Comments on: This Week on BNET (July 14 – July 18)

By: CF

CF — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:45:29 +0000

Sideline – Thanks for the additional information. As I said, I thought it was a good read, but I wanted to put that out there for full disclosure purposes. It didn’t feel overtly biased to me.

Margaret – I have a great deal of respect for Doug Parker, and he’s one of only a handful of senior managers that I would gladly work for again (by the way COO Robert Isom is another).

One of the big problems here is that US Airways employees don’t realize that they’re effectively working for America West under a different name. US Airways was toast without Doug’s takeover bid, and they need to realize that they’re lucky they still have a job. (Oh, I’ll hear tons of nasty comments on that one, I’m sure.)

Leaving ALPA seems to be a huge mistake to me. They’ve left behind the power of an experienced union for an inexperienced and penniless one. The inexperience is showing. Their stunt of questioning safety has received nothing but bad press. It was a mistake.

I do feel bad for the America West pilots. Just due to numbers, they couldn’t override the inevitable here. I would be miserable in their situation.

By: Margaret Nahmias

Margaret Nahmias — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:19:47 +0000

No, they can get away with this nonsense because they are so central. Without them the planes don’t fly and they know that. What CF is saying is that you won’t see management’s side If you read my”Management” is another bugaboo frustrated pilots without seeing how their egos may have also contributed to the situation. Yes US management did a poor job of running the company last year, but at some point you need to say I am going to do the best job that I can despite the circumstances. I I don’t work for Doug Parker nor do I know the man personally, but all of the rage seems out of proportion from what I have heard about him.(Cranky has so may be he could give some insight) Here you have people who are hurt and have lost trust in senior management. They were sheep without a shepherd. Now, they are taking out all of their betrayal out on innocent people, namely the AWA pilots in this situation. I have taken the position that AWA pilots should suspend judgment for the sake of moving forward after this latest stunt I am not so sure. Bring ALPA back as far as I am concerned.

By: Sideline Viewer

Sideline Viewer — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:11:56 +0000

CF,

Two of Prof. Hopkins’ requirements in his agreement with ALPA were that he have complete access to all ALPA sources, and that he would have complete academic freedom, i.e., no censoring of his text. A careful reading shows that he didn’t pull any punches in Flying the Line 1 and 2. All the warts – organizational and personal – are there for all to see. If this had been merely a “vanity press” piece of self-congratulatory ALPA propaganda, all you’d see there would be PR hype.

The hurdles that ALPA had to overcome from management, government, and their own members were Herculean. Many pilots today don’t have an inkling of all this and think that everything they have is by dint of their own inherent superiority. (And conversely, everything bad that happens is ALPA’s fault.) It is required reading for anyone who needs (or claims) to understand airline pilots and ALPA.

By: CF

CF — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:57:13 +0000

Margaret - Problems between pilots and management have been going on for ages. If you're interested, you could read Flying the Line and Flying the Line II. I've read the second one, and it's a good read. Just keep in mind that it's put out by ALPA, the pilot union.

By: Margaret Nahmias

Margaret Nahmias — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:10:01 +0000

Cranky thanks for clarifying. I still think the timing of this is odd. This should be a private matter between them and the company. No one should sensationalize it unless proven true.That’s assumption behind my comment about context. It is back-biting at its worst. Coercion also does not strike me as this management team’s style. Assertive yes, but not coercive. Parker’s patience with the pilots(at least publicly) is extraordinary given the circumstances. I would have told them to grow up already. Why do airlines seem to have problems with their pilots? When did it become all about politics and power?

By: CF

CF — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:31:28 +0000

US has its dispatcher group making decisions on the right amount of fuel to use, but ultimately, it’s the pilot’s decision on how much goes into the plane. And that’s something that really shouldn’t change. If the pilot isn’t comfortable, he/she probably won’t take the flight. The key is making the pilots more comfortable with less fuel.

By: Margaret Nahmias

Margaret Nahmias — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:17:19 +0000

I think its odd that USAPA is making this claim in the midst of negotiations. It sounds like a scare tactics They know management will not give them a raise in this environment,so they make sensational allegations hopinh to tip public opinion to their side. Of course the circumstances of this situation has not been revealed, so we won’t know who’s really right Doesn’t US have a fuel management department that mathematically sort this out?