Using Facts On This Board! A Brand New Idea

[usfliboi]

Had an idea but i have a feeling this thread will be short lived since 99% on this board is speculation and gossip and emotion. Lets all state what we know are the facts about our airline . Where we are going and how we get there. Not interested in rehashing the other crap so keep that in the thread it belongs in . So someone tell us, whats a fact about what we have to do in order to survive? :blink:

 

[UseYourHead]

Had an idea but i have a feeling this thread will be short lived since 99% on this board is speculation and gossip and emotion. Lets all state what we know are the facts about our airline . Where we are going and how we get there. Not interested in rehashing the other crap so keep that in the thread it belongs in . So someone tell us, whats a fact about what we have to do in order to survive? :blink:

usfliboi,

I think your idea for this thread is a good one. Continue to evolve the business plan, and continue to reduce CASM (in an employee friendly way).

At the end of the day, we must offer a product the customers want at a price that is competitive, while making a profit in the revenue enviroment. Yield will drop 30% + come May, tickets are on sale now....

 

[usfliboi]

Wow Use yourhead great positive post.... Im surprised! Lets keep it going positive maybe someone will see something they can use. 🙂 All the other threads turn negative they have theirs lets try it 🙂 LOL

 

[Ramp Rogue]

With USAir being the Mother, and the employees being the Children, if the children are treated with the care and love of a Mother great things are bound to happen. A good Mother does not pit one child against the other, as in f/a, ramp, mechanics, res, ticket agents. A good Mother treats them all equal, all fair. To those in power at USAir, treat us the way you would want to be treated, and we will right this ship into profitability. Treat us the way you have been treating us, and you will surely sink USAir!

 

[speedpuppy]

what an excellent thread for the proper place to put forth creative sugguestions.

how about this fly more? what? yeah fly more. you know all those airport appreciation sits are in trips. now imagine 1 extra flight (for example i will use 1hr of time) just because it keeps things simple. so the next time you see a plane sitting and a crew sitting.....
1. instead of taking 17 days or more to make your time say 85 hrs, it would reduce your days on the job (sounds like a win right there)
2. you paycheck would be unaffected since your still flying the same amount of hours but in less days (again another win) (at no extra cost i might add)
3. the Gates are already paid for
4. the tugs, baggage and support equipment are already paid for
5. if you fly 1 hr more, x 400 mph x 279 planes x 150 seats (remember its an average) you get 16,740,000 additional miles per day at almost 0 additional operating cost (except fuel burned) thus spreading your costs over more seat miles lowers your CASM.

if you did that carring 0 yes 0 people on each of those extra legs guess what (except fuel) you would LOWER YOUR CASM simply by adding ASMs. now somebody is going to get on those flights so now you increase your RASM at the same time.... are you seeing the pattern?

Where and when? right now it doesnt matter anywhere any time get the bodies on the planes. remember you dont pay for the planes (monthly) on DAY 1 of operating it you pay for it on day 27 then the other 3 or 4 days are pure profit.
UAIRs current problem is that revenue generation rate takes 32 days to pay for the plane. so fly the same now and charge more (revenue enhancement) or fly the same cut costs/jobs/salaries (cost control). but then it begins to feed itself downward, cut costs less people cut flights less cost less revenue and the circle continues. flip it fly more increase revenue without increasing costs (again except fuel)
one way is a rule of diminishing returns, the other way grows what economists like to call profits.

i got more but lets see where this goes for now.

 

[speedpuppy]

just a thought here..

q3 loss 90m

passengers carried?? ave 100,000 per day? x 90 days =9,000,000
so if revenue were enhanced by 10 bucks per ticket UAIR becomes revenue neutral overnight

more correctly since most tickets involve 4 segments 1. into hub 2. out of hub to destination 3. back to hub 4. hub back to origination thats 10.00 divided by 4 or
yes 2.50 per segment and UAIR is revenue neutral

at 3.00 per segment UAIR is in the black to the tune of 4.500,000 and thats just for a .50cent bump and that assumes 0 addtional employee furloughs, 0 addtional employee paycuts.

do you like that ? i got more.............

