[HN Gopher] Why we've canceled flights, and what we are doing to... ___________________________________________________________________ Why we've canceled flights, and what we are doing to get back on track Author : aoetalks Score : 29 points Date : 2022-04-11 21:32 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (news.alaskaair.com) (TXT) w3m dump (news.alaskaair.com) | kepler1 wrote: | Why is it that in even in an explanation about flight delays, | pilot staffing, shortages, we have to inject a political | statement that "... we founded a program to develop and support | BIPOC pilots..."? | hindsightbias wrote: | When your basic right seater needs a minimum of 1500 hours flight | time, maybe your career path should include a salary higher than | a union bus driver. | totalview wrote: | Yeah, they make way more than any bus driver. | | "An Alaska Airlines captain, according to a news release from | the airline, averages about $341,000 a year, but pilots say | it's not just about money" | | https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2022/04/04/cancellations-c... | | FWIW I just traveled on 4 flights with Alaska Air and this | didn't impact us at all. | sparrish wrote: | Right seat != left seat. Check salary of first officers. | faangiq wrote: | You will earn nothing. And you will be happy. | bumper_crop wrote: | Airlines in America are traditionally extremely capital | intensive, and the customers are very price sensitive. (e.g. | "If you want to be a Millionaire, start with a billion dollars | and launch a new airline.") The low salary and unfavorable | hours pilots face really originate at the customer level, with | most people being unwilling to pay higher ticket prices. It's | easy to blame airlines here, but that's a mental shortcut that | doesn't represent the truth. | bumblebritches5 wrote: | tmp_anon_22 wrote: | Would Airlines be so capital intensive if not for the | security theatre of the TSA and all its related expenses? | seanmcdirmid wrote: | Yes. TSA security theater is all paid for with a specific | line item on your ticket. It is not that expensive: | | > The fee is currently $5.60 per one-way trip in air | transportation that originates at an airport in the U.S., | except that the fee imposed per round trip shall not exceed | $11.20 | | The rest is covered by tax payers, not airliners | specifically. | | https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/testimony/2020/03/03/examini | n... | ceeplusplus wrote: | Yes. During COVID multiple airlines either almost went | bankrupt or suffered huge losses because most of the cost | of flying is depreciation of the airplanes themselves. | That's why even though the US govt paid for airline | employees' wages and fuel costs were 0 because no one was | flying during COVID, airlines still suffered big losses. | iooi wrote: | Pilots at the majors earn 200k-500k. There's evidence of some | pilots hitting seven figures. How much does a bus driver make? | ericbarrett wrote: | Pilots not flying major routes for major airlines make less, | in some cases a lot less ($30-40k a year). | jabedude wrote: | How is this information relevant on a discussion about a | pilot shortage affecting a major carrier? | uoaei wrote: | Right seat is the first officer / copilot. Not the pilot. You | must spend a long time as a copilot before advancing to the | pilot role. | nathanaldensr wrote: | > _10,000 pilots left the airline industry_ | | Hmm. I wonder. Why. That was. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....... | reedjosh wrote: | "To know who rules over you, simply find out who you are not | allowed to criticize." | evan_ wrote: | wow I had no idea society was ruled over by children with | leukemia. Learn something new every day. | reedjosh wrote: | Children with Leukemia are mega whiny. | monitron wrote: | Sorry, I'm dense...what is this comment referring to? | reedjosh wrote: | https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/01/alaska-airlines-employees- | ne... | uoaei wrote: | From the subheadline: | | > more than 97% of its staff received at least one shot | after the deadline this week. | | If pilots and copilots are massively, _massively_ over- | represented in the remaining 3%, you might have a point, | but that is a huge and unsupported assumption. | newacc9 wrote: | vax mandates. pilot deaths are up 4x yoy. | kossTKR wrote: | I don't get this - is the vaccine killing the pilots? Why | is pilot deaths up 4x and what is the source? | nukemaster wrote: | It might not be as deadly as some people are saying but | it's more deadly than all the previous ones combined. The | data is still coming in. | rootusrootus wrote: | I assume it's because if you're not a senior captain in a major | airline, most pilots earn very low wages and work long hours. | Though it may be tempting to blame vaccine mandates depending | on your ideology. | reedjosh wrote: | An article posted below: | | https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2022/04/04/cancellations-c. | .. | | > An Alaska Airlines captain, according to a news release | from the