American Airlines and Labor Negotiations

[737823]

You transfer out of BWI?

Under the association what happens if a member transfers from an IAM station to a TWU station? Which union administers the grievance?

Josh

 

[robbedagain]

You transfer out of BWI?

Yes sir. BWI i believe is going to be outsourced in near future . We are losing 3 gates, a breakroom and reducing some flights. Thats the big rumor

 

[robbedagain]

Josh

Under the association what happens if a member transfers from an IAM station to a TWU station? Which union administers the grievance?

Josh

In DCA LAA and LUS have tbeir own respective representation. I think its like that in the hubs . But different in outlining cities. BWI they have 1 union grievance but its my understanding that they may have a 2nd one

 

[UPNAWAY]

I agree with you that this mgmt team does seem weak in multiple areas. The action in oil pricing has been really strange and it appears it will go lower in the 40's. The ord china route being dormant is a mistake IMO. I'm starting to wonder if the Kirby fellow may have been the brains of the operation prior to his departure. The lower cost of fuel will again boost profit and make mgmt look good, but the stuff they come up with such as scanning bags all over the place has me thinking there has to be a better way. Maybe ought to drug test mgmt.

ORD with China is a money losing HUB, ORD without China is solidly profitable. How is that a bad decision? And with Oil are you referencing fuel hedging? This recent drop just shows why hedging doesn't work over the long haul, it will always catch up with you and you pay a premium for it.

 

[CremaDiLimone]

the company has stated that the china flights lost millions and it affected the hub's profitability. ord was and will always be profitable. it's the usa's #1 airport for connectivity, #2 in the world behind lhr. parker recently stated that without the china flights, ord is on par with the best margin hubs; dfw/clt/dca for profitability/margins.

the issues are china east, united and hainan must also be losing millions flying to china from ord?? united earned more than aa in the last quarter. maybe, just maybe, aa is using the wrong equipment? same with the nrt flight, wrong equipment?

aa has scaled back nrt flights from ord, but japan airlines will double the amount of flights next summer? japan airlines utilizes a 777-300, lots of premium paying passengers. so, japan airlines wants to lose even more money - if this route is a loser??

when aa was the dl of the 90s, ord had multiple lhr flights and another london flight to gatwick, gla, man, ory, zrh, arn, muc, bru, fra, mxp...now, we're the airline of 787s to cancun?

something is fishy here. you cut back on flights, revenues go down, dl has now surpassed us in revenue, last quarter.

 

[CremaDiLimone]

Sidebar for a second:
From what I've heard, starting next year, the DOT is going to be changing some metrics on the MBR's. It will be based on the percentages of bags scanned, instead of pax complaints. So bag scanning at all points will be stressed more than ever. Have you guys heard any about this?

could be, i'll ask. i believe the recent scanning frenzy was brought about by congress and it's bill of rights for flying passengers.

you lose a bag, you must also refund the baggage fees. now, it's imperative that no one loses track of bags.

 

[LuxuryLiner]

Bag scanning is going away in another year or so. They now have bag tags that have GPS in them and don't need to be scanned. Right now those GPS tags cost about .50 a piece and too expensive but when all airlines convert the price is said to be down to about .1 or .2 cents a piece. And also these tags may be reusable...passengers may keep and reuse same tag over and over.

 

[robbedagain]

Bag scanning is going away in another year or so. They now have bag tags that have GPS in them and don't need to be scanned. Right now those GPS tags cost about .50 a piece and too expensive but when all airlines convert the price is said to be down to about .1 or .2 cents a piece. And also these tags may be reusable...passengers may keep and reuse same tag over and over.

Will those be without problems when it rain snow sleet hail etc? What happens if the flight is cancelled or delayed? I can see issues like those popping up but i guess in time we shall see

 

[Colonel.Ramp]

Sidebar for a second:
From what I've heard, starting next year, the DOT is going to be changing some metrics on the MBR's. It will be based on the percentages of bags scanned, instead of pax complaints. So bag scanning at all points will be stressed more than ever. Have you guys heard any about this?

This is true although I didn't hear about percentage scanned just percentage of bags missed per 1000 people. I'm waiting for the actual standard in writing. To me I think it will help in keeping the MBR low depending on how the new policy is applied. We scan everything by flight number and city now anyway so we are way ahead of the game.

