AA's operational performance already suffering?

[Kellerguy]

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.

Again, stupid and irrational (they are either secularly experiencing some kind of epidemic or on the edge of nervous breakdowns, physically sick from the anxiety et al, and just plain emotional wrecks), as if it has to be one or the other-- and no third agenda in play. WT you have been a no value add poster for too long here, spewing an obvious agenda--destroy everything non delta! Just one other possibility (and I'm sure there are more) is and-- AAers know-- that there are some unhappy employees that feel they don't have another or better way to protest the current state of affairs.

 

[WorldTraveler]

no, I'm sorry but you cannot deny the message I write without also arguing these are not valid:

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.

Welcome to the brave new world. Good luck getting much cooperation. When did you want that plane to fly?

The simple fact is that AA employees have been pushed to the limit over the past 10 years and are emotionally, mentally, and physically worn to the limit.

Add in the confrontational approach that is only escalating and it is NO surprise that AA people cannot do their work any longer.

There is no agenda.

Quit trying to deny the reality of a situation which is perfectly obvious to see....

Once again, if 36 hours of a difficult operation might prove to be a blip on the radar -and my question will have been answered.

But it is also very possible that AA has entered a new chapter and its labor relations (or lack thereof) are taking a toll on the operation that for the better part of the past 10 years has managed to be held together.

AA employees will prove me wrong by the results of the operation, not by what is said or not on this forum.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Anyone that takes a day's data and tries to make something from it is an idiot. Enen monthly data, as reported to the the BTS can be affected by outside factors.

AA has been lower doen in the rankings for some time now, often at the bottom of legacy carriers. Has that been due to the ruling yesterday?

Even if there is a dip in performance due to the ruling, is it a trend or just a blip? Can you tell from even a few day's data?

Of what...7500 pilots or 6000+ active flying pilots...quoting a few proves nothing. One might as well stand on the sidewalk outside Republication headquarters and ask a few people who they'll vote for to predict the winner of the election. A small sample likely to be biased is not an accurate predicter of anything.

Jim

 

[WorldTraveler]

AA has been lower doen in the rankings for some time now, often at the bottom of legacy carriers. Has that been due to the ruling yesterday?


Jim

not true.....

AA has been above UA all year long, with 3 points higher in OT.


http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/2012/August/2012AugATCR.pdf


Nobody is drawing any conclusions based on one days data.

But after years of people saying that they would act if AA imposed, you cannot rule out that is now happening. Maybe it isn't. But no one can be surprised if it is.

And where was the ire against all of those people who suggested for years that they would burn AA down or at least work at levels far below what they have done in the past?

And even if AA employees - even a small minority - don't take that approach, NO ONE can deny the stress levels at AA are THRU THE ROOF and stress absolutely affects physical, mental, and emotional health and performance.

At the very minimum, AA's situation has escalated to the point that its employees cannot function the way employees have at other airlines.

BTW, AA's OT performance has improved since earlier in the day and is now 10-15 points behind its network peers. Cancellations are still 3X plus more than any other comparable airline.

 

[eolesen]

Wednesday, September 5th was a challenging day for several key airports in the Northeast and Midwest, as rainy conditions and ground delay programs impacted operations at LGA (31.9% A14; Average Taxi -Out over 45 mins), ORD (37.8%), EWR (56.3%), DTW (56.9%), JFK (57.3%), and BOS (61.7%). American, United, and Delta cancelled nearly 400 flights combined, due to the the weather disruptions in the Chicago and NYC areas.

