I Hate American Airlines (But I Love New York City)

I feel like I owe my readers an explanation of why I had no new posts up yesterday. Some blogger friends invited me to spend a few days with them in New York, and I took them up on it. I flew into New York City last Friday. But it was not an uneventful flight. My first mistake was in booking a round trip flight on American Airlines (a mistake I won't repeat).

I should have known things were not going to go well when American Airlines called me two days before my flight -- at 3:30 AM!!! They had called to tell me that they had bumped me off my flight (even though I had booked it a month early and had already paid), and instead of arriving at La Guardia at 2:30 PM I would be arriving at midnight. After fighting with their computer for a while, it finally let me talk to a human -- a human who was not happy to learn that I was questioning the almighty wisdom of the corporate computer. After wrangling for about 30 minutes I was finally able to get on a flight that would get me there only one hour later than my original flight.

I probably should have known that would not be the end of my problems, but I was foolish and thought the worst was now over. I arrived at the airport plenty early (and was singled out for the special pat down). The TSA agent assured me that I was chosen randomly, but since I was the only person there with a beard and long hair I doubt that. But after our little sexual encounter (he could at least have offered me a cigarette afterwords), I was finally able to get to the American Airlines departure gate.

My computer was in my carry-on bag (where I knew I could look after it). I waited about thirty minutes to board with my carry-on bag in plain sight for all airline personnel to see, and no one said a thing. Then as we were boarding (and I was about two steps from the plane's door), the gate attendant decided my bag was too large to carry on-board, snatched it away from me and gave it to a baggage handler. She said it was because it was a smaller plane with a smaller overhead compartment, and I could reclaim the bag as I exited the plane in Dallas. It was not until I was seated on the plane that I remembered my MacBook was in that bag.

I tried to console myself by saying they would take good care of the bag. Boy, was I wrong! That bag (and the computer in it) would have been safer in the gorilla cage at the zoo. I retrieved it at DFW Airport and quickly checked the computer. It had three large cracks in the screen and was now unusable. My beautiful computer was now basically junk. It took me nearly an hour to find someone in charge even though I had asked several agents where I could file a complaint. Finally one of the "managers" showed up and said I would have to file a complaint once I returned to Amarillo in several days.

Question -- Is there anyone out there who thinks I'll ever see a penny from American Airlines for the computer they damaged? Me neither!

I did finally make it to New York City though, and stayed at a Midtown hotel in the Theater District. Went to a Broadway show Friday night (Billy Elliot), and loved it. Went to Times Square, and loved it. On Saturday, my friend took me on a walking excursion to show me the Midtown sights -- I haven't walked that much in years. Then on Saturday he gave me a car trip around Manhattan -- showing me Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the Wall Street financial district, Tribeca, Greenwich Village, West Village, SoHo, and Ground Zero. 

As I write this I am now in Woodstock. I'll spend tomorrow up here and than take a train back to the city. I should be home and ready to blog again on Wednesday -- assuming I can find a computer to do it on. The title of this post pretty much sums up my feelings. I hate American Airlines, but I have developed a quick crush on the great city of New York (my first time here). I hope I can come back someday when I can stay longer and see more.

Union Says No To American Airlines

It looks like the problems are starting to to come home to roost for American Airlines. And it didn't take a genius to know this would happen. Unions don't take kindly to being slapped in the face.

The Transport Workers Union has just rejected a two-year contract offer from American Airlines. The offer would have given the workers a 5% raise immediately and another 3.5% raise after a year. It would also have paid workers 30% of net income up to $250 million, 25% between $250 and $500 million, and 20% of everything over $500 million.

But the one thing it did not do is restore the salary-cuts these employees agreed to in an effort to save the company a few years ago. They thought their salaries would be restored when the company was once again profitable. They were wrong.

Once the company started turning a nice profit, they rewarded their management with millions of dollars in bonuses for two years in a row. They gave the rank-and-file employees nothing, even though they had saved the company. They couldn't have insulted the employees more if they had spit in their faces.

