November Load Factor

[genejockey]

From the HUB:

- November 2003 Load Factor = 72.6%

- Sunday November 30 Load Factor = 90.2%

Load factor for November 2002 was 65.9%, an increase of 6.7 percentage points.

For comparison: CAL LF for Nov '03 = 74.8% (the only other one I can access)

 

[E-TRONS]

You're not trying to imply that we should be making money are you?? <_<

Afterall, Dave-Saddam-Lorenzo says that we aren't :huh:

I smell a RAT!!!

 

[oldiebutgoody]

remember,
Figures lie and liars figure!

 

[JayBrian]

Load factors can be a deceiving representation of revenue. I filled a seat in November on a PHL-LGW-PHL flight for $300 including taxes. I was upgraded both ways using a systemwide upgrade and earned triple miles (almost enough for a free domestic roundtrip). I don't think they earned any profit on me.


Jay

 

[mrplanes]

Jay:

That's just the point. The people who charged you $300.00 and upgraded you and gave you triple miles are the ones "running" this company. Get it? They are constantly harping about costs then sell the product for less than the cost. Then constantly remind the employees how our cost structure is out of whack.

There is something out of whack alright. It starts with Siegel and winds its way into his upper management echelon. Mullin saw the light and started Song over a year ago. Siegel just now got it? That is incompetence. Mullin resigned so the pilots would negotiate. He has character. Carty resigned so the F/A's would negotiate. He has character. Siegel IS a character. Problem 1 is Dave Siegel. Big time.

mr

 

[ITRADE]

Jay:

That's just the point. The people who charged you $300.00 and upgraded you and gave you triple miles are the ones "running" this company. Get it? They are constantly harping about costs then sell the product for less than the cost. Then constantly remind the employees how our cost structure is out of whack.

So, you're saying that US should be pricing BWI-SAN flights starting out at $400 when WN can price their flights out at $199?

That is a terrific strategy. not.

 

[wwtraveler99]

Great news. LF up 6.7% from Nov '02.

How many flights and seats have been removed from service since Nov '02?

My guess is it will be very close to 6.7%.

 

[Doc]

Load factors can be a deceiving representation of revenue. I filled a seat in November on a PHL-LGW-PHL flight for $300 including taxes. I was upgraded both ways using a systemwide upgrade and earned triple miles (almost enough for a free domestic roundtrip). I don't think they earned any profit on me.


Jay

When you try to use the miles you will see that it will be hard to get the fight you want ant that usairways has reduced the number of seats available per flight for miles........no big math problem thanks for the 300.00 bucks

 

[ClueByFour]

When you try to use the miles you will see that it will be hard to get the fight you want ant that usairways has reduced the number of seats available per flight for miles........no big math problem thanks for the 300.00 bucks

With bonuses and my CP bonus, I garner almost enough miles for a premium award ticket every time I cross the pond. Those tickets are not restricted (they come out of Y, so if a seat is available, I'm getting it).

And, as a CP, I can upgrade the thing for free. So, for about $1200, US has taken me from AMS-PHL-LAX and back twice in the last month or so, and I will reap an additional trip for two people to Vegas (in front the entire way).

Thanks for your customer friendly attitude.

 

[TomBascom]

6.7% higher load factor on 8% fewer seats with essentially the same overhead basically says that you're losing more money faster.

 

[mrplanes]

Jay:

That's just the point. The people who charged you $300.00 and upgraded you and gave you triple miles are the ones "running" this company. Get it? They are constantly harping about costs then sell the product for less than the cost. Then constantly remind the employees how our cost structure is out of whack.

So, you're saying that US should be pricing BWI-SAN flights starting out at $400 when WN can price their flights out at $199?

That is a terrific strategy. not.

Itrade:

You left out the meat didn't you? You know, the last part of my post. That is kind of like the Dave strategy. Focus on the symptom of the problem and not the cause. Song is meeting the challenge of the LCC's. We are not. We have not. And, evidently, we will not. WN can charge 199.00 because of the way they operate their airline. Itrade, let me make this very clear for you: MANAGEMENT OPERATES THE AIRLINE. NOT THE EMPLOYEES. You do understand that don't you?

Linear is more efficient than hub. Song (and Ted) are other airlines responses to that. Our previous management tried it with Metrojet. That WAS the answer but they screwed that up big time. Instead of copying WN and JetBlue (as Song is doing) they tried to reinvent the whole concept. And failed. That wasn't the employees. That was management.

