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UAL planning recalls

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Boz

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 25, 2001
Posts
176
It is planning recalls for customer contacts employees and mechanics, and lets hope that this wil end the furloughing of any further pilots and they too will be on the recall list in the coming months. Keeping the faith that UAL is turning the corner.



Associated Press
United to Increase O'Hare Flights

United Airlines to Increase Daily Flights From O'Hare by 15 Percent, Will Recall Workers
CHICAGO (AP) -- United Airlines plans to increase the number of daily flights from O'Hare International Airport by 15 percent and will recall hundreds of furloughed employees to make it happen.

The carrier also plans to cut fares and eliminate a Saturday-night-stay requirement to help recapture business lost from corporate travelers after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It expects to redirect dozen of jets from other markets to accommodate the increase in flights from O'Hare.

The new schedule is expected to start June 7.

United could not say how much it will spend on rebuilding at its Chicago hub.

Chris Bowers, United's senior vice president of marketing and sales, told the Chicago Tribune that United would also cut ticket prices for all markets by up to 50 percent.

After the September attacks, United slashed capacity by 23 percent and laid off 20,000 employees. It now plans to increase the number of daily flights from O'Hare from 537 to 614.

The expansion will mean that hundreds of the airline's customer-contact employees, ramp workers and mechanics who have been laid off in Chicago and around the country will be recalled.
 
So if I interpret this article correctly UAL which is losing millions a day is going to:

1. Cut ticket prices 50% in all markets

2. Increase flights by 15% at O'Hare

3. Recall some furloughed employees (not pilots)


Maybe I missed the day they taught business in college but if it costs me 50 cents to make lemonade and I sell it for 25 cents it stands to reason I wouldnt make money. The next week I cut the price by 50% to sell more lemonade and hire a salesman because I cant keep up with all the extra sales. Wouldnt I lose a lot more money?

Any MBAs in the house?
 
The increase in flights and reduction in fares is in response to AMR which is increasing flights in ORD it is simply a competetive response to AMR.
 
Boz,

Not to dampen your enthusiasm but I'm afraid the BEST we can hope for here is no future furloughs. Note that the Steve Forte hotline stated that there will be no additional system-wide capacity as a result of the increased ORD flying. He also said there will only be a "very modest" increase in pilot hours for the summer. There could well be more pilots axed over the next few months as they fine tune their staffing levels and people trickle out of the training pipeline.

For now, however, they don't want to get caught with their pants down as they very nearly did before---they were only a day or two from announcing an April furlough when the news came out about American's planned increase in ORD summer flying.
 
F/O is right on. Hopefully the forloughs are over, but don't be surprised if there are 100 or so more in May. Flydog, the reason for the sales and increased flights in ORD is UAL is determined to remain the dominate carrier there. There are benefits to having the largest share of the pie that go beyond what is readily apparent, and that is what UAL and AMR will be fighting over. As to whether United can afford to do it, go back and read all those posts from months ago predicting United going bankrupt any day now. There are still here, they still have 2 bil in cash, loads are among the best in the industry, and revenue is steadily climbing as the economy recovers. A Summer war between UAL and AMR will get more folks moving thru ORD and be good for the whole industry.
 
I agree with you F/O,

I am just trying to stay positive after months of bad news, I realize that this latest announcement is just as it has been pointed out that we are protecting our fortress in ORD, where we once had 48% of the market share, and AA had around 35%.

But since UAL has been distracted by internal problems in trying to settle outstanding contracts, AA has made a move on UAL dominance out of ORD. Today's response is what any Airline would need to do in order to rise to a challenge from a competing airline. I have no doubt that if UAL announced increased flying out of MIA or DFW that AA would match us to keep this long standing rivalry going.

Like you said lets hope this is the end of furloughs for now, I am only worried that in the fall that when the block hours may get reduced that UAL may start the furlough game all over again. My feeling is that UAL is not going to furlough in MAY. Again, just my gut feeling and trust me I have been wrong many times, but again trying to stay positive and hoping that we recall the 844 pilots and other employees back in the coming 6- 14 months.
 
Boz and F/O

I do believe they won't furlough in May, but who knows about the future.
In another article, don't remember where, somebody in the company admitted that they made a mistake by cutting so much capacity. UAL has lost some market share and trying to play catch up. I hope its not to late.

But on a side note, we must thank our MEC for getting the company to postpone furloughs from Nov, Dec, Jan till the beginning of Mar otherwise UAL would be in a heap of trouble

Only hope we see recalls in 2003.

UAL727
 
Boz,

I agree with you that the company could postpone the next round until fall and I heard rumors to that effect from the flight office as I was checking out. Obviously it would be an extremely bad sign if a year or so into this mess and the better part of a year into our supposed recovery we were letting more pilots go.

UAL727,

One thing that I've noticed is that management has portrayed the delay of the second round from Jan to March as if they were doing the pilot group a favor. The truth is there is absolutely, positively, no way they could have run the airline during Jan and Feb had they resumed furloughs in Jan and they knew it. I'd say they successfully bluffed ALPA into delaying the RJ grievance with the threat of the Jan furlough.

The other thing they are continually touting is the fact that the total number of furloughs will be "significantly less" that the original 1800 projected. It is quite clear that the 1800 was a complete pie-in-the-sky figure to begin with. Once again, there is positively no way we could run the airline with that many pilots out.
 
F/O right again,

The furloughs that have happened this year, are a clear viloation of the contract not to mention that 124 pilots furloughed on Oct. 31st fall into the same illegal furlough. We have the language in the contract plain and simple with our hard faught scope clause. The company has taken full advantage of it and our MEC elected to defer furloughs scheduled in NOV,DEC,JAN, & FEB to come up with a solution, but they claim to still be working on it. Well, we need to step up the process, UAL MEC is starting to disappoint me as we are on the back burner of resolving things wrong with our compnay. I am not happy that we have illegaly furloughed so many pilots and ignored our contract. What's next company does not feel we should get B fund contirubutions. It is the same thing when they just blatently have ignored a section of the contract. Anyway, I am getting of the subject a little. I just think the MEC has been slow to react in certain situations, another example is the cobra vote and assesment. I am not even going to get into this, but the low number of pilots that voted and then the turn out was very disturbing. I just hope that UAL pilots not of furlough will do all they can to bring back the 844 as soon as possible.
 
Boz,

I appreciate your thoughts. I was shocked that 1) only about 50% participated in the COBRA vote, and 2) 28% (if my memory serves me) voted against it. I bet if you asked each one of these individuals how they voted, they'd LIE and tell you they voted yes. Hopefully these 28% aren't going to be looking out for the interests of the junior guys anytime soon.
 

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