U.S. airline merger talks could resume in '09

[FA Mikey]

Since most of the setup is done during boarding, after take off all you are doing is throwing a couple inserts on a bev cart and some oven racks in a meal cart. All your work is in the aisle and not the galley. Too bad your airline is not like some of the others where J/S crew members load the next car when they see you are heading back and change it out for you.

I never had a problem with another crew member in a J/S front or back. I would never skip a flight just because it was a J/S or go a day early, thats just plain nuts.

 

[Borescope]

I would never skip a flight just because it was a J/S or go a day early, thats just plain nuts.

I agree with you Mikey, but then there are those people that "live" for this job and don't have a life outside it.

 

[AIRBORN1]

Uh, NO... I am not pulling anyone's chain. I am a Continental Flight Attendant and a former Delta Flight Attendant. I have never worked for US Airways, AA, UAL, or any other airline, aside from Song, if you want to consider it anything aside from Delta with a few planes given a new name. I don't understand how asking a simple question such as "Is 105 hours the max a F/A at US can fly?", something that would confuse anyone into thinking I work for them. If I did work for them, I would be on furlough, considering when I entered the industry.


Aside from all of that, yes we are all worried at CAL that we might merge with UAL. Not a single person at Continental want's it to happen and for good reasoning. We are not the most senior airline since we still offer retirement, but many of the people that work here remember quite well those good ole Denver day's, and what UAL did to Continental. I can't tell you how many commuter's I know from DEN, that would never set foot on a UAL plane, and do double commute's through IAH so not to given them a single dollar off of a ZED fare. I can't say I blame them. A company that once tried to put Continental under, is now cozying up and trying to marry us. One thing my decade in this industry has taught me is that people don't forget ANYTHING.

My biggest worry is the union's, our pension staying intact, and the fact that we would need fencing and slotting to fully protect ourselves. There are so many things that can and will go wrong with this and it's quite scary. IAD is so close to EWR, which will shrink? UAL's Flight Attendant's run on a very old out dated system. We have the freedom to fly 200 hour's (We have alot of six figure F/A's that do) or 0 if we so choose. I chose to leave Delta and give up my seniority because I felt they abused us being non-union. The last thing I want is to finally be at a semi-stable airline, and for it to be turned upside down. If I offend any UAL people, I'm sorry that I want to protect my own interest and my co-worker's first.

You better get used to this merge coming my friend. It's coming and you have nothing to stop it. This Economy is dumping and merges are coming in every company. Banks-Car companies,Airlines. Don't think that CAL CEO AND UAL CEO aren't watching
what's going on at Delta. Times have change and it's coming. So your low seniority doesn't matter at CAL anymore.
Don't think it won't happen. Just pray and get ready for all the senior people at UAL merging in numbers at CAL over top of you.

 

[HottootrotNyc]

You better get used to this merge coming my friend. It's coming and you have nothing to stop it. This Economy is dumping and merges are coming in every company. Banks-Car companies,Airlines. Don't think that CAL CEO AND UAL CEO aren't watching
what's going on at Delta. Times have change and it's coming. So your low seniority doesn't matter at CAL anymore.
Don't think it won't happen. Just pray and get ready for all the senior people at UAL merging in numbers at CAL over top of you.

Now that I have stopped laughing and changed back in to dry pants, I just have to tell you what a dream you are living on. We will NEVER step aside and allow a bunch of old, should of retired employees to take what others in our past have built for all of us. So don't think your going to roll on over and have it as good as us. It doesn't work that way, never has, and never will. UAL will be SLOTTED in and none of the UAL unions will stay. So hopefully you all planned better then the TWA people. If it comes down to it, to protect myself and my co-workers, I would vote for a company wide STAPLE TO THE BOTTOM. You chose the company you work for and I chose mine and there is no reason we should lose our jobs, for a bunch of people from a different airline, since thats what you all are..... :blink:

 

[HottootrotNyc]

I agree with you Mikey, but then there are those people that "live" for this job and don't have a life outside it.

I have a life outside of work unlike most Flight Attendants. That's why I chose to work for an airline where I live and if my base closed I would move. Unlike most Flight Attendants.... That spend life trying to get to and from work. I walk outside, get in my car, and in 25 minutes am in my house. So while you are sitting biting your nails wondering if you'll get on that flight, I'm in my home.


