AA's operational performance already suffering?

[JFK Fleet Service]

Odd, I seem to recall a large number of Delta aircraft sitting in the conga line at LGA the past two days as well...

 

[WorldTraveler]

or sometimes people see what the truth which others don't want to.

Like anyone should really be surprised that the operation starts falling apart when AA employees have said for months - if not years - that they would burn the place down if labor contracts were imposed, etc.

I'm sure those people are a minority - but what percentage of vindictive employees do you think it would take to trash the operation?

And the reality is that the vast majority of AA employees in at least a couple employee groups are MORE than ticked.


One day doesn't a trend make which is why I opened the thread w/ a question.

But I'm also not blind to the reality of what is happening in the world around me.

How many days will it take to make a trend?

How many days will it take for AA to lose all of those premium customers that AA won over from UA?

How did B6, DL, and UA all have better SYSTEM OT figures than AA even though all three of those have larger NYC mainline operations than AA. Apparently the weather was worse on AA's side of the field and spread all the way to AA's other stations.

UA's OT in ORD and IAD suffered too... but they recovered elsewhere.

DL had OT in its largest hubs outside of the NE in the mid 80s.

US and WN were no different.

As of 0730 ET TODAY, AA has 15 cancellations and 48% OT - 25% to 30% lower than its peers and twice as many cancellations as its peers who flew in the same airspace yesterday.

I do subscribe to reports from that source... but Flightstats is raw data which in this case is more than enough to make the point.
I'm more than happy to be shown to be wrong if "scrubbed" reports from other data sources show that AA's problems really aren't there...

We can wait for days, weeks if you want to make a trend.

There are two ways to be fooled.
One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to accept what is true.

Soren Kierkegaard

 

[Kellerguy]

WT you are spewing again, if you don't can't add value here, please ho back to the DL board so you can fawn on everything DL.

 

[KILOFINAL]

Yeah, and guess how many were due to lack of flight crew.

AA is desperately short of pilots.

Better start the beatings of higher monthly max and perpetual reassignments. That will really "motivate" the flight crews.

Yes, my GF is in crew sked for the pilots. I hear about it every day.

 

[Kellerguy]

With the additional flight hours and work rules in the term sheet contract in effect, I seriously doubt the AA is short of pilots. If the pilots are causing havoc, I assume that too will pass, or they won't pilot.

 

[WorldTraveler]

WT you are spewing again, if you don't can't add value here, please ho back to the DL board so you can fawn on everything DL.

I get the concept that we are all divided as someone from the outside comes to attack us, but the fact is that AA's operational performance took a noticeable dive yesterday - the first full day of operations after the judge's ruling for the pilots.

And despite all of the justifications, AA performed worse than its peers, including UA who has been overwhelmed for months by its merger decisions.

it is ENTIRELY possible that AA just had a bad day yesterday that will pass. If so, I will be happy to admit that and the stats will reflect a return to AA's normal operation - which has been at or slightly above average for the industry.

It is entirely possible that AA's operational problems are related to the same lack of backup resources that UA has had which dramatically limit the ability to recover from irregular operations, regardless of the airline.

But pretending that the ruling Monday and even the imposed work rule changes that are being talked about elsewhere on this forum won't have an effect on AA employees - and the operation as a whole is not at all realistic.

In the meantime, AA's cancellations climb by the hour.... 26 flights cancelled today and it's not even 10 a.m. at DFW and ORD.

 

[KILOFINAL]

She's going crazy with the number of sick calls every single day. Every day they are short pilots but they were looking forward to the new ruling so the pilots would have to become "their bit**es." That"s how she put it.

 

[777 / 767 / 757 Love]

or sometimes people see what the truth which others don't want to.

Like anyone should really be surprised that the operation starts falling apart when AA employees have said for months - if not years - that they would burn the place down if labor contracts were imposed, etc.

I'm sure those people are a minority - but what percentage of vindictive employees do you think it would take to trash the operation?

And the reality is that the vast majority of AA employees in at least a couple employee groups are MORE than ticked.


One day doesn't a trend make which is why I opened the thread w/ a question.

But I'm also not blind to the reality of what is happening in the world around me.

How many days will it take to make a trend?

How many days will it take for AA to lose all of those premium customers that AA won over from UA?

How did B6, DL, and UA all have better SYSTEM OT figures than AA even though all three of those have larger NYC mainline operations than AA. Apparently the weather was worse on AA's side of the field and spread all the way to AA's other stations.

UA's OT in ORD and IAD suffered too... but they recovered elsewhere.

DL had OT in its largest hubs outside of the NE in the mid 80s.

US and WN were no different.

As of 0730 ET TODAY, AA has 15 cancellations and 48% OT - 25% to 30% lower than its peers and twice as many cancellations as its peers who flew in the same airspace yesterday.

I do subscribe to reports from that source... but Flightstats is raw data which in this case is more than enough to make the point.
I'm more than happy to be shown to be wrong if "scrubbed" reports from other data sources show that AA's problems really aren't there...

We can wait for days, weeks if you want to make a trend.

There are two ways to be fooled.
One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to accept what is true.

Soren Kierkegaard

You are certifiably nuts. Give me a break, have you ever met an AA employee? MOST, have pride in their work, their company and their fellow employees and believe it or not don't want to see the passenger get screwed for something (dispute with Management) is clearly not the passenger's fault.

