Sunday, July 15, 2007
Continental and Delta Merge
This is a fact. It is not a rumor. After a combined 53 years of airline service (28 for me and 25 for him) my Delta brother and I will layover in Las Vegas on the same day. We plan to have a light, quiet meal to celebrate this momentous occasion. Dion is a Delta B-757 Captain based in Los Angeles. He will be the first to arrive, from Atlanta of course, then I from Newark. He will be leaving at midnight for the redeye to Orlando and I the 6 a.m. rocket to Houston. What a wonderful l life! We’ve merged before. At the Naval Academy in 1968 and 1969, as Dion started his plebe year and I my first class year. He hung out in my room on weekends to minimize his exposure to push ups. He came down to Pensacola when I was going through advanced flight training. In return I visited him in VT-1 for his solo flight in the T-34. When Dion got his Navy wings of gold I flew an A-7E Corsair II cross country to see my Dad pin them on. Later that year, when Dion finished T-28 (Navy radial engine prop aircraft) training, he came out to Lemoore, Calif., where I was an instructor. I had access to a T-28 so we took it out. Over San Simeon and the Hearst Castle we soared. A few acrobatics later we squeaked it on one of Lemoore’s twin 13,000 foot runways and I invited Dion in for a beer at the O’Club. Dion got on with Delta in 1979, fresh out of the Navy, and I had been with Braniff since 1976. We celebrated our collective good fortune and talked of our bright futures. Our parents were ecstatic. With Braniff and Delta passes, what good sons they had. My Dad was retired from the Navy and ready to non-rev (now they prefer to pay full fare). Dion was based at DFW and lived just north of the airport. On May 12, 1982, I unknowingly flew my last Braniff trip NYC-DFW. We were to go on to Austin, Texas, but that was the day Braniff shut down. I was stuck at DFW with no job, no hotel and no ideas. One call to Dion got things rolling and the next day I was on Delta flying back to New York. Dion was on the panel of the B-727 for the first six years at Delta but was never furloughed. I started over from scratch with People Express and was working at our simulator center in Totowa, N.J., when Dion got the call to upgrade to the right seat. Up he came to New Jersey for a free hour in the B-727 simulator. Flying around New York and doing touch-and-goes at Newark International got him all warmed up for the Delta upgrade program. All other sightings until Las Vegas have been “I met a People Express pilot and he knows you;” “I had a Continental jumpseater and he had flown with you.” But today is the day. Scheduling from two different airlines and the aviation gods (or are they the self-appointed aviation gods?) have seen fit to put us together in the same city at the same time and give us both per diem. Who will pay for dinner? (I think one of the world’s highest paid pilots – Delta.) And should we gamble? I feel really, really lucky today.
How Guam (Air Micronesia or “Air Mike”) saved Continental Airlines
I’m sure you’ve heard of David and Goliath or, if not, then surely Erin Brockovitch. Well, every once in a while, the small people do big things. This is a true story of one of those big events.
Guam is an eight-hour flight beyond Hawaii. That ought to make your knees buckle and seat smart. It’s a United States territory just 30 miles long and 10 miles wide in the general shape of a peanut. Continental has flown the islands around Guam since 1968; we still have flight attendants and pilots who flew DC-6s around the islands in the early days. Now we have separate Air Mike flight attendants and a separate air carrier certificate for the B-737s on Guam.
Let’s go back to 1995 on the mainland. Continental Lite was winding down. (Bob Ferguson was just 10 years ahead of his time. Could he be working behind the scenes at TED?) Ferguson was soon to be replaced by Gordon Bethune. Continental was short on cash and a good candidate for possibly going into bankruptcy protection for the second time that decade. Rumor had it management was having trouble gathering the cash for our payroll.
Air Mike, on the other hand, was doing well. In 1995 Air Mike was approaching a milestone of carrying one million Japanese and Chinese tourists to Guam to enjoy the sun and duty-free shopping. History is always written by the conquerors. History’s point of view is from their eyes and point of view. They write what they know best which is what they were able to affect.
