United Flight attendants plan walkouts

[safetymom]

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/today/sky.htm#ual

If you are flying this weekend on United you might want to check out this article.

 

[CarolA]

I never understand this kind of logic....

The airline is in bankruptcy and struggling so if we walk out and upset the passengers they will take thier cash and go elsewhere.... That will help me keep my job? Plus if UA has to write the passengers over to DL and AA etc. that is just more cash out the door. (There is a minimum write over amount so if I paid $80 for my ticket they still have to pay DL something like $200 to fly me!)

I know they are upset about the pensions and I understand that, but I just wonder if these unions understand the big picture here. A JOB may be better then NO job.


I don't fully agree with USAToday. When AA's flight attendants went on stricke AA flew the planes. They just never put passengers on them. SO if they couldn't find a crew in Nashville and the flight was scheduled to Dallas, they just flew to Dallas hoping to find a crew there. (That way they could wait until the LAST minute to cancel the plane and make their passengers even madder!)

 

[safetymom]

I don't understand the logic either. Nothing seems to be gained when they do this.

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

The flight attendants are at the point where pay, pension, working conditions make continuing this job not worthwhile.
The FAs vote for any action rather than it being imposed on them from on top.
United reneging on pension promises and turning it over to the PBGC means they will have little or no pension. The PBGC is totally underfunded for obligations and pays a fraction of promised benefits.

 

[safetymom]

I can understand their frustration but where I come from a job is better than no job. If they are that unhappy they should move on to another job.

 

[Hockeymommy]

We fly out this Saturday morning on Delta. I almost took UA flights but I liked Deltas connections better this time. Boy am I glad I spent the extra $40 per ticket this time!!!! If our flights got cancelled my kids would be mortified. Also, the other day my husband went to the airport to ask about the size of some new luggage we bought and he said there were alot of very unhappy people. He went on to explain that an UA flight to Denver had been cancelled, and the soonest they could get them there would be on a Wed. a.m. flight, this was a Sunday a.m. I wonder if it had already started last weekend only on a smaller scale. I feel really bad for the people on those flights that get cancelled due to the strike. However, my husband is also in a union job and I can say for sure we wouldn't want to get jerked around the way the airline employees are!!!

 

[Nysie]

As a flight attendant for UA, it is pretty upsetting when the C.E.O. gets NOTHING taken away from him or his family!!

 

[bicker]

I agree that these kinds of actions don't make much sense. I suppose the logic is to raise awareness among the flying public so they could put pressure on management to make different decisions? It seems pretty clear that these actions do anything but. However, I think what's really underlying these actions are more long-term and strategic considerations on the part of organized labor in-general, to put pressure not so much in the direction of helping the one specific company's employees, but to delibately make the situation worse, and public, so as to discourage other companies from seeking cost reductions from union employees in the future.

 

[Caropooh]

I was a Reservations Agent for United until earlier this month. I got laid off when they closed our call center here in Seattle. I can't say I have much sympathy for the Flight Attendants. They at least still have jobs, unlike the 350 plus of us.

 

[safetymom]

Caropooh, sorry to hear you lost your job.

I think management should take pay cuts also.

 

[mkymouse4ever]

Very glad we are NOT cruising this trip. I hate to be delayed but it won't kill us. Not like missing the boat. Yikees! I'm holding tix's for August. Got a good price BUT then changed the flight so add that price on so it now was no deal, and kinda expensive but worth it to leave 2 days early. I won't be real happy if "CHAOS" last till then. I can see why they are not happy, but will this really change things. So many airlines have closed after "strike" situations. Remember Dreamflights original Eastern airlines? I sure hope the 2 sides find some way to work this out and soon, for everyones benefit.

Will keep a close eye on the "chaos" here in illinois! With time running out. Mky

 

[mkymouse4ever]

Anyone read or hear anything else recently? Mky

 

[eeyore45]

As a flight attendant for UA, it is pretty upsetting when the C.E.O. gets NOTHING taken away from him or his family!!

I'm not a flight attendant, or a union member, but I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, something is just wrong.... same with Enron, all the 'worker bees' lost everything, while ... well anyway...

I support the Flight Attendants!

 

[bicker]

Indeed it must be frustrating, but it doesn't appreciatively change the financial situation. Even if the CEO took no salary, it wouldn't remedy the airline's financial woes.