WSJ on SWA/AT Merger

[BILL LUMBERG]

Nicely played sir.:beer:

And that s the way I see it also.

Hey Sy-bill,

Put your pom poms away....go read his post....

Well Played!!!

 

[redflyer65]

401k matching is not a pension.

I'm not sure the pensions have worked out very well for the airline pilots over the past 10-12 years.

What are they getting? Around 40k per year from the PBGC?

 

[PCL_128]

I'm not sure the pensions have worked out very well for the airline pilots over the past 10-12 years.

What are they getting? Around 40k per year from the PBGC?

Like most SWA pilots, it seems, you don't understand the difference between a defined benefit pension and a defined contribution pension. Hopefully SWAPA figures it out and gets you guys a real retirement plan soon.

 

[redflyer65]

Like most SWA pilots, it seems, you don't understand the difference between a defined benefit pension and a defined contribution pension. Hopefully SWAPA figures it out and gets you guys a real retirement plan soon.

I understand the difference. Do you?

Are you talking about a pension or a defined contribution plan? I wouldn't call that a pension.

Anyway, you completely dodged the fact that most airlines pilots that had regular pensions (with the help of ALPA) got left holding the bag. And that bag had very little retirement money left in it thanks to horrible management types that underfunded them and then flushed them completely with bankruptcy.

All of those pilots would have done much better with a 401k or even the DCP (plan) your alluding to.

 

[dicko]

Back to the topic - 'The poorly handled merging of AirTran and Southwests systems'.

Last trip: Southwest had booked a group of 3 passengers in Business class on AirTran using their points. Unfortunately, 10 other AirTran customers had bought seats in Business class as well. One of the three Southwest passengers was moved back to a coach seat.

The FAs did a great job of trying to handle the irate Southwest customer. He was very, very pissed off.

 

[ATLplt]

Happens almost every flight handled by SWA ops agents: kids in exit rows, people sitting in random seats they didn't pay for, business class passengers finding their seats taken by non-revs. The ops agents usually just stand in the doorway while the FA's do an amazing job of controlling the damage in the cabin. They should be awarded extra pay every time they fly into BWI, MCO, DCA, or MDW.

I'd love to see a chart for on-time performance before and after each station changeover. The numbers would likely be jaw dropping. I haven't been on-time in a few months and frankly, my sense of urgency is starting to match those at the gate and on the ground.
No matter what we try and do up front, or the fine folks in the back, there's a general lack of enthusiasm to get any AirTran flights out at scheduled departure time. A lot of the blame lies with the lethargic ramp personnel. Beacon's on, door's closed, tug driver is on his union break. BWI has to be the worst.

 

[scoreboardII]

Like most SWA pilots, it seems, you don't understand the difference between a defined benefit pension and a defined contribution pension. Hopefully SWAPA figures it out and gets you guys a real retirement plan soon.

so it can be washed in bankruptcy court? I think not.

 

[scoreboardII]

Back to the topic - 'The poorly handled merging of AirTran and Southwests systems'.

Last trip: Southwest had booked a group of 3 passengers in Business class on AirTran using their points. Unfortunately, 10 other AirTran customers had bought seats in Business class as well. One of the three Southwest passengers was moved back to a coach seat.

The FAs did a great job of trying to handle the irate Southwest customer. He was very, very pissed off.

Wow, you mean one guy got improperly booked in an operation which moves 572,000 people a day? That's like 1 to the -7th percentage error...

Dude really, one guy? Please.

 

[scoreboardII]

Happens almost every flight handled by SWA ops agents: kids in exit rows, people sitting in random seats they didn't pay for, business class passengers finding their seats taken by non-revs. The ops agents usually just stand in the doorway while the FA's do an amazing job of controlling the damage in the cabin. They should be awarded extra pay every time they fly into BWI, MCO, DCA, or MDW.

I'd love to see a chart for on-time performance before and after each station changeover. The numbers would likely be jaw dropping. I haven't been on-time in a few months and frankly, my sense of urgency is starting to match those at the gate and on the ground.
No matter what we try and do up front, or the fine folks in the back, there's a general lack of enthusiasm to get any AirTran flights out at scheduled departure time. A lot of the blame lies with the lethargic ramp personnel. Beacon's on, door's closed, tug driver is on his union break. BWI has to be the worst.

Don't stress, go get a Latte, if management wanted us to care, they'd give us direction to care. It's their ball of goo, let them dig us out, they apparently have all the answers.

Stop stressing, it will take at least five to ten years to reach the level of the legacies.

Point to ponder, be careful about blaming the lethargic ramp. That ramp is managed by folks who force mandatory double's, undermans during peaks, pays minimum wage, and refuses to believe it snows in MDW or BWI and mans as if it's SNA. So place the blame at the point of occurance, management.

 

[Just thinking]

Lvdv is clueless and thinks he runs a great operation. No sense of urgency whatsoever and it translates throughout the day creating delays throughout the system. They are not understaffed if they have time to shoot hoops, play cornhole and lounge around checking their iphone. Operation agents who finally grace the aircrew with their presence and let them on board. Dump the pax on board and walk away leaving fas to clean their mess. Baggage mishandling has sky rocketed and your bag may fly free but not with you. Just another airline with lazy overunionized unskilled labor groups. Rampers don't make minimum wage. They get paid considerably more than that. The "Luv boat" has sailed. Not a jaded perpective.... just a real one.