Rise & Demise of Pinnacle Airlines
12-18-2012, 06:46 AM
#1
Banned
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Dec 2009
Position: CRJ - Hell Hole
Posts: 236
Rise & Demise of Pinnacle Airlines
During the early 2000's Pinnacle was receiving 2-3 CRJ-200's a month and gasoline was $1.20-$1.30. Oil was 30 something a barrel. The scope had been undermined at Northwest with the use of a "closet" to make the CRJ's have only 44 seats (which later were removed and converted to 50 seats). These pilots rejected by the major airlines that stayed at Pinnacle, by default were advancing into lower management and supervisory ranks. These rejects, came up with cockamamie rules that you can only call in sick so many times per year, etc. A management style like this did not promote efficiency in the operation, it did the opposite. It infuriated pilots and all other labor groups to retaliate with an "I don't care mentality." More cockamamie rules and complete loss of professionalism from this group. It became war.
Upper management could not keep their hand out of the cookie jar as they took bigger and bigger bonuses each year. Towards the climax of their robbery, they even took 1/3 of the airlines profits in a year. Instead of the money being invested into the employees or a stronger financial operation, they blew it on lavish vacations and payouts to those who would keep them accountable enabling laziness. During this era, the laziness of upper management grew to the extent that they were so detached from the operation, they had no idea how out of control the operation had become.
Pinnacle became the only airline in the United States of America to have ground controllers ask you "are you going to be waiting on numbers?"...when you called for a pushback clearance. If you didn't have your numbers then, you had to wait at the gate while every other airline taxied to the runway and took off. At some airports, CRJ-200's clogged up the run up areas at major airports as they waited 30-40 minutes each flight for their w/b data. All because management was no where to be found when employees were trying to notify them of the operational failures. This went on for years. Pathetic.
Because the hositility towards employees had risen to new levels, retaining flight attendants was a real challenge. Pinnacle management devised a scheme to interview flight attendants in the ghetto near bus stops through a newspaper ad. You didn't even have to have the success to own a car, you could ride the bus to your interview. These ghetto flight attendants had no skills, no manners, no discipline, nothing. It was a complete opposite to the Pan Am days, and it was the front lines, the face of the airline. Thus, customer service sunk to new levels as a result.
In a mere effort to gain size to increase the managements bonuses, they bought unprofitable airlines which should have gone out of business on their own. Reach towards the end of this era, despite stock prices dropping from $20 dollars a share to .50 cents, management was reaping in millions of bonuses yearly.
Then to accomodate buying airlines, a sky scraper downtown executive building was "necessary" with upper management having Mississippi River views to gaze off at (if they showed up for work).
6 years into contract negotiations had worn down the moral of the employees to unprecedented levels, pilots were writing up every single mechanical imperfection possible to make a point to management to not undermine your workforce. Management had beat down the labor forces so bad, it was a slowdown without a great effort. Pilots simply were too fatigued with the horrible labor relations to work hard.
The CEO became even more detached that he would only show up twice a year at the airport, that was to load bags on the ramp (long enough to get his picture taken and that's it). No more pilot meetings, nothing. Total detachment.
As the mergers got completely out of control, pilots were waiting 3-6 months in order to get through a training event for their newly assigned aircraft per the new seniority list. Meanwhile, pilots who were trained were get TWICE their hourly wage to keep the operation running. This spiraled out of control and brought the airline to its knees.
I write this to anyone who might think for a nano second that it's a group failure. It is 100% a management failure. They are incompetent jerks who waste money, with no regard to the financial well being of their employees. They are drunk off their lavish lifestyles provided by a board of directors that also enjoyed the wild ride amidst a looming financial ruin. This is "corporate raiding" at it's finest. Frank Lorenzo would be proud.
Out of 2,300 pilots, 405 of them will remain captains, another 405 will be downgraded to first officer, and 1,500 pilots will become unemployed.
The bankruptcy's, car repossesions, and personal financial ruin will be caused by a detached management group that became lazy and held un-accountable to protect what thousands have worked so hard to build.
Upper management could not keep their hand out of the cookie jar as they took bigger and bigger bonuses each year. Towards the climax of their robbery, they even took 1/3 of the airlines profits in a year. Instead of the money being invested into the employees or a stronger financial operation, they blew it on lavish vacations and payouts to those who would keep them accountable enabling laziness. During this era, the laziness of upper management grew to the extent that they were so detached from the operation, they had no idea how out of control the operation had become.
Pinnacle became the only airline in the United States of America to have ground controllers ask you "are you going to be waiting on numbers?"...when you called for a pushback clearance. If you didn't have your numbers then, you had to wait at the gate while every other airline taxied to the runway and took off. At some airports, CRJ-200's clogged up the run up areas at major airports as they waited 30-40 minutes each flight for their w/b data. All because management was no where to be found when employees were trying to notify them of the operational failures. This went on for years. Pathetic.