F/AMikey- You are you and I am myself. I don't do things to others, that I don't want done to myself. I commuted for a specific reason and for a very short time. Since I respect my co-workers and would like the same mutual respect back, I never sat in a J/S that I was not assigned to work in. That's wonderful you feel it's nut's to skip a flight but I don't. That is why I don't want cabin seating and further more J/Sing opened to other airlines. As for setting up and such, maybe you set up on the ground, but I don't. I also don't need others to do my work for me, that is what I am paid to do at that time and on that plane. So thank god my co-workers ASK if I need anything from them before just going ahead and doing it. I can't STAND when commuter get all pi ssed because someones opinion differs on the subject. This is my opinion and if you don't like it, then don't, you don't have to, but don't tell me what I actually do or don't do while working.

PS- I had 55 special meals going to LAX not long ago on a 737-800 with TWO JUMPSEATERS with bags coming out of their a sses, and no where to go but the back GALLEY. I don't know what service you offer on most flights but we offer ALOT and I doubt you would of been happy having to climb over commuters and having to juggle 3 carts!

 

[featheroleather]

Since most of the setup is done during boarding, after take off all you are doing is throwing a couple inserts on a bev cart and some oven racks in a meal cart. All your work is in the aisle and not the galley. Too bad your airline is not like some of the others where J/S crew members load the next car when they see you are heading back and change it out for you.

I never had a problem with another crew member in a J/S front or back. I would never skip a flight just because it was a J/S or go a day early, thats just plain nuts.

FA Mikey and others. This poster doesn't represent all 9500 of the CAL FA's.Look at his/her post on the woman who got paralyzed on CO 511 the other day. Possible paralysis and Hot2Trot is monday morning quartebacking about someones actions,but I digress.

I agree with you that brain surgery isn't as complicated as doing a full transcon with special meals,but not much else is.Most FA's sympathize with jumpseaters who commute for whatever reason.Many didn't "choose" to commute since CAL has closed so many bases over the years.Oone cant expect to uproot their entire family,freinds etc after being in Denver or LA for 20 plus years or may have a spouse that may not be able to switch jobs that easily.Many dont want to or cant afford to live in the tri-state area.As to why our union and our company are dragging their feet,I have no idea.

Back to the original topic. I don't have the "urge to merge" mentality, :down: but labor doesn't get any input,its all decided on the golf course between Kellner and Tilton.

 

[FA Mikey]

First off, we dont ask others to do things for us. People just respond to other people they like and help out where they can. I also dont think someone putting 3 oven racks in a cart for me is any great accomplishment. You might think about setting up on the ground. It makes it easier in the air when you are not trying to work at an angle and have a galley with other crew members with nothing to do. It also means you can start your service faster. Thats what you are paid to do.

Special meals are not to hard to juggle. Back in the olden days On the DC10. In the lower lobe, with 10 meal carts and 30 oven racks all going up at the same time, you placed the appropriate special and entree in the cart and on the side where the passenger was. Always being careful not to do all the centers to one side or the other or you would here about it later. Three specials, or thirty specials its all the same.

 

[AIRBORN1]

I doubt seriouly meals will be in the future at CAL after today's conference call. More cuts more cuts...

 

[HottootrotNyc]

FA Mikey and others. This poster doesn't represent all 9500 of the CAL FA's.Look at his/her post on the woman who got paralyzed on CO 511 the other day. Possible paralysis and Hot2Trot is monday morning quartebacking about someones actions,but I digress.

I agree with you that brain surgery isn't as complicated as doing a full transcon with special meals,but not much else is.Most FA's sympathize with jumpseaters who commute for whatever reason.Many didn't "choose" to commute since CAL has closed so many bases over the years.Oone cant expect to uproot their entire family,freinds etc after being in Denver or LA for 20 plus years or may have a spouse that may not be able to switch jobs that easily.Many dont want to or cant afford to live in the tri-state area.As to why our union and our company are dragging their feet,I have no idea.

Back to the original topic. I don't have the "urge to merge" mentality, :down: but labor doesn't get any input,its all decided on the golf course between Kellner and Tilton.

If someone can't figure out I don't represent 9500 F/A's then brain surgery might be in line for someone who thinks that. I represent myself and my opinion's, and this one is mine. I afforded living in NYC on first year pay at two airline's, I guess I must be special in that aspect.

As for the women who ignored the seat belt sign and crew warnings and sat in a airport that was hammered by severe storms, I felt my reaction was justified. As I said I would never wish what happened to her on my worst enemy, but she refused to comply with the crew and pilot's, while on a plane that was flying through severe weather on a 35 minute flight. If you feel she was justified by getting up, then please by all means tell them to skip the court date and hand over your pay she will be sueing for. I on the other hand hope the company fight's this all the way to the top.

 

[HottootrotNyc]

I doubt seriouly meals will be in the future at CAL after today's conference call. More cuts more cuts...

