American Airline$ -> how much money to save Tulsa jobs?

[Teatownclown]

I know this is the Tulsa Now forum and not the Jenks, Bixby, BA, Owasso, Sand Springs, Sapulpa Forum.  However, a case could be made that Tulsa used to have an ufair monopoly on the retail market, robbing the surrounding communities of their rightful sales taxes.

that's a ridiculous assumption.  Retail uses are dictated by demand. All those surrounding  town s had retail uses.

[dbacks fan]

So the pilots and their union are trying to inflict further problems between AA and the flying public.

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000117695&play=1

On The Kudlow Report, Donald Carty reminded that "it's not every pilot or every flight. I just had a wonderful flight."

Nonetheless, from Monday through Wednesday of this week, American and American Eagle canceled more than 250 flights, according to the FlightAware.com tracking service.

FlightAware said cancellations at American have been well above the rest of the industry for the past two weeks.

"My advice is until things get straightened out with the operations, if you have a choice you ought to book another airline," the Journal's McCartney said.  It's just not worth it."

American began implementing cost cuts for its pilots this month after a U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled the airline could abandon its collective bargaining agreement with the pilots union.

The pilots are the only major work group at American that have not agreed on contract concessions since the airline filed for bankruptcy in November. The union voted down a final offer from the carrier in August.

The pilots, however, deny any wrong doing.

"There is no job action of any sort that is organized, supported or sanctioned by the Allied Pilots Association," the union's statement on Thursday.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/49124783

[dbacks fan]

As of Thursday, the Fort Worth airline had canceled 281 flights this week, mostly in and out of Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport.

At LAX, where American is the largest passenger carrier, the airline's financial and personnel problems have resulted in one to four canceled flights per day and dozens of delays over the last week, according to the website Flightaware.com.

The number of American Airlines flights delayed more than 15 minutes jumped from 30 on Sept. 6 to as many as 94 on Monday, according to the website.

The airline blames the cancellations and delays on an increasing number of calls for maintenance work filed by flight crews, a surge in pilots calling in sick and inclement weather around Chicago.

"Prior to the recent issues, American had been running a good operation, with on-time performance and reliability measures at their best levels in many years," American Airlines spokesman Bruce Hicks said. "The recent disruptions are primarily due to the significant increase in maintenance write-ups by our pilots, many right at the time of departure."

The cancellations are only the latest problem for one of the nation's largest airlines.

American recently won a bankruptcy court judgment enabling it to throw out its union contract with pilots, who picketed Thursday outside Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The airline also announced recently that it was sending 11,000 layoff notices to employees as part of a cost-cutting effort.

A spokesman for the Allied Pilots Assn., the union for American's pilots, denied Wednesday that the pilots were taking part in any organized job action, including an increase in sick day requests.

Instead, Tom Hoban, a first officer at the airline, blamed many of the delays on an increase in calls for mechanical work, caused by a shortage of mechanics, a lack of spare parts and a fleet of planes that, on average, are the oldest in the industry.

In addition, he said, airline employees are frustrated with the cost cutting that has been proposed by American's leaders.

"There is a great deal of dissatisfaction with the leadership and what they have done in bankruptcy," Hoban said

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/21/business/la-fi-american-airlines-20120921

[nathanm]

Yes, some of the pilots have (apparently) been refusing to fly when anything is broken, rather than merely consulting the MEL and finding that having a seat out of service is not in fact a safety issue. That and taxiing very, very slowly. At least that's what people are saying. It's made for an interesting couple of weeks for SWMBO.

[Red Arrow]

that's a ridiculous assumption.  Retail uses are dictated by demand. All those surrounding  town s had retail uses.

30 years ago the thought of a Lowes or Reasor's within Bixby city limits was ridiculous.  There were the little mom and pop stores of course but I don't think Tulsans are/were worried about the sales tax those kinds of places were taking.

[heironymouspasparagus]

that's a ridiculous assumption.  Retail uses are dictated by demand. All those surrounding  town s had retail uses.

I thought you were a developer then??  You know how anemic retail was in those towns.  All small mom and pop's like Red said.  And while there was support from the local population, when someone got "serious" about shopping, they went to town - Tulsa.  ALL of the little towns around experienced that.  Owasso, from personal experience - small department store on Main street - within pennies of the same prices for the same items at the big stores in Tulsa (often lower) - yet people would drive to Tulsa to shop.

[Gaspar]

Well there's your problem right there.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/10/01/american-airlines-flight-makes-emergency-landing-at-jfk-after-row-of-seats-come-loose/

[heironymouspasparagus]

Well there's your problem right there.

