Dave's Friday Phone Message

[insp89]

You fly a plane from PIT-PHL, or shall I say you takeoff using autothrottle and then the autopilot flies the plane to PHL and then you let the computer autoland it.

The scary part is you really think that's all there is to flying a plane. That's like saying all there is to being a mechanic is turning a wrench until the nut is tight. Let's face it, you couldn't get a Piper Cub to the end of the runway, let alone get it around the pattern. It does concern me a bit that I am trusting my life and that of our customers to ignorant people like you that are perfoming maintenance on our planes.

supercruiser

Dearest supercruiser, You just might be suprised how many mechanics that work for this airline hold pilot certificates..You better hope that a mechanic can taxi a 737,757, 767,320,330 [let alone a Piper Cub]. I too am concerned about trusting my life and our passengers lives to arrogant AND ignorant people like you.

 

[700UW]

I can't begin to tell you how many pilots refuse to fly an airplane with the autopilot broken, I wonder why? Would it mean they would actually have to fly instead of the computer doing it?

 

[scot]

Can we get back on the topic of the thread please? I believe that we did the whole pilot/mechanic debate a year or so ago didnt we?

 

[700UW]

Sorry

 

[usfliboi]

who said employees should buy the airline????? anybody reading this thread? lol

 

[supercruiser]

Dearest supercruiser, You just might be suprised how many mechanics that work for this airline hold pilot certificates.....

Dearest insp89,

You might be surprised that there are many more pilots at this company that are A&P's than there are mechanics that are light airplane pilots. The fact that "some" mechanics can taxi a plane means nothing, vs actually flying it. Tell you what, you mechanics don't tell me how easy it is to fly an Airbus, and I won't tell you how easy it is to do a Q check.

 

[diogenes]

Two thoughts on dave's latest.

1. I am unaware of any business rule or economic theory that says U must lower costs before it can adjust the revenue side. Must I renegotiate for a lower mortgage rate (costs) before I negotiate for a raise (revenues)? Or seeing as I currently work for U, take a second job. Surely the powers-that-be are capable of multi-tasking. Nobody says lower the lowest fares. Lower the higher ones that few buy to moderate rates that more will buy. It's the old Econ 101 question. If you own a 100 seat theater, and in order to maximize revenues, would you rather sell 50 seats at $2 a piece, or 100 seats at $1? Somewhere along that continuum is the right price.

2. Never let us see you sweat. A bit on the defensive on the latest phone message, yes?

With regards to the off-topic 'my-dog-can-lick-your-dog' pissing contest, it unfortunately no longer surprises me that elitists are perfectly capable of running over fellow employees and union brothers and sisters. ALPA thinks everybody else should kiss their asses, mechs want to bolt the very union that just stood up for them on the farmout because they don't want unskilled rampers and utes in 'their' union, and CWA doesn't think fleet deserves the same $$$ as they make....and it never ends.

You know why dave thinks he can still take us ? 'Cause we just told him he could. :down:

 

[insp89]

Dearest insp89,

You might be surprised that there are many more pilots at this company that are A&P's than there are mechanics that are light airplane pilots. The fact that "some" mechanics can taxi a plane means nothing, vs actually flying it. Tell you what, you mechanics don't tell me how easy it is to fly an Airbus, and I won't tell you how easy it is to do a Q check.

Dearest supercruiser, Congratulations ! You managed to write an entire post without calling someone "ignorant", Keep up the good work..

 

[av60]

Some just seem to ride on the coat tails of others.

 

[insp89]

Some just seem to ride on the coat tails of others.

Care to elaborate ?

 

[sfb]

I agree with most that US Airways must fix its revenue model if the company is to survive. Perhaps the silver lining in WN's decision to enter the PHL market is that it will force management to revamp the fare structure to be more like WN/HP/FL/TZ/B6 etc.

That said, I also agree with Dave S. that the company's cost structure needs to be fixed, though it seems to me that employee wages are NOT the place to cut. Productivity (and this is again NOT to say that US employees are lazy!!!) is a place where Southwest, for example, has a clear advantage over US Airways. Assuming an average level of 36,000 employees (the company says they have "more than 35,000" employees), WN generated 1.66 million ASM's per employee in the first ten months of this year. Using US Airways' number of 28,381 employees in November, the airline generated 1.52 million ASM's per employee during the same period. While a hub-and-spoke system in the highly congested East is likely to be less efficient, the fact remains that WN was able to generate nearly 10% more ASM's *per employee* with shorter average stage lengths and a smaller average aircraft size (which both reduce productivity). And even with comparable pay scales, Southwest has far fewer topped-out employees given that they have net growth since 1989. The problem is, "improving productivity" without increasing the amount of flying done by the company means layoffs.

Employee productivity isn't the only piece of the picture. US operates 60 daily mainline flights from 18 gates at BOS. WN operates 180+ daily flights from 19 gates at LAS. While I concede that BOS gates are a strategic asset for the company, they certainly are not free. Southwest operates nearly as many departures from PHX as US operates from PHL, and yet they use just over half as many gates at PHX compared to US at PHL.

Management needs to decide whether they are going to provide a better product (aside from seat assignments) to customers in order to justify somewhat higher average fares. Taking amenities away from passengers gives them little reason to book US Airways vs. the LCC's or the other network majors. The broken fare model will become more and more untenable as other airlines poach US Airways' most profitable routes.

 

[diogenes]

Some just seem to ride on the coat tails of others.

While some enjoy the subsidy of others.