JB pilots say no to alpa/Barely

[Lake Alice]

Why outsource when you could bring the equipment on property and make up your own rates for it? Capacity Purchase Agreements are messy and a waste of time/money

Jetblue is code sharing with every available carrier which in essence is outsourcing. If it is international Jetblue will allow other carriers to do the flying.

 

[Flyby1206]

Jetblue is code sharing with every available carrier which in essence is outsourcing. If it is international Jetblue will allow other carriers to do the flying.

The jetblue code doesnt appear on any other airline flights, but I understand your point. We dont have the equipment, or the network to support real international ops yet. Someday this will happen, and even then it is smart to have strategic codeshares with other carriers.

My original post was in reference to smaller gauge equipment for domestic ops. I was wondering what the benefit would be to outsource smaller a/c if we could fly them ourselves and the company could just dictate the payrates. From a business point of view it would seem a lot more messy to contract another carrier.

 

[Flyby1206]

Messy, but cheaper. Thats why everyone does it. Or like SWA doesn't do it at all.

DAL, US, AA, UAL are the major player in regional outsourcing. Mainly because the mainline labor groups have traded away that flying in exchange for inflated benefits/pensions (which were taken in BK anyways). If we keep comparing ourselves to those carriers in terms of pay/benefits then we will have to go down that same road they have in terms of contract flying.

Like you said, SWA doesnt do it, and they have been a model for airlines to follow throughout the world. I really admire what they have done with their business and labor relations. Instead of contracting out flying to keep costs low, they have relied on a lean management structure, uber-productive frontline employees, and a slow but methodical growth plan. Will that happen here at JB? Probably not to the same level of success as SWA, but I think in some form or fashion we will follow in those footsteps. We are poised to grow internationally (S. America, Europe) much better than SWA, and I think that should be the focus going forward.

 

[Lake Alice]

Jetblue pilots PEA allows for up to 10% asm's for a regional, more than almost any other carrier. (On a side note this was never negotiated but rather imposed since Jetblue pilots cannot negotiate.) Having a regional do short haul flying is cheaper than bringing on the aircraft to do it ourselves. It's only a matter of time. International demand is there, the bookings have shown that but, again, it's cheaper to use alliances and ultimately codeshare.

 

[Lake Alice]

DAL, US, AA, UAL are the major player in regional outsourcing. Mainly because the mainline labor groups have traded away that flying in exchange for inflated benefits/pensions (which were taken in BK anyways). If we keep comparing ourselves to those carriers in terms of pay/benefits then we will have to go down that same road they have in terms of contract flying.

Like you said, SWA doesnt do it, and they have been a model for airlines to follow throughout the world. I really admire what they have done with their business and labor relations. Instead of contracting out flying to keep costs low, they have relied on a lean management structure, uber-productive frontline employees, and a slow but methodical growth plan. Will that happen here at JB? Probably not to the same level of success as SWA, but I think in some form or fashion we will follow in those footsteps. We are poised to grow internationally (S. America, Europe) much better than SWA, and I think that should be the focus going forward.

We are not SWA, we have never been SWA and we will never be like SWA. Most importantly we do not have SWA style management. For those of us who have been here many, many years we were told 2 key points. First, our pay and benefits would be SWA +/- 2% and, second, we would never code share with American Airlines. Look at where we are today.

To date SWA has not desired the international market and therefore code sharing was not a priority. As of late SWA has realized an untapped market and now is gradually pursuing these markets. The difference between them and Jetblue is they will do it themselves. Also keep in mind they have a union and will have to negotiate international code share. Jetblue, again, can and will impose any code share relationship it wants.

The best Jetblue pilots can hope for is to continue growth on a domestic market. Any international flying will not go to Jetblue but rather a code share. If foreign ownership is approved...god help us.

 

[WateryGrave]

Do you work for Jet Blue? What is the basis for your remark?

I do and I say BRAVO superfreight!

 

[Blue Dude]

OK, then, screw ALPA. Now that that's out of your system, what's your solution?

 

[Fins Up]

SCREW ALPA! Glad it didn't go through!

Do you currently operate under a CBA? Would you prefer not to have one and be on your own? I'm no ALPA fanatic but I really was hoping to get a CBA for myself and my pilot group.

 

[Ski-N-Fly]

I do and I say BRAVO superfreight!

ALPA is not here. My question for the ALPA haters (and anti-union crowd) is.....How do you propose we secure (and protect) our careers without representation and a CBA?

 

[pilotyip]

.How do you propose we secure (and protect) our careers without representation and a CBA?

When has a union done that at an airline going BK or out of business? BTW Airline and secure career in the same sentence? Isn't that an oxymoran?