Does this offer look familiar to Southwest pilots? REDFLYER?

[General Lee]

Or something like it (according to Redflyer) back in 2004. Check it out!


Early-retirement offer made to most Southwest workers

3 benefit packages floated after labor leads 10% rise in costs during 1st quarter


May 28, 2004|By BLOOMBERG NEWS

DALLAS- Southwest Airlines Co., the biggest low-fare carrier, said yesterday it is offering voluntary early retirement to most of its 31,522 employees to help reduce costs.

Southwest is the largest carrier at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. It has about 2,200 employees based at BWI.
The program provides three benefit packages based on years of work and is available through June 25, spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said. The offers, to employees who have been with the Dallas-based company at least a year, include mixes of cash, health-care benefits and travel privileges.

Southwest has never laid off workers in its 33-year history. The early-retirement offer was requested by workers, chief executive Jim Parker said in a memo to employees. Southwest, the only major U.S. carrier to remain profitable since the 2001 terrorist attacks deepened a travel slump, had a 10 percent rise in total first-quarter costs, led by labor expenses.



Next time Red, think about what you title threads. Make sure you get all of the facts first. I should have titled this thread "Southwest offers furloughs......in 2004...."



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[waveflyer]

Why go back? Similar offers were also made in 2009....

But not now.

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

Wave,

I think this is GL turning back the haters (mostly SWA people) saying Delta will furlough because packages are going out.

The usual FI "My airline's better than yours" Urinary Olympiad continues......

 

[Bwipilot]

GL--we'll see if the situation is the same.

In 2004, SWA wasn't going to furlough anyone if enough buyouts didn't happen. They used the buyouts to reduce employee cuts--and since SWA was overstaffed, the numbers worked out. SWA could save money by buying out senior employees instead of keeping extra employees on the roles during the downturn.

If Delta doesn't furlough anyone despite not enough people taking the buyout, the situations are the same. If Delta does furlough to meet their personnel targets after the buyouts happen, there's a huge difference--especially to those on the bottom of the list.

 

[pilotyip]

SWA has a lot of things going for it, but it is no longer the low cost carrier.

 

[General Lee]

GL--we'll see if the situation is the same.

In 2004, SWA wasn't going to furlough anyone if enough buyouts didn't happen. They used the buyouts to reduce employee cuts--and since SWA was overstaffed, the numbers worked out. SWA could save money by buying out senior employees instead of keeping extra employees on the roles during the downturn.

If Delta doesn't furlough anyone despite not enough people taking the buyout, the situations are the same. If Delta does furlough to meet their personnel targets after the buyouts happen, there's a huge difference--especially to those on the bottom of the list.

Bwipilot,

These offers were to select employees at Delta. They had to have over 10 years with the company, etc. Does that sound like furloughs, or does that sound like early out retirements? Delta just hired 1000 new flight attendants, and none were offered this deal (only the older ones). The pilots too were intitially not offered this, but Dalpa came in and wanted it offered to some of the older pilots, which some may take. Again, there were limits to this buyout offer. And you're right, if nobody takes it or they furlough after the buyouts happen, then that could be a huge difference.



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Jar Jar]

DAL is just being smart with their money. They don't need to furlough, or reduce staffing. DAL knows that the training event costs are more than covered by the pay disparity between a 20-30 year employee and a 1-10 year employee. Transitioning to a more junior work force has [in the minds of corporate executives] the same benefit as reducing a company's long-term debt; it is an investment which results in lower costs in the not-so-distant future.

 

[redflyer65]

A 2004 post General? Wow, score.

Delta and the other legacies have furloughed at will without any regard to the pain on the employees. Will it happen again at Delta? I wouldn't bet against it.

So General, who will furlough first Delta or Southwest? You must not have taken too many history classes.

 

[redflyer65]

Southwest has never laid off workers in its 33-year history.


Bye Bye---General Lee

General,

I forgot, this was the best part! Thanks for that. I guess you can add another 7 years to that number to make it 40!

Bye, bye!

RF

 

[General Lee]

A 2004 post General? Wow, score.

Delta and the other legacies have furloughed at will without any regard to the pain on the employees. Will it happen again at Delta? I wouldn't bet against it.

