F/A Base closings
- Thread starter IORFA
- Start date
JungleClone
Senior
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2004
- Messages
- 338
- Reaction score
- 0
Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, except maybe to those F/A's being displaced. Neither of these were very big F/A bases.
casual rat
Senior
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2002
- Messages
- 413
- Reaction score
- 3
That is so sad...the CDG flight attendants were a wonderful group, and provided a higher level of service. Merci beaucoup!
I'm actually very happy to see CDG closing. When 9/11 happened, and f/a's were being furloughed, the Paris base remained. Do you honestly think that Air France would ever keep an American working and furlough a fellow Frenchman? I don't either.
Our reserves make $5.00 less per hour than United pays the french reserves....and our American reserves have much more difficult duty days and trips. If our American reserves only had to work international reserve and only worked one leg a day, they too would seem to offer a higher level of service. The french only have a handful of trips, so they end up with many, many days off a month as opposed to the American reserves.
Also, an American flight attendant with 20 years seniority can't go to LHR or FRA but these CDG f/a's are being given super seniority to allow them into these bases. I think if you can't hold the base, then you should be forced to quit if you can't bypass American laws and work in the states. I'm sick of watching foreigners always getting the best bases, the best trips and the higher pay compared to our own countrymen.
Hopefully they will all quit instead of commute but commuting should rattle them up pretty well too. They aren't used to working hard so this commute may prove too much for them.
Too all the bases (in the states) closing, I'm so very sorry. To all the foreign base closures.......au revoir.
Our reserves make $5.00 less per hour than United pays the french reserves....and our American reserves have much more difficult duty days and trips. If our American reserves only had to work international reserve and only worked one leg a day, they too would seem to offer a higher level of service. The french only have a handful of trips, so they end up with many, many days off a month as opposed to the American reserves.
Also, an American flight attendant with 20 years seniority can't go to LHR or FRA but these CDG f/a's are being given super seniority to allow them into these bases. I think if you can't hold the base, then you should be forced to quit if you can't bypass American laws and work in the states. I'm sick of watching foreigners always getting the best bases, the best trips and the higher pay compared to our own countrymen.
Hopefully they will all quit instead of commute but commuting should rattle them up pretty well too. They aren't used to working hard so this commute may prove too much for them.
Too all the bases (in the states) closing, I'm so very sorry. To all the foreign base closures.......au revoir.
Now Fly,
IS it a deal, and sucks for those affected...YES....but to say its a HUGE deal is a little overdramatic don't you think? Its not like they are getting furloughed.
Not being familiar with the process/ability of these affected FA's to transfer (for pilots, when they close a domicile we can go anywhere in the system our seniority can hold- or follow the flying to whatever base is picking up the flying) I would think that the EWR FA's are the least affected. They can just be part of the base JFK. I have never understood why there was a seperate EWR base for FA's. I mean you cover multiple airports in other locations (Washington/LA/Bay area) but not in NYC? Never made sense to me.
in my world (not sure it meshes with the reality of closing the bases):
*EWR FA's get brought into JFK. (oh no, have to cross the GW or the Verazanno or take a tunnel to get to work)
*PHL can either do Washington or JFK (1-3 hour drive depending on where you live)
*CDG either LHR or FRA (and for those US citizens working in CDG they come back home to the US)
And if you are already a commuter, which from personal experiences it seems a lot are, you just commute to a different locale or use the paid move.
However, being a victim of being forced to commute by UAL due to downsizings myself....I do have sympathy for those now having to begin commuting. Best wishes to all of them.
Now whats your take on the less publicized move, to a central Crew Desk in ORD?
DC
Here's the difference....we dont have jumpseats on every other airline like the pilots. If they close a domicile and all the f/a's have to commute on say one or two flights a day, then obviously some people are going to be bumped everyday. We can't just scurry over to AA, CO, etc when we get bumped, we're screwed.
We also don't get to pick where we are going to be based when they close the domicile....they let us know. So there is no guarantee the EWR f/a's can go to JFK because they haven't announced where they are allowing them to go. (rumor says it isn't JFK)
I have to commute because they closed my base a couple years ago. I get up at 4 am to catch the one and only shot to get to work for my checkins which are normally between 4 and 8 pm....so essentially I lose one day off for every group of days on. (that's no biggie though, my friend has to leave her house at 2:30am to get on this same trip as me). Maybe that isn't a big deal to you but it's a HUGE deal to me.
