Big va 1st quarter loss

[DASHDRIVER]

Does anyone remember how long it took Jet Blue to make money? Not really making an argument here. Just trying to compare a few apples to apples. Since they came form the same cloth and all. And I don't seem to remember them having all that great of work rules and pay when they opened thier doors either. Now JBlue doesn't seem to ruffle as many feathers.

 

[NEDude]

I agree with you. But I am a business man too. My main objective is to create profits FIRST!

If that is not being done, I give it ONE or TWO QUARTERs and I shut her down.

Please dont think Branson is your PAL. He is a capitalist, if VA is a thorn on his side, he will get rid of it..

Now, I am an employee also. With that in mind, please dont be blinded with aircraft orders, quick upgrades and HOT FLIGHT Attendants. I suggest you have a backup plan, and secure the BEST possible workrules, pay and contract you can.

Best of luck,

CYA

When it comes to businesses, with all due respect, SRB has a pretty good track record. Yes he will shut down businesses, and has done so in the past. But I have to ask, if your business plan projected a few years before profitability would you shut it down after a quarter or two? If you had millions of dollars invested, a pretty good track record, and your numbers were ahead of your proposed business plan, would you still shut it down after a quarter or two?

As for securing the best work rules and pay, I have a MASSIVE improvement over the ALPA carrier I just came from. I mean it is not even in the same galaxy, seriously. So by short term mindset, I did VERY well. By long-term logic I have jumped on the coat-tails of a well known successful businessman, with a globally known business name, a history of running a global airline, and very deep pockets. I don't care if he is my friend or not, and I don't expect him to do me any favors other than to run his business well. If he does that, I benefit. Long-term I trust this business plan more than one of repeated bankruptcy, living off government loans, and constant outsourcing to poverty level wage carriers.

 

[bluechunks]

...I have a MASSIVE improvement over the ALPA carrier I just came from.

Very impressive.

So it is safe to assume that your previous airline was also flying Airbuses, or are you comparing apples-to-oranges?

 

[AnimalTale]

When it comes to businesses, with all due respect, SRB has a pretty good track record. Yes he will shut down businesses, and has done so in the past. But I have to ask, if your business plan projected a few years before profitability would you shut it down after a quarter or two? If you had millions of dollars invested, a pretty good track record, and your numbers were ahead of your proposed business plan, would you still shut it down after a quarter or two?

As for securing the best work rules and pay, I have a MASSIVE improvement over the ALPA carrier I just came from. I mean it is not even in the same galaxy, seriously. So by short term mindset, I did VERY well. By long-term logic I have jumped on the coat-tails of a well known successful businessman, with a globally known business name, a history of running a global airline, and very deep pockets. I don't care if he is my friend or not, and I don't expect him to do me any favors other than to run his business well. If he does that, I benefit. Long-term I trust this business plan more than one of repeated bankruptcy, living off government loans, and constant outsourcing to poverty level wage carriers.

Excellent. Good Job!

CYA

 

[Lowpayisgreat]

Animal Tale, is that you Todd

 

[NEDude]

Very impressive.

So it is safe to assume that your previous airline was also flying Airbuses, or are you comparing apples-to-oranges?

No, the one I just came from was flying EMB-175. I was furloughed from the other Airbus operator.

I really have to ask all of the naysayers out there what the propose pilots do if they should not take a job with a company like Virgin America.

Should furloughed pilots continue to collect unemployment and live off the government?

Should they get on with a regional and take a pay cut from unemployment? Don't laugh, after nearly a year on unemployment after my furlough, and getting rejected from a couple of overseas jobs due to lack of currency, I got hired by an ALPA regional and took a PAY CUT from my unemployment benefits.

Should regional guys continue to slog it out in slim hope the remaining guys at the majors stop giving up scope and may actually retire at some point?

Should they go back to school, take on more debt, and try and break into a new career field in the midst of a terrible recession and high unemployment?

Should they look overseas...oh wait, after a few months you are not current and they are not interested.

Seriously, what is the FI approved option?

And please do not go down the route of taking the high road for the sake of the greater good. I slogged it out on a BE-1900 for five years, refusing to fly an RJ because I believed (and still do) they are scourge of the industry and are destroying legacy jobs. All that time I watched guys come on board, fly for a few months, and go off to the likes of Republic, Skywest and Expressjet. Now those guys are all making high five figures, and maybe even into six figures, as senior captains at those places. In the mean time I had recruiters for majors telling me that BE-1900 time is just not all that attractive. Sure I know a few 1900 drivers who went to SWA (gasp! they bought their jobs - not acceptable to the FI crowd), some more went to Continental, but most went corporate, Air Tran, or are still flying for the same company.

So tell me, what is the reward for taking the "high ground" when very few others are willing to stand by you? Sure, we have seen pilot groups take the high ground - Spirit (and by most accounts the senior guys again sold out the junior guys) and Comair - but for the most part pilots are a very selfish bunch. And those of us who try to take the high ground get stomped on by the rest in the process. So I make no apologies for doing what is best for me. I am not crossing a picket line, I am not being used as whipsaw fodder, I am not being used to bust scope, or being used as outsourced labor. I took a job at a start-up company. Tell me in the de-regulation era, in a captialist country that was built on free enterprise, why is that a sin?

 

[Ralph Cramden]

Careful NEDude, you are going to make them republican unionista's heads explode!

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/thing...ardingarea/thingsinthesky+(Things+in+the+Sky)

http://sparxoo.com/2010/07/02/top-3-wow-customer-service-companies/

 

[bluechunks]

No, the one I just came from was flying EMB-175.

Ok, so you WERE comparing apples-to-oranges. And that is the point. VA is what it is, don't try to pretend or rationalize otherwise. If you want to compare VA pay and/or work rules, do so with VA's peers.

So I make no apologies for doing what is best for me. I am not crossing a picket line, I am not being used as whipsaw fodder, I am not being used to bust scope, or being used as outsourced labor. I took a job at a start-up company. Tell me in the de-regulation era, in a captialist country that was built on free enterprise, why is that a sin?

Then don't apologize. IMHO, your several postings in this thread reek of rationalization, denial, and over-compensation.

Just saying.

 

[BornAgainPagan]

There may be no need but the fact that you would be looked upon as a radical or a racist if you started or belonged to an association like that is hypocritical at best.

Not really, However, (since logic isn't involved) entertain me as to why you think your statement is true.

 

[BornAgainPagan]

Wrong. It's a double standard that you liberals invented.

How is it a double standard when the playing field isn't level? Unless of course, you actually think that the white heterosexual male is somehow an oppressed demographic.