So General, who will furlough first Delta or Southwest? You must not have taken too many history classes.

Well, since you totally screwed up your title of your thread (no furloughs BTW), I really don't think you understand what Delta even offered. They offered the SAME THING Southwest offered back in 2004, and I believe SWA did it also in 2009 (according to someone else on here). So, it is a tool used by BOTH airlines.

As far as who will furlough first, with the amount of retirement numbers coming at Delta (over 2000 at or over age 60), plus a flow down to Compass and Mesaba that is expensive (saved any furloughs during the 2008 recession), I would say it would be Southwest and Airtran. It would be too expensive for Delta to furlough, unless a catastrophe happened.

And, I didn't take a lot of history classes like you did in College. I was busy dating GIRLS. Do you remember your first kiss? What was his name?


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[General Lee]

General,

I forgot, this was the best part! Thanks for that. I guess you can add another 7 years to that number to make it 40!

Bye, bye!

RF

There's a first time for everything. I hope it doesn't happen to your airline, but don't think it can't.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[GuppyWN]

And, I didn't take a lot of history classes like you did in College. I was busy dating GIRLS.

Bye Bye---General Lee

Uh huh.

Gup

 

[General Lee]

Uh huh.

Gup

Don't worry Gup, I know I didn't hit on you. You were making a tough choice back then, according to one of your posts, between flying and being a "mother." Only you know if you made the right choice.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[On Your Six]

don't worry gup, i know i didn't hit on you. You were making a tough choice back then, according to one of your posts, between flying and being a "mother." only you know if you made the right choice.


Bye bye---general lee

doh!


OYS

 

[Whataburger]

You got '04, I'll get '05

Delta Air Lines files for bankruptcy
No. 3 airline hit by fuel costs, low-fare competitors; No. 4 Northwest follows it into bankruptcy.
September 15, 2005: 9:55 AM EDT
By Chris Isidore, CNN/Money senior writer

Route map

View Delta USA routesRead the documents •Delta's Chapter 11 filing
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Delta Air Lines filed for bankruptcy, making it one of two major carriers to seek protection from creditors Wednesday.
Delta (Research), the nation's third-biggest airline, has been hurt by the recent spike in jet fuel prices and growing competition from lower-cost, low-fare carriers. Less than half an hour after Delta's filing, Northwest Airlines also filed for protection from creditors.
Delta and Northwest followed United Airlines (Research) and US Airways (Research) into bankruptcy. United, the No. 2 airline, has been in bankruptcy court for almost three years. US Airways has been in bankruptcy court twice since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that shook the airline industry.
With those four major airlines and some smaller ones already in bankruptcy, nearly half of the industry's capacity is on carriers operating under bankruptcy court oversight.
Delta said it expects to keep flying while it seeks to cut costs and reorganize, so the immediate impact on flyers should be minimal. It is also expected to keep its frequent flyer program intact. But some smaller cities now served exclusively or primarily by Delta could be hurt as the airline trims its operations going forward.
The Atlanta-based airline, which has not had a profitable quarter since 2000, filed under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy laws. In Chapter 11, a company is protected from creditors while it tries to reorganize.
Analysts said this year's spike in jet fuel prices forced Delta's bankruptcy filing.
"Hurricane Katrina was probably the last straw," Ray Neidl, analyst with Calyon Securities, said shortly before the widely expected bankruptcy filing. "Nobody could have predicted $60-, $70-a-barrel oil. Things just developed that were uncontrollable factors."
But Delta's problems predate not only the hurricane, but the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The company has lost some $6.1 billion since the start of 2001 from its airline operations, according to First Call, which tracks corporate earnings.
Some analysts said that Delta waited longer than some of its rivals to trim costs. It did not win cost concessions from its pilots union until last October, after paying them the highest wages in the industry under a contract reached months before the Sept. 11 attacks.
"They are another example of a company that started out in a relatively stronger financial position than their peers, and they felt they were in better position to survive a shakeout," said Philip Baggaley, Standard & Poor's senior airline credit analyst. "They didn't pursue cost-cutting as aggressively as they would have if they were heading toward bankruptcy early in the (industry's) downturn."
The airline has nearly 60,000 employees and flies about 340,000 people daily in its mainline operations, which includes Delta, the Delta Shuttle and Song, its attempt to compete in the growing low-fare market.
Another problem for Delta is that it has less international traffic than the nation's other big carriers. That means it faces competition on more routes from low-fare carriers such as AirTran, JetBlue and Southwest than some of its rivals.
Scramble to cut costsDelta had been scrambling through the strong summer travel season to cut costs and raise cash.
Last week it completed the sale one of its feeder airlines, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, for $425 million. It also announced it was cutting flight capacity at its Cincinnati hub by 26 percent.
But these and other cost-cutting moves made over the last year could not stem losses, which are forecast by analysts to extend into 2007. The company has not reported a quarterly profit, excluding special items, since 2000.
Delta flirted with a bankruptcy filing in October 2004, before getting the Air Line Pilots Association to agree to cut wages by about a third – a move that saved about $1 billion a year. The airline also cut some 5,000 jobs in the year ending in June, aside from the sale of Atlantic Southeast.
Its second quarter payroll costs were 18 percent below a year earlier, as the company spent nearly $300 million less on salary and benefits.
But soaring fuel costs caused ongoing losses. Delta's cost per gallon soared 50 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, and has kept climbing.
The increased costs came as Delta and other carriers found it difficult to win higher fares from passengers, who have more options with the growth of low-fare rivals.
The average fare Delta received from passengers fell 1 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, even as the proportion of empty seats on Delta jets fell.
The final cash crisis came when the bank that was processing the airline's Visa and MasterCard ticket purchases started holding back money as protection in case of a bankruptcy filing. The airline warned in August that such a move by the bank could cost $650 million by the end of October, straining its already thin cash reserves.

