They should offer an unlimited amount of voluntary furloughs. There are hundreds whod happily leave for three years and all the company has to worry about is that they fly for free. Costs nothing.
Bob, most of the F/As are topped out already.
3 years is a nice long stretch and worth recalling people as they wont be in a revolving door. Costs would go down immensly if one or two thousand took a furlough like theyd like to and all the $20 F/As would jump at the chance to return- its still ALOT better than MAA. There are so many people who'd like to, in fact NEED a break from the madness and uncertainty, and have other income to fall back on... commuters, folks who are just mentally burned out, folks waiting for retirement, and the inevitable downsizing of the PIT base. There's absolutely no reason why they cant or should be doing this, particularly if they are serious about cutting costs.
The seniority situation at US is terrible. The system was not designed for people who've poured thier blood sweat and tears into an airline for 10 or 15 years to be considered "junior" and have a junior, reserve lifestyle. Some F/As are back to the income and lifestyle they started with decades ago.
The junior folks would love to be back, and it would not only save the company tons of money but also re-energize the company a little bit, which it sorely needs.