Onboard the wild ride of Doug Parker

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pilot said:
Read the article and pay close attention to it.

This guy doesn't know how to run an airline. I'm tellin you he does not know how to run an airline. He doesn't get it.

LCC's got some very serious problems folks. And this guy is not going to solve them.

pilot
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Pilot:

I agree. He doesn't know how to run a PRE 9-11 airline as you and many others on this board are accustomed to. But, he does know the general direction US Airways needs to go as a POST 9-11 airline, and while it may be painful to most, it is reality.
 
:angry: i'm just plane embarrased to work for this airline. and no i wont "just quit" i'm riding this pony to the ground!!!! :(
 
SpinDoc said:
Pilot:

I agree. He doesn't know how to run a PRE 9-11 airline as you and many others on this board are accustomed to. But, he does know the general direction US Airways needs to go as a POST 9-11 airline, and while it may be painful to most, it is reality.
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The reality has nothing to do with post 9/11. Call on Southwest and see just how much their OPERATION has changed since that date.

I'm not talking about pay cuts, work rules and the like. I'm talking about LCC's operation. The whole operation. I'm not sure if you've seen it from the inside. I have. And it is disgraceful. And it will eventually be the undoing of any "synergies" that exist or are thought to exist because of the merger.

Of course the industry has changed. That started in 1978 with deregulation. Since then one, ONE, airline has got it right. And no one has copied their success. Some have tried but eventually deviated from the formula.

There is a lot wrong at LCC. Making a profit because of low labor costs ( and that is the ONLY reason LCC is profitable ) is eventually going to go away. Not neccesarily because labor costs will go up. Simply because people will stop flying US Airways because it has become such a poor operation.

My point stands. DP has no clue how to operationally run this airline. Nor does anyone on his management team. Things are not getting better. They put buckets under roof leaks instead of fixing the roof. And that is all about saving a nickle today but spending a dollar tomorrow.

If that doesn't change LCC won't be around in a while.

pilot
 
pilot said:
There is a lot wrong at LCC. Making a profit because of low labor costs ( and that is the ONLY reason LCC is profitable ) is eventually going to go away. Not neccesarily because labor costs will go up. Simply because people will stop flying US Airways because it has become such a poor operation.
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But - Doug's vision is for consolidation and reduction in the number of seats flying around the skys so that people have no choice but to fly on his airline - and at higher prices. Not saying he can make that happen - but he certainly is giving it a go with his quest for mergers and acquisitions. If he succeeds - then it won't matter how operationally bad the airline is - people will have to fly on them to get somewhere.

And - by the way - while you may think that SW "got it right" - I certainly don't fly on them. Not into the whole cattle car scene at the airport that they have. So for some people they may be the way to go - but not for me. Never have - and never will.
 
phlus2 said:
But - Doug's vision is for consolidation and reduction in the number of seats flying around the skys so that people have no choice but to fly on his airline - and at higher prices. Not saying he can make that happen - but he certainly is giving it a go with his quest for mergers and acquisitions. If he succeeds - then it won't matter how operationally bad the airline is - people will have to fly on them to get somewhere.

And - by the way - while you may think that SW "got it right" - I certainly don't fly on them. Not into the whole cattle car scene at the airport that they have. So for some people they may be the way to go - but not for me. Never have - and never will.
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And LUV isn't interested in your business. Their demographic doesn't include you. Dougs plan isn't new. It's been the plan of everyone in the business. Problem is that just one airline cannot pull it off. Simply because the others will not follow suit.

You say you aren't into the "cattle car scene". Fair enough. But if you fly on LCC you are becoming part of their cattle cars. This is my point.

LCC is going to drive you away. Because they cannot run an operation. And if you think people will fly just because they have no other choice you need to think again. This is a service business. And if a company doesn't supply the service then someone else will.

Doug is going to get his clock cleaned. But the people who work at LCC are the ones who will suffer. Because Dougs incompetence won't make him broke. He'll break the company and a lot of folks will be out of work.

pilot
 
If you read very carefully it is plain to see you don't see much of a professional at all.

Just another in a long line of "money" people who look at the airline business as just another way to make millions.

The folks who know how to run airlines have been replaced with folks whose only concern is the game.

And they define winning the game as how much money they can make regardless of what happens to the company.
 
pilot said:
If you read very carefully it is plain to see you don't see much of a professional at all.

Just another in a long line of "money" people who look at the airline business as just another way to make millions.

The folks who know how to run airlines have been replaced with folks whose only concern is the game.

And they define winning the game as how much money they can make regardless of what happens to the company.
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Same is true with all of corporate America. NAFTA, H1B visas, union busting...all in the name of pumping up short term profits at the expense of long term viability. Wall Street money is nothing more than a hallucinogen - the easy fix which hooks management. The price is a virtual management filled with Wall Street junkies who only think about their next fix. They'll burn the house, sell the kids, have the wife work the streets - only to get the next cash infusion. Does anyone believe that the true motive to go after Delta was anything but more Wall Street money? Operationally it made no sense. Strategically it made no sense. Yet off they went so sure of themselves, on a safari which was totally bizarre to anyone unless you were hooked on the Wall Street hallucinogen. To them, it made total sense.
 
Parker is the one to watch, according to the previous generation of airline wizards. "He has an effervescence and a joie de vivre that I really like," says Herb Kelleher

Gordon Bethune, the former Continental chief who turned it into a top performer: "We've all known consolidation was the answer to a lot of the industry's problems. It's just that Doug's the only one with the balls to go and do it."
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The two best CEO's give this guy a thumbs up, yet some on here don't see it...who wrong and who's right, let me guess. Also whats wrong with having drinks? Hypocrites or teatoddlers, which is it?
 
Let's see.....

Kelleher effectively said that Doug is a fun guy to have drinks with. Doubt there's many that would disagree with that.

Bethune said that Doug likes to engage in mergers. He didn't say that Doug knew how to run an airline.

Jim
 
Elevation said:
The two best CEO's give this guy a thumbs up, yet some on here don't see it...who wrong and who's right, let me guess. Also whats wrong with having drinks? Hypocrites or teatoddlers, which is it?
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Bethune is just stating the obvious.

I guess Kelleher sees a drinking buddy, but I would love to hear his candid thoughts as to how Parker treats his employees.

EDIT: Dang! Jim hit the Reply button before me!
 
Elevation said:
The two best CEO's give this guy a thumbs up, yet some on here don't see it...who wrong and who's right, let me guess. Also whats wrong with having drinks? Hypocrites or teatoddlers, which is it?
Click to expand...

A good point. And as I recall the folks at Continental did NOT like Gordon for quite awhile, they didn't believe it could be fixed, and all of the CEO's of other airlines (even Gordon Bethune) thought that Herb was totally insane for a long time.

It has been frustrating and at times very embarrassing but an airline merger or turnaround is not the same as any other industry and tends to be a "colorful" experience. Conflict is often necessary for improvement(applause for the Charlotte folks)yet getting behind the leadership of the company, especially when I am with John Q. Public, is part of the balancing act.

And I do resent that Mr.Boyd says that there is no teamwork at all between East and West. It has been difficult but it is not that absolute.
 
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