Alaska management verbally announces furloughs for

[Going2Baja]

Right along the lines of not letting those who interview know whether or not they got the job. In one case they even forgot to call the person who they wanted to hire - when she finally called MONTHS later...oops - we forgot, can you start tomorrow?

Total joke of an airline. I would go as far to say that they are behind the management of a Regional (Skywest.)

Baja.

 

[AZFr8tPilot]

It feels like being a pawn on a chess board. Definitely not a comfortable place to be. Even if the furloughs are mitigated, the issue will continue to arise every month as more MD80 guys/gals finish training (at least through the winter months). I had requested an ELOA to avoid the issue since it seemed fairly evident that I would be furloughed at some point in time and I also had another opportunity to fall back on. That way I could avoid the month to month turmoil and roller coaster when it came to wondering whether or not I would be furloughed.

 

[AZFr8tPilot]

ALPA opened the door by making the phone calls earlier this week and informing us of the impending furlough...making it sound like it was set in stone and the letters were in the mail. It would be nice to at least get a courtesy follow-up call/email to say that they're not sure whether or not it's going to happen now...especially when they get updated information after the fact. The first phone left us hanging. If there was no plan to follow-up, it would have been my preference to just receive the letter in the mail from the company (no courtesy phone call) and have it done and over with as a final event. It's not as if it would be a tremendous surprise...this has been talked about for some time now. But to get a phone call stating that it's going to happen and then no letter appears and there's no follow-up...it leaves you sitting on the edge of your seat wondering with no closure.

AZ,
What has changed that ALPA needs to notify? It's all on the company not knowing what they are going to do tomorrow, let alone a month from now.

 

[Z_Pilot]

I am one of the 9 as well.

Although I share your sentiments regarding the situation, I disagree with you about our MEC. I feel that they are doing the best they can with the information that they have at the time. As of now, we realize that the letters have not gone out, and I bet ALPA is trying to figure out what is going on at the moment, as they do not have any official information to go by.

I agree that this threat will drag on for months. Might as well get stocked up on Pepto and maybe some Zoloft as well.

Best of luck to all of us.

ZP

ALPA opened the door by making the phone calls earlier this week and informing us of the impending furlough...making it sound like it was set in stone and the letters were in the mail. It would be nice to at least get a courtesy follow-up call/email to say that they're not sure whether or not it's going to happen now...especially when they get updated information after the fact. The first phone left us hanging. If there was no plan to follow-up, it would have been my preference to just receive the letter in the mail from the company (no courtesy phone call) and have it done and over with as a final event. It's not as if it would be a tremendous surprise...this has been talked about for some time now. But to get a phone call stating that it's going to happen and then no letter appears and there's no follow-up...it leaves you sitting on the edge of your seat wondering with no closure.

 

[Snapshot]

FR8,

Trust me, I know it sucks.

In all fairness, I've been represented by four different ALPA groups and the Alaska guys are the best by far. They probably thought you did get a letter until you called and told them you didn't, hence the FedEx package and contract job fair thing.

Angle Lake has very deliberately adopted a policy of Misinformation with the goal of dividing you from your representation. They are playing a Stockholm game and you are the hostage. Half of the game is getting you to sympathize with them and the other half is getting you to resent those who are there to help you. Don't fall for it and remember that phones work both ways.

We've called their bluff, and so far no letter. That's good news. The vast majority of understand that we are in this together. For the few that don't.....

Let's not focus--especially in a public forum--on the few bad apples.

How about focusing on them in the back in the crew room with a sockfull of nickels?

 

[turbodriver]

It just occurred to me that there's going to be a lot of people sitting around in ANC in Nov. with 59 lines and all....

unless they come out with say 10-15 open flying lines at the last minute. Anybody heard anything?

 

[ImbracableCrunk]

It just occurred to me that there's going to be a lot of people sitting around in ANC in Nov. with 59 lines and all....

unless they come out with say 10-15 open flying lines at the last minute. Anybody heard anything?

Yeah, I guess I'll finally check out Moose's Tooth and Bear's Tooth! Maybe I'll even get a chance to eat a Thanksgiving dinner. Ooohh ooooh oooooh! Who wants to host a dinner for the reserve commuters??!?!??

 

[AZFr8tPilot]

Although I share your sentiments regarding the situation, I disagree with you about our MEC. I feel that they are doing the best they can with the information that they have at the time. As of now, we realize that the letters have not gone out, and I bet ALPA is trying to figure out what is going on at the moment, as they do not have any official information to go by.
ZP

I definitely agree that the MEC is doing the best that they can with the information that they have. I don't doubt that the MEC are a good group of guys. With that said, my only comment is that they could have passed along what information they did have when they became aware of it (i.e., not letters were sent out for the 10th). Some initial closure would have been helpful, at least that the furlough isn't happening in early November as originally suggested. I was surprised that it was announced so soon since they have yet to send out letters regarding the ELOAs.

Fortunately I won't have to ride the potential furlough rollercoaster since I will be on ELOA beginning November 1st (I did manage to find out that I was granted this). I plan to return when things hopefully stabilize in another year or so.

Good luck to the rest of the junior folks at Alaska. It will be an interesting next few months here.

 

[Old School 737]

There is this!

