Cwa Update

[usramperTPA]

What planet do you live on?

He reduced costs in Chapter 11? I could find you a first year undergrad business student who can reduce costs in Chapter 11.

Short of that, he's let the fleet go to pot, pissed off the VFF base, gotten himself into quite a pickel at PIT, and lost (and will lose large) to the IAM by throwing that temper tamtrum and grounding revenue generating planes right as the holiday season hits in the progress.

What a winner.

Executives should be judged by results. This crop has had nada.

Clue,

Par usual , you are right on the mark with your comments. I have never seen anything like what we are seeing here go un-punished like this. What other business would tolerate this??

As you clearly stated...any first year business student..or any small business person can reduce costs or escape paying creditors under Chapter 11...thier is nothing monumental about any of this at all.

The key factor is what one achieves after the emergence from Chapter 11...that is the measuring mark period.

Since the emergence from Chapter 11...we have not only hurt our ability to generate revenue with idled jets being parked in far of places , we are also pinching ourselves by not having those same idled jets available to rob from when parts needs creep up...which they do daily.

Eventually the company is going to have to admit defeat on the subject of airbus out-sourcing....and I think someone needs to sharpen their pencil and calculate exactly how much this debacle has cost us in real dollar terms?

right on brother!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jack mama]

I told you it was going to be hard to realize that we have begun turning the ship around.

How do you suppose we defend PHL against LUV and VirginUSA? I bet we use RJs to free up some bigger jets to compete.

 

[AOG-N-IT]

I told you it was going to be hard to realize that we have begun turning the ship around.

How do you suppose we defend PHL against LUV and VirginUSA? I bet we use RJs to free up some bigger jets to compete.

Are you blind Jack Mama????....free up jets you say??....Your Buddy Dave is freeing them up in GYR and Mobile. They aren't making us a nickle...but we are still making lease payments on them....and then the maintenance will still have to be performed when Davey boy gets his fanny kicked in court again.

Your views are very narrow..and your position is at best weak !! Don't bring a knife to a gun fight next time....Your logic is very much flawed !!!

 

[ClueByFour]

I told you it was going to be hard to realize that we have begun turning the ship around.

How do you suppose we defend PHL against LUV and VirginUSA? I bet we use RJs to free up some bigger jets to compete.

Turned around? What? Every other major is starting to turn around. U shows no signs.

Forget about that: what does it say that the vaunted business plan, birthed less than a year ago, is already falling apart? What does it say that the cost-out actions taking in Chapter 11 (which is akin to shooting fish in a barrell--you get no better chance, even to go further than you think you will need) were not enough?

What does the outsourcing thing tell you--that US was either completely unprepared from an operational standpoint to do those checks, or had the wanton hubris to believe they were actually going to pull off an end-around on the IAM CBA? Is this "turned around?"

Use those RJs to free up mainline metal to compete with WN in PHL? Outstanding. Of course, how many RJs can you run from New England and the midwest all the way to CLT to hub somebody to a destination 500 miles from where they started? You have to do this, because of the PIT stunt. And, if you stay at PIT, your O&D will drop (other airlines have increased their lift at PIT something like %11 in the last 6 months, despite PIT's "uncompetitive cost structure). Is this turned around?

Talking about a "premium product offering" and then not equipping those "revolutionary" SJs with two classes as promised, and having mainline equipment that is so dirty it's become next on the list of places for the CDC to visit after they are done with the Chi-Chi's north of PIT. Is this turned around?

I hate to say it, but I've thrown in the towel on US. The current management had their chance to get costs in line with the Chapter 11 filing. I supported that effort, painful as it was for many here, and despite their effort to spit in my face as a VFF. I have now reached the conclusion that this executive team suffers from major airline groupthink, a lack of any operational acument, and (perhaps most importantly) a lack of exposure and experience at any truly profitable enterprise. They have killed my favorite airline. It was unhealthy before, and instead of nursing it back to health and growing it, they have given it a brief shot of narcotics and are willing to let it fester and die.

CCY can keep calling it "turning around." This US1 (US2 next year, and probably bupkis after that) will be heading elsewhere, despite the very dedicated efforts of the friendliest labor group in the business.

 

[jack mama]

AOG, I already stated that I totally agree the company really messed up on the airbus outsourcing, and they are pouring more money down the drain as we speak, trying to save face. That one will cost us.

But the question still stands, how do suggest we defend PHL?

 

[AOG-N-IT]

AOG, I already stated that I totally agree the company really messed up on the airbus outsourcing, and they are pouring more money down the drain as we speak, trying to save face. That one will cost us.

But the question still stands, how do suggest we defend PHL?

Aggressively of course !!....but the fact remains that our resources are sitting at off the wall places doing nothing !!

An Acft in use is an asset...an Acft sitting in GYR or Mobile is a liability.

We need to get our bosses thinking about not fighting the employee first and foremost

We need to get every available Acft mission ready...then bring in the RJ's into the mix...then just maybe we can beat WN at thier own game??

However...if we remain on the present course...and with the same management team or style...stick a fork in it baby !!! We are Done !!!

 

[jack mama]

Aggressively with fares, or by lowering our cost? We can't expect to match fares and slowly bleed red ink. How we respond to this encroachment will make or break us!!!

Maybe Sr Mgt already has too many battles to fight...morale, PIT, LUV in PHL, etc. Hopefully, we all can make some headway and try to get this ship headed in the right direction.

 

[AOG-N-IT]

Aggressively with fares, or by lowering our cost? We can't expect to match fares and slowly bleed red ink. How we respond to this encroachment will make or break us!!!

Maybe Sr Mgt already has too many battles to fight...morale, PIT, LUV in PHL, etc. Hopefully, we all can make some headway and try to get this ship headed in the right direction.

