Alaska Airlines, what's the latest?!

[Moosedryvr]

Wonder if anyone could update us on the "big picture" after last Friday's roadshow. Although I am in the process of withdrawing my DOS due to the low probability of Alaska hiring in the near future, I sure would appreciate any news. Many thanks in advance to AK737FO, mach none, singlecoil, & co.

P.S. - Saw the new inflight entertainment system on Alaska's World. Alaska's got it goin' on! All the best to you guys/gals, hope to see you in 2009!

SPG

 

[AK737FO]

No news

Moose,
I wish I had something new and exciting to tell you.

The LAX roadshow is today - and is the last one. We have had a good turn out in ANC and SEA. The presentation from ALPA showed us that A.) the industry is in the tank right now and everyone who provides more than a cattle prod and a bag of nuts is hurting. B.) We are not hurting nearly as bad as the rest of the full service majors. C.) Something has to change to get us back to profitability.
Not exactly rocket science or news that we didn't already know...

It looks as if the membership is willing to let ALPA start negotiations with the company in the near future. If we do nothing right now we go into openers next spring which will more than likely lead to binding arbitration in the spring of 05. If we talk to them now, it is a free chance to accomplish something with us being more in control (no arbitrator). Of course this all depends on the company and if they are really willing to accomplish something now rather than later under binding arbitration.

The "vision 2010" in my opinion is a joke. Kind of like UAL's "blue skys" of the 80's. All pie in the sky, no reality. I will never vote for the "vision" as it stands now, it has us giving up way to much stuff (permanent B-scale with new hires getting no pension, big changes to our health care, big pay cuts, work rules like banked vacation, trips touching training and vacation - the list goes on...)

They shoot for the outer rim, and hope they can hit a low earth orbit. If they are willing to negotiate now, I can see us giving them some cash back (maybe 10% ?) and some minor work rules in exchange for a contract extention. Who knows...

As far as your DOS goes - now is certainly not a good time to get out if you want to jump right into Alaska. Flying a C-17 and knowing you have a paycheck coming each month is worth its weight in gold right now. Keep in mind, we have big retirment numbers starting to come up in 06, 07, 08 time frame.

Good luck to you.
AK737FO

 

[Singlecoil]

There are big retirements coming up, however if the company achieves some significant workrule changes, namely bank vacation, they will be able to absorb a significant portion of that. If bank vacation went away right now, the company would be able to furlough 50-100 pilots. Would they do that? That would cause a training free-for-all and probably not end up being such a good idea. At least I hope so, because I would be one of the ones shown the door. I fully expect to receive a furlough notice in the next several months after concessions talks break down. That has been a tactic of the company in the past (once on Christmas eve) to get people's attention.
I would rather be furloughed than have a new B-scale arrive for new hires and see the profession degraded in other ways. The company wants a 23% pay cut. If that happened (it won't) to get back to where we are today would require a 30% raise! Yeah, like that's going to happen. That's ten years worth of raises gone in one fell swoop. I certainly hope not.

 

[Big Air]

B-scale

Singlecoil,
Thanks for looking out for the "future new-hire hopeful".
Big Air