Title: Furloughs
To: Everyone
From: Gary Beck
Message:
Given the number of recent questions I’ve received about furloughs, I thought a communication to the entire pilot group would be helpful.
As has been announced, Alaska Airlines is reducing capacity. This reduction results in lower block hours, which in turn affects pilot staffing. High fuel prices, the economic downturn and, most recently, the IAM strike at Boeing have all played a part in determining how much capacity to cut. And even though fuel prices have fallen, they haven’t come down nearly enough to allow us to change course. In fact, our capacity reduction forecast has steadily increased throughout the summer and into the fall because of the latter two factors.
The fact that the forecast reduction has changed so substantially has caused the anticipated number of pilot furloughs to change. I regret that various numbers have been circulating and that we have been unable to provide a definitive number, as I know how stressful this uncertainty is to you and your families. The company is currently in the process of offering early out and leave-of-absence programs, as well as discussing with ALPA other possible programs to mitigate the final number of pilots to be furloughed. Until all these programs and efforts are completed, I cannot provide a final furlough count. But I want you to know that we will do so as soon as possible and thank you for your understanding in the meantime.
Gary

 

[Old School 737]

And this!

Wow, what a week! The Dow Jones industrials dropped 2,271 points during the previous 8 trading days and Wall Street capped it off Friday with a wild session that left stocks with a widely mixed finish. Fifty-two economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal now expect gross domestic product to contract in the third and fourth quarters of this year as well as the first quarter of 2009. This is the first time that survey forecasts for those periods have turned negative. If those predictions bear out, it would mark the first time US GDP has contracted for three consecutive quarters in more than a half century.

On the upside, U.S. benchmark crude fell almost 10% Friday to close at around $78 per barrel. ALK closed up $4.48 to end the day at $18.80 per share. The stock price ranged from a low of $12.89 to a high of $19.23 today on 1.7 million shares traded (1 million is the recent volume average). Recall that we closed at $18.19 on Monday, October 6, and then followed the broader market down this week along with the rest of the airline industry. So we're basically flat for the week, which is a better finish than our peers and the AMEX Airline Index. The primary reasons for this cited by market watchers are 1) lower oil -- which affected the entire airline industry, and 2) a strong rally in small-cap stocks -- which affected ALK disproportionately more than our large-cap peers. Another factor suspected to have played a role is short sellers covering their positions as the strong recovery in small caps triggered margin calls. Alaska's short interest has been greater than most of our peers lately, and a short squeeze probably added to today's price run up.

So, what does all of this mean for Alaska Airlines? Nervousness in the financial markets has certainly translated into a pull-back on travel. We have seen a slow down in bookings across our network this past week and several of our hotel partners have slashed room rates for our Alaska Vacations packages in an attempt to stimulate demand. While it's too early to draw conclusions, we are understandably more bearish about demand over the coming fall and winter schedule period. At the same time, the Boeing strike has already resulted in two missed deliveries and we expect another four B737-800s to miss their planned delivery dates between now and year-end. Four additional deliveries planned for Q1'09 will slip at least a day-for-a-day as the strike drags on -- impacting our April '09 schedule and possibly also impacting the summer 2009 schedule. As a result, we're having to pull down the schedule further starting October 26th. The following schedule reductions will be loaded into our Reservations system this weekend:

SEA-BOS (second daily trip canceled until spring)

PDX-SJD & PDX-PVR (canceled entirely)

SEA-DEN & SEA-SFO (each being reduced one daily frequency through April)

With all these variables it has been difficult to get final block hours upon which to base our pilot staffing for 2009, however one thing is clear -- the current outlook for block hours is shrinking from the plan we had even 30 days ago and the size of our pilot surplus is growing. That said, we're continuing to work with ALPA on voluntary programs including a reduced bid block program and other creative ways to work down the surplus. It appears certain, however, that even if these programs were wildly successful we will be unable to avoid a furlough under any circumstance given the magnitude of our over-staffing. Let me be clear. We will do everything possible to minimize involuntary furloughs and explore any number of programs to accomplish that goal. What we cannot allow is for endless discussions without closure to hold us hostage to moving forward with a plan to right-size and to do otherwise would be irresponsible. I have been working closely with Gary Beck, Bennie Johnson and Elizabeth Ryan to ensure no stone is left unturned and we'll be quick to action a recall if circumstances change or new voluntary programs come to fruition.

As of now, the early out program has generated interest from 132 pilots. The next step is to finalize paperwork to determine how many will actually go "final," a number which we expect before year-end. In addition, we have 20 pilots who have elected the enhanced leave of absence. Despite speculation that there might be nine furloughs in November, we have not yet issued furlough notice and are hopeful that an involuntary reduction can be avoided through December. Rest assured that all provisions of the CBA will be respected as we work through this process. Finally, I have written to our codeshare partner Korean Airlines advising them that we are in an over-staffed situation and asking for special consideration of Alaska pilots should they have a need for qualified B737 co-pilots. As soon as I have a response I will share it with those who may be interested in working abroad during our downsizing. At this time of uncertainty it is imperative that we communicate often and with specifics. Ask questions, stay informed and I will do my best to keep you up-to-date. Fly safely and have a good week.

Greg