Because the hositility towards employees had risen to new levels, retaining flight attendants was a real challenge. Pinnacle management devised a scheme to interview flight attendants in the ghetto near bus stops through a newspaper ad. You didn't even have to have the success to own a car, you could ride the bus to your interview. These ghetto flight attendants had no skills, no manners, no discipline, nothing. It was a complete opposite to the Pan Am days, and it was the front lines, the face of the airline. Thus, customer service sunk to new levels as a result.
In a mere effort to gain size to increase the managements bonuses, they bought unprofitable airlines which should have gone out of business on their own. Reach towards the end of this era, despite stock prices dropping from $20 dollars a share to .50 cents, management was reaping in millions of bonuses yearly.
Then to accomodate buying airlines, a sky scraper downtown executive building was "necessary" with upper management having Mississippi River views to gaze off at (if they showed up for work).
6 years into contract negotiations had worn down the moral of the employees to unprecedented levels, pilots were writing up every single mechanical imperfection possible to make a point to management to not undermine your workforce. Management had beat down the labor forces so bad, it was a slowdown without a great effort. Pilots simply were too fatigued with the horrible labor relations to work hard.
The CEO became even more detached that he would only show up twice a year at the airport, that was to load bags on the ramp (long enough to get his picture taken and that's it). No more pilot meetings, nothing. Total detachment.
As the mergers got completely out of control, pilots were waiting 3-6 months in order to get through a training event for their newly assigned aircraft per the new seniority list. Meanwhile, pilots who were trained were get TWICE their hourly wage to keep the operation running. This spiraled out of control and brought the airline to its knees.
I write this to anyone who might think for a nano second that it's a group failure. It is 100% a management failure. They are incompetent jerks who waste money, with no regard to the financial well being of their employees. They are drunk off their lavish lifestyles provided by a board of directors that also enjoyed the wild ride amidst a looming financial ruin. This is "corporate raiding" at it's finest. Frank Lorenzo would be proud.
Out of 2,300 pilots, 405 of them will remain captains, another 405 will be downgraded to first officer, and 1,500 pilots will become unemployed.
The bankruptcy's, car repossesions, and personal financial ruin will be caused by a detached management group that became lazy and held un-accountable to protect what thousands have worked so hard to build.
12-18-2012, 07:01 AM
#2
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2010
Position: 7er
Posts: 1,673
During the early 2000's Pinnacle was receiving 2-3 CRJ-200's a month and gasoline was $1.20-$1.30. Oil was 30 something a barrel. The scope had been undermined at Northwest with the use of a "closet" to make the CRJ's have only 44 seats (which later were removed and converted to 50 seats). These pilots rejected by the major airlines that stayed at Pinnacle, by default were advancing into lower management and supervisory ranks. These rejects, came up with cockamamie rules that you can only call in sick so many times per year, etc. A management style like this did not promote efficiency in the operation, it did the opposite. It infuriated pilots and all other labor groups to retaliate with an "I don't care mentality." More cockamamie rules and complete loss of professionalism from this group. It became war.
Upper management could not keep their hand out of the cookie jar as they took bigger and bigger bonuses each year. Towards the climax of their robbery, they even took 1/3 of the airlines profits in a year. Instead of the money being invested into the employees or a stronger financial operation, they blew it on lavish vacations and payouts to those who would keep them accountable enabling laziness. During this era, the laziness of upper management grew to the extent that they were so detached from the operation, they had no idea how out of control the operation had become.
Pinnacle became the only airline in the United States of America to have ground controllers ask you "are you going to be waiting on numbers?"...when you called for a pushback clearance. If you didn't have your numbers then, you had to wait at the gate while every other airline taxied to the runway and took off. At some airports, CRJ-200's clogged up the run up areas at major airports as they waited 30-40 minutes each flight for their w/b data. All because management was no where to be found when employees were trying to notify them of the operational failures. This went on for years. Pathetic.
Because the hositility towards employees had risen to new levels, retaining flight attendants was a real challenge. Pinnacle management devised a scheme to interview flight attendants in the ghetto near bus stops through a newspaper ad. You didn't even have to have the success to own a car, you could ride the bus to your interview. These ghetto flight attendants had no skills, no manners, no discipline, nothing. It was a complete opposite to the Pan Am days, and it was the front lines, the face of the airline. Thus, customer service sunk to new levels as a result.
In a mere effort to gain size to increase the managements bonuses, they bought unprofitable airlines which should have gone out of business on their own. Reach towards the end of this era, despite stock prices dropping from $20 dollars a share to .50 cents, management was reaping in millions of bonuses yearly.
Then to accomodate buying airlines, a sky scraper downtown executive building was "necessary" with upper management having Mississippi River views to gaze off at (if they showed up for work).
6 years into contract negotiations had worn down the moral of the employees to unprecedented levels, pilots were writing up every single mechanical imperfection possible to make a point to management to not undermine your workforce. Management had beat down the labor forces so bad, it was a slowdown without a great effort. Pilots simply were too fatigued with the horrible labor relations to work hard.
