Delta rescues group of 5th grade students after AA cancels their flight

[swamt]

I saw one article about the 737 Max that said only American, Southwest, and United have 737 MAX aircraft in the U.S. My company and yours are going to take a big hit on finances in the Summer travel season. I don't know how many Southwest has, but AA has 24 that were in service. Assuming they are configured at the minimum seat count (138 for the MAX 8), that's 3312 seats out of inventory every single day since the grounding. How many pilots and flight attendants being paid, but not working is that? Lord only knows how many ground staff (rampers, gate agents, etc)) are on the payroll, but not working. How many daily cancellations is that? It is not going to be attractive when the earnings and profits (or lack thereof) are announced.

SWA has 34 Max 8's. AA has 24 Max 8's. United has 14 Max 8's. Funny how we all three ended up with 10 Max 8 differences between us.
SWA's Max 8's are set up with the max seating options of 175 seats on all of them, which also forces a 4th F/A being involved with each flight as well. Not sure how AA and United are configured as far as number of seats.
I still don't see the Max's off the ground this year, I said that from the get go but I really hope I am wrong. The summer time for flying Max is history for sure.

 

[swamt]

And now even the media is noticing Delta take off away from AA and United. Customer service on Delta is greatly improving throughout the entire cabin NOT just the premium and Bus and First Class cabins. Great move Delta on the international and long hauls. Now AA and United will try and play catch up to and/or pass Delta once again. Marketing at it's best right there.

United and American are quiet facing major Delta Air Lines challenge

 

[CremaDiLimone]

I saw one article about the 737 Max that said only American, Southwest, and United have 737 MAX aircraft in the U.S. My company and yours are going to take a big hit on finances in the Summer travel season. I don't know how many Southwest has, but AA has 24 that were in service. Assuming they are configured at the minimum seat count (138 for the MAX 8), that's 3312 seats out of inventory every single day since the grounding. How many pilots and flight attendants being paid, but not working is that? Lord only knows how many ground staff (rampers, gate agents, etc)) are on the payroll, but not working. How many daily cancellations is that? It is not going to be attractive when the earnings and profits (or lack thereof) are announced.

the 2 legacy airlines have an issue that is exclusive to southwest, the revenue/income lost from premium pax.

as far as employees having time for coffee and card games due to less planes - simply not true as far as fleet and passenger service.

in my station, passenger service gets tons of overtime and double time and they are still short-staffed.

the company currently tells us that ord has more mainline flights since BK. ok...we currently have way less fleet personnel than we had in those days.

i would also imagine the aa is flying the paint off other equipment, keep the AMTs busy.

the world's largest airline will fall short in 2q19 - in the neighborhood of $500 million of revenue compared to delta?

how much of that is the loss of those planes and how much is that due to delta keeping and getting more premium pax? aa is doubling down on RJ service and the results speak for themselves.

 

[CremaDiLimone]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/08/air...rnings-as-boeing-737-max-troubles-linger.html

Parker said we will never lose money again. We will see come end of July.

we'll prob see a pre-tax, no special item profit of $700 million for q2...taking us close to $1 billion profit for the 2019. anything less than that, i can see the company steering the earnings call questions towards blaming the AMTs for chunks of lost revenue & income due to cancellations.

we've had 2 successful fare hikes and cheaper fuel for the quarter. the margins are terrible, but, shale oil has been a God-send.

i don't think parker is too far off base on his comment, but, the over-reliance on RJ service is only increasing the gap between us and delta.

 

[1AA]

And now even the media is noticing Delta take off away from AA and United. Customer service on Delta is greatly improving throughout the entire cabin NOT just the premium and Bus and First Class cabins. Great move Delta on the international and long hauls. Now AA and United will try and play catch up to and/or pass Delta once again. Marketing at it's best right there.

United and American are quiet facing major Delta Air Lines challenge

Funny how AA said it listens to feedback from its customers and flight attendants . Maybe they do but I dont see any improvement in the direction of customer service or employee relations. AA has not even improved to the level before the merger. Narrow body flights coast to coast, wicker basket service in business. Just to name a few.

 

[jimntx]

Even after the FAA re-certifies the MAX a/c, there is still the issue of getting people to fly on them. I was trying to help an acquaintance get back to Dallas from Lynchburg, VA over the holiday weekend (he ended up having to buy a one-way ticket which still didn't get him back until late yesterday) he complained to me about his flight from ORD to DFW was on an MD-80..."Cloth seats!!!!" I asked him if he would prefer a MAX8. He said if that's all that's available, I'll go Greyhound.

BTW, when I said max configuration was 138 on the MAX 8, I was using information I got from the Internet, not actual knowledge of configuration. Does anyone know what AA's seating configuration is for the MAX 8?

 

[jimntx]

And now even the media is noticing Delta take off away from AA and United. Customer service on Delta is greatly improving throughout the entire cabin NOT just the premium and Bus and First Class cabins. Great move Delta on the international and long hauls. Now AA and United will try and play catch up to and/or pass Delta once again. Marketing at it's best right there.

United and American are quiet facing major Delta Air Lines challenge

My, my. Delta is certainly keeping itself busy aren't they! Back to their tricks of springing new service on AA and United while also doing a Love Field gate grab at Long Beach which (like Love Field) seems more focused toward reducing gates available to SWA than increasing gates for Delta.

