Austin787

If AA was charging more for the A332 flight than the 763 flight, you would have some grounds for compensation. But if the A332 and 763 flights cost the same, you may be out of luck.

The retrofit 763 is comparable to the A332 - both are lie flat seats with aisle access. The only difference is IFE.

FWAAA

Until later in the year, when the pilots' seniority lists should be merged in arbitration, all A330s will be staffed with LUS pilots and FAs, and all 763s will be staffed with LAA pilots and FAs.

For DUB, the routing might be CLT-DUB-ORD-DUB-CLT. ZRH may be JFK-ZRH-PHL-ZRH-JFK.

Fanjet

I know that. But my question was about crew bases. Will there be a crew base at ORD for LUS crews? Or will they be flying crews in on a ferry flight from PHL/CLT? My concern is when something like a cockpit crew member calls out sick. At PHL/CLT you have those people on call. At ORD you do not. So the flight gets cancelled, as opposed to possibly being delayed until the replacement crew member (on call) arrives.

dzflyer

What does LUS mean

AlwaysSunnyInORD

LUS - Legacy US Airways
LAA - Legacy American

TWA884

Legacy US Airways.

LAA stands for Legacy American Airlines.

Max M

There is a minute difference.

Yes, LAA's retrofitted 763's J Cabin have lie flat seats comparable to LUS A332/A333's seats.

However, the retrofitted 763 J product have a staggered seat cabin:



Whereas the LUS A332/A333's lie seats in J do not have a staggered seat cabin:



To some people this may make a difference; to others no difference at all.

discoverCSG

That is the mega-difference.

The micro-difference is that some have reported (and I have experienced) two difficulties with the CIP 763 J seat.

1. The footwell is too small, making it difficult for us taller folks to stretch out in bed mode.

2. The tray table is a bear to operate - I had two FA's trying to get mine closed twice on JFK-MAD last September.

Also, the 763 uses Samsung tablets for IFE - a more complicated setup, and only available after takeoff, then collected an hour before landing; the 330's have built-in IFE which does not have these limitations.

oysterhead43

So, if I'm on a ZHR-PHL in June, would that mean a plane change?

BMWMOT

Yes. Starting in May apparently, they swapped the 332 for the 763. Check your record locator on the AA site. You'll most likely see a change in flight numbers and seat assignments.

I'm not happy about the change but there's not much I can do. The 332 is not exactly state of the art and is I think about 10 yrs old now but the herringbone layout is so much better. The misses and I spent a while last night trying to decide on our new seats. Of course it was no decision for her, see gets the window seat with the table on the aisle side.

On the 332 I would sit across from her in the middle. It was not a problem as my 'seatmate' would be far away given the herringbone. With the straight layout, I would not take a middle seat. Your seatmate is too close.

First world problems but still a bit frustrating.

Piedmont767

The newest A332s are less than 2 years old! The oldest coming up to 7. The 332 is still quite state of the art, many more modern features over the 333s.

oysterhead43

Aha, so that's why our seats changed. I'm in the mini cabin.

Can't believe a "retrofitted" plane doesn't have wifi. Now that's a LEGIT first world problem.

morrisunc

Just curious not sure this is the right forum - does anybody know how Charlotte is performing compared to other hubs now that the new higher wages have been put in place.

Fanjet

Performing based on what? CLT always had lower O&D numbers for a hub even when it was pmUS. But it also had the lowest costs per passenger. I don't think any of that has changed. I guess a fairer assessment would be how CLT is performing now compared to a year ago. But even that would be skewed. As although the employee wages have gone up, the cost of fuel has declined since then.

FWAAA

Here's what Kirby said last week in the quarterly conference call:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/3849...pt?part=single

Hunter "Pumper" Keay asked about the Advantage Fares, and here's how Kirby answered:

Later on in the call, management again refused to answer an analyst's question about the Advantage Fares. Management is smart to not discuss pricing in conference calls with the stock pushers and the media.

It's obvious that AA has scaled back the Advantage Fare program by which US undercut AA's nonstop fare pricing, and that's helped the CLT unit revenues. On top of that, NK has yet to attack AA in CLT the way it has at DFW, and thus it's no surprise that CLT unit revenues were the strongest in the system.

Within the last 18 months, AA management at CLT disclosed that CLT featured the lowest unit revenues (PRASM) of "any east coast hub," and thus they had nowhere to go but up once US stopped undercutting AA's nonstop DFW and MIA fares.

The end of Advantage fares will help diminish volume at CLT, as fewer travelers will be encouraged to connect at CLT without the big savings as an incentive, and thus CLT won't see quite so many connecting passengers. The endgame? CLT's impressive growth will slow down and will likely track its population and business activity trends. Slower growth is on the horizon at CLT.

As to the profitability of CLT - AA isn't talking. But with LUS pilots making almost 90% more than they did prior to the merger, and with LUS FAs making more than 50% more than they did before the merger, I would expect that the AA hub at CLT will see continued contraction by 2017.