The CEO became even more detached that he would only show up twice a year at the airport, that was to load bags on the ramp (long enough to get his picture taken and that's it). No more pilot meetings, nothing. Total detachment.
As the mergers got completely out of control, pilots were waiting 3-6 months in order to get through a training event for their newly assigned aircraft per the new seniority list. Meanwhile, pilots who were trained were get TWICE their hourly wage to keep the operation running. This spiraled out of control and brought the airline to its knees.
I write this to anyone who might think for a nano second that it's a group failure. It is 100% a management failure. They are incompetent jerks who waste money, with no regard to the financial well being of their employees. They are drunk off their lavish lifestyles provided by a board of directors that also enjoyed the wild ride amidst a looming financial ruin. This is "corporate raiding" at it's finest. Frank Lorenzo would be proud.
Out of 2,300 pilots, 405 of them will remain captains, another 405 will be downgraded to first officer, and 1,500 pilots will become unemployed.
The bankruptcy's, car repossesions, and personal financial ruin will be caused by a detached management group that became lazy and held un-accountable to protect what thousands have worked so hard to build.
Upper management could not keep their hand out of the cookie jar as they took bigger and bigger bonuses each year. Towards the climax of their robbery, they even took 1/3 of the airlines profits in a year. Instead of the money being invested into the employees or a stronger financial operation, they blew it on lavish vacations and payouts to those who would keep them accountable enabling laziness. During this era, the laziness of upper management grew to the extent that they were so detached from the operation, they had no idea how out of control the operation had become.
Pinnacle became the only airline in the United States of America to have ground controllers ask you "are you going to be waiting on numbers?"...when you called for a pushback clearance. If you didn't have your numbers then, you had to wait at the gate while every other airline taxied to the runway and took off. At some airports, CRJ-200's clogged up the run up areas at major airports as they waited 30-40 minutes each flight for their w/b data. All because management was no where to be found when employees were trying to notify them of the operational failures. This went on for years. Pathetic.
Because the hositility towards employees had risen to new levels, retaining flight attendants was a real challenge. Pinnacle management devised a scheme to interview flight attendants in the ghetto near bus stops through a newspaper ad. You didn't even have to have the success to own a car, you could ride the bus to your interview. These ghetto flight attendants had no skills, no manners, no discipline, nothing. It was a complete opposite to the Pan Am days, and it was the front lines, the face of the airline. Thus, customer service sunk to new levels as a result.
In a mere effort to gain size to increase the managements bonuses, they bought unprofitable airlines which should have gone out of business on their own. Reach towards the end of this era, despite stock prices dropping from $20 dollars a share to .50 cents, management was reaping in millions of bonuses yearly.
Then to accomodate buying airlines, a sky scraper downtown executive building was "necessary" with upper management having Mississippi River views to gaze off at (if they showed up for work).
6 years into contract negotiations had worn down the moral of the employees to unprecedented levels, pilots were writing up every single mechanical imperfection possible to make a point to management to not undermine your workforce. Management had beat down the labor forces so bad, it was a slowdown without a great effort. Pilots simply were too fatigued with the horrible labor relations to work hard.
The CEO became even more detached that he would only show up twice a year at the airport, that was to load bags on the ramp (long enough to get his picture taken and that's it). No more pilot meetings, nothing. Total detachment.
As the mergers got completely out of control, pilots were waiting 3-6 months in order to get through a training event for their newly assigned aircraft per the new seniority list. Meanwhile, pilots who were trained were get TWICE their hourly wage to keep the operation running. This spiraled out of control and brought the airline to its knees.
I write this to anyone who might think for a nano second that it's a group failure. It is 100% a management failure. They are incompetent jerks who waste money, with no regard to the financial well being of their employees. They are drunk off their lavish lifestyles provided by a board of directors that also enjoyed the wild ride amidst a looming financial ruin. This is "corporate raiding" at it's finest. Frank Lorenzo would be proud.
Out of 2,300 pilots, 405 of them will remain captains, another 405 will be downgraded to first officer, and 1,500 pilots will become unemployed.
The bankruptcy's, car repossesions, and personal financial ruin will be caused by a detached management group that became lazy and held un-accountable to protect what thousands have worked so hard to build.
All the best to the XJ/9E/9L clan. Sad times indeed with what has become of a couple great airlines.
12-18-2012, 07:59 AM
#7
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2005
Position: 7ER B...whatever that means.
Posts: 3,982
Ding ding ding... This is management playbook 101. If you vote yes, they get bonuses. If you vote no, the airline gets shut down and they get...bonuses. And the beat goes on...
12-18-2012, 08:15 AM
#8
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2010
Posts: 339
12-18-2012, 08:34 AM
#10
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2010
Posts: 339
i sure as hell wouldn't go out without a fight. they act as if this airline's hardship is a force of nature and it just happend to land on Pinnacle. it wouldn't surprise me to see pilots and mechanics reminding the management team who really makes the airline run.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