this is only part of the formula but a start in the right direction simplistic i admit but i'm not tipping my hand so quickly. lets hear those comments!!! :down:

 

[Walmartgreeter]

what an excellent thread for the proper place to put forth creative sugguestions.

how about this fly more? what? yeah fly more. you know all those airport appreciation sits are in trips. now imagine 1 extra flight (for example i will use 1hr of time) just because it keeps things simple. so the next time you see a plane sitting and a crew sitting.....
1. instead of taking 17 days or more to make your time say 85 hrs, it would reduce your days on the job (sounds like a win right there)
2. you paycheck would be unaffected since your still flying the same amount of hours but in less days (again another win) (at no extra cost i might add)
3. the Gates are already paid for
4. the tugs, baggage and support equipment are already paid for
5. if you fly 1 hr more, x 400 mph x 279 planes x 150 seats (remember its an average) you get 16,740,000 additional miles per day at almost 0 additional operating cost (except fuel burned) thus spreading your costs over more seat miles lowers your CASM.

if you did that carring 0 yes 0 people on each of those extra legs guess what (except fuel) you would LOWER YOUR CASM simply by adding ASMs. now somebody is going to get on those flights so now you increase your RASM at the same time.... are you seeing the pattern?

Where and when? right now it doesnt matter anywhere any time get the bodies on the planes. remember you dont pay for the planes (monthly) on DAY 1 of operating it you pay for it on day 27 then the other 3 or 4 days are pure profit.
UAIRs current problem is that revenue generation rate takes 32 days to pay for the plane. so fly the same now and charge more (revenue enhancement) or fly the same cut costs/jobs/salaries (cost control). but then it begins to feed itself downward, cut costs less people cut flights less cost less revenue and the circle continues. flip it fly more increase revenue without increasing costs (again except fuel)
one way is a rule of diminishing returns, the other way grows what economists like to call profits.

i got more but lets see where this goes for now.

Great idea for a thread, especially when passengers are posting here about "I heard a cart driver in Bath and Body say.... followed by a rant on worker dedication."
Here is my outlandish suggestion.....offer the company the service of crew under the rules of pure FAA duty rigs for 16 days a month. If they want us to sit in the airport, or on the plane, or in a hotel..fine...they only own us for 16 days. They can "work" us 15 hours a day, with minimum rest in-between, but by golly they better work us. Because it takes a smart manager to work a crew 85 flight hours in 16 days. Note, I said "smart", not brilliant.

Flight crews want to work as hard as possible in the shortest time possible. How can the morons at U not get it. Instead, they fly us on 20 hour 4 days with a 19 hour rest on the last night followed by a 1:30 leg home..at 8pm.

 

[MarkMyWords]

I have tried to post ideas in various other threads, but I have some highlights.

We've discussed fares and increased aircraft utillization. Hopefully those ideas are taking hold somewhere.

Facilities consolidation with Star Partners would be a big plus. What amazes me is that we have been working with UA for quite a while now, but have done little facility consolidation. CO, NW and DL announced their code share arrangement and within months announce several facility consolidation agreements - thus reducing costs.

On the employee side....Honor the contracts. If you want something changed, don't pull this interpretation crap - sit down and work things out with HONESTY and HONOR. The company and the unions know what the intent was when they signed these contracts, don't try to change the game mid stream. Bring the S checks in house already, get the planes back from GYR already. Honor the vol furlough clause in the AFA contract. Settle the grievances. We are getting no where if we are fighting over these issues.

Empower your employees. Motivate your employees. Direct your employees. Set goals and objectives for the airline and departments. Offer incentives and rewards for acheiving those goals. Uncle Al's theory of your pay check should be motivation enough is dead wrong. Retrain your managers and supervisors on how to respect employees and how to motivate them without using threats and intimidation.

Clean house. Bring in the employees at Director level and higher and make them qualify their position with the company. And no BS double talk. Show me paper proof why your being here is good for the airline. Trim the fat and cut the dead weight. Once the top of the tree is pruned, send them forth to trim the "management" (God, I hate that I used that term that way) dead weight in their respective departments in the same fashion they did. Every single employee in this company should be able to justify their being here. Front line employees are easy to justify, but it gets a little more gray when you get into the ranks of the MSP.

