Racefan

AR,

There is no outside observer that would look at the communications from each MEC in 2008 and notice the stark differences in the tone and level of animosity in them. If you can't acknowledge that fact then there is probably no hope of change.

Are you forgetting Veritas I and II? If you can't acknowledge that fact, then you're probably right.

I will make a deal. If you can get your "friend" who is a rep to get some number of fNWA reps to make a clear statement that this duty rigs grievance is not worth pursuing and is being handled properly by CA then I will believe you are moving to the high ground. As long as you let this boil fester, I don't believe you are truly trying to move on.

Wow, that's a pretty revealing statement. Who are you to determine the duty rigs grievances are not worth pursuing? Hopefully you are stating an opinion and not Administration doctrine. One thing fNWA pilots don't understand is why any South pilot would align with the Company against us trying fight for equal pay and equal treatment under the agreement. It's odd for us to be fighting against, not only the Company but and our union brothers and sisters. What's in it for you if you beat us down and win? You get a bonus or something? You also seem to be agreeing that "CA" has handled the duty rigs case properly by delaying for all this time. It is indeed hard to see you trying to move on.

forgot to bid

So Clamp, are you afraid your identity will be blown by your copius note taking during meetings?

80ktsClamp

More from RA:

- UAL/US deal would be good. Too much capacity in the US market still. Sees further consolidation in EU after the events this last week with IB and BA. Probably 3 airlines in EU.

- cap and trade is dead in the water for now.

- harsh words for the gvmt on the slot swap. They cant figure out competition issues and are terrible at predicting anything.

- open skies- already more or less exists between US/EU. Doesnt see foreign ownership as a big deal since everything is debt financed anyways. Doesn't see it as a great risk.

- our Domestic vs LCC's- Airtran is down to 170 dep a day out of ATL down from 290. Domestic side broght in more money than intl last year.

-WN's unit costs are now the same as ours. They are having to go to more rational pricing. Walkup fares at WN now can exceed 800 dollars.

- Africa- TSA blocking any progress. NBO is indefinite hold due to security issues that probably will not be resolved.. West africa is slowly getting there. We have approval and everything... will jump on it as soon as it's allowed.

- We are in the good about 100M on hedges... hedged at 50%.

- Cargo- possible hub out of ATL for fdx/ups. We carry a bunch of UPS stuff.

- Doesnt see RAH issues as a conflict of interest with us. They are fulfilling their contractual obligations and will continue to do business with them on the shuttle america side. They get some of the best feedback from customers of our feeders... Will let them wallow and suffer on their own branded operation.


-Alaska- forging and every closer relationship. "VERY VERY CLOSE" They will be moving into all terminals with us around the system.

- larger gauge airplanes tend to work very well in ATL. Can see more of that in the future. 744 to HNL was a great moneymaker over winter months out of ATL.

787- we want our cash payment.

Regionals- top rated ones are Skywest, CPZ, and RAH..... worst performers are ASA and Pinnacle. Working with them to improve service...




That is all!

TOGA LK

I have a question for Delta S pilots.

Why is it that when a union meeting reveals more domestic and international codeshare, S pilots get excited. For example, my good buddy at SWA couldn't be happier about parting ways with Westjet, yet union reps at Delta uphold codeshare as the holy grail of a business plan? Seriously guys, when does it benefit a pilots career to have another carrier, flying like equipment on former routes? If it were that great of a business model why do the most profitable airlines operate without RJ fleets or codeshare?

Maybe I am missing something here, but it seems the codeshare with Alaska, a higher cost per seat mile airline, is not the ultimate business solution. It only results in pilots getting kicked further east and bumping more junior pilots to lesser paid equipment. The company has been given entirely too much leeway on scope relief and I am one too few waiving the *** flag? Sure airlines like AA have furloughed thousands, but imagine if they weren't capped at 50 70-seat jets, AA would be a brand name only with 6,000 pilots. I hope our union figures this out before we all end up on the street pulling gear for another company going head to head with the Latest and Greatest Codeshare Giant.

1234

GREAT report Clamp. Thanks.

80ktsClamp

Fiddlesticks.

TOGA LK

It's the same group that signed a LOA-19 before our unions could agree to restore circa 2000 contract language. In a nutshell, you are dealing with pilots who chose management and a BK contract with a slight improvements over cooperation with those who would ultimately be their union brothers... I know, unbelievable. Furthermore, Prater signed the LOA and JCBA before we could even vote on it... Another reason to shelf ALPO.

80ktsClamp

I looked around. There were A LOT of copious note takers at that meeting.

forgot to bid

I hate to post from a different website but it is a succinct observation and I'm just going to put one paragraph out of order:

Can SWA afford not to grow?

Seems to me that Southwest has been so reliant on growth to keep costs low that they will start becoming much less competitive on costs (especially without the hedge advantage) if they can't grow. Growth keeps labor costs low by keeping seniority low and keeps maintenance costs low due to warranty periods and such of new airplanes. Just seems to me that with their labor contracts and their new network plans, if they don't start growing significantly again, they will have costs creeping up near the legacies and will be unable to offer as low of fares as they do today.

-For Q4 2009, Southwest said that CASM excluding fuel was up 8.6% YoY. Their guidance for Q1 2010 was for CASM ex-fuel to increase more than Q4 CASM. Q1 looks to be darn near close if not actually a double digit increase in non-fuel unit costs

For the Legacies:

-Delta is forecasting 2010 Consolidated CASM ex-fuel to be slightly lower than 2009, with Mainline CASM ex-fuel flat from 2009 to 2010

-Continental said 2009 CASM ex-fuel was 1.5% higher than 2008. No guidance seemed to be given for 2010

-United said that CASM ex-fuel has increased less than 1% from 2007 to 2009. For 2010, they are claiming their CASM ex-fuel performance will beat everyone, which would imply they will do even better than DL's lower YoY CASM

-US Airways said 2009 CASM ex-fuel was down 0.3% YoY. Didn't see 2010 guidance.

Now the obvious response will be "WN has been decreasing capacity so that is why CASM is up". But I don't buy that seeing as how every airline above reduced capacity and some much more than WN did. DL reduced a ton of capacity in 2009 and Q1 2010 but if I remember correctly their CASM stayed relatively flat the whole time.

One other retort will be that their network is changing, which is true, and that their RASM performance has been outperforming. I will say that is true, and their RASM has been better than most, but IIRC it has not been performing 8-10 points better than the Legacies (which is what would be needed to offset the CASM increase).

I don't think there is anything untrue about what RA said there, but I also have a feeling there is more to the story. We are financing their other business. Are we allowing them to continue to fly for us because they'll be battling WN/UAL in DEN and AirTran/WN in MKE and will eventually flounder anyways?

If so, and that is the bet, then its a good bet to take.

Also, what about LCC's gates in LGA being owned by RAH? Make nice with RAH so we have a place to park our airplanes if we ever get the DOT out of our way?

dtfl

Maybe I have missed something...do you mean 765 or are they talking about taking the 75/76 out of ATL altogether????
That would create a hell of a ripple downward in that base.