facility closures or consolidation

[WingNaPrayer]

AA has a thousand people in I.T. and still outsources all airports to (speaking of 'low quality') EDS?? What the hell do 1000 I.T. people do?

 

[The Goose]

AA has a thousand people in I.T. and still outsources all airports to (speaking of 'low quality') EDS?? What the hell do 1000 I.T. people do?

eolesen (and other salary supporters), I'm sure, will have an issue with this opinion, I'm sure, but ...

We who are paid by the hour are rather easy to justify because, to some degree or another, our labor time is tracked and available manhours to do a given job are totalled and divided to arrive at a number of hourly paid people needed to do a given job. Add to that the pay of all the non-productive sort (salaried) and you see we have quite the burden to carry.

Salaried folks have really no such burden as their time isn't tracked the same way. Only when a supervisor gets upset at a person for whatever reason does the "fine-toothed-comb" come out - politics rules in the office areas - damn one's ability or any other quality that is truly important in making a company operate smoothly.

Another reason for so many (and not just in IT), is the need of upper management to insulate itself from their own blunders; i. e., they can always say the underling did it. In a small company, it's rather evident who the screw-up is but in any company as large as American poor management can hide quite easily.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Since I was recalled in Nov. 2004, the "nAAtives" around here have been saying STL is being closed if the wind changed direction. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the fact that with the exception of the f/a base, the great majority of STL employees are former TWA. That thought seems to be pervasive throughout the company. I'm tired of it.

By the way, you needn't worry about my ability to sleep. I sleep just fine. I was looking for a job when I found this one. If this one goes away, I will find another one. Why don't you try finishing some sentences before you carom off to your next "rah-rah Bob Crandall was a saint" harangue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

jimntx,

It is Very sad, to see you CHANGE from a (cyber) Fun Individual,......to the Angry and Bitter Upper Middle aged person, that you have Become.

I Feel sorry for you !

 

[eolesen]

AA has a thousand people in I.T. and still outsources all airports to (speaking of 'low quality') EDS?? What the hell do 1000 I.T. people do?

AA.com is insourced (unlike most e-business at airlines), and that alone is around 250-300 people between development, designers, business analysts, etc. AA also does all of its own development to support Res, Jetnet, Revenue Management, M&E, Capacity Planning, and a bunch of other departments.

It all adds up after a while, but the fact is, that work still has to be done by someone, and AA decided to keep what they considered proprietary work in-house.

 

[flydcoop]

eolesen,

Do you know how AA decides on the cost-effectiveness of flight crew bases? There's rumor slinging, panic, and speculation galore regarding SLT/STL, BOS, DCA, and SFO (and I'm surprised RDU-I isn't mentioned more, as well). I'm curious about how AA cost factors crew bases...any ideas?

Thanks!

Coop
SLT

 

[eolesen]

Got me... The last base I can think of which was closed was SEA....

Some of the ex-TW folks have mentioned that TW didn't have separate Intl & Dom crew bases, and I'd have to think there's some efficiencies you could gain there. STL/SLT could just as easily be run as a satelite of ORD, and both BOS & DCA could be run as satelites of NYC. You can still have rampers based in each of the satelites, but there's no reason they can't report to a manager in another city.

 

[boston]

eolesen,

Do you know how AA decides on the cost-effectiveness of flight crew bases? There's rumor slinging, panic, and speculation galore regarding SLT/STL, BOS, DCA, and SFO (and I'm surprised RDU-I isn't mentioned more, as well). I'm curious about how AA cost factors crew bases...any ideas?

Thanks!

Coop
SLT

It was explaned to me years back by one of our APFA reps as far as crew bases go, they factor in hotel rooms. So a city like SFO where there, is a lot of freq and overnights as it is there would even be more if it were to close. But as far as RDU I could only speculate that it is a FA base for the Gatwick trip,but now that they go to LHR theirs no reason othere base couldn't do a 6 day, but who knows. Maybe their is an agreement with the city of RDU ect. As for roumors regarding St. Louis I haven't heard of a thing at IMA, we have been told that a considerable amount of flying will be coming to MIA and it will be Int flying.