"Safety is our top priority," American Airlines spokesperson Matt Miller said in a statement. "We never have – and never will – compromise the safety and reliability of our fleet."

[Gaspar]

"Safety is our top priority," American Airlines spokesperson Matt Miller said in a statement. "We never have – and never will – compromise the safety and reliability of our fleet."

"our feet", I think he meant "feet."

[heironymouspasparagus]

"our feet", I think he meant "feet."

[Ed W]

From the Airline Biz Blog at the Dallas Morning News.  This is an excellent source of breaking news in the industry:

On the item just below this, we noted the story about an American Airlines Boeing 757 jet out of Boston that was diverted to New York Kennedy on Saturday because a row of seats was loose.

Now, we understand, American has found another airplane with a loose set of seats.

The first one had recently undergone a maintenance overhaul at a third-party vendor in North Carolina. The other one had undergone maintenance out of American's Tulsa base.

American now thinks there might be a problem with the mounting system on some 757 coach seats. Here's a Monday afternoon statement from American:

"An initial internal investigation into why a row of seats became loose on an American Airlines Boeing 757 bound from Boston to Miami on Saturday has indicated that there could be a possible issue with a certain model of seats and how they fit into the tracking used to secure the seats.

"Out of an abundance of caution, American has decided to proactively reinspect eight 757s today that could possibly have this same issue. The seats were installed by American maintenance and contract maintenance. The issue does not seem to be tied to any one maintenance facility or one workgroup."

Again, we're told, the seats hadn't come free from the floor, but weren't firmly held down in their tracks. They were loose, not free.

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/

[nathanm]

Glad I don't sit in coach. 

[Townsend]

And then the "uh oh" alarm sounds...

AP: American Airlines' Loose Seats Traced To Airline's Tulsa Maintenance Base

http://www.newson6.com/story/19707846/american-airlines-loose-seats-traced-to-tulsa-maintenance-base

DALLAS - American Airlines says passenger seats on a third flight came loose as the plane was airborne, and it's continuing to inspect other jets with similar seating.
The airline acknowledged Tuesday that seats came loose on a flight last week from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Vail, Colorado. The same thing happened aboard the same plane Monday and a second plane Saturday, according to the airline.

The reports of seats coming loose during flights raised questions about safety on the nation's third biggest airline. Aviation industry experts said publicity about the problem could make passengers stay away from American and fly on other airlines instead.

The spate of loose-seat reports prompted American to inspect eight of its Boeing 757s that share similar seat assemblies.

Airline spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said an initial review indicated that there could be a problem with the way the seats fit into tracks on the floor of the Boeing 757, but technical teams from the airline "are looking at everything."

Asked if seats had ever come loose on an American flight before last week, Huguely replied, "Not that I'm aware of."

The seats on both planes had been removed and reinstalled during recent maintenance at an American Airlines maintenance base in Tulsa and a Timco Aviation Services facility in North Carolina. In both cases American employees were the last to touch the seats, Huguely said.

American Airlines: Turbulent Times

Huguely was adamant, however, in saying that the incidents were not the result of sabotage by workers. American's union employees are unhappy about pending layoffs and cuts in pay and benefits that American has imposed since filing for bankruptcy protection in November. American accuses some pilots of conducting an illegal work slowdown that has caused a jump in canceled and delayed flights.

The problem planes were worked on by several crews in different cities. After seats came loose the first time, a crew in Vail tightened them and the plane made a return flight to Dallas. It flew to Boston later that day, where the seats were tightened again, according to American.

No further problems were noticed until a flight Monday from New York to Miami, which returned to Kennedy Airport. Another plane making a Boston-to-Miami trip on Saturday made an emergency landing in New York after a row of seats came loose in flight.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it is looking into the incidents.

[Gaspar]

Part of their new cost saving measures:

As a cost-cutting measure American Airlines now outfitting their planes with folding chairs. Pick yours up at gate before you board. Unfortunately the folding chair is considered an extra bag and you will be expected to pay a $25 fee.

[shadows]

Part of their new cost saving measures:

As a cost-cutting measure American Airlines now outfitting their planes with folding chairs. Pick yours up at gate before you board. Unfortunately the folding chair is considered an extra bag and you will be expected to pay a $25 fee.

Was I to make such a post like that it would go over like a lead balloon crash and reported by seismograph as an earth quake. A little humor does keep people awake..

It would be of interest to how much AA pays on their lease and how much was paid on a “Finders Fee” to recruit AA to open the aircraft repair.

Douglas offer it seems like was 7 million for the building to be used in continuing to manufacturing airplanes.  Had Douglas purchased the building it would have produced the jobs and with their vested interest the city would have saved millions.