F/A Furloughs

[jimntx]

The final number is 323 subject to furlough. 87 jobs saved.

By the way, you know I'm not one to say I told you so. Semicolon, however, comma. My source told me that over 1000 people took one of the furlough mitigation options. I said, "And, that only saved 87 jobs?" The response was "No, it saved most of the 1200-1500 jobs that have been carried as an overage for some time." I knew from the numbers I was seeing that the overage was much worse than 410.

 

[kirkpatrick]

410 was the lowest overage projected for the remainder of the year using January's attrition rate of 28. The actual overage for April was projected at 750.

I made it by about seven numbers. If you look in the dictionary under the word junior you'll see my picture.

MK

 

[Harry Callahan]

Jim:
Is your position safe ?

 

[Skymess]

410 was the lowest overage projected for the remainder of the year using January's attrition rate of 28. The actual overage for April was projected at 750.

I made it by about seven numbers. If you look in the dictionary under the word junior you'll see my picture.

MK

Glad to hear you made it.

 

[jimntx]

Mark, I won't say congratulations for not getting furloughed. I feel too badly for our coworkers who are losing their jobs. But, I am glad that you are still with us.

By the way, my source who says the actual overage is in the 1200-1500 range is in a position to know. Actually, I thought the overage was in the 1500-2000 range. Even with a number of people going back out on leave at SLT on 01FEB, I still had only 47 hours in my GTD on reserve in February, less than 40 involved flying and 19 of that was because I put myself on short call every day and managed to get 1 (one, ein, un, uno) 19 hour trip from short call. I sat for two straight days being #1 and didn't get called. The company, however, can afford to furlough in dibs and dabs to keep from having to follow the WARN act.

Harry, as of 01APR I will be approximately 600 from the bottom of the active list. Thanks for asking. (I shall now put on my Cassandra uniform.) However, unless things turn around drastically I expect to get "the letter" within the next 12 months. I think the company likes the idea of not having to follow the WARN act; so, each furlough is going to be less than 500, unless they have no other choice. And as they furlough more people, the New York state law that requires 90-day notice becomes less intrusive. When you get up to my advanced seniority , people are spread all over the system.

Remember, that there are a lot of f/as coming back from existing leaves starting 01May. One of my classmates is on leave until 01DEC from the January round. She applied for an extension until 01MAR10 in this round. It was not granted.

Capacity cuts and route reductions continue apace. I may have posted this before, but STL is losing all nonstops to Florida stations (except for 2 75s/day to MIA) in April. The flights to MCO, TPA, and RSW were always full year-round. (I know. I know. That doesn't mean they were making money, but they were.) As leases expire on MD80s, they will not be renewed. MD80s that we own will continue to be parked in the desert whether or not they are replaced with new 737s. I heard, but can't confirm (I'm a flight attendant. I'm paid to be cute, not smart.) that the MD80s in the desert are our major source of spare parts for the ones still flying.

 

[Royal Ambassador]

One of my classmates is on leave until 01DEC from the January round. She applied for an extension until 01MAR10 in this round. It was not granted.

From Heidi & Robert, DCA Base Chair and Vice Chair:

What is truly disheartening is I am told over 200 people submitted OL requests that were not honored for a variety of reasons. (be it there was no overage at the base, or they were not able to match up the auxiliary blocks or otherwise). I am still in shock that this company, whose top execs take their fat bonus checks every year, ( and I am sure this year will be no different) can get a moments sleep knowing the devastation they are waging on people's lives.

 

[Maark767]

410 was the lowest overage projected for the remainder of the year using January's attrition rate of 28. The actual overage for April was projected at 750.

I made it by about seven numbers. If you look in the dictionary under the word junior you'll see my picture.

MK

Good to hear... still want to fly with you... ;-))

 

[FrequentFlierCA]

It is very dark out there for the airline industry and its employees. I'm sorry to any of you who are losing your job. I just hope the idiots in DC figure out what needs to be done before too many more jobs are lost.

 

[kirkpatrick]

By the way, my source who says the actual overage is in the 1200-1500 range is in a position to know.

The problem I have with that is, if the overage is actually 1200-1500, then why didn't they furlough 1200-1500? AA has shown no reluctance to furlough in the past, not that I expect them to carry excess headcount. As far as WARN goes, they could have done what they did this time previously, but haven't felt the need to do so.

My sources tell me the overage for Apr is 750, so there will still be an excess of about 425 next month. The 410 was the smallest overage for the rest of the year. As for the numbers on leave and coming back from leave, let me repeat the monthly number of people out on leave for the rest of the year, not counting this latest batch, for which I have no details:

Apr 938
May 438
Jun 468
Jul 468
Aug 468
Sep 360
Oct 360
Nov 360
Dec 0

With Dec needing more people to deal with the holiday sick calls (I know, no one is actually faking being sick) it looks to me like the number of furloughs was roughly in line with the number required for the current level of flying. Note I said current level. I'm not predicting there will or will not be further cutbacks.

