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Furlough Speculation

EMBFA said:
That post from the UAL board is a laugh. I've been furloughed twice, once for a year and a half, and I was not hawking VCRs on eBay or dumpster diving. The drama of it all. If you are a flight attendant, it means you have (or were able to fake for an extended period of time) basic customer service skills, and probably good "BS" skills, both of which will be helpful off the airplane. If you are made to fly only, there's the regionals.
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A US flight attendant could make more at Wendy's or McDonalds than US Airways and still have a life. That is really sad. :down:

In any case, it is better to be prepared for hard times and that's just in general because as we all know, sh!t happens and you can be without a job or unable to work in the blink of an eye.
 
legacy-to-LCC said:
perhaps not the majority...but, perhaps, just perhaps, there are some f/as who have secured supplemental incomes that enable the joy of flying to be fun, regardless of price.

so, continue to paint with a "black and white" brush...and, i will continue to spend the disposable income that usair is on my overnights.
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Good for you.
 
Bother way, some people do not have another means of income nor do they have someone to support them. But, they do have bills to pay. It is better to be prepared for hard times when you can't work. Trust me on this. I have been there and it sucks. I'm not talking about when I was furloughed either. Actually, I will say this: When I was furloughed I had saved a lot of money for my emergency fund and was able to live on that until I got a new job which I didn't get right away and I still traveled and enjoyed my time off. Had I been lavish in my spending and not saved up, I would have been up sh!t creek without a paddle. You never know what kind of emergencies can happen so making fun of someone's sage advice is not cool. If you already have an alternate source of income good for you. Really. But you shouldn't laugh at Be Careful What You Wish For's post because it may be helpful for some people who do rely on US for their income. And you know what, there's nothing wrong with that! :down:
 
FlightChic said:
A US flight attendant could make more at Wendy's or McDonalds than US Airways and still have a life. That is really sad. :down:

In any case, it is better to be prepared for hard times and that's just in general because as we all know, sh!t happens and you can be without a job or unable to work in the blink of an eye.
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That's so true but the Wendys and McDonalds employees sure don't get to see exotic places or have layovers...they only do layups during trash duty 😉

FlightChic said:
Bother way, some people do not have another means of income nor do they have someone to support them. But, they do have bills to pay. It is better to be prepared for hard times when you can't work. Trust me on this. I have been there and it sucks. I'm not talking about when I was furloughed either. Actually, I will say this: When I was furloughed I had saved a lot of money for my emergency fund and was able to live on that until I got a new job which I didn't get right away and I still traveled and enjoyed my time off. Had I been lavish in my spending and not saved up, I would have been up sh!t creek without a paddle. You never know what kind of emergencies can happen so making fun of someone's sage advice is not cool. If you already have an alternate source of income good for you. Really. But you shouldn't laugh at Be Careful What You Wish For's post because it may be helpful for some people who do rely on US for their income. And you know what, there's nothing wrong with that! :down:
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Amen...that post was very helpful...I have my savings fund in Zurich and already have 700 euros banked into it...I hope to grow this fund and have atleast some funds for when our American economy hits the bricks. I'm currently unemployed...can't find a damn job in the airline industry but according to the Department of Labor I'm technically not unemployed since I am in school which is allright but the job forecast outlook is bad in the next 5-10 years for young collegiate graduates as job pay is shrinking and the hours are increasing with the workforce out on furlough/layoff/unemployed.
 
YVINTERN said:
...but the job forecast outlook is bad in the next 5-10 years for young collegiate graduates as job pay is shrinking and the hours are increasing with the workforce out on furlough/layoff/unemployed.
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That is so very true. During my second year teaching I was ready to call it quits and so I started looking for another job, any job just so I could get out. Here were my qualifications and results: 2 years of customer service as a f/a, 1 year customer service exp. in an office, a semester college internship at Walt Disney World which was also customer service, two years of full time teaching, plus other customer service experience from college and high school, bilingual, college graduate plus additional graduate work. My results: one job offer from a shady business, another offer from a business that originally said full time but then said 30 hours a week which isn't full time, one place said I was over qualified (huh? what?), one place that was legit gave me an offer but I decided I didn't want to work there, and other places either not interested or already filled position. That was a lot of work and I looked full time while working full time for a duration of 6 months. I ended up staying at school and finally started to love teaching. BTW, the pay wasn't that great at any of the jobs and there were many applicants. Getting a job is easy if you will settle with minimum wage but looking for a job that pays enough to earn a living will take 6 months to a year unless you want to teach in NC.
 
