Check This Out!

[Dea Certe]

I thought the airline industry as a whole had sunk about as far down as it could go, until I read this article from the BBC:


From BBC website :

Ryanair has confirmed it is taking "no-frills" flying a stage further by ordering a fleet of planes without reclining seats or window blinds.
The budget airline could make savings of more than �m a year by removing all remaining "non-essential" items.

A Ryanair spokesman said: "We have made the decision to save costs that we can then pass on to our passengers."

It is also looking at the possibility of asking passengers to carry on their luggage, cutting baggage handling fees.

The airline spokesman said the carrier has ordered all luxury fittings to be taken from a fleet of Boeing aircraft.

"After looking at a number of different options, Ryanair is to go ahead with these adjustments.

"The order has been made to take out all non-essential items, which include the reclining seats, head rests and window blinds."

Advertising space

Seats will become non-adjustable, to cut down on replacements needed for reclining models, and there will no longer be a seat pocket, to reduce cleaning costs and turn around time.

Removing Velcro headrests could save the firm around �,000 unless the items are used as a space for advertising.

The spokesman said the airline is considering changes to what type of luggage passengers will be permitted to carry.

This could save the firm 20% of costs, chief executive Michael O'Leary told the Sunday Times.

"Most of the space in airports is devoted to baggage handling. It's not just a question of staff. It would mean smaller airports, simpler facilities and lower charges," the paper quoted him as saying.

Subsidy payments

The carrier has expanded rapidly and made big profits in recent years.

But its share price recently tumbled after it issued its first profit warning, following a drop in passenger numbers.

The announcement came a day after the airline said it must repay millions of pounds in subsidies that the European Commission had found to be illegal.

Its full-year profit is forecast to drop by about 10%, but still be 215m euros (�.4m; $271m).

Dea adds:

Exactly how much will the flying public take for a cheap fare? I understand there's a very high employee turn-over rate at RyanAir. This is getting to be ridiculous! Are all jobs in the private sector going to be minium wage? Is this what the American public can expect?

This scares me silly.

 

[youngblood]

Dea,

How outrageous will it get. What's next? Take the seats out and expect passengers to hold onto a loop strapped to a metal bar?

Here's some news for you. A UA employee told me tonight that they're opening up another rsv office. Guess where!!! Novia Scotia!!! It's outsourced of course. Now that scares me silly. More and more companies are going off shore leaving our citizens scrambling for jobs. Wouldn't you consider more unemployeed people an economic setback? I only wish I had the forsight to see how we can stop companies from doing such. Any ideas?

 

[Light Years]

I've had the misfortune of flying on RyanAir, and it makes Southwest look like the Concorde. On a flight of less than an hour (between two close together countries) they sold refreshments- a few Euro for a mini can of Coke. They also tried to hawk duty free even as we were descending- everything from jewelery to food to stuffed toys. The overhead bins had advertisments on them, and the safety info card was printed on the tray table. There wasn't really an inflight magazine, it was more like a flier telling you how much it would set you back if you fancied a cup of tea, some peanuts or even an alarm clock. Our particular 737 was ancient, although they do fly some 737NGs.

Upon arrival, one of the F/As threw on a reflective vest and walked us to a bus- yes, leaving only two F/As on the plane with the remaining pax... I guess the rules are different there? The bus then dropped us off in the bowels of the airport, where we walked through an underground maze, past a breakroom of smoking employees (this is Europe), and finally up a staircase to the terminal. The entire experience cost less than a dinner at TGI Fridays.

RyanAir are the absolute extreme of LCCs. At least Southwest and JetBlue also have great customer service and some amenities. RyanAir's attitude seems to be that they are in the business of tranporting the masses for cheap and in one piece, not the business of making you feel welcome.

They indeed have a high turnover rate- being a F/A for them is something you do for the summer between school... thats rare in Europe, where most F/A jobs are still very coveted.

Michael O'Leary, the CEO, is well known as a hothead and the airline has known its share of scandals in it's short life. They are now one of, if not the biggest carrier in Europe, having started in Ireland and now all over the continent, and are growing like wildfire. They serve 184 cities in 16 counties. They ate currently advertising a fare on thier website of 1.49 (English pounds, thats less than $5 :blink: ) I really hope this isn't emulated over here. I'm not sure if the American "entitlement culture" would put up with such an extreme model. However...

Did I mention they are looking to get into the transatlantic market?

