Us Enjoys Cost Advantage Over Southwest In Phl
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BoeingBoy
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- Nov 9, 2003
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mweiss,
" Then that would suggest that the staffing levels are too high."
A little too simplistic to my view. Consider two extreme situations?
1) You could use 4-6 ramp folks per shift to work every flight in PHL. The price would be extremely long turn times, but "productivity" would be as high as is possible. Does having more than that on the job mean you're overstaffed?
2) You could put 10,000 ramp folks per shift to work the flights in PHL. The work would get done quickly, but everyone would have more sit time and a lot would do next to nothing - very low productivity but quick unloading/loading of the bags. Does having less than that on the job mean you're understaffed?
The obvious answer in both cases is "No", but somewhere in between is the correct level of staffing - enough to get the job done in the amount of time you want, but no more. And realizing that in a hub, there will be downtime that can't be eliminated.
Jim
" Then that would suggest that the staffing levels are too high."
A little too simplistic to my view. Consider two extreme situations?
1) You could use 4-6 ramp folks per shift to work every flight in PHL. The price would be extremely long turn times, but "productivity" would be as high as is possible. Does having more than that on the job mean you're overstaffed?
2) You could put 10,000 ramp folks per shift to work the flights in PHL. The work would get done quickly, but everyone would have more sit time and a lot would do next to nothing - very low productivity but quick unloading/loading of the bags. Does having less than that on the job mean you're understaffed?
The obvious answer in both cases is "No", but somewhere in between is the correct level of staffing - enough to get the job done in the amount of time you want, but no more. And realizing that in a hub, there will be downtime that can't be eliminated.
Jim
Agreed that it is too simplistic. But I was basing my response on the data presented. If everything is still getting done, and the planes are still going out on time, even after reducing the staffing, then the reduction is proper. OTOH, if the staff reduction results in things not happening that must happen, or flights going out late, then there is a need for more employees.
BoeingBoy
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mweiss,
The key part of that is "and the planes are still going out on time". Does anyone, up to and including Siegel, know what percentage of our departure delays are due to staffing problems? Or maybe more importantly, does anyone at CCY care? Or is the focus on reducing head count until it becomes painfully (for the passengers) obvious that staffing is too low?
Jim
The key part of that is "and the planes are still going out on time". Does anyone, up to and including Siegel, know what percentage of our departure delays are due to staffing problems? Or maybe more importantly, does anyone at CCY care? Or is the focus on reducing head count until it becomes painfully (for the passengers) obvious that staffing is too low?
Jim
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It is obvious from the handout that CWA has provided, you can see how much money USAIRWAYS has been saving by the 2 givebacks....Over and over again USAIRWAYS is paying less in salary & benefits than Southwest Airlines...
It is amazing how much less they are paying when looking at the two....
So, I would have to say between US and Southwest..It is USAIRWAYS that is the low cost carrier....
It must be the difference in all the Vice- Presidents we seem to need while cutting back in all other areas.....Do we really have about 40 of them?
*********************************
I don't think very many people were impressed by the local visit today...Same old story.... No plan...No plan...Face it USAIRWAYS is a follower, not a leader today...
If the only idea Crystal City can think of is more givebacks from employees, the company IS gonna fail.....No question...We need some infusion of new blood, new ideas and some respect for the front line workers....
I haven't spoken to one person who said they would be able to vote to give up anything else...Especially not when you have to pay $1.75 a gal for gas for your car...I can't add a fuel surcharge to help me...When I only get 75% of my vacation pay, but my bills come in at 100%....My landlord or bank for my car loan won't accept only 75% payment from me...
I have a feeling with no direction or new ideas the "sell off" will be here by summer....
I look for Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic, and Mesa Airlines to divide and acquire the airline in chunks...
It is amazing how much less they are paying when looking at the two....
So, I would have to say between US and Southwest..It is USAIRWAYS that is the low cost carrier....
It must be the difference in all the Vice- Presidents we seem to need while cutting back in all other areas.....Do we really have about 40 of them?
*********************************
I don't think very many people were impressed by the local visit today...Same old story.... No plan...No plan...Face it USAIRWAYS is a follower, not a leader today...
If the only idea Crystal City can think of is more givebacks from employees, the company IS gonna fail.....No question...We need some infusion of new blood, new ideas and some respect for the front line workers....
I haven't spoken to one person who said they would be able to vote to give up anything else...Especially not when you have to pay $1.75 a gal for gas for your car...I can't add a fuel surcharge to help me...When I only get 75% of my vacation pay, but my bills come in at 100%....My landlord or bank for my car loan won't accept only 75% payment from me...
I have a feeling with no direction or new ideas the "sell off" will be here by summer....
I look for Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic, and Mesa Airlines to divide and acquire the airline in chunks...
- Thread Starter
- Thread starter
- #21
mweiss,mweiss said:
No, that means that the overstaffing problem has been rectified. Cost savings in the bank so to speak. Collectively we all gave 1.2 billion (ANNUALLY) in tools to right this ship. We need a competent captain to sail it.
Has mismanagement cut down its size proportionally?? As far as I am concerned it is still big government as usual at US.
Well mweiss,
I think you just pinpointed who is responsible for the high CASM.
We are the LOW WAGE CARRIER and management does not have
a clue what to do with the tools we have already given in the last
two rounds of concessions!
At this point, If we all worked for free, management would still think we
were overpaid.
I think you just pinpointed who is responsible for the high CASM.
We are the LOW WAGE CARRIER and management does not have
a clue what to do with the tools we have already given in the last
two rounds of concessions!
At this point, If we all worked for free, management would still think we
were overpaid.
