Originally Posted by gr8vu

New hire reindeer games...Ran out of FDP and got an all expenses paid overnight in ATL with DH home the next day. Scheduler approved deviate DH but flight was full and couldn't book jumpseat so listed as non rev. One of the FA seats was open 15 min prior but agent couldn't figure out how to book me. She finally gave me boarding pass and I boarded and put away my luggage and talked with Capt and lead FA. At departure time I was asked to deplane since they still couldn't figure out how to close the flight. I am now at Hilton--at least it is warmer than Chicago crew rest (barely). Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by Splash

Good response. The area that makes the discussion germane is your use of the qualifier, "should". We should, but might not. Whether or not this would be a good time to convert some of our profit sharing formula to pay rates is something I expect our reps to discuss.I want to keep profit sharing. I like the connection it gives us to the operation. I'm also not opposed to converting a portion of it into "above and beyond" pay rates.



I don't think it takes a black swan. I think a bad acquisition or poorly executed merger could hurt profitability, but not trigger pay cuts. Ask United pilots how the last 6 years have gone. That's 2 negotiating cycles for us.



The threat from the state-owned airlines has grown, too. Will our government continue to block cabotage and foreign ownership? A change to those protections could trigger a situation where profitability drops, but not dramatically enough to see us going back to bankruptcy court.

Dropping foreign ownership restrictions could result in a few state-owned airlines going after the Big 3 in the US. Being gobbled-up by a foreign entity that can hide profits because we're now a private company owned by an emirate or kingdom could be "troublesome".



I'm not clairvoyant, nor am I a keen accountant. I went to bed on Sept 10, 2001 oblivious to a threat I learned a lot about over the following years. The first few years saw my pay actually go up - even though my airline was wildly unprofitable. I'm not smart enough to figure out all the possible scenarios that could lead to something that kills profits, but allows us to maintain pay rates.

Should I ignore my "pilot sense" and not worry about risk I can't predict?

Originally Posted by Scoop

Splash,

You bring up some good points. The more this is discussed and aired out the less chance we have of being blindsided. As far as your pay going up after 9-11 that was under the obtuse leadership (if you have a flexible definition of leadership) of Leo and Fred. If we had those two clowns running the show I would say get rid of profit sharing yesterday. I don't think that would happen today and besides 1310 Pilots saw their pay go to zero.

As far as using the qualifier "should" goes, a wise man named Yogi once said "Predictions are hard to make - especially about the future."

Scoop

Originally Posted by gr8vu

New hire reindeer games...Ran out of FDP and got an all expenses paid overnight in ATL with DH home the next day. Scheduler approved deviate DH but flight was full and couldn't book jumpseat so listed as non rev. One of the FA seats was open 15 min prior but agent couldn't figure out how to book me. She finally gave me boarding pass and I boarded and put away my luggage and talked with Capt and lead FA. At departure time I was asked to deplane since they still couldn't figure out how to close the flight. I am now at Hilton--at least it is warmer than Chicago crew rest (barely). Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by 80ktsClamp

In honor of the Alaska paint scheme "refresh."

Originally Posted by 80ktsClamp

In honor of the Alaska paint scheme "refresh."

Originally Posted by Howgozit

image.jpg

You should post this in alaska forum, get those boys all riled up!

Originally Posted by F15Cricket

I like it, although I would miss the Eskimo!

I also like how you left the newly-merged company name on the side ... We would have to teach all y'all how to spell "airlines," however.

On second thought, maybe we could paint just one aircraft with that ugly widget-y thing, in honor of all the bubbas.... Sort of like y'all did with the red tails of NWA ...