Dave's Weekly Message & Thoughts

[USA320Pilot]

Robbedagain:

Robbedagain: WOULD ADDING MORE LONG HAUL FLIGHTS AND OPENING OF NEW STATIONS OUT WEST HELP TO BRING DOWN THE COSTS?

Chip answers: Long-jaul flying is cheaper than multiple short haul flights. Another words, airplanes do not make money on the ground.

Chip

 

[767jetz]

The LCC/US Airways CASM is Jetblue 6 cents, Southwest 7.5 cents, AirTran 8 cents, and US Airways 9.5 cents. Furthermore, American and United have lowered there costs below US Airways and in fact now have lower labor expense than US Airways employees.

Do I like it? Nope, not one bit, but it's a fact.

The problem is principally the route network stage length for a mature carrier and that cannot be easily changed.

US Airways needs to compete on costs in LCC markets and grow into markets the LCC's cannot fly.

The challenge is getting there.

FINALLY! A true statement.

United has lowered it's CASM more than US, and the long haul flying means UA's stage length is infinitely better than US.

IMO, because of this UA is in much better shape than US, and not even close to the dire situation that you imply.

I believe that once again, US NEEDS UA more than UA needs US. You are well aware of the problem of USAir's short stage length, and as you said, it is not a situation easily remedied. You know that the only real solution to a major problem at US, is to take someone else's long haul flying. Hence your focus on UA and your hopes that UA's misfortune will be your personal windfall.

USAir, Dave and Dave, and yourself may be pushing for, hoping for, gambling on, a UCT that will solve your problems. But it is certainly not part of UA's current plan. You and I both know that if UA emerges without the need for an equity investor, and no UCT, then the future of US will certainly include more down sizing and possibly another trip to BK. US simply can not survive long term under the current environment.

With the current pilot furloughs extending all the way to within a few years of your seniority, this could be a death blow to your career. So your fear of this possibility is understandable.

I'm sure Tilton is assessing ALL options, including possibly talking to US about a worst case scenario. Perhaps a dooms day plan. That does not mean it is likely to occur. In fact I give it a less than 5 percent chance of unfolding the way you've described it.

767jetz
----
QUOTE (mlt @ Oct 25 2003, 12:52 PM)
What is business to you, very well may be personal to others. When people speculate about U's demise, to many people it means losing their homes, cars, the ability to feed their families, etc. The same is true for the employees at United.

Out of decency to our fellow peers, please stop.


Well said, and thanks for your support.

 

[BIGDOG]

:down: :down: :down: :down:


Alot of us have already given when they made are Stations

MAINLINE EXPRESS.........

YOU ALL DO THE MATH FROM $19.65 PER TO $13.01 AN HOUR.

Dave and he's theives can go pound sand.

run the airline right or LEAVE.

 

[robbedagain]

THANKS CHIP!

 

[wench]

BOD- WAKE the hell UP----DUMP DAVE LORENZO NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[767jetz]

As far as the "transaction"....well.....I for one would like to see everyone,
including you, stiffle themselves!!! Is there something in the works, who knows.
What we do know is that it inflames our codeshare partner s employees.
Let Lorenzo and
Tilton do their thing and we employees stay out of the fray for now.

Remember the word....EMPATHY

regards

I agree. Thanks for showing some empathy. It is sincerely appreciated, and something I find to be in short supply these days.

 

[OldGuyinPA]

We had stations / cities out West. Use-lessair walked away from them to protect their neighborhood. Unfortunately ...we're a a continueous downward spiral......


David go away and take your lackeys with you.

 

[Phantom Fixer]

It's time to find someone "Whom would do to ride the river with"....and Dave you ain't it.

All this LCC talk while he's being compensated at 3 times Jet Blues CEO's rate is beyond insulting.

Don't cross the river if you can't swim the tide shorty !!!

 

[USA320Pilot]

767jetz:

I'm not going to go tit-for-tat with you, but as I have said all along, Untied is going to badly miss its DIP targets and according to many "informed sources", the company must sell assets to emerge.

If United is such a strong company, how come nobody has come to the party to provide exit financing for over one year (before and after the Chapter 11 filing)?

Earlier today I visited your company's message board and there is very little activity. It's clear that you follow me around, attempt to make corporate comparisons, and try to "shoot the messenger".

When have I ever done that?

Instead of following me around seeking my posts, why don't you debate the issues on the United board? Or...why not go to another airline board? But, on second thought, your new writing style and messages are truly a compliment to me, because you do not seem to debate anything else or make any other posts.