airline, averages about $341,000 a year, but pilots | say it's not just about money -- they also want work rule | changes, job security and scheduling flexibility. | | So, money doesn't seem to be it alone... | | > work rule changes | | interesting. | uoaei wrote: | What's interesting is how hard people struggle to force a | narrative that isn't there. | reedjosh wrote: | If you find that interesting, have you investigated why | _people_ do it? | bpodgursky wrote: | That which cannot be questioned, isn't. | jmcgough wrote: | Probably because they furloughed a good chunk of them, and it | gave them the time and space to decide they didn't want to go | back to their miserable, underpaid job. | m1gu3l wrote: | Not alaska air but: Currently stuck from a flight canceled on | Saturday, next available flight out is Thursday night. I've gone | through every state of rage and have settled on just never flying | again when i get home. | unsupp0rted wrote: | I love this. It feels like only in America (perhaps Canada, | Aus/NZ, and parts of Northern/Western Europe?) would a company | cop in direct terms to screwing up and needing to do better. | | There's little (but not zero) PR-speak here and little (but not | zero) passive voice or blame on uncontrollable circumstances: | it's a decent enough post-mortem. | | In most countries, especially in East Asia or central/Eastern | Europe, I never see companies say in public "we messed up and | here's how". It's always caused by acts of god, unforeseeable | industry conditions, etc. It's never mea culpa. | | But speaking of Canada, it'll be a cold day in hell before Air | Canada ever admits to being the worst major airline in the | developed world. | talal7860 wrote: | > But speaking of Canada, it'll be a cold day in hell before | Air Canada ever admits to being the worst major airline in the | developed world. | | I wouldn't agree more. | Marazan wrote: | Liking the passive voice which manages to mention Omicron and | illness in the same sentence without actually saying the staff | were sick with Covid. | nukemaster wrote: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=660ZCEhvbnw | p0wn wrote: | Flying sucks. Flights are always packed and the seats are too | close together for comfort. I wonder if a plane was packed with | all first class seats how expensive the tickets would be. | chrisseaton wrote: | > I wonder if a plane was packed with all first class seats how | expensive the tickets would be. | | It's pretty normal to have all lie-flat business/first-class | flights between major business centres such as New York and | London. You wouldn't know about them unless you were booking a | first-class ticket in the first place, so they're not very | visible. | | I think the prices are the same as normal? Otherwise nobody | would use them, of course. | andrejguran wrote: | they're not if you're willing to pay extra for comfort | atdrummond wrote: | I used to fly a route from London City to JFK (with a stopover | in Shannon) and a similar route from Newark to Singapore. Both | were competitively priced with the business class seats on the | 3 class birds on similar routes. In the case of the former, it | was much slower than the larger jets, so I assume that put | downward pressure on the flight price. For the Newark flight, I | think the departing airport being Newark also helped contribute | to slightly lower fares than say if it was JFK to SIN. | | Having worked in the industry previously, I'm not sure there | are many city pairs where all business works but carriers such | as La Compagnie have made it work for at least stretches at a | time. | rootusrootus wrote: | Double, more or less, if the sole requirement was to have the | same revenue per flight for a full plane. E.g. a small short | haul aircraft with, say, 35 rows of economy class (six across) | would end up with 30 rows of first class (four across). That | cuts capacity by about half. | | But some people will pay more for comfort. And most regular | people are _incredibly_ price sensitive, they 'll suffer quite | a lot just to save even 10 bucks on an airline ticket, so your | hypothetical airline doing this strategy went bankrupt. | yabones wrote: | I would love if blimp travel would come back, so long as you | get more personal space. A modern airship could make the | transatlantic trip in about 24-36 hours, so it doesn't really | matter for casual vacation travel. It would be quite relaxing, | just floating across the ocean with a nice cup of tea and a | good book in a small but cozy cabin. | bombcar wrote: | Once the "fastest possible" is broken zeppelin travel offers | significant energy savings - it can ride the Gulf Stream and | spend most of the actual energy positioning itself correctly | there. They could even be designed as sails to catch more. | lisper wrote: | Here is a good analysis of why the situation will never | improve: | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll92ud6Nufw | drstewart wrote: | That experiment existed, it was called the Concorde ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-04-11 23:00 UTC)