Look at what DL's new CEO is doing regarding Executive Bonuses and Salaries. Adopting a similar stance would go far in proving to the employees that Excutives are also a part of the problem and will be a part of the solution. Lead by example. If there are Executives that are going to leave because of the changes in bonuses, salaries and stock options.....say buh bye. There is now a lot of white collar types that are out of a job and the market isn't as promising as it was a year ago.

Just a few ideas......i have a ton more. LOL

 

[PITbull]

Your above post is the only bright idea you've brought forward in a very long time. I've been thinking that an alien must have "snatched" you up and used your name on these boards as a cover.

Whew, for a moment there, I thought we lost you!

 

[MarkMyWords]

Your above post is the only bright idea you've brought forward in a very long time. I've been thinking that an alien must have "snatched" you up and used your name on these boards as a cover.

Whew, for a moment there, I thought we lost you!

Thank you......

Sick calls are a pet peeve of mine if you can't tell. LOL

 

[delldude]

hey,anybody know when my FMLA approval is co ming?

 

[nycbusdriver]

Honor the contracts. If you want something changed, don't pull this interpretation crap - sit down and work things out with HONESTY and HONOR.

Mark -

Great post. If I didn't know better, I'd say you're Gordon Bethune.

The USAirways employees have been begging for a leader with ideas like yours. We haven't had one since the great(?) mergers of the late 80's.

I wanted to quote one particular line of your post, though, and comment. HONESTY and HONOR are totally absent in the management team in charge of USAirways. If those qualities were in fact present, USAirways would be the kick-a$$ money machine in can, and should, be.

 

[Hope777]

Fact, get us a CEO like Gordon who has made his company a great place to work treating his employees fairly and with dignity.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031229/dam018_1.html

 

[nycbusdriver]

NYC,
I edited your quote where I did because I think after that you could put the names of most of the fortune 500 there and have a true statement.

That is one of the reasons I like working for an Asian company. the concepts of honor and personal integrity are still valued despite the best efforts of our American Managers.

Does your company need a pilot?

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

I finally figured out what you folks need.

I doubt that anyone on the BOD has the cojones to do it, and if they did, I am not sure the employees would stand for it. It would sort of be like getting rid of the disease with a really awful cure.

But it would be a cure.

I don't know if any of you all read the Dallas Morning News. It's not a bad newspaper.

Right after AA axed Carty there was a letter to the editor from the first president/CEO of Southwest Airlines Co, a Mr M. Lamar Muse.

(I know, a lot of people don't stop to think there was Southwest before Kelleher). The truth is, there would have been no Southwest without Muse.

At any rate, in his letter Mr. Muse volunteered to become President/CEO over at AA, with this for compensation: pay for him an apartment & living expenses in the DFW area, pay him the wage of the most junior Flight Attendant, and give him stock options for a whole bunch of shares at the closing price on the day he took over.

Muse was never a cheerleader type. He was very soft spoken....sort of like the millionaire in an old Sandra Dee movie who, in the last scene, marries the widowed librarian. The big difference is he uses some very colorful language in a very soft spoken manner.

What he would do is sort of a "Straight Eye for the Queer Guy" makeover on your airline and would take the employees, kicking and screaming the whole way, to unprecedented success.

Bottom line: he's brilliant, he's available, and they would never do it in a million years. But right now, reading what I am reading and seeing what I am seeing, he is the only guy that could save your hide.

Addendum: Muse has a book out titled "Southwest Passage." Pretty good book. In it he throws water on the doctrine of shrink your way to profitability. He discusses how, when you grow an airline, the growth is pretty cheap on an added cost basis. The converse is also true.....when you shrink one, the parts you chop off don't save you very much.

My guess is that he would grab USAirways and start growing it is as fast as he could.,,,,get some Junior employees in at lower wage scales to reduce the ASM costs, rationalize the route and fare structure, simplify operations and the product, and see what happens. It would make as much sense as what is going on now.