Well, this is a missing piece of the puzzle from back in 1995, when Gordon Bethune was definitely affecting the mainland Continental Airlines in a positive way. On Guam, it was just more of the same. Price and sell the product in Japan in yen and play the international money flux to our favor when the dollar was king and the yen brought in more dollars every week. While mainland Continental was having trouble finding money for its turnaround, Air Mike made $67 million profit running a decent, small airline with 20 leased aircraft and crews from Continental Airlines. Was that enough to save the parent company from bankruptcy court until they dismantled Continental Lite? No, Gordon needed more money to avoid court and put his and Greg’s plan into full play. They needed time and money to earn the respect of the much abused employees of Continental.
This is where the missing piece of history was written but it remains little known to the Continental family.
Even in 1995, Delta Airlines was envious of Continental, or at least lusted after Air Mike. Out came the Delta advance team with bean counters in tow. The idea was that they would look at Air Mike’s books and operation and make a bid to purchase that subsidiary (certificate). Air Mike would be cut off after flying the islands for more than 25 years and in doing so, give Continental the cash it so desperately needed. Surely Gordon knew of the Delta deal, maybe initiated it, but his book From Worst to First doesn’t mention this bit of history.
Regardless, Continental didn’t do Delta but did use the value Delta had placed on the table to borrow $375 million with Air Mike’s certificate as collateral. At a time when Continental’s balance sheet could swing plus or minus $5 million a month as Gordon mentions in his book, this was the cash needed to reorganize the airline and make payroll – a well-timed transaction.
Air Mike continued its fine operation, with many months over a 99 percent completion factor, consistently beating the number one on-time airline (Southwest) by as many as 3 to 4 percentage points in the DOT standard on-time statistics. (Air Mike didn’t get the awards because it was reported as an international carrier and subsidiary of Continental.)
There were two distinct pilot groups on Guam: those who maintained a home on Guam and those who commuted to do their flying. 1995 was a painful year for the pilots, as well as all work groups at Continental. Big cost cuts were necessary to fund the future and Gordon needed all work groups to shrink to fit his new airline. The pilots hired in 1990 had endured two to three years of frozen first year pay because of the earlier bankruptcy and were moved to Guam as the junior base. Most came willingly with their families because it looked like a long stay ahead of them in 1994.
When the furlough was announced in 1995 almost all the Air Mike B-727 second officers got a furlough letter.
“Go (or go back) to Express, take a leave or quit - you’re furloughed at the end of the month.”
Well done, Continental. Furlough one third of the most profitable segment of your route system in one slash of the pen and, by the way, we can’t get your replacement pilots out to Guam in time so send our junior pilots back by the end of the month and we’ll dribble out disgruntled more senior pilots forced to commute to Guam. (Who knew if it was the last furlough or not?)
The little guy, Air Mike, had to speak up.
Take our profit, try to sell us, borrow money with our certificate as collateral so we’re leveraged to the hilt but you can’t be serious. You want us to furlough all our second officers on the same day with no trained replacements on Guam yet? We’ll have to cancel all our prepaid vacation customers from Japan, devastating our profitable airline and losing all our biggest travel group operators in one fell swoop. Not a great idea!
Marketing and sales in Japan are unique. As the award winning movie with Bill Murray certainly shows, some things are Lost in Translation. Japan does business differently. Once or twice a year the biggest travel operators that organize the vacation packages to Guam get together with all the airlines operating to the island and buy up in advance all the seats for the year ahead. Then they go about the business of packaging and marketing their vacations to the Japanese. These travel booking agents have given us a lot of money in advance and their customers are in receipt of flight tickets, hotel reservations and, in many cases, chapel reservations for their Western wedding. Failing to crew their return flights was not a good idea.
Guam got a reprieve just before the midnight execution approached. The furlough was postponed one month.
Another month of pay, another month to get the kids out of school and international movers to the houses, another month to make plans to get off the island in an orderly fashion. No revenue lost but a great loss for our friends and families. Guam is so far away from our true families we bonded together as a family unit while on the island and tried to support each other in those trying times.
Gordon got his money in 1995 to turn Continental around and into a first class airline with the help of Air Mike.