 

[redflyer65]

I was busy dating GIRLS. Do you remember your first kiss? What was his name?


Bye Bye---General Lee

General, it's post like this and the one about the MDW overun that makes your post completely irrelevant anymore and the reason most people just throw you on the ignore list. What happened to the 'kinder' Gen from the first of the year? That lasted all of what.....one month? Hilarous.

You sure love to bash Southwest, but when the spotlight is turned on mother Delta you can't take the heat. Why is that?

Nice post Whataburger, pretty much says it all.

Bye, bye.

RF

 

[General Lee]

General, it's post like this and the one about the MDW overun that makes your post completely irrelevant anymore and the reason most people just throw you on the ignore list. What happened to the 'kinder' Gen from the first of the year? That lasted all of what.....one month? Hilarous.

You sure love to bash Southwest, but when the spotlight is turned on mother Delta you can't take the heat. Why is that?

Nice post Whataburger, pretty much says it all.

Bye, bye.

RF

Did I ever state anything about the MDW overrun? No. I said after getting slammed about the taxiway M incident that I could point out the Chevron event, which was in BUR. I didn't start that, I finished it.

And, the nice me was BORING. Come on, that was a phase, just like the phase you had in college. Did the guy have a mustashe?


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[General Lee]

Delta Air Lines files for bankruptcy
No. 3 airline hit by fuel costs, low-fare competitors; No. 4 Northwest follows it into bankruptcy.
September 15, 2005: 9:55 AM EDT
By Chris Isidore, CNN/Money senior writer

