Boyds take on "the airlines letter to Congress"

[JumpJetter]

I especially like the part about the FAA. He has been yelling from the mountain top for years about fixing the FAA. Before you read the below, here is a example of Boyd talking about the airlines "production line".

[FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]"Just Cut Flights. It'll Mean A Smaller Chapter 11 Filing. But simply cutting out flying isn't going to be the magic solution. Without material changes in how the industry manages its "production line," just parking airplanes and cutting suddenly-unprofitable flights only transforms a large dysfunctional system into a smaller dysfunctional system. Here's a fact: airlines today waste at least 10% more fuel than they need. Reason: un-managed production lines. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Lucida]A flight leaves JFK, and the airline largely forgets about it until it gets to LAX. How it gets there - the production line - is turned over to the FAA's ATC system. That's like GM dumping raw materials at the entrance of the factory, and waiting at the other end while a team from Yugo glues them all together."[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma, Ariel, Verdana]Hot Flash [/FONT]-[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida] Monday, July 14, 2008[/FONT]​

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]Speculators & Speculatees Aren't The Issue[/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]
Airlines: You've Just Unionized! Now, Use That Power[/FONT]​

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]Any labor leader knows that when the rank and file are fully behind a given issue, the union's bargaining position is infinity stronger. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]That's pretty much what the airline industry has done - moved in unison to call upon consumers to put pressure on congress to curb oil speculation. Looking at the bigger picture, this could be the start of something grand - an airline industry with some clout and some intestinal fortitude on Capitol Hill. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]Regardless of the pros and cons regarding the issue of oil speculation, this event represents an opportunity for the industry. An opportunity to stand together and enlist the support of the public in reversing government policies that are inflicting losses of jobs and profitability on the industry. It's time to hit the bricks and demand better. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]Sort of what a labor union does for its members.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]Think of the possibilities of the power that a united airline industry could wield by standing in solidarity with the flying public to get the feds off the dime. Up until now, cutesy "cooperation" and "collaboration" with the FAA and DOT has done nothing to bring the changes aviation needs. So, maybe it's time for a new approach - for the industry to sit down on the opposite side of the table from the feds, and bargain hard for what's right. No more Mr. Nice Guy. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]But they need to get their issues straight.[/FONT]​

• [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]Let's get real - petitioning congress to take action to reduce oil prices is sort of like asking a Mafia don to cut petty crime. The truth is that speculation in any commodity is based on the expectation of shortage or the expectation of excess. (Gee, isn't hedging a form of speculation?) And it's congress that's mostly responsible for the fact that any attempt to increase supply has been shot dead whenever it's suggested. (Ya know, $4 a gallon gas is a small price to pay to make sure caribou are comfortable up there in Anwar.) Result: the logical expectation of shortage. Result: prices get bid up. [/FONT]​
• [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]It would have been far more effective for the airline industry to ask the public to tell congress that oil is not a bad thing. Oil is good. Oil is what fuels our lifestyle. And, stupid trendy tree-huggers notwithstanding, we should be proud of our lifestyle. We should be looking for more oil. Wind power won't move an airplane. Ethanol programs are doing a great job of jacking up tortilla prices in Mexico. More oil is the answer - not the problem. Airlines: bury the political correctness and tell congress to allow drilling.[/FONT]​
• [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]Airlines need to sit across the table from the FAA and make a new ATC program a non-negotiable item. The very week the industry asked frequent flyers to contact congress about oil speculation, there were two near-misses reported at JFK. FAA delays are affecting over 20% of all flights. More proof that the DOT's incompetent "NextGen" program is a dangerous fraud. Would've been nice if the industry had urged the public to raise a bit of a ruckus about that. It's a $9 billion hit to the industry, its employees, and the public.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]The real impact of what the industry has done is that airlines have rallied together for a given issue. If they stand up to congress, the DOT and the FAA, they can certainly get the public behind them. (Congress, by the way, is likely the only organization with a lower public approval rating than airlines - like, 9%.) [/FONT]​

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]The airline industry needs to understand that they and the public are on the same side of the table. Congress and the FAA are on the other. It is an adversarial relationship. Deal with it. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]Airline industry: consider hiring a couple of Teamster organizers. They know the ropes.[/FONT]​

 

[reepicheep]

Sat on the ground 1 + 15 @ JFK mon. AM because of a couple of garden-variety showers that shut down all RBV departures.

When we finally took off and flew over RBV, there wasn't any weather within 50 miles.

 

[Colonel Savage]

Sat on the ground 1 + 15 @ JFK mon. AM because of a couple of garden-variety showers that shut down all RBV departures.

When we finally took off and flew over RBV, there wasn't any weather within 50 miles.

ATC has been having labor/management problems for years, especially in the NE, and they are pi$$ed.

 

[wmuflyguy]

ATC has been having labor/management problems for years, especially in the NE, and they are pi$$ed.

They are not being shy about it either. They are actually saying "STAFFING" is the reason they are on a ground delay program or why your holding...I hadn't heard that used til recently.

 

[reepicheep]

I think you're right; I've read more than one article that suggests some "delays" are fabricated.

 

[Colonel Savage]

They are not being shy about it either. They are actually saying "STAFFING" is the reason they are on a ground delay program or why your holding...I hadn't heard that used til recently.

That is one of the big issues, schedule and time off (sounds familiar). Their contract has been amendable for a couple of years but because of Fed budget problems (gov't being broke) it hasn't been going well.

They got a big raise with the last one, and of course the FAA wants it back now. There are new hire pay issues which has been cut which is bringing in low quality applicants and on and on...

College buddy of mine who's a DEN shift sup with 25+ years and used to love it there says relations and morale are as bad as he's ever seen and wants to retire. Sounds like the airlines, military and everywhere else. High job pressure, low QOL and pay.

 

[scoreboardII]

Try this guys, next time your handed a BS excuse, ask for a phone number to call, they will give you one. Then, over the PA, explain the problem and ask each passenger to call the number you were given and ask why there was a problem. Works great!

 

[Colonel Savage]

Oh, and about the airlines letter to pax and congress; it hasn't gone over very well with Larry Kudlow who was on the Hugh Hewitt radio show a few days ago. He mentioned that nowhere in the letter was more drilling mentioned, only the plea to run off the evil speculators who are victimizing the airlines. Was highly critical of the attitude of airline management towards solving this and other problems.

Try this link if you want to hear, Kudlow's about 1/3 of the way into the clip.

http://townhall.edgeboss.net/download/townhall/audio/mp3/452f8c60-997f-43e4-ad62-5ed30cc08666.mp3

 

[labbats]

The Q&A with Fed Chairman today specifically asked him if he thought speculation was affecting the market price of oil. He said no. In other words keep looking for another scapegoat for high oil prices... namely our weak(ening) dollar.

Speculation is market driven and will fix itself. If the dollar was worth what it was in 2002 then you could buy oil for less than $100/barrel right now. Ben Bernake knows it and the public ought to see through the smokescreen too.

 

[Sgt. Hartman]

Boyd is a clown