American Invests in Its Future

[FA Mikey]

As American begins the process of replacing its MD-80 fleet, employees, customers and public officials commemorated the arrival of its first new 737- 800s since December 2001 with ceremonies at company facilities in Chicago and Tulsa. The new airplanes, which go into service April 14, are the first of 76 737-800s that will arrive through the first quarter of 2011.

"Even as we battle many significant challenges, we must remain focused on our long-term future, which is what these new 737s represent," said Gerard Arpey, Chairman and CEO of AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle. "While our MD-80s remain an important part of our fleet and continue to serve our company and customers well, our new 737s are a vital investment that will benefit our customers, employees, shareholders and the communities we serve. They will help keep our product competitive while offering cost, environmental and operational benefits.

Inflight entertainment will include 20 drop-down LCD monitors mounted in passenger service units under overhead storage bins. The new planes have 110V AC power available to all passengers -- a first in American Airlines fleet history and a customer convenience that ends the need for power adapters. Travelers can now plug in laptops and other portable electronic equipment just as they would at the home or office. There is one power port per seat in First Class and two ports per three seats in coach class. Over time, American plans to equip these aircraft with AirCell's Gogo® Inflight Internet service, which will allow passengers to surf the Web, check e-mail, and send instant messages conveniently from the air.

 

[FWAAA]

What a stupid company. The money those two 738s cost could have funded a raise of just over 1% for every AMR employee for a year. Too bad the company doesn't see the value of "investing" in its employees. Investments in shiny aluminum airplanes won't do the company (or the employees) any good.

Why on earth would anyone work for such a stupid company run by such incompetent morons?

Seriously, though, not only is the 110v AC power impressive, but the claims of a 35% increase in fuel economy per seat mile over the MD-80 are very impressive as well.

 

[PHL]

Seriously, though,...

Until this quote I really thought you were completely serious. Or were you?

 

[Hopeful]

Why on earth would anyone work for such a stupid company run by such incompetent morons?

Where were you when AA spent hundreds of millions of dollars building BNA and RDU into hubs only to be dismantled a few years later?

Where were you when AA spent millions upon millions removing seats and reconfiguring aircraft only to undo it all again under their big MRTC campaign?

Purchase of MD-11 aircraft only to have that fleet be reduced to JFK-MIA. JFK-DFW and JFK-SDQ routing?

Reno Air? TWA?
Pulling out of ISP handing over a nice little operation to SWA?

I'll give you this much, even perpetual losers win one time or another.



Gee I wonder how many more fuel efficient aircraft AMR could've purchased had PUP money not been paid over the last few years.

"MORONS" ......You said it.



(p.s., stop patting these greedy execs on the back so much, you might get a blister on your hand)

 

[PHL]

How many of the decisions in the prior post were made under the current management?

 

[FWAAA]

Where were you when AA spent hundreds of millions of dollars building BNA and RDU into hubs only to be dismantled a few years later?

eolesen has previously refuted the ridiculous claims that building these hubs cost anywhere near the princely sums you claim. Also, don't forget the money spent at SJC on its multiple failed attempts to become a big hub.

Where were you when AA spent millions upon millions removing seats and reconfiguring aircraft only to undo it all again under their big MRTC campaign?

Applauding. Had Osama bin Laden not attacked the USA and, particularly, UA and AA in September, 2001, MRTC would still be with us. It cost about $72 million to implement, almost all of that for mechanic overtime. Where were you? Your brothers were cleaning up with the OT. Restoring the seating (dismantling MRTC) cost less - as the seats were restored much more slowly (less OT).

Purchase of MD-11 aircraft only to have that fleet be reduced to JFK-MIA. JFK-DFW and JFK-SDQ routing?

Purchase of the MD-11 was stupid. But then again, plenty of stupid people make stupid decisions every day regarding capital investments. Fortunately, AA didn't buy very many of them and Fedex was happy to buy them for probably ten cents on the dollar a few years later.

Reno Air? TWA?
Pulling out of ISP handing over a nice little operation to SWA?

I'll give you this much, even perpetual losers win one time or another.

Reno? Its purchase price was minimal. TWA? Great decision had OBL not attacked us in September, 2001 (see above). Islip? Not enough business traffic (or other high-yield customers) there. Don't forget the purchase of Business Express and all their SAABs.

I'm curious - which decisions over the past decade were winners?

Gee I wonder how many more fuel efficient aircraft AMR could've purchased had PUP money not been paid over the last few years.

About seven or eight additional 738s with the $300 million or so that has been paid out 2006-08. Same number as could have been bought each year during the late Nineties had AA not paid it out to the ungrateful employees as profit sharing - remember when profit sharing totals were $250 million to $300 million a year?

PHL: I was being facetious.

 

[eolesen]

Really glad to see the 110V plugs.

BNA and RDU into hubs only to be dismantled a few years later...

Which went to provide aircraft (and employees) to build MIA up into a hub

(very smart move *and timely* on AA's part to fill the void left by EAL and PAA)

Where were you when AA spent millions upon millions removing seats and reconfiguring aircraft only to undo it all again under their big MRTC campaign?