I have read some ridiculous stuff on this forum, but this takes the cake. Show some respect for the AA employees, may not be perfect, but as an EXP I have delt with more than a few, and 95% rock and would be disgusted by any employee participating in such activities as you are accussing them of.

Cheers,
777 / 767 / 757

 

[Kev3188]

She's going crazy with the number of sick calls every single day. Every day they are short pilots but they were looking forward to the new ruling so the pilots would have to become "their bit**es." That"s how she put it.

She sounds like a peach.

I'm sure this will help AA turn the corner.

 

[wings396]

You are certifiably nuts. Give me a break, have you ever met an AA employee? MOST, have pride in their work, their company and their fellow employees and believe it or not don't want to see the passenger get screwed for something (dispute with Management) is clearly not the passenger's fault.

I have read some ridiculous stuff on this forum, but this takes the cake. Show some respect for the AA employees, may not be perfect, but as an EXP I have delt with more than a few, and 95% rock and would be disgusted by any employee participating in such activities as you are accussing them of.

Cheers,
777 / 767 / 757

Good luck on this one, he comes readily equipped to throw stones from the DL side of things. It gives him the warm fuzzies to know that AA is slipping, and DL is going to prosper at their expense .....

 

[WorldTraveler]

So, we should just pretend these comments weren't made - and that the dozens of AA employees who have made them AREN'T typical even though many acknowledge the mindset I mention exists and could well do damage to AA?

The question still remains what percentage of disgruntled AA employees it takes to destroy the operation. 95% probably wouldn't participate.

Yes, I know many AA employees.

When we have people saying things like what KF is saying, which many AA employees know to be true or at least representative of AA mgmt, is anyone surprised the wheels might be getting a little loose on this wagon?

I take no pleasure in anyone's demise... but let's not kid ourselves that this 10 year restructuring has taken an enormous toll on AA employees and that the company's last push to save the company might not actually succeed, whether an outsider points it out or not.

And frequent flyers don't care whether it is employee driven or a lack of resources as it was with UA; they will leave anyway if the airline can't operate at the same level of reliability as its competitors.

I'm more than happy to wait for the data to arrive and prove me wrong.....

 

[FWAAA]

She's going crazy with the number of sick calls every single day. Every day they are short pilots but they were looking forward to the new ruling so the pilots would have to become "their bit**es." That"s how she put it.

AA said in its 1113 filings that its pilots have utilized more sick time than the industry average, and it's been that way for a long time. More than once last year and this year, AA has trimmed its schedules by a percent or two and claimed that one of the factors was heavy sick calls from pilots, in addition to the massive retirements last summer leading up to the Ch 11 filing.

Looks like AA's pilots may be more cautious than other airline pilots about flying while sick, and generally that's a good thing. Nobody wants a sick pilot up in the air.

 

[KILOFINAL]

AA said in its 1113 filings that its pilots have utilized more sick time than the industry average, and it's been that way for a long time. More than once last year and this year, AA has trimmed its schedules by a percent or two and claimed that one of the factors was heavy sick calls from pilots, in addition to the massive retirements last summer leading up to the Ch 11 filing.

Looks like AA's pilots may be more cautious than other airline pilots about flying while sick, and generally that's a good thing. Nobody wants a sick pilot up in the air.

I totally agree. I had a friend years ago when he first joined another company; he was on call for two years with a salary of $36,000 flying the RJ. The company literally ran him into the ground with the flying. They didn't care, to them he was a body for them to utilize in the right seat.

Now, I can sympathize with my GF and the challenges at crew sked in DFW trying to get crews each day. The increased # of sick calls is a huge challenge and a great deal of frustration and stress for everyone. But, I also think it's an unhealthy attitude to now proclaim that the pilots are their "bit**es since the ruling in NY was made.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Looks like AA's pilots may be more cautious than other airline pilots about flying while sick, and generally that's a good thing. Nobody wants a sick pilot up in the air.

I'm sure the CDC would be happy to be at AA's HDQ to help them figure out MEDICALLY what makes AA's group of employees - I haven't heard the issue is related to pilots since I just look at raw data - statistically different from the rest of America as a whole. With a population of over 50K employees, there is the basis for sound, scientific research if there truly is a medical basis for AA employees - any group of them - having different levels of illness than those in other parts of the USA, including elsewhere in the airline industry.

Or we could acknowledge that AA mgmt has pushed its employees to the brink and those employees cannot physically, mentally, or emotionally take anything else.

CDC specialists could leave their Atlanta headquarters and be at AA's headquarters in 4 hours.

 

[Mach85ER]

FWAAA,

Your act is getting old. AA has one of the oldest pilot groups with the health costs, shifting flying around the system with an uncertain future has ended up with many that commute which takes a toll on the body, and AA management has taken the stance that they have no responsibility to lead their high value employees and want the courts and the US Government to force the AA pilots to provide the attendance results that other companies gain through motivated employees who are also younger.

If anything, AA pilots aren't calling in sick enough from my experience of having to fly with somebody hacking, sneezing and distracted from their duties because of it. I've watched the idiots in this company use the same logic for over 20 years with the FA's. End result was a new hire FA scared of calling in sick hacking and infecting 3 other pilots who end up calling in sick as well.

Incredibly, AA wants to use the same logic for the pilots as the CP cubicle dwellers. Why should the pilots have different standards for missing work is their thinking. Now they want to stay, "stay home", we just aren't going to pay you for it. That is one of many punative "we have a chance to screw the pilots and will do it" things in this repulsive deal, 1113 or the LBFO.