Guam is hardly mentioned in everyday conversations at mainline but is the jewel in the crown of Continental. Did you know that Guam-Honolulu is the most profitable route in the entire Continental system today? I rest my case.
Guam is an eight-hour flight beyond Hawaii. That ought to make your knees buckle and seat smart. It’s a United States territory just 30 miles long and 10 miles wide in the general shape of a peanut. Continental has flown the islands around Guam since 1968; we still have flight attendants and pilots who flew DC-6s around the islands in the early days. Now we have separate Air Mike flight attendants and a separate air carrier certificate for the B-737s on Guam.
Let’s go back to 1995 on the mainland. Continental Lite was winding down. (Bob Ferguson was just 10 years ahead of his time. Could he be working behind the scenes at TED?) Ferguson was soon to be replaced by Gordon Bethune. Continental was short on cash and a good candidate for possibly going into bankruptcy protection for the second time that decade. Rumor had it management was having trouble gathering the cash for our payroll.
Air Mike, on the other hand, was doing well. In 1995 Air Mike was approaching a milestone of carrying one million Japanese and Chinese tourists to Guam to enjoy the sun and duty-free shopping. History is always written by the conquerors. History’s point of view is from their eyes and point of view. They write what they know best which is what they were able to affect.
Well, this is a missing piece of the puzzle from back in 1995, when Gordon Bethune was definitely affecting the mainland Continental Airlines in a positive way. On Guam, it was just more of the same. Price and sell the product in Japan in yen and play the international money flux to our favor when the dollar was king and the yen brought in more dollars every week. While mainland Continental was having trouble finding money for its turnaround, Air Mike made $67 million profit running a decent, small airline with 20 leased aircraft and crews from Continental Airlines. Was that enough to save the parent company from bankruptcy court until they dismantled Continental Lite? No, Gordon needed more money to avoid court and put his and Greg’s plan into full play. They needed time and money to earn the respect of the much abused employees of Continental.
This is where the missing piece of history was written but it remains little known to the Continental family.
Even in 1995, Delta Airlines was envious of Continental, or at least lusted after Air Mike. Out came the Delta advance team with bean counters in tow. The idea was that they would look at Air Mike’s books and operation and make a bid to purchase that subsidiary (certificate). Air Mike would be cut off after flying the islands for more than 25 years and in doing so, give Continental the cash it so desperately needed. Surely Gordon knew of the Delta deal, maybe initiated it, but his book From Worst to First doesn’t mention this bit of history.
Regardless, Continental didn’t do Delta but did use the value Delta had placed on the table to borrow $375 million with Air Mike’s certificate as collateral. At a time when Continental’s balance sheet could swing plus or minus $5 million a month as Gordon mentions in his book, this was the cash needed to reorganize the airline and make payroll – a well-timed transaction.
Air Mike continued its fine operation, with many months over a 99 percent completion factor, consistently beating the number one on-time airline (Southwest) by as many as 3 to 4 percentage points in the DOT standard on-time statistics. (Air Mike didn’t get the awards because it was reported as an international carrier and subsidiary of Continental.)
There were two distinct pilot groups on Guam: those who maintained a home on Guam and those who commuted to do their flying. 1995 was a painful year for the pilots, as well as all work groups at Continental. Big cost cuts were necessary to fund the future and Gordon needed all work groups to shrink to fit his new airline. The pilots hired in 1990 had endured two to three years of frozen first year pay because of the earlier bankruptcy and were moved to Guam as the junior base. Most came willingly with their families because it looked like a long stay ahead of them in 1994.
When the furlough was announced in 1995 almost all the Air Mike B-727 second officers got a furlough letter.
“Go (or go back) to Express, take a leave or quit - you’re furloughed at the end of the month.”
Well done, Continental. Furlough one third of the most profitable segment of your route system in one slash of the pen and, by the way, we can’t get your replacement pilots out to Guam in time so send our junior pilots back by the end of the month and we’ll dribble out disgruntled more senior pilots forced to commute to Guam. (Who knew if it was the last furlough or not?)
The little guy, Air Mike, had to speak up.
