Northwest STRIKE!

[CarolA]

Mechanics went on strike

Flight Attendants did not, but this is from Flyertalk.com from the FA union...

The PFAA strike ballots have been counted. By our members vote, a strike has been rejected. Therefore, the PFAA Executive Board is not authorized to call a strike. We recognize that there may be those Flight Attendants who refuse to cross AMFA's picket line. PFAA contends that no Flight Attendants may be disciplined for such a show of solidarity, and today pledges all available resources to defend and protect such a choice.

My impression for reading over there is that the FA union wanted to strike, but the members didn't. Check your flights and arrive EARLY! (Minimum 3 hours!)

 

[CharityLynn]

wow thanks for the info..I'm trying not to get worried.we leave at the end of Oct so hopefully all will be resolved by then

 

[CarolA]

I would think that it will be resolved one way or another in the next few weeks. My bet is NW goes into bankruptcy and gets a judge to order them back to work...

 

[decker96]

wow thanks for the info..I'm trying not to get worried.we leave at the end of Oct so hopefully all will be resolved by then

Hoping the same, we leave Oct. 19!

 

[kkmauch]

I live in the Twin Cities, one of the supposedly "most impacted" cities, since we house the corporate office and one of the largest hubs in the nation. We really haven't seen a huge difference in service. I was just reading the local paper evening edition on-line and only a handful of flights we cancelled or delayed, as would happen on any given day at MSP. So, while I would be a little more cautious, you shouldn't see a huge difference in service. People tend to immediately blame the cancellation of their flight on the Mechanic strike, but I would caution people on doing that...chances are, it wasn't the strike, but just a normal operating issue like any other airline might have.
One of the other problems we've seen reported, people who want to change their reservations because they refuse to cross the picket line.
Yes, there were two issues with planes in Detroit, but those were reportedly unrelated to the strike.

 

[Belle♪♪♪]

Glad to see this thread , I live in Mn and our trip is just around the corner.

 

[LilyLake]

We flew home from Orlando yesterday on NWA (to Minneapolis/St Paul.) We were really unsure about how things would go, but the flight left on time and arrived on time. Everything was completely normal. Then we sat on the tarmac for 33 minutes waiting for a "light saber guy" to guide our plane up to the gate. I knew it was a bad sign when the pilots actually turned off the seat belt sign and told people they could go to the bathroom if they had to. This was definitely a result of the strike. It also took longer than normal for the luggage to make it to the carousel. It was 1-1/2 hours from the time our plane landed until we were at our vehicle to leave. We were very happy to be home with only these minor complications, though.

 

[CarolA]

Well, I don't think luggage delays are a "direct" result since that's a different union, but... at least it went fairly well.

I think that if NW can get things worked out quickly most things will be OK. THey do have mechanics etc... It's when BIG things break and/or they have to take planes off line for the major service reviews required by the FAA that the shortage is going to show.

 

[MNmom]

I am also glad that things are running relatively smoothly right now....however, this is a mechanics strike and very soon these planes are going to need routine maintenance and mechanical repairs. As time goes by the repair schedules will become backed up and slowed down. I understand that they have backup workers but I really think that things will become problematic as time goes on. Let's hope for a resolution soon for all the workers, their families and NWA--big part of our economy. JMHO

 

[DebbieB]

We flew home from Orlando yesterday on NWA (to Minneapolis/St Paul.) We were really unsure about how things would go, but the flight left on time and arrived on time. Everything was completely normal. Then we sat on the tarmac for 33 minutes waiting for a "light saber guy" to guide our plane up to the gate. I knew it was a bad sign when the pilots actually turned off the seat belt sign and told people they could go to the bathroom if they had to. This was definitely a result of the strike. It also took longer than normal for the luggage to make it to the carousel. It was 1-1/2 hours from the time our plane landed until we were at our vehicle to leave. We were very happy to be home with only these minor complications, though.

Was there a thunderstorm at the time? It's happened to me a couple of times recently, the ramp workers cannot go out if there is lightning in the area. I also ran into a situation where the plane in our gate before us was late leaving and we had to wait until they backed out.