We have exotic layovers? Dashing into the pharmacy for the hour turn in Mexico? Going to the tiki bar in Richmond?
 
I've got Retin-A on my face right now, totally from Mexico.
 
EMBFA said:
I've got Retin-A on my face right now, totally from Mexico.
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In May we had a 30 hour layover in CUN! Unfortunately, I never got to fly that one. :down: Think of all the pharmacies I could have gone to during that layover. 😉
 
Furloughs can be opportunities or hardships. Unfortunately they often end up the latter. For the junior, and I do actually consider myself pretty junior, even though I have more years than FC and EMBFA, it's really a mixed bag. (If you counted we probably have about a thousand people between us. The lovely demographics of US.)

The thing is, other than the European layover cities, has anyone else noticed a mundanity in our domestic layovers? A few years ago, when I enjoyed the lovely LTO, I swear I never saw any layover other than Manchester, New Hampshire and Charlotte. Both of which I for now have an eternal loathing. If I were paranoid I would swear that the company formulates trips around the cheapest hotels in the system.

So wherein lies the attraction for flying? The benefits of time off, and using the benefits. Which leads one to why a furlough can be a boon, rather than a terrible thing. As long as you can manage the food and shelter end of it at the same time.

The thing is, if you do become one of the afflicted, consider carefully how best to use your time. 12 months of a community college getting a technical skill can pay off big time and provide you freedom later when you return to flying. US isn't going to change its toxic stew during your furlough. I have had a few occasions where I was absent from flying. I always thought something, anything would change. Nothing ever did. Airliners have to start looking at the big picture and pursue financial security independent of their airline. This is not easy, but it just might be the price you pay for keeping the part of your life that you love, but often doesn't love you back.

Making a big assumption, that US will hobble on through, consider this: a significant number of US stews are in their early/mid 50's. We won't be saying goodbye to them for at least ten years. That's a long time to wait to be at a decent seniority. You might want to find something to ease your wait as well as your bank account if you want to keep flying.

I have said it before, but I strongly believe that every f/a needs a Plan B. If for no other reason that in 2011 you can wear your CHAOS tag and mean it. This new breed of Airline management is ruthless, you need to take some of their power away. You can't menace the unafraid.

Good luck to everybody.
 
I myself have decided to leave with my head held high. I have no life with the reserve system and my days of being a blockholder full time are still a long way away. This is my last summer with US. It has been great, but this girl has finally had it. I will miss my friends that I have made along the way, but that is it. I will not miss the early check ins, bad hotels, and bad attitudes.

Farewell my friends! Let's party my last summer here and never look back at what could have been. It's been great! :up:
 
This last group o f new hires, 5 yrs and less-need to go ..at least at our station!

rudeness, which mgmt REFUSES to deal with--when you mention something to them, they say" oh that's her personality-just handle it head on!
BS...they must have been desperate to hire off the street.
Amazing!
 
lildutchgrl said:
I myself have decided to leave with my head held high. I have no life with the reserve system and my days of being a blockholder full time are still a long way away. This is my last summer with US. It has been great, but this girl has finally had it. I will miss my friends that I have made along the way, but that is it. I will not miss the early check ins, bad hotels, and bad attitudes.

Farewell my friends! Let's party my last summer here and never look back at what could have been. It's been great! :up:
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Good for you! Congratulations! :up: I'm sure you will be much happier away from this place. I'm sure holding a block helps a little, but you sitll have early check ins, bad hotels, and always bad attitudes. The negativity around here really gets to you. Whenever I decide to leave, I will have to check myself into a poison detox center just to get rid of all the "poison" this place has fed me! :lol: The cons of being here definitely outweigh the pros. Seriously though, good luck with everything! We will miss you.
 
As the Rumor mill has it, LCC has no plans to stop using the older 737 in the fleet. Is that east or west? East has the older ones but so does the west. Also rumor has is the older 757's are on the way out also... Once again east has the original 10 757's EAL got when they first started flying them. AWA also has a very old 757 fleet. Now for the meat of this... The ALPA/USAPA agreement states that the number of A/C on the property must not drop below a certain number... That said... with all of the problems with flying RJ's which cost more to operate with less capacity, shouldn't we assume that the drop in flying will be from the express flying...This for the short term makes sense to me. Of course if oil prices go above 150 a barrel by July4th and 200 by Jan 1. The burn rate for us will be greater than this company can bear.

Furloughs will start with express, non-contract employee's, and short to middle management... Of course, DP has never shrunk his part of the airline, so don't expect him to do so here. These cuts will come from the east, watch and see.

Just my opinion...
 
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