be bought out. AAI is none of those. AAI is a very stable airline that can continue to make money in the future. Why else would SWA be interested in purchasing us?

Again. We can come to the table and be reasonable, or we can come to the table and make unrealistic demands. AAI is not F9, and yes, we will demand to be treated fairly. Either that, or we will have another USAir debacle on our hands. I don't think anyone wants that.