AirTran Strike Vote...98 percent say YES!

[radarlove]

AAI will have to increase fares approximately $3-5 per person per leg to offset it.

Spoken like a congressman raising taxes. You do realize, do you not, that Airtran can't raise fares without losing customers?

I'm constantly amazed that every pilot I've come across apparently got through college without taking even an intro to economics course.

If you plan on taking 20% of the net profit, then be honest and say that you're taking the profit from the shareholders and putting it in your pocket.

there isn't some magical well of money that Airtran corporate can dip into by raising fares to "offset" higher wages. Your fares are already set where profits are maximized.

Why not raise fares $50 per ticket to fund a new pension plan?

 

[knowlimits]

I wonder what the strike vote percentage was before Eastern struck? And how many of these guys have now voted twice?

Never forget.

 

[maxblast72]

Great job trying to scare guys with Eastern Strike rhetoric, but Eastern was heading downhill due to poor management throughout the 80s. The strike just expedited the showdown with Lorenzo.

Supposedly, our complete proposal that we laid on the table recently represented a $100 million a year increase in pilot costs to Airtran. I would imagine the negotiators expect an agreement to be struck below that number. I threw $60-80 million as my guess to where we settle at. Airtran yearly pilot costs are around $200 million per year. That means every $20 million in yearly cost increases comes out to roughly 10%. We are in a big poker game. I try to get some numbers out there to let everyone make their own informed decision.

 

[ATLplt]

Max, keep making those estimates. You're an asset to the FL pilot group and often a voice of reason on this board.

Knowlimits, the Easten strike and what's going on at AirTran are as different as black and white.

 

[Lear70]

Spoken like a congressman raising taxes. You do realize, do you not, that Airtran can't raise fares without losing customers?

AirTran has been raising fares $3-5 per leg very quietly about every 3-4 months for the last 18 months. I know because I've been buying my tickets revenue rather than burn non-rev passes from friends for my leisure travel to MCO with my son. I don't like flying standby when going on vacation, and have watched the fares come up at ALL the airlines in the last 6-8 months especially.

I'm constantly amazed that every pilot I've come across apparently got through college without taking even an intro to economics course.

Macro and Micro I and II. Ticket prices and demand are not perfectly elastic in the airline industry. Aviation economics don't conform to general business economic principles in many, basic ways; we've known this for years.

If you plan on taking 20% of the net profit, then be honest and say that you're taking the profit from the shareholders and putting it in your pocket.

Shareholders don't buy airline stock to make money off the pennies of earnings per quarter. Shareholders buy airline stock to make money as it rises and falls, just like any other stock.

there isn't some magical well of money that Airtran corporate can dip into by raising fares to "offset" higher wages. Your fares are already set where profits are maximized.

Why not raise fares $50 per ticket to fund a new pension plan?

Non sequitur, your emotionalized exaggeration really isn't persuading anyone, as it's not based in reality. The reality is that the cost of EVERYTHING goes up. Fuel. Gate leases. Maintenance costs. Airframe Leases. And guess what? So does labor. It's just the way the world works.

AirTran pilots aren't trying to break the bank. Heck, we're not even asking to be in the top 3 of industry pay for our equipment, just industry average. What's your beef with that?

 

[waveflyer]

Radarlove- that was the most irrational nonsense I've seen in a while.
You know when mgmt takes concessions or gives themselves payraise - it's just business-well it's just business on the pilot side too-
I see nothing wrong as the most valuable employees in taking 20% from shareholders. There would be no product without us-

As was mentioned- just how long did you expect FL pilots to be low paid when their company is successful? Sorry, but rewards in capitalism are part of the deal...

 

[dicko]

AirTran 'Management' have known for five years that they were going to have to pay this $80-$100 million dollar cost. They have delayed, lied, manipulated, fired and furloughed their way to this point.

I hope that for every year they were able to cash in on operating under an amenable contract - They put some money in an account labeled ' Strike Fund'

It's time for them to Pay the Piper.

 

[radarlove]

You guys are reading me wrong. I don't care one way or another about the expected raise (actually, I do, I hope you get it), I just crack up when the argument, "You only have to raise fares by $5 to get there" is used.

 

[INIT REF]

I wonder what the strike vote percentage was before Eastern struck? And how many of these guys have now voted twice?

Never forget.

I think this guy was referring to the Eastern pilots who formed ValuJet.

Just a guess, judging from the 'never forget' part.

 

[Kharma Police]

I wonder what the strike vote percentage was before Eastern struck? And how many of these guys have now voted twice?

Never forget.

Most of them can't vote because they did not join when ALPA was voted in. There also is a group of Eastern New Hire Alumni (Class of 1989-91) that never had the opportunity to vote because they were never members of ALPA when they became new hires.

 

[Ty Webb]

Lear and Max . . . you guys are right on the money.

Every $1,000. dollars per pilot equals about $1.7 million in direct hourly compensation costs, multiplied by a certain factor to cover retirement, FICA and Medicare and Social Security (up to a certain level).

Using a figure of $2 mil in costs for every thousand dollars per pilot provides a pretty reasonable basis for estimates.

 

[JerryLundegaard]

Lear and Max . . . you guys are right on the money.

Every $1,000. dollars per pilot equals about $1.7 million in direct hourly compensation costs, multiplied by a certain factor to cover retirement, FICA and Medicare and Social Security (up to a certain level).

Using a figure of $2 mil in costs for every thousand dollars per pilot provides a pretty reasonable basis for estimates.

Does that include 5 years of retroactive pay? If not, using whatever assumption you want, how much would that be? Half a billion?

 

[Ty Webb]

Does that include 5 years of retroactive pay? If not, using whatever assumption you want, how much would that be? Half a billion?

If the Contract difference is $60 mil/yr and the contract has been amendable for 5, that would be $300Million. What exactly is your point?

 

[Green Banana]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iAIM02kv0g

 

[Smarta$$]

Spoken like a congressman raising taxes. You do realize, do you not, that Airtran can't raise fares without losing customers?

I'm constantly amazed that every pilot I've come across apparently got through college without taking even an intro to economics course.

If you plan on taking 20% of the net profit, then be honest and say that you're taking the profit from the shareholders and putting it in your pocket.

there isn't some magical well of money that Airtran corporate can dip into by raising fares to "offset" higher wages. Your fares are already set where profits are maximized.

Why not raise fares $50 per ticket to fund a new pension plan?

Absolute F-ing tool. The share holders have no right to outsized returns by using the RLA and management friendly politicians to make Airtran pilots work for below market wages and benefits.