Take our profit, try to sell us, borrow money with our certificate as collateral so we’re leveraged to the hilt but you can’t be serious. You want us to furlough all our second officers on the same day with no trained replacements on Guam yet? We’ll have to cancel all our prepaid vacation customers from Japan, devastating our profitable airline and losing all our biggest travel group operators in one fell swoop. Not a great idea!
Marketing and sales in Japan are unique. As the award winning movie with Bill Murray certainly shows, some things are Lost in Translation. Japan does business differently. Once or twice a year the biggest travel operators that organize the vacation packages to Guam get together with all the airlines operating to the island and buy up in advance all the seats for the year ahead. Then they go about the business of packaging and marketing their vacations to the Japanese. These travel booking agents have given us a lot of money in advance and their customers are in receipt of flight tickets, hotel reservations and, in many cases, chapel reservations for their Western wedding. Failing to crew their return flights was not a good idea.
Guam got a reprieve just before the midnight execution approached. The furlough was postponed one month.
Another month of pay, another month to get the kids out of school and international movers to the houses, another month to make plans to get off the island in an orderly fashion. No revenue lost but a great loss for our friends and families. Guam is so far away from our true families we bonded together as a family unit while on the island and tried to support each other in those trying times.
Gordon got his money in 1995 to turn Continental around and into a first class airline with the help of Air Mike.
Guam is hardly mentioned in everyday conversations at mainline but is the jewel in the crown of Continental. Did you know that Guam-Honolulu is the most profitable route in the entire Continental system today? I rest my case.
TRY NOT TO GET THERE
We’re all commuters – even if you live just 5 miles from the airport. Someday there will be an accident that shuts your road to work down with you in the middle lane unable to attempt an alternate route. Except for both of you who live in the bag room (and you know who I’m talking about), the rest of you are reading this while commuting on an aircraft or waiting in the crew lounge bored to tears.
Listen up! Attendance and Reliability isn’t a steakhouse on the Las Vegas strip.
The words “Attendance and Reliability” strike fear in the hearts of normal pilots. Possibly written for guidance of the Chief Pilot’s Office and its administrative responsibilities, the Attendance and Reliability Program is available for all pilots to read in the Flight Operations section of the “read” file and is often printed and studied by interested pilots.
Although much can be said for standardization and equality in evaluating pilots’ attendance and reliability, none of it is nice.
Let’s step back a little and think about this. If you are eligible for perfect attendance drawings “they” love you. If, on the other hand, you own a Ford Explorer and call in sick when you are medically unable to fly, you are unreliable and suspect at best. Total sick bank, past drawings or heroics on the flight line are quickly forgotten. There are no excused absences (other than death in the family). All absences are counted in the “Attendance and Reliability Program.”
My response to this negative approach to the use of accrued sick leave was also negative – at first. Now, I try to rid my working experience (as well as my home) of negative stressful situations.
I try “not” to call in sick. I try “not” to want to rush through the terminal and security. Take off my shoes? “Sure,” I say. “Sounds good to me.”
Basically, I try “not” to get there. And do you know what? I’ve been cruising through security, making flights I didn’t expect to make and calling in sick when I’m medically unable to fly. Don’t worry, be happy! as the song from the ’90s goes. Of course, I get a note from my doctor. I may have been Navy but I’m not stupid. I try “not” to be scared of secret retribution.
How many years have I rushed around trying to make thinks happen? Too many, of course, but with very little to show for it. I took massive pay cuts at the original “Braniff International” but the company went out of business anyway. I bought way too much PeoplExpress stock on the payroll deduct plan, trying to be millionaire but to no avail.
I tried and tried but that is now history. I don’t try now. I’m still an optimist and loyal to the company but no more trying for me. I set low expectations and then am excited when I exceed them. I try “not” to expect people to be nice and compassionate.
Now, I find this new philosophy must be catching on. I run into more and more employees being nice. Are they “not” trying to be mean?
Listen up! Attendance and Reliability isn’t a steakhouse on the Las Vegas strip.
The words “Attendance and Reliability” strike fear in the hearts of normal pilots. Possibly written for guidance of the Chief Pilot’s Office and its administrative responsibilities, the Attendance and Reliability Program is available for all pilots to read in the Flight Operations section of the “read” file and is often printed and studied by interested pilots.
