I did watch the AA special on CNBC (after the Mets won) at the midnight recast.
As you would expect, once a camera is put in your face, the Bull&*^$ gets pretty deep.
The interviewer did a pretty good job.
My favorite clip was when Burchette said his job was to help AA fill their pockets with as much money as he can, and then come contract time in 2008, he was going to put his hands in AA's pockets.
The problem is he and the TWU want to fill AAs pockets with our money!!!
Obviuosly he never spoke to Crandall who insisted he would never buy airline stock. Burchettes goal of filling the compnays pockets is a fools folly. (the next crisis-AAs old fleet). Even the people who run it, and get paid a lot of money to do so admit that airlines do not make money, never have and never will either. Crandall spoke of how he would never invest money in an airline, also repeated was the old one of how to become a millioniare in the airline business-take a billionaire, have him own an airline and watch him become a millionaire. Airlines will be in a permanent state of crisis, that keeps wages low, however people who make money off the airlines make a mint. Whether its airports, fuel companies, suppliers or managers there is plenty of money for them. The trick is to be a business that makes its money from or through an airline, and thats the same way workers must start to look at it. If the airlines were really in such bad shape and they were losing billions a year then why are they still here? Because overall, the industry is a net producer. The product it provides is essential to other areas of the economy, areas that may not be as labor intensive.
Too bad there were no interviews with the line station AMT's. I am sure that the viewers who travel would have been more interested in listening to Line Pilots, Flight Attendents, Ticket Lift agents, ramp workers (cabin and Cargo) and AMT's since theses are the people they see or interact with on a flight from start to finish.
My opinion of course.....
That would have made the story too complicated since none of what he said about Tulsa and their love fest with the company, which despite his claims of an adversarial past, has always been the case, applies to the line. The line stations would be way to the left of the FAs and Pilots.
Over and over he claimed that Tulsa and the company had an adversarial relationship yet he left out the fact that Tulsa has voted in industry leading concessions for the last twenty years!! Whats adversarial about that?
It was a decent documentary nothing the average airline employee doesnt all ready know.
One thing I didnt know was that the company purposely doesnt sell all its short haul seats. They save some in the hopes that a long haul connecting passenger will buy it. Well does SWA do that?
I also like how they would not disclose how much they get for AAdvantage miles.
He was in front of the aircraft in Bay 3..
You noticed he didn't interview the two mechanics coming down the stairs...
Actually it was Bay 2. They had no interest in talking to us and I think they were a little pissed because everytime we drove the tractor through the hangar they had to do a retake.