System Performance by Operating Carrier
Carrier         Tracked   Comp      Cxld  Other   CF%      D0%       D15%      A0%       A14%
FL (Airtran)      551      550      1      0       99.8      88.6      94.3      74.0      87.7
F9 (Frontier)     228      228      0      0      100.0      68.4      91.7      63.2      87.3
WN (Southwest)   3248     3209      33     6       99.0      52.0      83.5      63.5      84.1
DL (Delta)       2468     2439      11     18      99.6      70.3      84.8      64.4      81.7
US (US Airways)  1216     1203      8      4       99.3      71.9      84.5      59.9      76.9
UA (United)      1838     1800      18     20      99.0      46.1      72.6      51.7      69.4
NK (Spirit)       205      205      0      0      100.0      59.5      71.2      47.3      65.9
B6 (JetBlue)      690      689      0      1      100.0      53.6      70.9      43.9      63.2
AA (American)    1798     1750      32     13      98.0      45.8      67.2      38.6      59.8

Yes, AA sucked yesterday at the system level.

Airport Tracked    Comp    Cxld   Other     CF%       D0%       D15%      A0%       A14%      Avg TXO  TXO<30   31-60    >60
AADFW      752      741       8      2      98.8      55.5      78.6      67.5      83.3      18.9     726       11        2
UAIAH      509      500       6      3      98.8      58.1      83.1      72.3      86.6      15.4     495        6        0

AAORD      480      454      25      0      94.6      22.7      39.3      17.0      28.9      28.5     330       76       46
UAORD      620      586      24      10     96.1      26.3      44.5      28.8      43.2      27.8     426       94       56

AAMIA      258      250       3      4      98.4      39.7      58.7      49.8      67.1      18.2     236        8        5

AALAX      148      144       3      1      97.9      62.1      80.7      61.4      75.2      17.9     135        9        0
UALAX      191      187       2      2      98.9      50.3      71.4      51.3      70.9      18.5     174       10        1

AALGA      112      100      11      1      90.1      35.6      51.5      22.5      37.3      48.3      38       31       32
DLLGA      267      237      29      1      89.1      36.1      46.6      18.1      29.4      56.4      56       81      101

AAJFK       85       82       3      0      96.3      32.9      57.3      41.3      58.7      28.9      49       31        1
DLJFK      161      151       9      1      94.4      43.7      57.6      37.7      53.2      35.3      57       87        7
UAEWR      409      371      30      8      92.5      42.5      62.5      46.5      58.8      31.3     204      147       17

Oddly, AA outperformed DL at both JFK and LGA. Go figure.

About the same performance for UA and AA between EWR and JFK; UA outperformed at ORD, and AA outperformed at LAX.


Comparing to the FS data you looked at:
AA 66% = AA A14 59.8% and D15 45.8% (huge variance with FS)
DL 84% = DL A14 81.7% and D15 84.8% (close on D15, 2% on A14)
UA 71% = UA A14 69.4% and D15 72.6% (close on D15 and A14)
US 78% = US A14 76.9% and D15 84.5% (close on A14, 5% on D15)

 

[jimntx]

. 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.

Amen, brother. F/As from every airline spend their working days shut up in aluminum tubes with every sick person in North America, but calling in sick is equivalent to the sin against the Holy Ghost. I've actually had a passenger say to me that "No, she didn't think running a fever of 102 (she admitted to that) was any reason to change her travel plans."

This is anecdotal evidence, of course, but what I discovered this morning is that my 3-day trip starting tomorrow does not have a complete cockpit (or any cockpit at all in some cases) crew except for the last day. I'm not judgin'. I'm just sayin'.

 

[Kellerguy]

And where was the ire against all of those people who suggested for years that they would burn AA down or at least work at levels far below what they have done in the past?

At the very minimum, AA's situation has escalated to the point that its employees cannot function the way employees have at other airlines.

I'm sure a Delta homer such as yourself would love to see AA burn! You're sick...and oh by the way where is your source proving AA situation has escalated to the point that employees cannot function. You seem to be a miserable and delusional zealot.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Denial is not a river in Egypt. It is a disease that has afflicted AA and its employees for a decade. Attempting to paint the messenger who points out the obvious does nothing to change the situation facing AA and its people.

I asked the question and then used the evidence of what people have said here for months on this very board. Need I find those examples for you?