Although much can be said for standardization and equality in evaluating pilots’ attendance and reliability, none of it is nice.
Let’s step back a little and think about this. If you are eligible for perfect attendance drawings “they” love you. If, on the other hand, you own a Ford Explorer and call in sick when you are medically unable to fly, you are unreliable and suspect at best. Total sick bank, past drawings or heroics on the flight line are quickly forgotten. There are no excused absences (other than death in the family). All absences are counted in the “Attendance and Reliability Program.”
My response to this negative approach to the use of accrued sick leave was also negative – at first. Now, I try to rid my working experience (as well as my home) of negative stressful situations.
I try “not” to call in sick. I try “not” to want to rush through the terminal and security. Take off my shoes? “Sure,” I say. “Sounds good to me.”
Basically, I try “not” to get there. And do you know what? I’ve been cruising through security, making flights I didn’t expect to make and calling in sick when I’m medically unable to fly. Don’t worry, be happy! as the song from the ’90s goes. Of course, I get a note from my doctor. I may have been Navy but I’m not stupid. I try “not” to be scared of secret retribution.
How many years have I rushed around trying to make thinks happen? Too many, of course, but with very little to show for it. I took massive pay cuts at the original “Braniff International” but the company went out of business anyway. I bought way too much PeoplExpress stock on the payroll deduct plan, trying to be millionaire but to no avail.
I tried and tried but that is now history. I don’t try now. I’m still an optimist and loyal to the company but no more trying for me. I set low expectations and then am excited when I exceed them. I try “not” to expect people to be nice and compassionate.
Now, I find this new philosophy must be catching on. I run into more and more employees being nice. Are they “not” trying to be mean?
Sunday, July 8, 2007
What's the deal with Pilots and electronics?
I'm writing this on a standard lined writing tablet (not yellow but a subdued gray color). I admit this because I'm trying to kick the habit, the dreaded habit of buying electronic gadgets that are a "must" as rationalized by me for their timesaving characteristics. 'Timesaving" is an oxymoron like "Army Intelligence" and, likewise, is "bass ackwards."
Wait a second! I'm getting ahead of myself.
"My name is Kevin and I'm an electronics addict."
That's how I start each "EA" meeting (Electronics Anonymous). Yes, they have a 12-step program for those of us afflicted with this disease.
(Excuse me for a second. I need to call my sponsor. I just fell of the wagon and used my Franklin electronic Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus to look up how to spell "disease.")
Now where were we? (By the way, he told me to trash the electronic dictionary immediately; they have books now that you can use to look that stuff up.)
It started simply enough by buying a small electronic Spanish-English dictionary and using it occasionally, just on weekends, recreationally really, just taking a break from the monotonous task of fingering the little red covered book I used with my Spanish lessons. Now I'm into an electronic five language translator with currency calculator. Where will it stop?
Let's inventory my extra bag before I started rehab. Yes, roller bag, black bag and electronics carry all. In no particular sequence I'll just pull them out:
∑ iBook (12" computer with 1100 digital pictures)
∑ i Pod (MP-3 player, of course, with 3,200 songs, all purchased by CD or bought in the itunes store online)
∑ cell phone (with camera that can send pictures to any and all e-mail addresses or phones worldwide)
∑ digital camera with 3x zoom
∑ electronic dictionary (aforementioned)
∑ five language translator and currency calculator (also aforementioned)
∑ noise canceling earphones
∑ digital bedside clock with snooze feature
∑ charger for the cell phone
∑ charger for the iPod
∑ charger for the iBook
∑ USB cable for the digital camera
∑ telephone line for on-line access
∑ extra batteries for the digital camera and noise-canceling head phones and, of course,
∑ a bag of plugs to fit European, Scandinavian and South American wall sockets to ensure 100 percent charges for all devices at all times. (Did I mention I was "OC" (obsessive compulsive)? But that's another story.)
I'm sure I forgot something but that's enough electronics for now. Total weight is 11.33 pounds. Whew! I need an ibuprofen just thinking about lifting it.
