Jetblue Employees & Whining In The Press

[PITbull]

For me...fighting to maintain a quality of life is a pure and simple matter of survival.

With energy costs on the ever increasing frontburner....it's not about a $4 Cup of wanna-be Yuppie Starbucks Coffee...or a $1 Plus Bottle of Dasani Water , its about keeping a mortgage paid , heat and lights glowing...and filiing the tank on my aging yet well maintaned 4Cylinder get to work car.

It's also about trying to save for the day I'm Ill..or ready to retire..and my pension is in the pocket of the current or next "Fly-By-Night CEO or Debtor in Posession Guy...assuming we even have a job after the first of the year?

Those that love to poke fun about having the extra's to boast about drinking Starbucks and drinking fancy bottled water are few....and somewhat sickening to me. These are the very ones that pay as much for 20 Oz's for Coffee or Water which are inert things..yet complain to beat the band about gas being over $2.00 a gallon.

Many in my opinion are purely foolish on how they elect to spend their earnings..yet it's not about that for the average U Employee...it never has been , it's about taking care of your family with just enough comfort level to squeeze by on.

U's Employee's are now at an average of making $47K a year and declining rapidly....and when you look at how many are making $400k Plus...and how many are making in excess of $120K..then divide that into roughly 27,000 people....you can see how many are at or below the state average income level of $35k in a state like North Carloina for example....I'm sure Pa's average income can't be much different.

Next time you post about some average working Joe/Jane that's trying to get by on $35 to $45K annually...with ever increasing contributions to health insurance , car insurance , taxes and energy costs...rememeber that those same people are supporting more than just themselves on those median incomes at present.

Without middle America...which is coming to a life near you...America is going to go the way of a thousand civilizations before us. This rich get all the tax breaks..and the middle is what makes all the tax contributions to keep the country solvent and moving.

I know I can't be thinking about Starbucks Coffee...I surely can't be thinking about buying a new car..regardless of 0% financing , no matter the length of the terms either. I will also not be playing Mr.Social-Climber by being on of the cool guys exchanging gifts with the crew either....I see a Pot-Luck Dinner where everyone pitches in....and that for us will be Christmas at U behind the scenes in many cases.

Let me know where you work..and what you make. I'll be more than happy to poke my nose into your affairs too....hell I may even go out of my way to boycot the services you provide too. Heck , wouldn't that level the field nicely for us all?

[post="194658"][/post]​

Well said Phantom. B)

 

[insp89]

We don't like facts on this board, just union rhetoric.

700UW, Airtran wet-leased A320s, not 737s. Also, Airtran DID have RJs in their affiliate fleet.

[post="194831"][/post]​

We also like corporate officers that have a hard time telling the truth and company apologists that defend their behavior.

 

[700UW]

How many widebodies does HP fly?

How many europe flights does HP fly?

HP has three types of planes in the mainline fleet, 737, A320 and 757.

HP Customer Service agents just got Teamster representation too, so look for their wages to increase.

I-air ready to file bankruptcy, ATA ready to file Bankruptcy and Frontier is losing money also.

And B6 is not flying ANY RJs at the moment and they are very succesful.

And what about the most consitant LCC which is WN who pay their employees more then anyone and has the highest percentage of Unionized Workforce also.

 

[USFlyer]

Ok, you want LCC wages like those at WN? Let's drop 65 percent of the network, shutdown the PIT and CLT hubs, drop the international service, including the Caribbean service, drop the alliances, drop the generous FF program (and watch the business travelers go with it), etc. The airline that finds a way to make both work wins. Right now US is losing that battle, for a number of management and non-management reasons.

 

[ITRADE]

ATA has but a couple fleet types, yet that has not apparently kept them from the brink of Chap. 11

HP has really four different fleet types - the 737-200s are quite different than the 733s, use different engines, and are operated in a completely different fashion. HP also has a full express fleet (including 90 seat CRJs).

B6 is successful now, but realizes that the current fleet cannot support certain routings, hence they have them on order. Their decision is sufficient evidence to show that even the LCCs are seriously looking at <100 seat aircraft.

 

[700UW]

WN most profitible airline for 30 years and they have over 400 737s and fly only to 59 cities.

WN newest commerical on MNF, new all leather seats and more legroom in all their planes, the commerical was aimed right at the business traveler.

 

[USFlyer]

WN most profitible airline for 30 years and they have over 400 737s and fly only to 59 cities.

[post="194848"][/post]​

Right, and your point is? Seems like you just supported my point.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Look at all the fun I missed while out working....

AirTran had an "express" affiliate - dropped it as "too expensive". Poor example if you want to prove how valuable that RJ feed is.

ATA has "express" feed and multiple fleet types - and is on the ropes. Not a good example of a successful model.

HP is "the only legacy hub and spoke carrier to near successfully transform into an LCC". Is "near successful" something like "a little pregnant"? Or a PC way to say they're being unsuccessful making the transformation so far?

B6 is getting "RJ's" - if you want to call a 100+ seat airplane that just about every passenger on this forum has said has more personal space than mainline aircraft a RJ. Of course, if you go with this terminology, U had "RJ's" before any other airline. 70ish seats? The F-28. 100ish seats? The F-100 and DC-9 (and 737-200 if you want to compare to the Emb-195). Of course, only time will tell if B6"s "experiment" with two fleet types will be a success or whether a LCC model only works under the KISS principle.

