United pulls out of FLL & PBI

[D-Bo]

It also looks like UAL is dumping the DEN-LHR service.

Sucks

Don't know what it is but I'm not defending my ********************ty airline but to correct a few of you.

1) DEN-LHR is seasonal. We hoped we would do it year round. They wanted to go from a 777 to a 767 in the winter but it wouldn't be able to carry max weight. So in their dumb wisdom just to make it seasonal since they already committed the triple to something else.

2) We need FLL instead of letting Airways take our pax down there but it was far from "substantial".

3) Beginning of the end????? If you see UAL giving up all of it's rights in Asia that would be a great signal. Jeez, if we over here were as bearish as you all we'd be throwing the kitchen sink in our contract to save it. Luckily most of us see through this BS and if it caves, it caves, but we now have a tendency to not believe our management when they try to say the sky is falling. If anything they need to give us a pay raise right Fn now. Oh, and don't believe the furlough numbers either. If they were truly planning on grounding 100 planes and 950 pilots, they may as well ground 400+ planes and furlough 7000+ pilots. That would be the result of their actions anyway.

 

[redflyer65]

Good replies everyone.

There's nothing wrong with Quad Cities/Des Moines, just trying to prove a point.

I wish all the United employees all the best.

 

[FatesPawn]

If they were truly planning on grounding 100 planes and 950 pilots, they may as well ground 400+ planes and furlough 7000+ pilots. That would be the result of their actions anyway.

D-Bo,

Believe me, I'm not trying to piss in your Wheaties, but as a former furloughee, I can ASSURE you that nobody believed they would shrink 30% and park the entire 727/737-200 fleet in one day on Oct 31, 2001 either. Everyone was looking for the silver lining then, too. Parking 100 airplanes is on page 359 of their playbook.

My 20/20 hindsight tells me to never underestimate stupid draconian decisions made by management.

I'm not trying to be negative - just a realist. I learned in 2001 to plan for the worst and hope for the best. I hope everyone left at UAL is doing the same today.


-fate

 

[NuGuy]

Hey, I don't care what you call the cities...Quad, Des Moines, etc...

It's all about yield....


FLL is a LEISURE market. Business does not go on there. That's why the fares are $hit, and yield is $hit.

If Quad City and Des Moines has the yield, bring 'em on.

It's all about yield...who gives a $hit about the name of the town!

Billy Bob and Bobby Sue want to pay 30 bucks RT to go to FLL....maybe it's just me, but I'm thinking only a few carries can afford to carry Billy Bob and Bobby Sue and those fares...

As Imus would say..."There you go. Now we know."

This is something NWA has known for decades.

Sure, MOT, FSD, RAP, GRR, FNT and FAR suck in the wintertime, but that's where the cash is.

"Sure, they're cold and dark, but they're all OURS"


Nu

 

[Turtlesfly]

My extended family is from the Quad Cities - and I have gone there extensively.

Let's get it straight, first of all: United doesn't fly there. It's the GoJet mother********************ers.

 

[Skybus]

Actually I do NOT have the data however my observations of FLL is HEAVY business travel.

 

[NuGuy]

Actually I do NOT have the data however my observations of FLL is HEAVY business travel.

Sorry...wrong. I live in and commute out of FLL.

Definately the backpack, sleep-on-the-terminal floor crowd.

Nu

 

[Marko Ramius]

D-Bo,

Believe me, I'm not trying to piss in your Wheaties, but as a former furloughee, I can ASSURE you that nobody believed they would shrink 30% and park the entire 727/737-200 fleet in one day on Oct 31, 2001 either. Everyone was looking for the silver lining then, too. Parking 100 airplanes is on page 359 of their playbook.

My 20/20 hindsight tells me to never underestimate stupid draconian decisions made by management.

I'm not trying to be negative - just a realist. I learned in 2001 to plan for the worst and hope for the best. I hope everyone left at UAL is doing the same today.


-fate

I agree on not underestimating management's heavy hand, you must have been in lala land if you didn't think the 727's and the 737-291's weren't going away and quickly. They said as far back as 1998 that planes like the 727, 737-200, DC-10 and 747-200 were fine with a good economy(.com) and cheap fuel but that they were goners if any of those variable turned south.

In fact the original A319 order was made to replace the 737-291 and beat out a lowball offer for 737-700's from Boeing. The economy was so good though, they elected to bring them in as extra capacity instead. Prior to 9/11, the company had already gotten rid of the DC-10 and the 747-238B's and announced that the 727's and 737-291's were toast to be replaced by the Airbus order that is still on the books 7 years later. The company said that they weren't going to furlough and that they were going to let attrition and the 3man to 2man conversions shrink their operations through the economic downturn. When 9/11 hit, of course all bets were off and stuff changed but it only accelerated the 727 and 737-291 retirements by about 6mos-1 year, so how can you say it was surprising?

 

[Marko Ramius]

The article doesn't even say they plan on feeding it with United Express. Am I missing something?

Why bother? If this stuff keeps up, the regional industry is a couple of bold moves from AMR and/or Mesa from being turned on it's head. What happens if the same MBA's and people who raked lessors over the coals for lease rate reductions in major airline bk's get the chance to do the same to the lease rates on RJ's at Eagle, Mesa and maybe Pinnacle? That would/will be a boom goes the dynamite moment.

 

[contrail67]

Actually I do NOT have the data however my observations of FLL is HEAVY business travel.

For the most part..current TED cities are not HEAVY business travelers...