 

[BigBangTheory]

It was explaned to me years back by one of our APFA reps as far as crew bases go, they factor in hotel rooms. So a city like SFO where there, is a lot of freq and overnights as it is there would even be more if it were to close. But as far as RDU I could only speculate that it is a FA base for the Gatwick trip,but now that they go to LHR theirs no reason othere base couldn't do a 6 day, but who knows. Maybe their is an agreement with the city of RDU ect. As for roumors regarding St. Louis I haven't heard of a thing at IMA, we have been told that a considerable amount of flying will be coming to MIA and it will be Int flying.

The only two bass I have heard that could be closed are SLT and SFO. I have a feeling that RDU maybe closed too. Just as you said boston, it can be flown by antoher base as a 6 day trip.

 

[IORFA]

It always could have been flown as a 6 day. Didn't matter that the flight used to go to LGW. Where do you think the pilots came from? If you guessed DFW, then you are right. IDF F/A's could have always flown the trip as a 6 day, just as DFW 777 pilots did and still do. What is different now? Absolutely nothing. IDF F/A's now go to LHR as well as RDU F/A's, yet the pilots are still from DFW. Apparantly, a Base Manager/Supervisor, a secretary and office rent is cheaper than 11 daily hotel rooms with the little bit of extra per diem.

 

[boston]

It always could have been flown as a 6 day. Didn't matter that the flight used to go to LGW. Where do you think the pilots came from? If you guessed DFW, then you are right. IDF F/A's could have always flown the trip as a 6 day, just as DFW 777 pilots did and still do. What is different now? Absolutely nothing. IDF F/A's now go to LHR as well as RDU F/A's, yet the pilots are still from DFW. Apparantly, a Base Manager/Supervisor, a secretary and office rent is cheaper than 11 daily hotel rooms with the little bit of extra per diem.

We all knew that there is no pilot base in RDU and that LGA/MIA/DFW pilot base flew as a 6 day trip and that all the other INT f/a bases fly 6 day LHR at different times of the years. It was said, that we have no idea what they have going in RDU regarding that trip. But who cares it a good thing for the ones based there and more power to them. Next time I have a kumbia(spell check) session with my base chair I'll get the answer and pass it along. I still think SFO will be around for sometime, there is at least 1,000-1,500 total crew members give or take and thats a lot of hotel rooms.

 

[jimntx]

It was said, that we have no idea what they have going in RDU regarding that trip. But who cares it a good thing for the ones based there and more power to them..

No need to wait for kumbayah session, the reason we have the RDU-LHR(LGW) trip at all is because of the contract with a major pharmaceutical company. There are a number of International f/as who live in the RDU area. It just works to maintain that small base. If the contract were to go away, that base would be closed so fast it will make their heads swim.

However, I am surprised that it is not operated as a satellite of JFK, MIA, or ORD.

 

[mike757]

WOW, some of you hit the nail on the head with the MD-80 fleet reductions.

Any speculation on which AA which facilities might be closed or consolidated?. I assume it's maintenance, since the announcement was made on national AMT day, just after management gave us our free pizza lunch.:blink:

Anyone know whats up with the floating 767 C-CK line. I think it started at AFW, then MCI for a few months, now I've heard DFW is refusing to do the work...tell me it ain't so..

 

[jimntx]

I still think SFO will be around for sometime, there is at least 1,000-1,500 total crew members give or take and thats a lot of hotel rooms.

Actually, SFO has 777 f/as, but that includes 61 who are inactive. The active count is 683 Domestic and 33 International.

If you want the count for any other base, all you have to do is look on the Flight Service website. Over on the left-hand side of the home page, click on My Base. The dropdown will give you all the bases. Click on the base you want to investigate. Somewhere on that base homepage will be a heading something like "Headcount and Base Rosters." Most of the bases post their Active vs. Inactive and their Domestic vs. International (where applicable).

 

[PRINCESS KIDAGAKASH]

Anyone know whats up with the floating 767 C-CK line. I think it started at AFW, then MCI for a few months, now I've heard DFW is refusing to do the work...tell me it ain't so..

767 C-Check is in work at DFW Hangar 5(DWH) as we speak. Still hearing strong rumors about AFW's American work being sent to MCI,TUL,and DWH permanently. AFW will be for MRO only. Might even be operated as a satellite company of AMR.

 

[eolesen]

From an environmental cleanup perspective, that would be the right decision... Nobody in their right mind would consider investing in a potential Superfund site, and AFW was designed to be green well before being green was trendy.....