 

[coolflyingfool]

If passengers were forsed to carry their bags to the plane it would cut down on the need for a baggage makeup area for sorting all the bags, save on the fuel of the tugs to run the bags to the gates, save the customer service agents from having to check the bags, save the company a lot of OJI's, and increase drastically the amount of time standing in line at the checkpoints. I like the system in place now. I guess I can scratch Ryanair off my list of airlines to consider when flying over there. Just my 2 cents out loud.......

 

[Dea Certe]

Light Years,

I hope they don't even think about transatlantic flights! Can you even imagine that?


Dea

"Where are we going and why am I in the handbasket?"


PS: I'll try to find the article about Mr. Sweeney and the AFL-CIO's point of view on outsourcing guest workers and post the link.

 

[Dea Certe]

I hope I can get this link to work and the moderators don't send me to the corn field! Alone!!

Interesting reading, though

http://www.numbersusa.com/interests/unions.html

Dea

 

[youngblood]

Dea,

Thanks for the link. Definitely interesting reading!!

In a way history is starting to repeat itself, isn't it? If we don't take a stand, I predict another depression - type era. Just to prove my point, what person can make poor wages and dump money back into the economy? My solution? Boycott ANY company outsourcing off shore!!! I may be niave in this subject but the more I hear about corporations outsourcing the more ticked off I get.

I too grew up among a family of union members and heard of the struggles. My grandfather fought for the right for everyone to make decent wages and a decent living. I heard stories of IOU's for pay and growing gardens in the back yard just to supplement store bought groceries. It angers me that all the sweat and tears shed for the battle is now subject to companies finding a way around things.

Unions have taken a beating for the past decade or so, but if it wasn't for my union I wouldn't be employed right now or I would be making min. wage. What else can I say except it's time for Corporate America to start looking at mismanagement and overpayment to management as the reason for lost revenue.

 

[UseYourHead]

Dea,

Thanks for the link. Definitely interesting reading!!

In a way history is starting to repeat itself, isn't it? If we don't take a stand, I predict another depression - type era. Just to prove my point, what person can make poor wages and dump money back into the economy? My solution? Boycott ANY company outsourcing off shore!!! I may be niave in this subject but the more I hear about corporations outsourcing the more ticked off I get.

I too grew up among a family of union members and heard of the struggles. My grandfather fought for the right for everyone to make decent wages and a decent living. I heard stories of IOU's for pay and growing gardens in the back yard just to supplement store bought groceries. It angers me that all the sweat and tears shed for the battle is now subject to companies finding a way around things.

Unions have taken a beating for the past decade or so, but if it wasn't for my union I wouldn't be employed right now or I would be making min. wage. What else can I say except it's time for Corporate America to start looking at mismanagement and overpayment to management as the reason for lost revenue.

youngblood et. al,

I would offer this for debate; The airline industry is being outsourced as is most others sectors of industry. We in fact are insulated to a degree by our unions(thank God), so management is encumbered in the legal ways they can do these types of transfers. Other professional traits are being hammered right now.

Information technology is a current prime example...India is taking the loins share of job transfers writing code, and answering help desk calls, etc. I installed a wireless router the other day for someone, a linksys brand, now owned by Cisco Systems and when I called the help desk I was talking to India....

Disturbing trend, where does it stop? It is possible unions can impact this trend; however, the unfortunate fact is that long term the low cost producer will have the staying power to prevail, assumming of course the customer satisfaction is acceptable...this is where we come in IMHO, offering superior human factors....

 

[Dea Certe]

I believe the tiide will turn when those of us who work for wages make ourselves heard by our elected government officials. What's so different this time is the number of educated and skilled people who are out of work.

The middle class is getting squeezed hard. People with college degrees and high levels of specialized training can't believe it's happening to them. Where's the American Dream we were promised? We worked hard, kept up our end of the deal and what have we got to show for it?

No one wants to be seen as a whiner or unemployable. So, they stay quiet, out of shame and embarrassment while they take jobs as temps, or settle for a salary below what they're worth.

This wasn't supposed to happen to us. Out here, the grocery workers are still locked out of their jobs at Von's, Albertson's and Safeway. The main sticking point is health care and medical benefits. The store owners say they must cut costs as Wal-Mart Super Stores are coming and they must compete. Odd, that in December 2003 when the workers had been locked out for over a month, Safeway awarded stock worth 9 Million dollars to eight Vice Presidents. As Steve Lopez of the LA Times says: "It seems to me that if profits are down in the middle of a strike and there's still $9 million to throw around like candy, it tells you the Safeway company was charging us shoppers way too much for a quart of milk and a box of cornflakes, or that it can afford to take better care of employees who do the grunt work."