 

[LilyLake]

No, the weather was beautiful.
The pilot made an announcement and told us that the delay was due to the strike. They were shorthanded on light saber dudes.

 

[Pinnie]

Just got home a bit ago on a NWA flight from MCO to DTW. We had NO issues at all. Flight left on time and even got in a tad early. We waited a bit for luggage, but that is always an issue for me when I fly NWA. There were plenty of "wing walkers" on the tarmac to guide planes in today at DTW.

pinnie

 

[gabbygrennell]

My dad works for NWA, and from what we can tell, there should not be any real problems as a result of the strike... he is not a mechanic, but certainly knows all the details...
Long before the strike, NWA hired plenty of mechanics to cover in the case of a strike...
and as for luggage delays etc... that has absolutely nothing to do with the strike... just normal stuff.
You guys are funny tho, saying maintenance will get backed up and start causing delays... an airline cannot operate without mechanics..! They must be there constantly wether there is something needing fixed or not!

Rest assured, NWA has plenty of mechanics that they hired in to take the place of those on strike...
Sad thing is, there will probably never be a resolution for the mechanics!
Anyways, I see no reason why there would be any major delays due to the strike. If there are delays, they are probly normal stuff due to weather etc...

 

[CarolA]

NW has indicated they have hired around 1,500 replacements for over 5,000 mechanices... Sorry, but the workload numbers don't add up. I think NW can opearate day to day... I am curious about what happens when the 500 hour and other major inspections come up. NW like most airlines no longer has a lot of extra planes to pull in when planes are off line for these inspections etc... So if there is a back up there then things will start to be affected.

 

[Pinnie]

The 5,000 "Mechanics" number is misleading, According to today's Detroit Free Press, a number of those that are on strike include 800 airplane cleaners. NWA has 3,470 actual "mechanics" which it plans to cut in half. So, they feel that they could get by with 1500 replacement workers because that is what they eventually want to end up with.

I feel for those workers who are losing jobs, but in order to stay competitive with the SWAs and AirTran's of the business now, the legacy carrier is going to have to cut to the bare bones, just like Chrysler did years ago. Using contract workers is the way of the future and they can't keep on doing business the way they did back years ago!

pinnie

 

[Belle♪♪♪]

Great info.

 

[allforpooh]

Thanks for the info, we are leaving in a couple of weeks so I hope all is resolved by then.

Denise

 

[CarolA]

The 5,000 "Mechanics" number is misleading, According to today's Detroit Free Press, a number of those that are on strike include 800 airplane cleaners. NWA has 3,470 actual "mechanics" which it plans to cut in half. So, they feel that they could get by with 1500 replacement workers because that is what they eventually want to end up with.

I feel for those workers who are losing jobs, but in order to stay competitive with the SWAs and AirTran's of the business now, the legacy carrier is going to have to cut to the bare bones, just like Chrysler did years ago. Using contract workers is the way of the future and they can't keep on doing business the way they did back years ago!

pinnie

It's still not adding up.. Let's hope for the sake of the flying public that at least SOME of those 1500 replacement works are cleaners... Otherwise those planes are going to get NASTY in a hurry. NW FAs don't clean like SW does!!! So even if you figure only a few hundred of the 1,500 are cleaners you look short staffed to me.

 

[Pinnie]

It's still not adding up.. Let's hope for the sake of the flying public that at least SOME of those 1500 replacement works are cleaners... Otherwise those planes are going to get NASTY in a hurry. NW FAs don't clean like SW does!!! So even if you figure only a few hundred of the 1,500 are cleaners you look short staffed to me.

From the Detroit Free Press 8/22

"NWA hired 1,200 replacement workers and 350 managers, plus 400 mechanics from outside companies to replace the 4,400 AFMA mechanics and cleaners who walked off the job."

"NWA has rehired a number of former mechanics that were laid off after 9/11."

Personally, I have never found NWAs planes to be clean anyway and maybe by outsourcing cleaning to another company, things will get better on NWA.

pinnie

 

[bicker]

I heard analysts say the same thing today -- that Northwest actually could make do with the replacement workers long-term. With all the other mechanics laid off by other airlines in recent years, it's not a surprise that Northwest is able to manage this.

Of course, pilots would be another issue.