UA getting cold feet on U? (fingers crossed)

[767jetz]

Just curious...is a surplus reduction line a line flown by 2 pilots or f/as? At AA we call those partnership flying--each flies half the month. They are only offered during overage mitigation efforts.

Negative.

After 9/11, when the company severely reduced the amount of flying, they had surplus reduction lines. Pilots who were normally on reserve with 12 days off and available to fly the rest of the time were being paid their 75 ours of guarantee (at that time - now it's 70) even though many were never being used. Surplus reduction lines allowed the pilot to be released from availability for the whole month at a reduced guarantee. I believe it was 50 hours. This saved the company 25 hours of pay and benefits per line.

Not sure how it would work today, since back then I also believe part of the reason was that there was a "no furlough" clause. But I'm sure something similar could be negotiated. Furloughing, then retraining at a later date, plus all the movement and training involved with surpluses costs the company alot of money. Surplus reduction lines allow the company to reduce the manpower selectively by fleet and seat where need without incurring those costs.

 

[767jetz]

Speculation thick on airline merger failure

Speculation, being what it is, is usually pretty unreliable if not backed up with verifiable facts.

I did find this part of the article interesting:

"The US Airways pilots based in the East have a contract provision awarding them $250 million in the event of a consolidation with another carrier. The same US Airways pilots also have the option of a new 1- to 3-year contract and across-the-board pay increases of 4.5 percent if a merger were to happen."

Could this be the reason certain USAiways captains are so addicted to the idea of merging with UA? A 4.5% raise plus a cash payout would certainly help mitigate LOA93 that the East pilots are forced to live with. Why bother worrying about the combined airline failing in a few years when you are going to retire in a few years anyway and you can get a large payout.

Obviously the pilots of UA and the West would demand the same type of cash payout to consummate a deal. And the UA pilots would require a proportional amount. That would mean that besides the raise, the combined company would end up shelling out between $750Million and $1 Billion in cash up front just to the pilots. There goes over half of the proposed annual savings.

No doubt this is the issue Tilton said "could significantly dilute benefits from a transaction."

 

[Richard]

the merger is over, so is this thread.

We'll start another regarding aftermath.