Truth is, the union might well have approved this offer if they had not been ignored while management received huge bonuses. But company management didn't care as long as they got their big bucks. Now they will have to pay for their greed.

They can expect the same from the pilot's and the attendant's unions. Payback is a bitch, ain't it?

American Airlines Still Doesn't Understand

I have to wonder about the leadership at American Airlines. Do they not understand the rank-and-file employees are the backbone of the company, or do they just not care as long as they can feed millions of dollars into their own bank accounts. Maybe it's both.

Back in 2003, the airline was in trouble and the employees came to its rescue. They agreed to take paycuts to keep the airline afloat. They thought these cuts would just be temporary, and once the airline was again making money their salaries would be reinstated. They were wrong.

It seems the airline's top management had a different idea. The airline has made hundreds of millions of dollars the last couple of years, but there has not even been a discussion of whether to restore the paycuts of line employees.

Meanwhile, top management has rewarded themselves handsomely. Here is the compensation given to the airline's top five leaders:

Gerard Arpey, CEO, $6.6 million
Tom Horton, CFO, $2.8 million
Dan Garton, executive vice president of marketing, $2.8 million
Robert Reding, senior vice president of technical operations, $2.6 million
Gary Kennedy, general counsel, $1.7 million

In addition, this last week over $38 million in bonuses was given out to the airline's top executive and managers. Last year, even larger bonuses were awarded to these same people. It seems strange that while workers are still working for partial salaries, the management are rewarding themselves with millions in bonuses.

Evidently, the management thinks they are the only important people in the company -- the only ones worthy of sharing in the companies good fortunes. Someone needs to remind them that there wouldn't even be a company except for the sacrifice in pay by the employees. And there wouldn't be any profit except for the hard work and dedication of the employees.

Hard-working and dedicated employees could help the company turn a profit even with second-rate management. But the best managers in the world could not turn a profit with poorly performing employees. The airline's leaders need to understand who's doing the hard work that earns profits and repeat customers (and it isn't management).

Not a single dollar in management bonuses should have been awarded until the salaries of employees had been fully restored. These management bonuses were a slap in the face to the employees.

Woman Dies On American Airlines Flight

On every commercial flight, airline attendants give a safety speech. This speech points out safety features and details what is expected of customers in an emergency. The impression is given that the airline has adequate equipment and training to take care of things if an emergency does happen. That may not be true.

Consider the case of Carine Desir. On an American Airlines flight from Haiti to New York, Desir began to complain of being unable to breathe. She requested oxygen, and was refused it twice by an attendant.

Finally, the attendant woke up to the fact that this woman was in serious trouble. Two oxygen tanks were provided and both proved to be empty. When the woman stopped breathing and her heart stopped, an on-board defibrillator also proved to be defective.

The woman died.

This doesn't inspire confidence in the airline. Why weren't the oxygen tanks and defibrillator checked before the flight? It makes me wonder, if the cabin loses pressure will the drop-down masks contain oxygen and work properly? When were they last checked? Are there other things on-board that won't work when needed?

And why wasn't the woman given oxygen the first time she asked for it (rather than the third)? It wasn't like she was asking for an extra drink or snack. She was trying to breathe!

This doesn't make me want to rush out and buy an airline ticket.

Union Troubles Start For American Airlines

The short-sightedness of American Airlines leadership is beginning to cause it some trouble. The airline has been in preliminary negotiations with the Transport Workers Union, which covers American's ground workers. Management had hoped to extend the current contract for two years, with some "incentive-based" merit increases in pay.

I can't believe they thought that even had a chance of succeeding, and evidently the union saw it that way also. The contract talks have ended without an agreement being reached.

In 2003, the union agreed to a cut in pay to help the ailing airline survive. This year, with the airline being on a sound and profitable financial footing, the employees expected to be rewarded for their sacrifice by getting at least some of their pay-cuts back. That did not happen.