 

[Colonel.Ramp]

Yes sir. BWI i believe is going to be outsourced in near future . We are losing 3 gates, a breakroom and reducing some flights. Thats the big rumor

Hey Robbed glad to see all is well. Glad you moved out. Why would they outsource when just a few years ago it was Envoy there correct? I guess it makes sense since Southwest is the dominant carrier there.

 

[Colonel.Ramp]

Bag scanning is going away in another year or so. They now have bag tags that have GPS in them and don't need to be scanned. Right now those GPS tags cost about .50 a piece and too expensive but when all airlines convert the price is said to be down to about .1 or .2 cents a piece. And also these tags may be reusable...passengers may keep and reuse same tag over and over.

I can't see scanning going away that soon. Especially since they spent all that money on these new scanners, implementing TLINK, and Megascan. Just to bring our MBR down we created scanning flights by flight number and city and they want to expand it. Maybe the new standards will change that.

 

[robbedagain]

Hey Robbed glad to see all is well. Glad you moved out. Why would they outsource when just a few years ago it was Envoy there correct? I guess it makes sense since Southwest is the dominant carrier there.

LUS has long been the mainline station .But since ?2013??) Ive seen more of our folks leaving than coming. In fact recently out of 6 new hire part timers 5 of them transferred out n that was just recently. Also ive heard theyre losing 1 breakroom 3 gates and possibly some flights. I think i can see a picture here whereas the company tries to keep less mainline flights..more express... For a year then come back and say..soo long ur station no longer gonna be mainline . Thats the type scenario i cld see mgmt pulling to circumvent the contract at same time stalling on any jcba while engaging talks w other groups. Its really a low down filthy arse but i would not ever put it past those stooges to do this type crap. N if they were to do it to bwi..then they cld try it at other cities... Just my 2 cents .
The LAA was Envoy few years ago .We were LUS mainline n stayed thru post merger .Youre right swa is king at BWI. They truly want all of C pier bec they want to add customs there for their flights

Lus made mistake of moving to C pier when the much smaller operations of LAA shld have moved to D pier where we were

 

[Colonel.Ramp]

LUS has long been the mainline station .But since ?2013??) Ive seen more of our folks leaving than coming. In fact recently out of 6 new hire part timers 5 of them transferred out n that was just recently. Also ive heard theyre losing 1 breakroom 3 gates and possibly some flights. I think i can see a picture here whereas the company tries to keep less mainline flights..more express... For a year then come back and say..soo long ur station no longer gonna be mainline . Thats the type scenario i cld see mgmt pulling to circumvent the contract at same time stalling on any jcba while engaging talks w other groups. Its really a low down filthy arse but i would not ever put it past those stooges to do this type crap. N if they were to do it to bwi..then they cld try it at other cities... Just my 2 cents .
The LAA was Envoy few years ago .We were LUS mainline n stayed thru post merger .Youre right swa is king at BWI. They truly want all of C pier bec they want to add customs there for their flights

Lus made mistake of moving to C pier when the much smaller operations of LAA shld have moved to D pier where we were

Oh I see. Didn't realize it was US and Envoy for a time. If they are reducing gates and real estate such as breakrooms etc, they your analysis was probably correct. They will probably outsource stations where they are weaker and MAYBE open up stations with more volume. That's a pipe dream now until there is some movement with Section 6 negotiations. DCA is busy so I guess it gives them a reason to focus on your station more.

 

[robbedagain]

I hope my post does not come to fruition but given the past history of our mgmt team i feel this may be the scenario/games mgmt does to human lives with no regards to the mess ups theyre causing..so as long as it doesn't hurt themselves.

As for DCA its really cool place to work. Busy yes but given that its like a hub its far more protected than outlining cities

 

[Colonel.Ramp]

I hope my post does not come to fruition but given the past history of our mgmt team i feel this may be the scenario/games mgmt does to human lives with no regards to the mess ups theyre causing..so as long as it doesn't hurt themselves.

As for DCA its really cool place to work. Busy yes but given that its like a hub its far more protected than outlining cities

I hope not either. The good thing is your are on soid ground in DC on an IAM contract. Your more solid than the average. Me included. Lol! I'm glad it worked out for you.