We also don't get to pick where we are going to be based when they close the domicile....they let us know. So there is no guarantee the EWR f/a's can go to JFK because they haven't announced where they are allowing them to go. (rumor says it isn't JFK)
I have to commute because they closed my base a couple years ago. I get up at 4 am to catch the one and only shot to get to work for my checkins which are normally between 4 and 8 pm....so essentially I lose one day off for every group of days on. (that's no biggie though, my friend has to leave her house at 2:30am to get on this same trip as me). Maybe that isn't a big deal to you but it's a HUGE deal to me.
mrfish3726
Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2004
- Messages
- 931
- Reaction score
- 0
Fly says, "I'm actually very happy to see CDG closing. When 9/11 happened, and f/a's were being furloughed, the Paris base remained. Do you honestly think that Air France would ever keep an American working and furlough a fellow Frenchman? I don't either."
Personally Fly I agree! I think that the first time the French denied our bombers access to fly through their airspace to bomb the #### out of Libya, we should have dismantled the Statue of Liberty and air mailed it back to them via B-1 bombers.
Personally Fly I agree! I think that the first time the French denied our bombers access to fly through their airspace to bomb the #### out of Libya, we should have dismantled the Statue of Liberty and air mailed it back to them via B-1 bombers.
JungleClone
Senior
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2004
- Messages
- 338
- Reaction score
- 0
Nobody forces you to commute. You do that as a personal choice. As a F/A, you know the deal when you sign on to work for the company.
Exactly. Which is why I'm delighted that CDG f/a's will finally have to at least put forth a little tiny bit of effort to have this job. My guess is half of them don't have it in them to commute. It's been way too easy for them and they won't be able to handle it.
Obviously I choose to stay where my family lives (it would be so hard for the children if their Mom up and left the family) but I've never come on this board complaining about my commute either, so you must be talking about the Paris girls, right? 🙄 Just pointing out to UALDC why it's a big deal for the flight attendants to have their base closed. Also, unlike the pilots, the f/a's are normally made up of a female workforce and we tend to move where our husbands work, not vice versa. Our husbands don't move because our bases close. Most of us do not 'choose' to commute. So why do so many pilots choose to commute? It can't be their wive's jobs, could it? Do you think they'd all choose to commute if ALPA dropped the jumpseat policies? Do you think it might be A LOT more difficult without the jumpseat policy? I do.
Did you realize that TED flights have NO EXTRA flight attendant jumpseats? If there isnt a revenue seat available, we can't get on. ( At least from the Florida markets, that covers all the planes except one single flight from PBI to ORD with one extra j/s. ) Those aren't very good odds.
Obviously I choose to stay where my family lives (it would be so hard for the children if their Mom up and left the family) but I've never come on this board complaining about my commute either, so you must be talking about the Paris girls, right? 🙄 Just pointing out to UALDC why it's a big deal for the flight attendants to have their base closed. Also, unlike the pilots, the f/a's are normally made up of a female workforce and we tend to move where our husbands work, not vice versa. Our husbands don't move because our bases close. Most of us do not 'choose' to commute. So why do so many pilots choose to commute? It can't be their wive's jobs, could it? Do you think they'd all choose to commute if ALPA dropped the jumpseat policies? Do you think it might be A LOT more difficult without the jumpseat policy? I do.
Did you realize that TED flights have NO EXTRA flight attendant jumpseats? If there isnt a revenue seat available, we can't get on. ( At least from the Florida markets, that covers all the planes except one single flight from PBI to ORD with one extra j/s. ) Those aren't very good odds.
Fly,
I agree commuting stinks, whether by choice or by being forced to. I have been a commuter for 8 of my 12 years in the business, the last 2 not by choice when I got booted out of DC due to them downsizing the domicile.
And yes the cockpit jumpseat agreement is a very nice benefit, but it works only if its available too, just like for Fa's. I have had to use ID-90's many a time to get on a flight. Even as a pilot, it wasnt easy to get from Sheriden, Wyoming to San Antonio. And I met a pilot up in Wyoming who commuted to Guam!!!!! Dont ask my why he did but thats what he did.
Since your poilcy from transferring when a domicile closes is less flexible than ours, I agree its a potential hardship. I am sure that some will quit UAL over this rather than commute. Further soldifying managments goal of making this a temporary job (and one I am against)
But then life is full of choices....right?
I wish all the affected FA's the best in whatever course they choose to follow.
DC
Oh and by the way....
Some of do choose to commute because of our wives jobs....maybe I am special?
DC
JungleClone
Senior
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2004
- Messages
- 338
- Reaction score
- 0
The point is that when you hire on with an airline as a crewmember, you are hired for a particular base. If you decide to live elsewhere and commute, that is your personal choice. It's not unlike taking a job with any other company. Of course many don't offer commuting options like airlines do.
I think the part that states "women tend to move where there husbands are" would sum that up. Do you honestly believe their husbands would quit their jobs so they could move to another city for her $25,000 a year????