Jim

 

[Light Years]

AirTran indeed had Air Wisconsin flting CRJs as AirTran JetConnect for about a year, when they realized it wasn't working and got rid of it. They couldn't support the low fares with 50 seats, and the service was dodgy.

While they were waiting for thier 737s, they wet leased A320s from Ryan International. They memorably had a piece of thier engine fall off inflight. I'm not sure if they have been phased out yet as Airtran has started getting it's own planes.

So, Airtran will be back to flying it's own planes instead of paying other people to. A simple, low cost way of doing things.

JetBlue will fly the 100 seat E190s (they are not regional jets- Coca-Cola makes bottled water, but that soesn't make it Coke, same goes for Embraer). They will use thier own crews and existing staff, the same seniority list... no new divisions, subsidiaries, facilities or management positions for thier new plane. US bought EJets and made a seperate division that acts like a seperate airline with it's own support system (not to mention they already own two seperate subsidiary airlines and contract with several others). For JetBlue, it's a new different size aircraft. For US, it's an opportunity to waste money and further divide and whipsaw employees against each other. Oh yeah, and while they were at it they are also purchasing the competing manufacturers same size model just to make things more expensive and redundant. Where's the simplicity?

ATA has a single wholly-owned division, Chicago Express that flies Saabs, not very profitably from what I gather.

Frontier does contract with Horizon for RJs and has a marketing/ codeshare agreement with Great Lakes. They dumped Mesa because of thier appaling service. Mesa was able to go back to flying as United despite being dumped by them a few years ago for the same reason (along with Trans States) Both now fly for both US and UA, who apparently no longer care about service.

America West now relies solely on Mesa (bless em!). They do not have an Aeroflot-like mess of crap airlines wearing thier colors like US does, nor do they have any seperate seniority lists for employees like US does (mainline, international mainline, MDA, mainline express, PSA Piedmont, not to mention all of the contractors.)

There is not an LCC out there that operate RJs and SJs in the absolutely insane, costly, redundant way US does.

 

[BoeingBoy]

To add to the discussion of those "successful" or "nearly successful" LCC's:

"ATA Airlines, which offers five flights a week to Chicago, and Independence Air, flying eight times a day to Washington, D.C., both could run out of cash in early 2005 if fuel prices stay high and ticket prices stay low, according to airline analysts."

"Two other low-fare options at Pittsburgh International Airport -- America West Airlines and AirTran Holdings Inc. -- are expected to lose money in the third quarter, but not go into bankruptcy."

From this article:

Post-Gazette Article

Jim

 

[delldude]

i can't believe everyone is so shocked and upset.you all knew this was looming out there over the horizon...everyone knew it was coming...everyone knew it would be drastic...now its here.....
be glad we made it this far....my goodness...it sucks big time but what alternatives are available now??
your resume should have been updated by now if you are a realist.
you should have been seeking either another job or additional work to supplement your wage loss by now.
you should have been ready,no excuses...... :huh:

 

[UseYourHead]

Well said Jim...it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

 

[cavalier]

i can't believe everyone is so shocked and upset.you all knew this was looming out there over the horizon...everyone knew it was coming...everyone knew it would be drastic...now its here.....
be glad we made it this far....my goodness...it sucks big time but what alternatives are available now??
your resume should have been updated by now if you are a realist.
you should have been seeking either another job or additional work to supplement your wage loss by now.
you should have been ready,no excuses...... :huh:

[post="194930"][/post]​

[

Watch out dude, the moral police, who are actually the "epitome" of evil, will accuse you of being “deficient in human sensibilityâ€￾ and amoral...

Guess what dude, you are so right!

 

[NeedForSpeedNFS]

WN most profitible airline for 30 years and they have over 400 737s and fly only to 59 cities.

WN newest commerical on MNF, new all leather seats and more legroom in all their planes, the commerical was aimed right at the business traveler.

[post="194848"][/post]​

700, They do not fly overseas, do not fly caribbean routes, do not have the overflow that we have!! No widebods, ....Funny.. wasn't Allegheny operating this way??(Think 70's before you attack!!)....My point is, they have not nearly half the overhead we have!!! You can talk about wages all you want.... the FACT remains, we got too big...too fast, mix that with a HORRIBLE management team, and yes, 700, unions that would not budge, when we probably should have. The "fun-times" of the 90's are gone forever!!!!! GOOD DAY!!!!!

 

[cavalier]

700, They do not fly overseas, do not fly caribbean routes, do not have the overflow that we have!! No widebods, ....Funny.. wasn't Allegheny operating this way??(Think 70's before you attack!!)....My point is, they have not nearly half the overhead we have!!! You can talk about wages all you want.... the FACT remains, we got too big...too fast, mix that with a HORRIBLE management team, and yes, 700, unions that would not budge, when we probably should have. The "fun-times" of the 90's are gone forever!!!!! GOOD DAY!!!!!

[post="195008"][/post]​

They farm out some of their work too, about 12% and let the guys “mechanicsâ€￾ work overtime because of it.......smart run company which everyone realizes.

Playing catch up for U with U situations, well you figure it out.....

The unions stance of utility and stores up against LUV who does not play that game will never work, anyone can see this but yet the unions refuse to move believing they are saving something....of course I am an elitist and can say such blaspheme.