 

[eolesen]

DL can enjoy the press they get about "enhancing" coach all they want. I don't see anyone getting too excited over a free chocolate at the end of a flight after sitting in 36E or having some "mix and match appetizers" with puddles of "defrost liquid" in them...

Jim, I don't think too many people will really know if they're on a Max. All they'll probably see at booking time is they're on a 737, or maybe 738 or 739 depending on where they book...

 

[1AA]

Even after the FAA re-certifies the MAX a/c, there is still the issue of getting people to fly on them. I was trying to help an acquaintance get back to Dallas from Lynchburg, VA over the holiday weekend (he ended up having to buy a one-way ticket which still didn't get him back until late yesterday) he complained to me about his flight from ORD to DFW was on an MD-80..."Cloth seats!!!!" I asked him if he would prefer a MAX8. He said if that's all that's available, I'll go Greyhound.

BTW, when I said max configuration was 138 on the MAX 8, I was using information I got from the Internet, not actual knowledge of configuration. Does anyone know what AA's seating configuration is for the MAX 8?

Fetal position if your talker than 60".
When using the aft lavs you must think about which end goes in first. You can't turn around once inside the lavatory. At least it seems that way.

 

[CremaDiLimone]

the company came out with some good news today - raising 2q19 unit revenue along with pre-tax margins for the quarter.

based off analysts predictions of $12 billion in revenues for 2q19, company is looking at a pre-tax profit of $1 billion - $1.1 billion profit for the quarter.

the company said it's taking a $185 million hit in 2q19 on pre-tax profit due to the 737-max groundings.

The company, which has the second-biggest fleet of MAX aircraft in the United States with 24 jets, now expects unit revenue, a measure that compares sales to flight capacity, to increase between 3% and 4% percent in the quarter ended June, compared with its earlier forecast of a rise of between 1% and 3%. (http://bit.ly/2Lf12bo)

The airline also raised its forecast for quarterly pre-tax margin, excluding certain items, to a range of 8.5% to 9.5%, from 7% to 9%.

 

[swamt]

DL can enjoy the press they get about "enhancing" coach all they want. I don't see anyone getting too excited over a free chocolate at the end of a flight after sitting in 36E or having some "mix and match appetizers" with puddles of "defrost liquid" in them...

Jim, I don't think too many people will really know if they're on a Max. All they'll probably see at booking time is they're on a 737, or maybe 738 or 739 depending on where they book...

Passengers are asking at booking time now even though they are still grounded. I am sure the asking will pick up even more once they are released back to the sky.

 

[swamt]

the company came out with some good news today - raising 2q19 unit revenue along with pre-tax margins for the quarter.

based off analysts predictions of $12 billion in revenues for 2q19, company is looking at a pre-tax profit of $1 billion - $1.1 billion profit for the quarter.

the company said it's taking a $185 million hit in 2q19 on pre-tax profit due to the 737-max groundings.

Some good numbers even though the Max issues. Pretty sure Delta will easily top that as they are benefiting to the Max groundings. Delta just keeps winning and getting all the "good news" spot lights as indicated in this new article about on time for the top 4 airlines. Delta-Delta-Delta...

• United Airlines on-time flight-arrival performance plunges in June
  
  The Chicago-based carrier is flying many more routes this summer as connectivity becomes a priority.
  
  13
• 
  
  News
  Zacks•2 days ago

 

[CremaDiLimone]

aa says it will take a $185 million profit hit on the 737-max groundings; just in the 2nd quarter alone.

assuming that aa's margins come in at 9%, is it a safe bet to say that aa lost out on $2 billion in revenues in the 2nd quarter by not flying 24 airplanes; x-amount of times a day x number of days in 3 months? i don't believe so. that is a bit hit, i'm guessing the margins on the 737-max were much higher due to the fuel efficiency, the number of cycles per day and the amount of premium pax.

this is bad for all, i'm not sure what aa can do with boeing going forward. i don't see a monetary settlement, i see a super sweetheart deal from boeing for aa/ua/wn the next time around for any boeing aircraft purchases.

 

[CremaDiLimone]

Some good numbers even though the Max issues.

very true. to me, just confirms the narrative that the company is still in an excellent, unprecedented period of airline earnings and refuses to share much of that with it's employees.

you'd have thought this is the time to have your contract expire and the former us air/america west leadership behave as if it's 2002.

good for delta...didn't purchase any 737-max. in my 30+ years, aa was always known for waiting on purchasing new aircraft models. delta went first with md-11s and united went first with 777s & 787s. allow those manufacturers to work out the early kinks with equipment, then purchase.

 

[eolesen]

Not quite entirely true, skippy.... AA didn't wait to order airplanes because they wanted to have the bugs worked out.... it was because they didn't have the cash when new generation widebodies were being introduced for orders.... The exception is the MD11 order, which was placed at peak profitability and probably one of the biggest mistakes in widebody fleet history.

AA was a launch customer for the A300-600R, and also an early buyer for the F100. On the MD-Lemons... DL ordered first, and took delivery about two weeks before AA got its first aircraft, but both were bleeding edge operators with the MD11.

When the 777-200 (classic non-ER) was introduced, AA was still committed to the MD11's and having financial problems in the aftermath of the first Gulf War, and the -200 non-ER also didn't have a meaningful range. AA waited for the 777-200ER, and it became both the MD11 replacement but also the mainstay of the fleet up until the bankruptcy.

The 777-300ER came out in 2004, right after AA's near-bankruptcy in 2003.... IIRC, they didn't actually order it until after the bankruptcy filing in 2011.