MSY-IAH Ship Passengers
Feb 16, 2013, 6:13 pm
#31
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This part year UA has been getting totally bashed by many (not me) with all the problems since the merger, helping those cruise passengers home would have given them some good press. Again, UA owns the MSY-IAH route so why not operate the charters.
Feb 16, 2013, 7:00 pm
#33
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Probably Not. But if I worked for UA, maybe upper management watching the story about what happened to those people I certainly would think about the opportunity of helping out, especially especially considering the people needed to get to Houston where you have a very large presence.
Feb 16, 2013, 7:09 pm
#34
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Who wins charter contracts is immaterial.
IMHO, the government should have taken a few C-130s to take care of that through Air Force bases (and billed the cruise line) without disturbing civilian air traffic, and let it be.
Feb 17, 2013, 7:25 am
#35
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And, yes, WN operates charters as well......
If UA did, that would have meant another 10+ unscheduled takeoffs and landings at one of their major hubs pretty close to each other, which means that they would have delayed some of their own flights with their own passengers and their own paid customers would be irritated.
Who wins charter contracts is immaterial.
IMHO, the government should have taken a few C-130s to take care of that through Air Force bases (and billed the cruise line) without disturbing civilian air traffic, and let it be.
Who wins charter contracts is immaterial.
IMHO, the government should have taken a few C-130s to take care of that through Air Force bases (and billed the cruise line) without disturbing civilian air traffic, and let it be.
BTW, USAF tends be fully committed these days what with budget cutbacks specifically with regard to their C-5, C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft.......
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Feb 17, 2013 at 8:07 am Reason: multi-quote
Feb 17, 2013, 10:37 pm
#36
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They paid for the charters, as they should.
Feb 17, 2013, 10:49 pm
#37
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Otherwise, I think it's safe to assume that people who had access to a lot more cost data and airline financial analysis capability made what they thought was the best decision.
Feb 17, 2013, 11:11 pm
#38
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I would add that Carnival is a Bahamian Flagged Ship. The United States Government should not be in the business of helping out private enterprise, especially foreign based companies.
Feb 18, 2013, 4:21 am
#39
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Simple, because someone at UA made the decision that it didn't make economic sense to do so (assuming they had the opportunity). Can you provide a compelling, fact based, financial justification for running these charters? Something better than "it would make good news headlines"?
Otherwise, I think it's safe to assume that people who had access to a lot more cost data and airline financial analysis capability made what they thought was the best decision.
Otherwise, I think it's safe to assume that people who had access to a lot more cost data and airline financial analysis capability made what they thought was the best decision.
On the financial analysis front the same folks who have "access to a lot more cost data and airline financial analysis capability" are involved in United's overall financial performance which has lagged lately. If they can't even get their core customer business tracking as well as the competition I see no reason to think they are a slam dunk to get the analysis about the charter business right.
Feb 18, 2013, 8:13 am
#40
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Feb 18, 2013, 10:29 am
#41
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For the third straight year in a row, DL turned in pre-tax, pre-profit sharing profts of more than $1.5 billion, and over $2 billion in 2012.
UA, on the other hand, didn't. Not by a mile.
IMO, the last thing UA needs to worry about is ferrying 1,500+ sewage-soaked passengers from MSY-IAH. Outbidding DL for this type of charter opportunity can wait until Jeff fixes UA.
With the 787 on the ground, UA's widebody fleet is stretched thin at this point, despite February being a rather slow month for international travel.
UA, on the other hand, didn't. Not by a mile.
IMO, the last thing UA needs to worry about is ferrying 1,500+ sewage-soaked passengers from MSY-IAH. Outbidding DL for this type of charter opportunity can wait until Jeff fixes UA.
With the 787 on the ground, UA's widebody fleet is stretched thin at this point, despite February being a rather slow month for international travel.
Feb 18, 2013, 10:58 am
#42
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I haven't seen much of anything (good or bad) of DL's involvement in this event in the media. That's my point. Both United and DL should have considered PR impact of getting involved in this event. DL probably considered the PR impact could be managed and the numbers worked to make money. United could have concluded that the PR impact was too much of a wild card and not worth the risk. Even if the numbers worked.
Feb 18, 2013, 3:26 pm
#43
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The only Delta related "p/r," is a picture of a passenger (who was on the bus that broke down) standing in front of a Delta plane with the article detailing that he was also delayed because of mechanical issues with the plane.
Feb 18, 2013, 3:32 pm
#44
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Regardless of what really is behind this story, it seems to the uninitiated person out there reading his daily newspaper that DL again is doing things right. They are making pax happy, they win contracts, they buy a refinery, they begin re-configuring their aircraft, they buy into foreign carriers, they win news routes to Japan, they are on TV saying the right things and so much more. Seems DL is always in the news and not in a bad way. UA is also in the news but not in a good way. Nearly makes me feel bad that I left DL, but SM/Skypesos are just junk, so I guess I did right after all?
I'd say give UA another year or two and I bet you may be surprised at how much they're starting to look like the new DL...
But, there are others operating C-130s that may not have had the commitments of the USAF -- for example many Air National Guard stations have C-130s.
Still, I agree that this is not the option to take.
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Feb 18, 2013 at 3:58 pm Reason: multi-quote should be used
Feb 18, 2013, 4:52 pm
#45
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I think you said (or at least implied) that even if the numbers didn't work out, UA should have taken a financial hit in exchange for some sort of "positive PR." But there is no evidence of any positive PR here.
Most of this thread (and this is not necessarily directed at you, Beerman) is just about trying to find fault with anything UA does. We don't even know if UA had a chance to bid on this business, or if it made any sense operationally for them to use planes for it. Heck, an entire equipment fleet is grounded, so they likely don't even have any planes to spare. But those types of deatils don't seem to matter to the haters.