Again, where was your anger at those people who said they would burn down the company and wouldn't do one ounce more work than the bare minimum?

What IS the answer to why AA's employees have sick usage rates that are far in excess of the industry as a whole?

And more importantly, what do you propose to do to fix the problem? Is AA supposed to continue to keep sending out the same paychecks to employees who can't or won't do the same amount of work that other airline employees do?

If the problem is "older employees" then the CDC and any other good researcher can do an objective comparison of employees within the same age bracket at various airlines.

And if the answer is truly a lack of resources including backup crew members then why cannot AA not solve the problem with the same or more resources per aircraft that other airlines have?

thanks for the data, E... but it still shows that A14 (how OT is tracked in the US) for AA was still 10 points lower than UA and 15 points below the average for the network carriers as whole.

The data will keep coming in.....

 

[777 / 767 / 757 Love]

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.

+1000

 

[BoeingBoy]

AA has been above UA all year long, with 3 points higher in OT.

In the bottom 2. What was it I said..."AA has been lower doen in the rankings for some time now, often at the bottom of legacy carriers." In the bottom half qualifies as "lower down" to me. AA has been the lowest of the legacy carriers in OT for 2 months this year - 2 of the 7 months reported.

Nobody is drawing any conclusions based on one days data.

No? Someone started a thread titled "AA's operational performance already suffering?" and used one day's OT data to justify it.

But after years of people saying that they would act if AA imposed, you cannot rule out that is now happening.

So a relative handful of AA employees gripe on an online forum and you take that as evidence of what 10's of thousands of employees are doing. Riiight...

Jim

 

[WorldTraveler]

50 arrivals cancellations today at 2100 CT - and holding.

Pales in comparison to LH which will be stuck at the gate tomorrow with 70% of their system not operating.

E,
the data I quoted yesterday did not represent the full day.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Three days after I asked the question, the data undeniably shows that AA's operational performance has deteriorated since Judge Lane's ruling.

AA has cancelled between 40-50 flights every day for the past 3 days - more than 2% of its schedule - on days where its peers have cancelled one-third or fewer flights.

AA's A14 OT has lagged every one of its peers by 10-28 points per day.

When AA files its monthly OT report with the DOT, there will be more public information on reasons for the increase in cancellations - unless they say something earlier.

 

[Kellerguy]

If true that this is job action related, then I expect the company will take action, probably on an individual basis where they can. With the term sheet in place, AA will not run out of pilots at the end of the month. It is not a good time to "not be with the program", but some may need to find that out for themselves.

 

[WorldTraveler]

I don't know what is driving these numbers... but UA said they had pilot sickout issues in the spring, they cracked down requiring notes from mommy for every sick call from pilots, and the system was so overwhelmed that UA backed off - or so say some people on pilot chat forums.

At the same time, many CO people have argued for years that CO dramatically UNDERSTAFFED their operation, did not have the necessary reserves, and then blamed the pilots when things went bad - which could easily happen based on a string of bad weather in EWR.

I don't think anyone at AA has failed to consider the repercussions of their individual actions.

It also doesn't change that AA has faced years and years of difficult labor relations and are trying to restructure based on cutting costs esp. in the area of labor.

I'm not sure how long it will take to turn things around operationally for AA, but the UA situation leaves no doubt that customers quickly leave airlines that have operational problens without needing to know the reasons for those problems.

 

[FWAAA]

Three days after I asked the question, the data undeniably shows that AA's operational performance has deteriorated since Judge Lane's ruling.

How many mainline flights did AA cancel, on average, for the first eight months of 2012? The number of cancellations has increased over the number from last Tuesday (only 17 that day) but it's a little simplistic to treat that one day as representative of AA's cancellation rate.

AA has cancelled between 40-50 flights every day for the past 3 days - more than 2% of its schedule - on days where its peers have cancelled one-third or fewer flights.

The cancellations compared to DL or UA are irrelevant; more relevant would be the average number of daily cancellations for Jan 1 thru 8/31.