MK

 

[FA Mikey]

story here


American Airlines, which plans to cut U.S. flying by 9 percent this year, sees bookings for the next four months running behind last year's pace and might be forced to ground more flights.

"If we need to take out more capacity, we'll do it and we can do it," said Thomas W. Horton, chief financial officer for American parent AMR Corp.

Horton said Tuesday that bookings over the next four months are running about 2.5 percentage points behind the pace of the same period in 2008, with international bookings running 4.5 points behind -- signs that weak February traffic trends could continue through spring and into early summer.

American's February traffic tumbled 13.5 percent from a year earlier, and all the other major U.S. carriers also reported declines.

American announced in January it would cut domestic capacity this year by 9 percent and trim international capacity 2.5 percent.


This was already announced in January. The question now is, are these furloughs part of the 9% schedule cut or, is there more to come?

 

[jimntx]

With Dec needing more people to deal with the holiday sick calls (I know, no one is actually faking being sick) it looks to me like the number of furloughs was roughly in line with the number required for the current level of flying. Note I said current level. I'm not predicting there will or will not be further cutbacks.

MK

Well, according to your numbers by December we will have 938 more people back on line than we have right now. Subtract 323 and you still have over 600 more. Now, the traditional sentiment about December sounds nice, but I was on reserve in December. I flew less than 40 hours. I was on reserve again in February (after the "weird split leave" people went back out). I flew barely 30 hours. Now, maybe that is not your experience at LGA, but I have talked with f/as in other bases. DFW reserves flew an average of about 35 hours in February. JFK reserves flew about 30-35 hours in December. Other bases are telling me similar things.

The "official" overage numbers are one thing. The volume of guarantee hours being paid to reserve and availability f/as who are not covering their guarantees continues to grow. AA does not like paying out flying hours to f/as who are not flying. DFW-D and SLT together paid out over 7300 guarantee hours just in January of this year. February was worse from what I can tell (the exact numbers are not out yet).

The "official" numbers right now serve no purpose other than when they announce the next 410 overage, it won't seem so bad. They are not going to furlough a bunch of people and cause the WARN act to kick in if they don't have to.

And, throw in the fact that "so far" the attrition rate this year is way below even last year which was down substantially from the previous two years. I'm just saying...

 

[ArtTang]

And, throw in the fact that "so far" the attrition rate this year is way below even last year which was down substantially from the previous two years. I'm just saying...

You're saying it like it is. So many people have lost huge amounts of their 401Ks, IRAs, etc., that they are forced to revise their retirement plans. Senior f/as who were planning on retiring have put it off so they can try to rebuild some of their nest egg. The repercussions of this economic nightmare have hit the airline workers particularly hard, especially when one considers the fact that we took the assault years before the general public started to feel the pain and our industry continues to be plagued by layoffs, etc. All I can say is, if you are years away from retirement and haven't crafted an escape plan (i.e., a new career path), there's no better time than the present to do so.

Peace and best of luck to all.

 

[AAStew]

Jim and Art are being realistic. You need a back-up career if you are far enough from retirement, If you are close to it, you may want to consider downsizing or an alternate part-time career. For those of you at the bottom that count on this job as your main source of income, please back yourself up, especially if you have just been furloughed! Any medical career such as nursing, PT Assts, etc. are still in demand! As are teachers! Friends in Wyoming, N & S Dakota say they cannot fill the jobs they have open! It isn't all doom and gloom everywhere! Our country was made great by people who did not mind immigrating and doing work they never thought they would do. I think we are starting to lose that spirit in this country and expecting the government among others to solve everything for us.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

The final number is 323 subject to furlough. 87 jobs saved.

By the way, you know I'm not one to say I told you so. Semicolon, however, comma. My source told me that over 1000 people took one of the furlough mitigation options. I said, "And, that only saved 87 jobs?" The response was "No, it saved most of the 1200-1500 jobs that have been carried as an overage for some time." I knew from the numbers I was seeing that the overage was much worse than 410.

Kirkpatrick;

"I told you SO" !!! 🙄 🙄

I told you that you'd be back to work, in '09 !!!(actually, you Never Left) !!!

The reason for your "SURVIVAL" ?? Simple. You're a NYer, and that alone = (a) "SURVIVOR" !!!



Ps,
Flying unnoticed, under the radar, is that two Bank(biggie's) CITI/B of A..seemed to have pulled OUT of their (close) CRASH to earth, with small earnings in Jan/Feb, and...(shhhhh...QUIET)...the NYSE has reacted appropriately

 

[ArtTang]

Sorry if this information has been posted elsewhere. The ft svc website has provided the list of f/as who retired in March. A whopping total of *two* people retired. What were we saying about senior f/as being unable to retire now that their savings accounts have been obliterated?