Frankly Jack , I think you may have hit the nail on the head.

U has far too many brush fire wars going on....and most of it is self-created in nature.

The fact that NO group is going to willingly go along with more reductions n numbers or wages is most evident. We gave...and they haved achieved ZIPPO with it. This is a proven fact...you could never sell the idea to anyone that the 3rd time will be the charm.

This brings us to re-thnking the operation as a whole. Sure maybe some work rule changes are in order...and some efficiencies need to be achieved...but niether being linked to wage or headcount reductions will be deamed as the answer. We are running far to lean as it stands now.

My personal view is we are feeling the affects of what I'll call the MacNamara Syndrome. From a historical context Secretary of Defense Robert S. MacNamara tried to run the military like it was Ford Motor Company where he came from. He and his group known as "The Wiz Kids" based everything on figures and ratios...and in the end netted us our first military defeat in two centuries...along with having destroyed 58,000 plus Americans along the way.

Today we are suffering from the same "Wiz Kid" mentality..we are not operating as the force we are...or even should be. We have number crunchers and deal makers...not to mention profiteers wringing their hands.

We are in dire need of people schooled in operational art...Vs. labor union busting and repeating the mistakes of former leaders like Wolf that was interested in nothing more than a merger that still haunts the futures of those of us whom happen remain.

Until the interest becomes USAirways and it's WO's...you will never have the people that make up U backing any of the "wiz kids" plans or actions.

To date they have done absolutley nothing positive towards turning this company around...and that's with a carte blanche check of 2 Billion dollars handed them...and 20,000 co-workers to boot....and today we are still without a workable plan...and the morale is a rock bottom in most respects.


U need to put out the internal fires (Brush Fire Wars) immediately..then maybe the work rules can be tweaked without hurting anyone any further...then with that achieved the venom and energies can be used on the likes of the circling LCC vultures that seek our flesh.

Keep in mind...Dave as we know is a numbers guy...and numbers are all we ever here about...usually it's in relation to how much more he needs from us...or how many more jobs he intends to ruin for us. Rarely if ever is anything said regarding running this company back up the flagpole....This is not the mentality to take from an operations standpoint...and operations oriented leader would be circling the wagons , massing the troops in an attempt to repell agression directed our way...then be equally ready to go on the offensive. U has always fought while rocked back on it's heals...and that same way of thinking is not going to change things now , anymore than it helped us before.

Here's a lesson in tactics.."When to weak to defend" ATTACK !!!!...but we need our two greatest assets to do this....The Employee's and the Aircraft.

 

[mrplanes]

Jack:

You are completely off the mark. The union's have given everything Dave asked for and he has squandered it. He is using the RJ's to replace rather than supplement main line flying. That's not what the other major carriers do with their RJ's. Almost ALL other major made money last quarter. We did not. Our operational stats continue to dive as morale goes lower and understaffing goes up. He is so singularly focused on cost cutting he is neglecting most everything else. You asked how we defend PHL from WN. Jack, his job is to figure that out. He cut and ran from WN and moved to the Carribbean. Great plan. How long do you think WN will take to get down there. They are attacking PHL because they know we have a weak management with no operational or motivational skills. See my previous post regarding how to fight the LCC's if you want suggestions from an employee rather than the guy who is supposed to be doing the job.

Costs do need to come down. Tell me, why hasn't he brought them down? The unions gave him what he asked for. Every employee here would work under the WN contracts. In fact, many of our employees, with the givebacks, are already making less than thier WN counterparts. You, me and everyone who works here wants this company to survive and prosper. Problem is, Dave has not shown any propensity to allow that to happen. If you think he has, you are truly mistaken. Anyone can slash, cut and burn. It takes intelligence and ability to build and prosper. And it takes a motivated workforce who sees a solid future. Why is it that Southwest is always near the top of Forbe's 10 best companies to work for with consistent profits? Why is it U has never been in that category. WN has a management that understands what it takes to run an airline. We do not.

You say Dave isn't the enemy. What do you call him? The savior? C-11 got us back from the brink. Not Dave. Any executive could have taken us into C-11. Wolf, Gangwal, or Schofield. Any of them. Chapter 11 saved this company from liquidation. Not Dave Siegel. His plan to get the loan guarantee was flawed. He didn't predict anything correctly. And Jack, that is what he is paid to do. He didn't do it. And while he was so focused on that plan he lost the employees in the process. He didn't plan on that either. That is not the mark of a chief executive. That is a mark of someone in way over their head. He called on us last Friday to "be on his team. He wants us on his team. He needs us on his team." But he has lost us and that is the singular most important problem at this airline. And no matter what he does now he is going to fail at it because we don't believe him. That is not the fault of the unions. That is the fault of Dave Siegel.

That's why we need a leader. A new leader. You ask if someone else would do better that Siegel. The answer is simply yes. This isn't about enriching unions. This is about turning U into a profitable, proud company. Siegel can't do it. The BOD needs to find someone who can. Someone who understands that a motivated workforce will do whatever it takes to win the battles. Siegel doesn't get it. He never has and he never will.

mr

 

[cavalier]

That's why we need a leader. A new leader. You ask if someone else would do better that Siegel. The answer is simply yes. This isn't about enriching unions. This is about turning U into a profitable, proud company. Siegel can't do it. The BOD needs to find someone who can. Someone who understands that a motivated workforce will do whatever it takes to win the battles. Siegel doesn't get it. He never has and he never will.

mr

I agree 110% and this guy never was a leader. I could do what he did, piss the entire work force off and lose money in the process. It's way too late to get on his team now, his team is the losing team, why would anyone want to climb on board a losing team with no track record. It's time for him and his entire team to go and give this airline a change while it still has that sliver left to work with. He's like the cheating husband who is asking for a 5th chance. HIT THE ROAD!