Even where it was undone, IIRC they simply revert back to ZRTC.

Purchase of MD-11 aircraft only to have that fleet be reduced to JFK-MIA. JFK-DFW and JFK-SDQ routing?

Gee, you left out the 747s being reverted to JFK-BRU after they were made obsolete by the MD11...

Fact is that AA didn't have 747s, and the 777-200ER was still years away when they got all their Japan routes in the early 90's. The 777-200 delivered in 1994 didn't have the range for DFW-NRT or ORD-NRT. The -200ER wasn't available until 1997.

Also, don't overestimate what AA paid for them. AA got rebates on their fuel performance from MDC, and also got the launch positions for a song when B-Cal got absorbed into BA.

Had AA gone with 747-400's instead of the MD11, they'd have spent more money for the aircraft, gotten less for them when they were retired, and arguably, fared better over time because it was easier to break even over the course of a year with the smaller airframe.

Reno Air? TWA?

Reno, questionable value, TWA not questionable but a far different proposition thanks to 9/11. Arguably, the biggest asset from the TW deal was their frequent flyers. Had those customers been left to the winds, some would have come to AA, others would have drifted to DL or UA. By maintaining their status (and their earned miles), AA got the lions share of those customers, and their associated revenue.

It would be an interesting CRM exercise, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the incremental revenue from the former TW top tier FF's has already offset the money spent and debt assumed from the deal.

I'll give you this much, even perpetual losers win one time or another.

And AA has made quite a few decisions in the past two decades, but you're probably too busy being bitter to recognize it:

1) LHR
2) EAL Routes to MIA
3) ORD -- who would imagine AA running as close to UA as they do today?
4) *Not* selling the best damn FF program around
5) Linking up with QF. There are few international codewhore partnerships that have stayed intact as long as this one has
6) Maintaining the pension programs
7) Consensual restructuring. Credit the employees for being able to execute it, but it certainly was not the easiest (or cheapest) road to go down

 

[Hopeful]

St. EOLESEN and St. FWAAA to the rescue again.

These guys can do no wrong in your eyes, can they?

Hey Eric, REGARDLESS of who was around then and now, why did you leave AA if we have the BEST DANG MANAGEMENT EVER SINCE THE BEGINNING OF COMMERCIAL AVIATION?

Maybe you two are not bitter because you most likely benefited from labor's concessions and shared in management rewards.
I'll give you one more decision management made and the unions went along with..And this one is the big kahoona...This is the one that enabled AA to grow several times over.

IT WAS THE B SCALE circa 1983....It was hiring workers at sub par starting wages so AA could build those hubs which you claim were a mere smidgen of budget, buy all those MD80's A300s, MD11s 757s and 767s, buy those EAL routes, buy TWA's London routes.

But you're not bitter, just arrogant and pompous as your avatar shows. You were a wannabe big shot at AA and when all your "extra" effort given to management went unnoticed and unappreciated, you left.

Defend these guys and girls all you want. They are not GOD like you make them out to be. They are greedy self serving sorts whose peers are being exposed on Wall Street one by one. You despise Obama because he sees corporate America for what it is: A GREED BASED GOOD OL BOYS NETWORK.
For the decades following 1981 when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers, I bet you and FWAAA cheered your yayas off yelling "THE GREEDY UNIONS ARE FINALLY GETTING WHAT THEY DESERVE....YIPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

If any one is bitter, it's you because the playing field is being leveled after 28 years of anti unionism.

 

[eolesen]

Hey Eric, REGARDLESS of who was around then and now, why did you leave AA if we have the BEST DANG MANAGEMENT EVER SINCE THE BEGINNING OF COMMERCIAL AVIATION?

If someone offered you a 75% to 100% pay increase to do the same job, and offered comparable vacation, health benefits, etc., would you stick around just to keep your seniority number and nonrev privileges??

Nah, didn't think so. You'd have to be an idiot to keep working for less than you're worth on the open market.

 

[American Air Surf]

If someone offered you a 75% to 100% pay increase to do the same job, and offered comparable vacation, health benefits, etc., would you stick around just to keep your seniority number and nonrev privileges??

Nah, didn't think so. You'd have to be an idiot to keep working for less than you're worth on the open market.

Question: Eric, then why (since you left AA, for greener pastures), and a better market rate- Do you still blog here, with that "stupid" American Advantage Platinum insignia???? You just can't leave AA behind can you??? Is this blogging you second job, doing contract work for AA, on the side??? Yeah go figure...., move on dude. You have been gone from AA for sometime- Were you part of the initial 20,000 that got laid off after 9/11 ???

 

[MCI transplant]

If someone offered you a 75% to 100% pay increase to do the same job, and offered comparable vacation, health benefits, etc., would you stick around just to keep your seniority number and nonrev privileges??

Nah, didn't think so. You'd have to be an idiot to keep working for less than you're worth on the open market.

