UAL furloughees

[P3-Adub]

Any Leaves of absence being given ?

I'll take the entire 2 year bypass and more if able to wrestle it out of them. Need to see substantial growth and a REAL business plan that will ensure survival, at least as much of a guarantee as possible. Definitely don't want to go through all of this again. Cannot take another pay cut to get my foot back in the door. Hoping that it will be a tough choice and not a given to not go back. Until the letter comes though, not that big of a concern. Oh how I miss field standby and covering other domicile's flying !

Sky Kid,

How is the mood in general these days ? Still pretty bad or is there now some hope with the , hopefully, last of the wage and benefit cuts ?

 

[skykid]

My mood is always good. I think you can see with the number of pilots - 33 - just flat out resigning with no early retirement, plenty are voting with their feet. And good for them. If you track the intent to repurchase, on-time stats, lost luggage, and number of complaints, it is amazing how good the company has been operationally the last several months. The fact that CAL and American, even with these fuel prices, are back in the black is a great sign for the big boys. Yes, both those airlines have been infinitely better managed long term than United, but I think we are seeing that multi-type aircraft airlines with global ops can compete when their costs are controlled.

 

[arthompson]

How many people are still furloughed?

 

[skykid]

CHICAGO, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Beginning Dec. 15, 2005, United Airlines is adding flights to eight sizzling beach destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean, including brand-new service between Washington, D.C. and Nassau, Bahamas -- the second largest destination in the Caribbean.



"Our new service to Nassau increases the number of beach destinations we offer our customers in the Washington, D.C., area, and provides access to another vacation hot spot for all our customers to enjoy," said Greg Taylor, senior vice president - Planning. "This new service is in line with United's ongoing effort to bolster our international service, and represents a second consecutive year of significant growth to popular Mexican and Caribbean leisure destinations." Along with United's new service between Washington, D.C. and Nassau, the company will also offer new roundtrip service between Washington, D.C. and Montego Bay; Punta Cana; and St. Maarten; as well as new service between Denver and Cozumel, Mexico; and Chicago and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

That's the kind of news you need!

 

[Chappysan]

First, good to see you again UAL78, takes me back to the old days of this board that seem like a lifetime ago. I tend to agree with you, although I'm putting a little more padding rather than get my hopes up. There are 300 retirements coming up in both 2006 and 2007. With recall numbers running 2x-3x the number of bodies that they are bringing back, the wild card is growth in 06/07. My personal belief is that there will be roughly 5% growth each of those years, and that the recall process is constrained right now by the BK exit in that to secure exit financing there is a dollar number being given to the bankers, and that number is predicated on a certain number of pilots. Once the exit is fulfilled, the expansion and the recalls will, I believe, be much faster than expected. Also, the MEC sent out a summary of the recently won grievance on hour caps, which the company already stated would render them at least 100 pilots short immediately. Anyway, I'm going to hedge my bets and guess that, minus any terrorism, etc., all 1,800 or so will be offerred recall by mid-2007-that doesn't mean physcially in the puzzle palace, just an offer that many will bypass.

 

[P3-Adub]

Clarify the "BYPASS" please anyone. As I understand it, we can bypass up to two years when recalled (with a letter from your employer) however there is a clause when the last pilot out has been offered their job back, then the bypass becomes what ????? Can UAL shorten the length of the bypass at that point ? And in what order ?


I would like the entire 2 years just to see how United's health holds up.

Any idea of how many mil leaves are out there and how many will come back after BK ?

 

[Chappysan]

Yikes! My understanding is that you can go on an LOA if you provide your local flight office (LAXFO, whatever) a contract binding you for the two years, but you need to have that in place before you are recalled. Then, when they get to your name on the list, you are automatically cycled to LOA status, and come off your LOA like you would normally. The Bypass provision, as I read it, is different and has only to do with if you are on furlough and get offerred recall, you can chose to defer, at which point it continues down the list, and, as it has been explained to me, it will be offerred in seniority order down through the list until reaching the last guy, they will then turn around and move up the list from the bottom, and at that point you must either choose recall or resign.
This was the way the letter/LOA thing was explained to me, so if that is your intent I would make sure to contact a flight office or Todd Coomans (sp?) to ensure that ducks are lined up if you want the full two years, because it was specifically told to me that the LOA had to be in place before recall, for what it's worth.

 

[AdlerDriver]

................Anyway, I'm going to hedge my bets and guess that, minus any terrorism, etc., all 1,800 or so will be offerred recall by mid-2007-that doesn't mean physcially in the puzzle palace, just an offer that many will bypass.

I've been furloughed from UAL since Aug 03. I certainly hope that most of the ~1800 have moved on with their lives and are not "pining" away waiting for good 'ole United to call them back. A little self-respect please. Yippee - another chance to jump onto the "balance beam" and see if they can make it to the end (?what retirement?) before someone starts pushing them off again. You couldn't pay me contract 2000 wages to go back there now. I'm looking forward to telling them to "pound sand" when they call me back. Good luck to those who accept.

 

[turbodriver]

Nice post Do-boy. Go get a life....

Do-boy is right. Do your homework kiddie.

 

[dispatchguy]

I was just talking to a good friend of mine recently (DEN 733 FO), 11/99 DOH, now a USAFR C-17 AC, lives near SEA. He's putting in apps at FDX and SWA.

He never expects to wear a UAL uniform again, and actually, he expects UAL to be the next TWA, in and out of BK several times, until they finally go Ch 7.

BTW, I think he heads back to the sandbox for a 2 week rotation tomorrow...

 

[AdlerDriver]

....
He never expects to wear a UAL uniform again, and actually, he expects UAL to be the next TWA, in and out of BK several times, until they finally go Ch 7.

Agree 100%.

 

[pilotyip]

here comes the June 2007 hiring boom, more signs

 

[Chappysan]

"A little self-respect"? "Pining" away? Didn't like the Contract 2000 rates? I guess you're trying to jab away for some response. Whatever, dude. I'll go back if everything's status quo b/c it's still a better job than the one I've got now. Congrats on FedEx. Life is nice when you have options.

 

[bluefin]

If I could get an interview with Fed, Ups, or SWA and get hired and then have "options" then I wouldn't be wishing that things would turn around. Consider yourself lucky to have, "OPTIONS".

 

[AdlerDriver]

"A little self-respect"? "Pining" away? Didn't like the Contract 2000 rates? I guess you're trying to jab away for some response. Whatever, dude. I'll go back if everything's status quo b/c it's still a better job than the one I've got now. Congrats on FedEx. Life is nice when you have options.

I guess I did sound a little harsh. I'm not jabbing. I am just pi$$ed that the industry has turned into what it is. It's a shame that someone has put their life on hold for 2+ years and then has to go back to UAL with no guarantee that the same thing won't happen again a year later. Most pilots are talented, resourceful people and could easily do better than the current job at UAL. It may not be flying but they'd probably be happier.
I certainly did like contract 2000 rates. $140/hour in the right seat of the 757 was great. All I'm saying is, to me that's not worth going back to if I have to worry about my job from week to week. I consider myself very lucky to have options in the flying profession. I (and everyone else) also have options that don't involve flying. I know plenty of furloughees that have found better jobs than UAL, started their own businesses and are WAYYY more happy than they would be with 10 days off/month working for peanuts.