wood pecker said:
I still believe AirTran is and will continue to be succesful but after talking to crews either at work or on the bus to the hotel I detect that they are not as thrilled about AirTran's future as far as compared to becoming the next Southwest w/ one big happy team.
We are currently in contract talks. What you are sensing is probably reflecting some of that, and there is probably some truth in some of it, and some exagerration in others. Let's look at the issues you have raised and try to sort them out:
The cost of health insurance is definitely a concern, and a subject on the NPA list for our next contract. The degree to which the insurance costs affects you
is a function of how many are in your family, where you live, what coverage you select, and how much you make per hour. If you live in a city served by AirTran, you are eligible for the HMO, which is quite a bit less expensive, but as you know, gives you less freedom of choice.
If you live outside of an AirTran city, have kids, and select the PPO, you are paying entirely too much for insurance, IMHO. However, a newhire making $4000. a month paying $430 a month for PPO Platinum is paying almost 11% of his gross in health insurance (it is taken out before tax). A Captain, living outside ATL making 5th yr pay, is paying about 4%. A Captain living in ATL, using the HMO, is paying only 2.5%.
So, although it is a concern for all, that may help put that issue in perspective. Now that the FO's have an FO representative, maybe that issue will become a higher priority.
yup, the Company has been interpreting the contract to suit itself (Contract Negotiations 101). This is disappointing, and is where we diverge from SWA. Our management is still playing with an old playbook. If they succeed in dragging us down to that level, it could indeed get ugly.
What's to get worried about here? This is nothing new, been going on forever. If and when it happens, it should improve QOL for all pilots, since half of us are all trying to commute to ATL.
See Contract Negotiations 101
Never had this happen, and never heard of it happen to anyone. Be it outstation parking, or ordering pizzas for stranded pax, I have never heard of anyone not being reimbursed promptly.
plane delivery slow downs
According to the Q1 conference call on 4/26/05 they are anticipating 19 more airframes in 2005 (15 73NG, 4 B717). They also said that if oil is still $60./bbl, and there is still weak yields and overcapacity, that if they can't find profitable routes to deploy the planes on, they could lease them at a profit to overseas carriers. That doesn't necessarily mean a slow down is coming, but it does sounds like pretty prudent planning to me. Delta's management should be so smart.
and management blaming labor
Actually, if you listen to the conference call, they spend the opening remarks praising labor for our efficiency and for raising our rankings in terms of service, customer satisfaction, on-time, etc
Labor wants insurance costs lowered but management wants labor costs lowered so if each side gives a little then you have lower insurance but your making less money.
Well, this is pretty elementary stuff, isn't it? You don't get something for nothing.
Anybody else feeling the same or is this just the result of posting while drinking and wondering why AAI has not called?
When I was a newhire, I used to ride the same hotel van as the UPS crews 3 nights a week. I was truly amazed to find that these crews, for the entire 10-15 mintues we were on the van, seemed to just go around the van, and each one would b!tch about their company. I remember being relieved as hell to get off of that van, and go to my job, making probably half of what these guys were, just to get out of that atmosphere.
So far, that hasn't happened here, not by a long shot, and I hope it never does. I just wish that we had the more progressive management that SWA does, instead of dragging out that tattered old Contract 101 playbook, but until that changes, you are probably goinng to continue to hear griping, and it is up to you to evaluate what is valid, and what isn't.
I come in, fly my trips, have some fun, and also try to leave this place a little better than I found it . . . then I leave my flight case in the bag room, and go home. You can't let Contract 101 get to you, and most of our guys know that.