Route map

View Delta USA routesRead the documents •Delta's Chapter 11 filing
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Delta Air Lines filed for bankruptcy, making it one of two major carriers to seek protection from creditors Wednesday.
Delta (Research), the nation's third-biggest airline, has been hurt by the recent spike in jet fuel prices and growing competition from lower-cost, low-fare carriers. Less than half an hour after Delta's filing, Northwest Airlines also filed for protection from creditors.
Delta and Northwest followed United Airlines (Research) and US Airways (Research) into bankruptcy. United, the No. 2 airline, has been in bankruptcy court for almost three years. US Airways has been in bankruptcy court twice since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that shook the airline industry.
With those four major airlines and some smaller ones already in bankruptcy, nearly half of the industry's capacity is on carriers operating under bankruptcy court oversight.
Delta said it expects to keep flying while it seeks to cut costs and reorganize, so the immediate impact on flyers should be minimal. It is also expected to keep its frequent flyer program intact. But some smaller cities now served exclusively or primarily by Delta could be hurt as the airline trims its operations going forward.
The Atlanta-based airline, which has not had a profitable quarter since 2000, filed under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy laws. In Chapter 11, a company is protected from creditors while it tries to reorganize.
Analysts said this year's spike in jet fuel prices forced Delta's bankruptcy filing.
"Hurricane Katrina was probably the last straw," Ray Neidl, analyst with Calyon Securities, said shortly before the widely expected bankruptcy filing. "Nobody could have predicted $60-, $70-a-barrel oil. Things just developed that were uncontrollable factors."
But Delta's problems predate not only the hurricane, but the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The company has lost some $6.1 billion since the start of 2001 from its airline operations, according to First Call, which tracks corporate earnings.
Some analysts said that Delta waited longer than some of its rivals to trim costs. It did not win cost concessions from its pilots union until last October, after paying them the highest wages in the industry under a contract reached months before the Sept. 11 attacks.
"They are another example of a company that started out in a relatively stronger financial position than their peers, and they felt they were in better position to survive a shakeout," said Philip Baggaley, Standard & Poor's senior airline credit analyst. "They didn't pursue cost-cutting as aggressively as they would have if they were heading toward bankruptcy early in the (industry's) downturn."
The airline has nearly 60,000 employees and flies about 340,000 people daily in its mainline operations, which includes Delta, the Delta Shuttle and Song, its attempt to compete in the growing low-fare market.
Another problem for Delta is that it has less international traffic than the nation's other big carriers. That means it faces competition on more routes from low-fare carriers such as AirTran, JetBlue and Southwest than some of its rivals.
Scramble to cut costsDelta had been scrambling through the strong summer travel season to cut costs and raise cash.
Last week it completed the sale one of its feeder airlines, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, for $425 million. It also announced it was cutting flight capacity at its Cincinnati hub by 26 percent.
But these and other cost-cutting moves made over the last year could not stem losses, which are forecast by analysts to extend into 2007. The company has not reported a quarterly profit, excluding special items, since 2000.
Delta flirted with a bankruptcy filing in October 2004, before getting the Air Line Pilots Association to agree to cut wages by about a third – a move that saved about $1 billion a year. The airline also cut some 5,000 jobs in the year ending in June, aside from the sale of Atlantic Southeast.
Its second quarter payroll costs were 18 percent below a year earlier, as the company spent nearly $300 million less on salary and benefits.
But soaring fuel costs caused ongoing losses. Delta's cost per gallon soared 50 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, and has kept climbing.
The increased costs came as Delta and other carriers found it difficult to win higher fares from passengers, who have more options with the growth of low-fare rivals.
The average fare Delta received from passengers fell 1 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, even as the proportion of empty seats on Delta jets fell.
The final cash crisis came when the bank that was processing the airline's Visa and MasterCard ticket purchases started holding back money as protection in case of a bankruptcy filing. The airline warned in August that such a move by the bank could cost $650 million by the end of October, straining its already thin cash reserves.

Great post??? What I did with this thread was to point out to Redflyer that his own thread which was mis-titled (no furloughs offered) was very similar to a Southwest early retirement offer. Now, I could print some tuna-can articles for you Whataburger that are very recent. Would you like me to do that? Again, I created this thread to show Red that he was incorrect, and that it happened at Southwest too.



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Whataburger]

Great post??? What I did with this thread was to point out to Redflyer that his own thread which was mis-titled (no furloughs offered) was very similar to a Southwest early retirement offer. Now, I could print some tuna-can articles for you Whataburger that are very recent. Would you like me to do that? Again, I created this thread to show Red that he was incorrect, and that it happened at Southwest too.



Bye Bye---General Lee

Boeing made a engineering miscalculation in which our crews did a nice job getting it down.

On the other hand, your illustrious airline ran out of money and could not sustain itself if it paid its bills. So, therefore, yall furloughed, ripped off vendors, and gave your flying a way.

 

[SWA/FO]

SWA has a lot of things going for it, but it is no longer the low cost carrier.

Lower costs then all but Allegiant, now that Tranny is owned. From a Pilot's view - Who pay would you want the most?