JohnDoe,
The company stated that the recalls in the 4th qtr of 2002 were based on where they thought revenue would be by then. They made that statement in Dec. There was nothing written in stone, no agreement with the union, just a gut feeling that if revenues picked up as a lot of experts (at the time) felt they would, we could anticipate recalls. As far as I know, the company never mentioned it again until last week. So while it sucks b@lls to see more furloughs, I think a lot of us furloughed guys from NWA saw the writing on the wall. Talking to friends I have still flying there, blockholders haven't been flying anywhere near the monthly max, guys on reserve are only flying 40-50 hrs a month, displacements are still happening and they're still offering the non-availability option (don't fly at all and get paid for 50 hrs) for some positions. By May or so I think most of us (at least the poor suckers at the bottom of the furlough pool like me) knew we weren't going to be going back in the fall.
As far as not raising ticket prices $20, this is my understanding of it based on a quote I read from our CFO. The $20 raise was on the ordinary full fare ticket, not the leisure fare. So raising that ticket price just meant that customer goes elsewhere or buys a leisure fare and saves money. I don't think many people are paying this full fare anyway, so raising the ticket price $20 was not going to help raise revenue. It might actualy decrease revenue because the knucklehead who was going to pay the full fare before might decide to go look a little harder and get a cheaper fare. That's my understanding of article I read, but I may be mistaken.