We can't beat or even compete with WN or any LCC until we find a competent leader who has the will and the expertise to do so. Siegel didn't even discover the problem until we were well out of C-11. He has lost the faith of this employee group and needs to go. But if you don't work here I suppose you wouldn't understand that either.

mr

 

[wings396]

The LF may be high in some markets, but at our station the loads were pathetic over the Holiday weekend. This is the worst year that I can recall as we couldn't even fill a flight on Wednesday or Sunday. You must consider that PIT has been cut to nothing, so connecting traffic there is NIL. CLT does well, but with ONE flight a day all of the Southbound traffic is handed over to DL. Then there is PHL, where nobody wants to connect unless there is no other choice. And to top it all off, the company ran 2 extra sections to PHL on Wednesday and Sunday. Needless to say they took less than 20 passengers combined each day. If we have squandered traffic away in other stations as we have in mine, forget ever making a profit. I watched as the other Carriers had lines out the Wazoo at their counters, and we had a handfull at ours. :down:

 

[E-TRONS]

It's starting to look like it has been planned this way all along. How could a Harvard educated(?) CEO not foresee such an outcome :huh: ???
I feel it has been designed to fail. :angry:

I think something else is on their agenda........something big. Why else would they take the company in a direction opposite of profitability???

It's a whole lot easier to pull something off (ie; merger or alliance) that would ordinarily face governmental scrutiny when you are streaming red ink across the skies......would it not???

Either way we will be hosed...so at least die while you are standing up. Tell them to POUND SALT :angry: :angry:

 

[ITRADE]

So, you're saying that US should be pricing BWI-SAN flights starting out at $400 when WN can price their flights out at $199?

That is a terrific strategy. not.

Itrade:

You left out the meat didn't you? You know, the last part of my post. That is kind of like the Dave strategy. Focus on the symptom of the problem and not the cause. Song is meeting the challenge of the LCC's. We are not. We have not. And, evidently, we will not. WN can charge 199.00 because of the way they operate their airline. Itrade, let me make this very clear for you: MANAGEMENT OPERATES THE AIRLINE. NOT THE EMPLOYEES. You do understand that don't you?

Linear is more efficient than hub. Song (and Ted) are other airlines responses to that. Our previous management tried it with Metrojet. That WAS the answer but they screwed that up big time. Instead of copying WN and JetBlue (as Song is doing) they tried to reinvent the whole concept. And failed. That wasn't the employees. That was management.

We can't beat or even compete with WN or any LCC until we find a competent leader who has the will and the expertise to do so. Siegel didn't even discover the problem until we were well out of C-11. He has lost the faith of this employee group and needs to go. But if you don't work here I suppose you wouldn't understand that either.

mr

I couldn't care less if Jesus H. Christ himself was running the airline.

The fact of the matter is that your expenses are still outstripping the revenues. You can complain, whine and pontificate all you want about morale, leadership, etc., but until the revenue/cost picture changes, everything is wholly irrelevant.

 

[AOG-N-IT]

Speaking of wholly Irrelevant....We are on the fast track for that exact scenrio as we speak. 😱

Much of our problems are related to the CASM. With that in mind , our offensive punch is slipping by the day in regards to our strategic long range lift...not to mention our narrow body domestic / carribean operations...Thanks to whom?

As of now we are down 2 A330-300's 1 sits in CLT heavy plagued with shortages of parts , corrosion issues and most of all the lack of manpower to work this bird...and another sits out on the hangar ramp awaiting the first one to vacate that spot.

We currently have a B767-200ER sitting in CLT heavy as well...a part here and there has slowed us to a degree....but the dominant factor again is "Manpower"..or lack there of. :angry:

Sunday night posed yet another obstacle in relation to wide-body long range operations too. Acft 650 had major issues with the Aft Lav Pressure Tank being in the proverbial crapper....the absence at the time in PHL of a $26,000 tank prevented this issue from being corrected during the night...and also hindered it's scheduled operatons to europe with both aft lavs being inoperative....see ya in CLT the following night. Huh??? :huh:

Call it a whine..call it a female dog...or call it what it really is "fact" !!!

The beancounters of this company are not only stripping morale , manpower , logistics and all the other entangibles that make this machine work...in time and on present course we will in fact cease being at all....but rest assured that none of these issues are of or by the actions of those whom actually work here..it's stems from the top...as all failures and responsiblity should and does in the real world , outside of U.

Defend andCover for the executive levels till the cows come home if you desire? ..but We as labor are not the limiting factor...we are in fact the staying power that drives this thing inspite of the leadership we have.

Seigel and crew have had almost two years to weigh the enviromental conditions and changes..they have had almost Two Billion dollars handed to them from many sources , mainly labor...yet the shrinking ship continues to look more and more like a sinking ship. Others in this same timeframe have corrected or improved their situations by leaps and bounds. So whom is to blame here? :blink:

Labor is not responsible for routes..schedules ..pricing...manning levels or provisioning funds...yet We are all collectively going to suffer at the hands of those whom are in control of these issues. I can assure you that not one Unionized Employee has any direct , ultimate or final influence on the defining issues that immasculate our operations. ..it not only aids but promotes us remaining in the red.

Try again...the game of pin the blame on the donkey is lost , if labor is where YOU choose to try to apply it? We did not make the rules , We did not force parity issues down anyones throats....yet we are to be labled the bad guy? We mearly show up..do our best with what we have to work with...and within the rules and spirit of the agreed upon contracts. I can assure you by the results...the same cannot be said of the CCY crew with clear thinking and an open eye to reality as WE live it.