For that, thank you.

You are certainly allowed to post wherever you like, but I'll make a deal with you and the other United posters. I will not post on the United message board and you do not post on the US Airways board. Then we would not have this dispute -- fair enough?

Regards,

Chip

 

[positiverate1]

Dave is constantly comparing U to the LLC's. I don't think we can compete with the LLC's with a hub and spoke business model. If U wants costs in line with the LLC's U need's to operate like one, this includes management. I would be willing to take Jetblue pay if U operated like Jetblue and had a growth plan and was in business to provide service like Jetblue. I really don't see that happening. I don't know if U changing over time to a point to point carrier is even possible. From what I have read on this board, it seems we have to many employees for the number of aircraft we have. The bottom line is, a business has to be profitable to survive and we need to do whatever it takes to be profitable and that includes cutting cost and increasing revenue. I will never understand the rational of shutting this place down if we have to give back more, I personally would rather earn a little less for a job I enjoy than work for less doing something I don't enjoy. If this job was gone tomorrow I can honestly say I have enjoyed the time I was here and feel fortunate for the opportunity I had to work here.

 

[cavalier]

I will never understand the rational of shutting this place down if we have to give back more, I personally would rather earn a little less for a job I enjoy than work for less doing something I don't enjoy.

Dave and his gang love you and this exact mind set because it shows them they can and will keep pushing and pushing with no end in sight. After everything we the employees gave along with all others involved, PLUS government hand outs, if you actually believe Dave should be able to continue unchecked with an obviously flawed and failing business plan he dreamed up, then sir have I no idea for YOUR rational?

 

[Hula Girl]

Well, well, positiverate1. Nothing like management in disguise to spew wishful thinking.
"I will never understand the rational of shutting this place down if we have to give back more, I personally would rather earn a little less for a job I enjoy than work for less doing something I don't enjoy."
This tells me that you are not on the frontlines. What exactly is your job here? If you think that we have too many employees to service the understaffed a/c we have, why don't YOU leave?

 

[jetstewus]

I found the weekly message to be annoyingly vague yet threatening. Say what you have to say! I would like to see him leave and take Jerry Glass or whatever his name is with him! At least with the last guy you kind of new where you stood.

Anyway, I agree with another poster:

"if they could increase the bottom fare bucket by about $20, they could lower the top level by $300!"

Since getting furloughed from mainline I started flying for PSA/US Airways Express. I regularly find customers who are flying short flights on just our turbo props (no chance to upgrade, no liquor (ok so maybe that's not such a big deal), no running water in the lav and no fresh coffee.) They are still paying crazy fares! i.e. 2 gentlemen flying Pittsburgh to Toronto round trip were paying in excess of $1200.00 each!! One lady flying from Dayton to Philadelphia...$900.00!!

PSA is getting RJ's (yeah! fresh coffee and running water!!!) but I don't think that's enough to warrant continuing to charge these types of fares. Of course people are going to start shopping around and going elsewhere if they can. We have some great routes that nobody can touch us on, but we're far from popular enough to keep people flying us instead of flying someone cheaper and driving the difference. If we start offering more reasonable fares and try to shed our image of "raping the northeast" maybe we can fill these planes at a profit and regain some customer loyalty.

I'm confident US can survive and thrive someday but not without someone to lead us. Clearly, "Dave" has failed in that respect. My fear is that maybe none of the current powers-that-be are really that interested in our survival. If they were why would they run the place like this? Good luck everyone!

 

[positiverate1]

I didn't say he should be allowed to go on unchecked. From what I have seen, not one of the network carriers have been able to make a profit since 9/11. I would be willing to bet that there isn't anyone on these boards that seem to have the answer that could step into daves shoe and make this place profitable. When Scofield was here all I heard was he needed to go, then it was Wolf and now it's Dave. I don't believe for one minute that any of these guys came here with the intention of running an unprofitable airline. I don't know how to run an airline have never claimed to but in my opinion the hub and spoke business model does not work anymore, not one of them is profitable. The low cost point to point business model does work as is evident with Southwest, Jetblue and Airtran.

 

[positiverate1]

Hula Girl, I agree with you on the understaffing of pilots and F/A's and yes I am on the front lines, I get POTA calls just like everyone else. All I was saying is if you compare us to the LLC's it takes more employees to move our aircraft than it does to move one of theirs. I believe I read we have 103 employees per aircraft and Southwest has 70 per aircraft. I enjoy flying, it's not all about money for me so why would I leave. I just want the company to be profitable. I'm not in management and don't want to be.