Instead, they left the pay-cuts in place for workers, and rewarded management with millions of dollars in bonuses. Now they want to extend the pay-cuts for another two years, and give a few merit raises. The workers said no. They want their pay restored.

The pay-cuts should have been rescinded before a single penny in management bonuses was paid. Did the airline really expect workers to continue their sacrifices for another two years while management gets rich with huge bonuses?

Now the airline will have to begin serious negotiations with the TWU in November, followed closely by contract talks with the pilot's and flight attendent's unions. It won't be easy. These unions all still remember the slap in the face of the ill-timed management bonuses.

The airline should have known this would happen, but its leadership was too greedy to care. Now they must pay the price for their short-sighted greed.

Arpey Best CEO ? Unbelievable !!

This just goes to show that business magazines could care less how a company's employees are being treated. Both the Dallas CEO magazine and the Fort Worth Business Press have named Gerard Arpey, CEO of American Airlines, as the CEO of the Year. The said he was their pick because he took an airline that was losing money and made it profitable.

Of course they don't mention that he did it on the backs of the employees. While the airline was losing money, he talked the airline's frontline employees into taking large paycuts. Then when the airline starting making money, he betrayed those same employees.

The employees who had sacrificed believed they would be rewarded for their sacrifice when the airline became profitable. They were very wrong. Arpey did pass out several million dollars in bonuses, but only to himself and other executives.The employees who took pay cuts were given nothing.

If being a good CEO means screwing your employees, making the unions angry with negotiations coming up, and hoarding the rewards for yourself and your management buddies, then they picked the right guy.

Obviously, these magazines were thinking only in the short-term, because Arpey has created a lot of ill-feelings among the employees. And with union contracts needing to be re-negotiated very soon, this has created serious future problems for the airline. I doubt that the employees are going to want to continue to sacrifice while management is getting rich.

If this was the best CEO these magazines could find, then North Texas corporations must really have some poor leadership.

AA Pilot's Union Elects New Leadership

It looks like the troubles are starting for American Airlines. Their pilot's union just held a leadership election, and the entire slate of incumbents was easily defeated by a slate of candidates advocating a much more confrontational approach with the airline.

The new slate didn't just win -- they won by a landslide. The new slate basically doubled the votes given to the incumbents. And the voter turnout was large. At least 81.5% of the unions members voted, setting a new voter record.

The pilots are very unhappy that while they are working with substantial paycuts, the management of the airlines are dividing up millions in bonuses. They are not the only ones. We already know that the flight attendents are very upset over this, and a couple of weeks ago the ground workers signaled they are going to take a more confrontational approach with management.

Is it any surprise that rank-and-file workers are unhappy? They helped to save the company by agreeing to take substantial paycuts. They had a right to believe they would be rewarded for their sacrifice when the company got on a firmer footing. But they were stabbed in the back.

The company is now operating in the black, but all the rewards for that have gone to management. While the management got millions in bonuses, the workers got ignored. They are expected to go on working for the reduced wages.

I have a feeling that's not going to happen. The company is in store for some very rancorous negotiations in the upcoming contract discussions. This is only right. Management should not have been given a penny in bonuses until the reduced wages had been restored.

A company spokesman said, "A vote other than for the incumbency is essentially a vote to go backwards in the management labor relationship. The problem is management has not done a good signaling to labor that they don't want to go back down that path."

That's not true! Management's signal was loud and clear when they gave the management bonuses -- and it was confrontational.

If there is a strike in the future, and I expect there will be considering management's attitude, I know I will not be flying with any "scab" pilots. I urge my readers to make the same decision.

Employees/Shareholders Put AA CEO On Hotseat

The annual shareholder's meeting didn't turn out too well for the CEO of American Airlines, Gerard Arpey. Arpey kept trying to change the subject and talk about how his management team had saved the airlines and brought it back to profitability.