Considering we OWN all of our kitchens and sell food to UAL,Delta/NWA,US Airways, and every other airline that flies in and out of EWR,CLE,IAH,HNL,DEN, and a few other cities, our food is going nowhere but in the stomach of our passengers. Thankfully the only cost we have associated with our food is... NONE. Since UAL,Delta/NWA,US Airways, and other airlines purchase food and all other catering from our OWNED kitchens and therefore cause us to make money off of our kitchens. Closing down a money making operation such as our kitchens sounds something like the four other majors (soon to be three) would do, but you know what.... They all did that decades ago..... So I guess that's a done deal.....

 

[HottootrotNyc]

First off, we dont ask others to do things for us. People just respond to other people they like and help out where they can. I also dont think someone putting 3 oven racks in a cart for me is any great accomplishment. You might think about setting up on the ground. It makes it easier in the air when you are not trying to work at an angle and have a galley with other crew members with nothing to do. It also means you can start your service faster. Thats what you are paid to do.

Special meals are not to hard to juggle. Back in the olden days On the DC10. In the lower lobe, with 10 meal carts and 30 oven racks all going up at the same time, you placed the appropriate special and entree in the cart and on the side where the passenger was. Always being careful not to do all the centers to one side or the other or you would here about it later. Three specials, or thirty specials its all the same.

That's wonderful with a galley in the belly of a DC-10 you found the room to handle all those special meals. Sadly, we don't have lower lobe galleys on a 737. I guess this would clear up all those j/sing issues with all that dedicated galley space. If we had dedicated carts for special meals that would be a different story but, we don't. So how does AA work it's special meals on ORD-LAX on the S-80 with half the galley taken out and seats put in it's place?

As for when I am paid and when I am paid to do it, I think you might have when pay starts and when it doesn't start confused. Or maybe AA pays you from check in? If you feel working crew should work around non-working crew, pat yourself on the back, I feel the opposite. I understand your 30-40 years of flying trumps my 10, but I got my job down pat by now. Keep your information for all those new hires you will have on-line in 2015 or so.

 

[LCC_#1]

This thread has gotten off topic, but I seem to remember when we DID serve food a hundred years ago, our j/s f/a's were right there helping or they stayed at the j/s's out of the galley. These days, it's no big deal. I think most f/a's (at least we old farts) understand the working f/a's are in charge, NOT the j/s f/a's. Simply ask them to sit in the non galley jumpseats or put on an apron.

 

[FA Mikey]

That's wonderful with a galley in the belly of a DC-10 you found the room to handle all those special meals. Sadly, we don't have lower lobe galleys on a 737. I guess this would clear up all those j/sing issues with all that dedicated galley space. If we had dedicated carts for special meals that would be a different story but, we don't. So how does AA work it's special meals on ORD-LAX on the S-80 with half the galley taken out and seats put in it's place?

The point was DC10 Everything went up prior to the start of the service and you would have to have a special meal in the proper cart on the proper side and stationed in the right section of the AC. On a 737 with less than 1/2 the people is it so much easier. With a few specials you hand run them, with more than a few you station then in the cart that goes out to that set of seats.

As for when I am paid and when I am paid to do it, I think you might have when pay starts and when it doesn't start confused. Or maybe AA pays you from check in?

Do you show up and sign in an hour before? Do you get on a plane and check all the emergency EQ? Do you attend a briefing with the purser? Then you are working. Then you should be setting up and having everything ready to go, for the customers and the rest of the crew. Keep in mind you agreed to work under the contract and it doesnt start the hourly pay until you leave the gate. I am sure you dont consider yourself off the clock when you are sitting on the J/S with the latest issue of people magazine.

 

[FA Mikey]

Considering we OWN all of our kitchens and sell food to UAL,Delta/NWA,US Airways, and every other airline that flies in and out of EWR,CLE,IAH,HNL,DEN, and a few other cities, our food is going nowhere but in the stomach of our passengers. Thankfully the only cost we have associated with our food is... NONE.

Its free? I doubt that.

Since UAL,Delta/NWA,US Airways, and other airlines purchase food and all other catering from our OWNED kitchens and therefore cause us to make money off of our kitchens. Closing down a money making operation such as our kitchens sounds something like the four other majors (soon to be three) would do, but you know what.... They all did that decades ago..... So I guess that's a done deal.....

They purchase it and then resell it at a profit. continental doesnt have that luxury.

 

[FA Mikey]

This thread has gotten off topic, but I seem to remember when we DID serve food a hundred years ago, our j/s f/a's were right there helping or they stayed at the j/s's out of the galley. These days, it's no big deal. I think most f/a's (at least we old farts) understand the working f/a's are in charge, NOT the j/s f/a's. Simply ask them to sit in the non galley jumpseats or put on an apron.

True and service was smooth and quick. Since on the J/S we are all on the same team, it was only natural to help out.