<_< ----- You know Eric!---- That's exactly what our AMT's have been doing!!! :unsure: ----- But you're not calling them "idiots", now are you? ---- Or are you?

 

[Hopeful]

If someone offered you a 75% to 100% pay increase to do the same job, and offered comparable vacation, health benefits, etc., would you stick around just to keep your seniority number and nonrev privileges??

Nah, didn't think so. You'd have to be an idiot to keep working for less than you're worth on the open market.

What open market? Airline management has decimated the airline worker. They manage thru fear, intimidation and demoralization by preaching the "lucky to have a job" mantra. They all met in the "how to screw the airline worker symposium and decided if they all screwed airline workers, then they all wouldn't feel the need to find greener pastures.
Call me an idiot, but I'm too up there in the years to start over somewhere on the bottom.

I'll just stay here and do my part to keep AA aware of my bad morale.

 

[FWAAA]

Maybe you two are not bitter because you most likely benefited from labor's concessions and shared in management rewards.

You're right. I'm not bitter. I've never worked a day for someone else thinking I should have been paid more. Sadly, you and thousands of others have worked for nearly six years for less than you think you deserve. That's gotta be depressing.

I'll give you one more decision management made and the unions went along with..And this one is the big kahoona...This is the one that enabled AA to grow several times over.

IT WAS THE B SCALE circa 1983....It was hiring workers at sub par starting wages so AA could build those hubs which you claim were a mere smidgen of budget, buy all those MD80's A300s, MD11s 757s and 767s, buy those EAL routes, buy TWA's London routes.

Are you saying the B-scale was unilaterally imposed by the evil company? You mean the B-scale was not approved by spineless, weak-kneed members of the TWU? The vote approving the B-scale was a sham? Seems everytime a vote doesn't go your way, it's someone else's fault. But enough about you - this thread isn't about you. Or me. Or eolesen. Despite your best efforts.

But you're not bitter, just arrogant and pompous as your avatar shows. You were a wannabe big shot at AA and when all your "extra" effort given to management went unnoticed and unappreciated, you left.

Defend these guys and girls all you want. They are not GOD like you make them out to be. They are greedy self serving sorts whose peers are being exposed on Wall Street one by one. You despise Obama because he sees corporate America for what it is: A GREED BASED GOOD OL BOYS NETWORK.
For the decades following 1981 when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers, I bet you and FWAAA cheered your yayas off yelling "THE GREEDY UNIONS ARE FINALLY GETTING WHAT THEY DESERVE....YIPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

If any one is bitter, it's you because the playing field is being leveled after 28 years of anti unionism.

When I cheered the PATCO firings by President Reagan, it wasn't because they were union members. It was because they were prohibited by federal law from striking, yet they chose to violate the law. It's all about rules for me. Play by the rules and I'll cheer you on. Violate federal law (or a district court's injunction as the APA did) and I'll cheer the imposition of consequences. Not a real complex philosophy - rather simplistic. If you were to exhaust the procedures of the RLA and strike - I'd support that. But a wildcat strike (illegal under the RLA)? I'd cheer your replacement.

 

[Hopeful]

You're right. I'm not bitter. I've never worked a day for someone else thinking I should have been paid more. Sadly, you and thousands of others have worked for nearly six years for less than you think you deserve. That's gotta be depressing.

Gee I don't know what a big shot lawyer has to be bitter about. You too, like eolesen, fail to get it also.....
Let's start with the current concessionary contract we were forced fed....IT WAS CALLED SHARED SACRIFICE AND THE EXECUTIVES ARE NOT SHARING ANY OF IT.....

How about B Scale?......That enabled this company to grow and make acquisitions since the 80's...But of course you ignore the fact that future employees were all sold out.

Lastly....PATCO....I never said they were in the right with an illegal walkout..They shouldve went by the book and kept aircraft on the taxiways for hours.....Then laywers like yourself would have been filing class action lawsuits on behalf of the flying public.


Let me ask you this, F. LEE BAILEY........You seem to think we're all over paid....What do you think Capt. Sulley was worth landing that aircraft in the Hudson River?

Better yet what do you think those mechanics were worth when they obeyed orders from a then VP to change that DC10 engine using questionable procedures thus bringing down Flt 191 at ORD in 1979?

I bet you wish you were a hot shot attorney on that one, don't you?


I guess in your arrogant minds, the only people you think are worth anything are the suits with degrees, but when that grease covered mechanic gets your Mercedes benz or jaguar fixed, he's worth everything to you..

Pilots and mechanics have licenses which hold us responsibile even with criminal charges.

So you want to pay me like a janitor,, i'll repair your aircraft like a janitor.

 

[MCI transplant]

<_< ------- As far as I'm concerned Hopeful, If a AMT fixes, and signs off, one "airworthy" item, he's earned his money for the day! The fact of the matter is the AMT of today is differently under paid! People like FWAAA haven't got a clue as to what it takes to become a AMT, or the responsibility connected with that job!------- But the sad part is, they could care less!------- And if we played by the rules all the time, like he says, we'd still be under British rule!!!