But the shareholders and employees would have none of it. They knew who had saved the airline - the employees who agreed to large cuts in their pay several years ago to keep the organization afloat. They were repaid by being ignored, while 800 executives divided up $160 million in bonuses last month.

The shareholders kept bringing the subject back to the payment of the bonuses, and how unfair it was to enrich management while the backbone of the company, the employees, still labor under the stringent paycuts.

Arpey seems to think the most important people in the company are the beancounters. He seems to have forgotten that there would be no beans to count without the dedication and hard work of frontline employees. These people should have had their pay restored before the subject of executive bonuses was even discussed. After this greedy move, how can employees trust the company executives?

The employees got no sympathy from Arpey, as he told them they would just have to "agree to disagree". But he may be singing a different tune next year, when the employees get their turn at bat.

Next year, the union contracts start coming up for renewal. You can bet that the employees will remember the greed shown by executives this year, and they'll be demanding their share of the pie.

I hope they don't give in until they get it.

Airline Unions Deserve Our Thanks

American Airlines followed through on their promise to screw their rank-and-file employees last week. While their employees work for reduced pay (which they agreed to in an effort to save the airline from bankruptcy), American rewarded these employees by using their reduction in pay to finance huge bonuses for management.

The five top executives at American Airlines split about $20 million, while 874 other executives and managers split another $160 million. This is a real slap in the face for the employees who sacrificed to save the airline by agreeing to work for severely reduced pay.

Now the airline wants these workers to continue working for less while management gets richer off their sacrifices. It's no wonder that the airline unions are protesting this outrage! If they let the company get away with this, they will be marginalized forever and forced to work for ridiculous wages.

But these unions are fighting the corporation, and I believe they will continue the fight when union contracts start coming up for renewal next year. That is why I say we owe these unions our thanks. The airlines are not the only corporations trying to get away with this kind of selfishness.

Corporations all over America are treating their workers like crap while rewarding management with ever larger bonuses. Corporations seem to think there are two classes of people in their organizations - the "real" people in management who deserve to get rich, and the "peons" who do the work and deserve as little as management can get away with paying them.

The airline unions are taking a stand not only for themselves, but for all of America's working people. We need to remember this next year if the unions decide they must strike. Workers all over this country need to step up and back these workers when the time comes.

We need to take what the airline unions have started, and spread it all over this country. It is time to let the corporations know that workers are not going to stand for the abuse any longer!

Employees Picket American Airlines

Yesterday, the American Airlines flight attendants union, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), picketed the headquarters of American in Fort Worth. This kicked off a series of demonstrations that will take place in at least 15 airports. On Wednesday, the AA pilots will join in the demonstrations.

Why are they unhappy? It seems that they just found out that they are being screwed by American Airlines again. Four years ago, the rank-and-file employees of the airline agreed to a pay-cut to help save the financially-troubled airline. Now that the airline is back on is back on a firmer financial foundation, it is proposing to reward some of its employees.

But the financial rewards are not going to the employees that sacrificed to help save the airlines. The unions have recently learned that American Airlines is scheduled to give over $200 million to airline management next week. The head of American Airlines, Gerard Arpey, is scheduled to receive around $7 million.

This is a slap in the face to attendants, pilots and other employees who are still working for the reduced salaries agreed to in 2003. I don't blame them for picketing the airline! Why should they continue to work at reduced wages, while airline executives receive exorbitant bonuses?

Once again, an American corporation is shafting its workers while making its executives and management rich. This is just wrong!

Management should not receive a single dollar in bonuses until full wages have been restored to all employees. These bonuses have not been earned. They are coming straight out of the pockets of rank-and-file employees.

This is not a very smart move by American Airlines. I doubt if the unions can stop management from getting rich at their expense right now, but contract negotiations will begin next year for some of the airline's unions. You can bet the unions will not have forgotten how they were treated this year.

In their race to make themselves rich through bonuses this year, the American Airlines management have just made their next round of employee negotiations much more difficult. These unions will no longer be willing to make sacrifices just so the bosses can get richer.