When I realized I was using electronics excessively (headache, bleary eyes, thinking about my e-mail all the time), I tried to cut down by myself. Only two electronics a night and not before 5 p.m. (it worked for alcohol, I think). At first I couldn't decide which two electronics I'd use, then, after deciding, I would watch the clock for the appropriate time. It worked for a while but then I'd move the time up a little each day. Then it happened. Twelve noon and I was online checking my e-mail, then on the cell phone checking voicemail, then both at once when I got a text message and call waiting at the same time.
I had a melt down and went cold turkey that afternoon. I shut everything off.
I'm still an electronics junkie but with the help of my new friends at EA I "choose not to use." Thank goodness there is a government program to help us addicts wean ourselves off the need for electronics and the rush it gives us. They give us paper products to ease our pain of withdrawal.
This morning I received note cards, postcards, this writing tablet and a newspaper. This will keep me busy till the meeting tonight. I can't wait for the coffee they serve at the meetings. I think Starbucks gives it to them for free. I wonder if that's a marketing tool. It worked for Phillip Morris.
Wait a second! I'm getting ahead of myself.
"My name is Kevin and I'm an electronics addict."
That's how I start each "EA" meeting (Electronics Anonymous). Yes, they have a 12-step program for those of us afflicted with this disease.
(Excuse me for a second. I need to call my sponsor. I just fell of the wagon and used my Franklin electronic Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus to look up how to spell "disease.")
Now where were we? (By the way, he told me to trash the electronic dictionary immediately; they have books now that you can use to look that stuff up.)
It started simply enough by buying a small electronic Spanish-English dictionary and using it occasionally, just on weekends, recreationally really, just taking a break from the monotonous task of fingering the little red covered book I used with my Spanish lessons. Now I'm into an electronic five language translator with currency calculator. Where will it stop?
Let's inventory my extra bag before I started rehab. Yes, roller bag, black bag and electronics carry all. In no particular sequence I'll just pull them out:
∑ iBook (12" computer with 1100 digital pictures)
∑ i Pod (MP-3 player, of course, with 3,200 songs, all purchased by CD or bought in the itunes store online)
∑ cell phone (with camera that can send pictures to any and all e-mail addresses or phones worldwide)
∑ digital camera with 3x zoom
∑ electronic dictionary (aforementioned)
∑ five language translator and currency calculator (also aforementioned)
∑ noise canceling earphones
∑ digital bedside clock with snooze feature
∑ charger for the cell phone
∑ charger for the iPod
∑ charger for the iBook
∑ USB cable for the digital camera
∑ telephone line for on-line access
∑ extra batteries for the digital camera and noise-canceling head phones and, of course,
∑ a bag of plugs to fit European, Scandinavian and South American wall sockets to ensure 100 percent charges for all devices at all times. (Did I mention I was "OC" (obsessive compulsive)? But that's another story.)
I'm sure I forgot something but that's enough electronics for now. Total weight is 11.33 pounds. Whew! I need an ibuprofen just thinking about lifting it.
When I realized I was using electronics excessively (headache, bleary eyes, thinking about my e-mail all the time), I tried to cut down by myself. Only two electronics a night and not before 5 p.m. (it worked for alcohol, I think). At first I couldn't decide which two electronics I'd use, then, after deciding, I would watch the clock for the appropriate time. It worked for a while but then I'd move the time up a little each day. Then it happened. Twelve noon and I was online checking my e-mail, then on the cell phone checking voicemail, then both at once when I got a text message and call waiting at the same time.
I had a melt down and went cold turkey that afternoon. I shut everything off.
I'm still an electronics junkie but with the help of my new friends at EA I "choose not to use." Thank goodness there is a government program to help us addicts wean ourselves off the need for electronics and the rush it gives us. They give us paper products to ease our pain of withdrawal.
This morning I received note cards, postcards, this writing tablet and a newspaper. This will keep me busy till the meeting tonight. I can't wait for the coffee they serve at the meetings. I think Starbucks gives it to them for free. I wonder if that's a marketing tool. It worked for Phillip Morris.
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