What does this have to do with the airlines? Well, hasn't that happened to nearly all the major carriers over the last few years? How many pay cuts have airline employees taken and how many jobs have been lost while the CEO's and "friends" took home millions? Did I read that Jim Goodwin was actually suing United for pension he lost during BK? Didn't he leave with millions?


It's a vicious cycle that's being played out in all our lives. Very bad timing for us baby boomers who only have a short time left to accrue retirement, and hopefully a pension we can live on.

Now is the time for all of us to write our Congress, Senators and President.. It really is true: An injury to one is an injury to all.

Sorry for the rants, guess I watched too much Sunday morning news.

Dea

 

[Peeky]

Dea,

You hit the nail right on the head. Very eloquently stated too.

 

[PITbull]

Dea,

How outrageous will it get. What's next? Take the seats out and expect passengers to hold onto a loop strapped to a metal bar?

Here's some news for you. A UA employee told me tonight that they're opening up another rsv office. Guess where!!! Novia Scotia!!! It's outsourced of course. Now that scares me silly. More and more companies are going off shore leaving our citizens scrambling for jobs. Wouldn't you consider more unemployeed people an economic setback? I only wish I had the forsight to see how we can stop companies from doing such. Any ideas?

Yea, Tax corporations heavily when they bring their product to the states, and impose huge tariffs. There is no better consumer than the American public. Where there is a will, there's a way. Give corporations major tax relief on corporate gains if they employ so many employees per size business at livable wage jobs. Our infrastructure needs to change fast, and I FOR ONE AM VOTING DEMOCRATE ACROSS THE BOARD AND WILL TELL EVERY WORKING AMERICAN TO GET RID OF THE REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION, who has no clue how to stimulate decent American jobs.More laws need to go into effect that protect the workers of America.

 

[46Driver]

AN example of what can go wrong with that line of protectionist thinking can be best shown by the tariffs on the sugar industry. Put in place, it has the effect of of protecting sugar growers but at the same time making it hard for candy makers and others to compete. Lifesavers, Brachs, and a few others closed their US factories and shipped the jobs overseas not only due to lower labor costs but due to lower cost on raw materials. However, the sugar growers kept their jobs....... There is no easy answer.

 

[PITbull]

This is why it is so important for the public to be aware and the workers to be very well organized. When corporations layoff workers and eliminate workers through automation, or force their workers to work overtime while eliminating more workers, and look for ways in which they "mask" as more efficiency, the public needs to STOP buying their products and do a massive "boycott".

From automobiles to airlines, to technology companies, etc...

This is why I am so hard on this mangement.They truly believe they are "elitists", and labor doesn't challenge that thinking. There are e-mails out there that this management has written out that blatantly states that THEY will not be looking to reduce any mangement costs regarding their own compensation packages. They made it very clear in the e-mails that the attrition rate for management is at "record levels" while our non-mangement jobs are nearly "zero". They stated in these e-mails that they are looking to "attract" and retain mangement by offering more incentives and higher salaries...


CAN YOU GUESS WHO SENT THAT E-MAIL IN SENIOR MANGEMENT?

There is a definite desparity of treatment here...

 

[46Driver]

To play Devil's Advocate, if you want better management than you are going to have to pay for it. Unlike the employees who are trapped not only in a seniority system but also within a profession, managers are free to move at will between companies and between industries.

You may not like it, but you get what you pay for.

As for automation, you have to go with the times. Imagine if we did not have automation here and instead had a massive UAW presence on the assembly line. The Japanese and the Germans would kill Detroit with efficiency, quality, and cost. Wait a minute, that already happenned. It was called the '70's and '80's.....

 

[PITbull]

46 Driver,

We all have the ability to move around in industries and companies..its called the "corporate ladder". The pilots are unique, in that their pay compensation level is dratically reduced by hoping around from airline to airline. But, not necessarily the other groups. Customer service, is customer service in any industry.

I don't know if you have been reading these posts or just gandering, but the main point here, the sure "absolute" is that the American workers are extremely educated and skilled. These are the very folks that can't find jobs. I don't quite know what you mean when you say "you get, what you pay for". That thought goes without saying "across the board", my friend.

There are many many people out there with degrees at the same schools as most of our esteemed mangement, that can't land jobs. But, I bet if you offer them half of what you offer some of OUR senior execs, you would get just as much IF NOT MORE TALENT. And i would wager too, with some people skills.

To imply that the American workers are not as efficent or not as dedicated to their jobs is a slap to America.

You need to get out more often. Been drinking too much kool-aide. Try some "whisky" and clean out your system.