For some actual information on the strike, here's what I saw while dropping off someone at MSP this morning:

No less than 4 DC-9s, 2 A319/A320s, a 757, and a DC-10 all strategically parked off the apron outside the big mechanic installations on Interstate 494 (locals will know where I mean). They were not being prepped for flight, they were parked in formation like you'd park an aircraft for winter.

All this union/mechanic bashing aside, as someone who has an interest in the success of Northwest, what the hell are they doing with these planes sitting idle? If you're losing 3-4 million a day, shouldn't you be flying these birds to make money?! Not enough mechanics to keep them operating? Didn't exactly plan this post-strike strategy out too well, huh? Outstations may be surviving OK, but I think the hubs are going to start showing signs of demise very soon.

... is management doing...

NW may have service issues related or maybe not to the labor issue, but whateer the case, travelers can be affected. So that others can learn what to do, how to get service, etc, I'll start this thread.

I am flying to nyc tomorrow. cle-dtw still ok, lga-ewr was canceled. called nw elite desk and they put me on the co morning cle-ewr. Great service so far!

-look at the flight skeds for the codeshare airlines
-know what you want before you call

"Did management EARN the options they are cashing in?"

LTRS. With all due respect, before you make a statement like this, you should know what you are talking about.

Exactly which NW execs are "cashing in Options"????

Exactly how are they dointg this and making money????

Let me educate you. Options are granted by company's to mission critical employees which allow them to buy "x" # of shares at "y" price sometime in the future. They are granted at the then current price. So if Ms. X received an option 3 years ago, August 2002, it means she had the right at some time in the future, ususally several years out, to buy NW stock at $10/share. If the value THEN was $50/share, she could then immediately sell it and make $40/share.
Sounds great, except your entire argument fall apart when you discover that NW stock is now $5+.
Let me make it simple for you. NOBODY is making money cashing in stock options today. And when NW goes bankrupt, all of those options are worthless, exactly what they are today.
Please don't make statements you know nothing about.

If you want to persue this, I suggest you go online to regulatory NWA filings where they disclose EXACTLY which NWA execs have options and at exactly what price they are "in the money" at. Frankly, I would have expected you to do this before making a statement so blatently false.

Well...let's stop and just consider 1 possible option for a second, shall we? If you're flying a half-empty plane, then no...it makes better financial sense to try to consolidate multiple flights into one. So that's a possibility. Another possibility is that these planes were pulled out of service for maintenance, and are merely awaiting their turn.

Is there anything else you'd like to read in to or panic about?

Glad it was easy...this time.

btw, it doesn't even have to be a partner or codeshare carrier. It can be a total competitor like UA or AA.

This works well when flights are reasonably available. But when things are full or backed up, it can be nasty.

It also helped in your case that you could eliminate the connection. Imagine being in MSP and trying to route to a destination that's not another carrier's hub.

With the loads as of late, I'd hate to be trying this on a Friday or Sunday.

I'm sitting in the AUS PC because of my NW flight SAT-MSP being canceled. There wasn't anything available by the time I got the word my flight was canceled from SAT except to goto AUS or wait one or two days for a flight from SAT. It also didn't help that to get to my destination that I have to go through MSP since no other airline offers service to it.

H2O_Goalie... VERY WELL SAID ... it is impossible to know exactly the situation concerning these aircraft... there are many possibilities. I could come up with at least 3 or 4; some that would favor NW Management and others that would NOT.

I stand by my assertion yesterday... SchmutzigMSP really needs a good drink... my offer for a Gray Goose Martini still stands.....

What's your destination??

My husband just called to report. His nonstop today from MSY-DTW was cancelled, but he was automatically re-booked through MEM. Everything went very smoothly, and he landed right on time in DTW. We're very pleased.

Now if only his hotel had remembered to put out the wine basket I tried to arrange for him! But that's another story...


[QUOTE=formentura]NW may have service issues related or maybe not to the labor issue, but whateer the case, travelers can be affected. So that others can learn what to do, how to get service, etc, I'll start this thread.

[QUOTE=LTRS]
2. The average Mechanics make $70K and want $92K -- Reality: The average mechanic makes $54K, the avg custodian makes $30K

LTRS - I don't know if you understand what an average wage means. I believe you keep quoting hourly rates from the union contracts, at least you did before with the cleaners. The mistake you are making is that you must include overtime, qualifications bonuses etc. into the average wage. That's where the $70K comes from - a figure that all the media, regional and national, seem to agree on (basically everyone but you), and the same with the $42K I think it was for the cleaners.

Remember - Overtime does count as part of wages as far as the rest of the world is concerned!

Well, I live about 20 mins from the airport and have for the last 20 years. I transit through that area twice daily when I'm in town. I've never seen that many planes in that formation. It's hard to describe the positioning, except that they are all nose-to nose in a 3/4 square formation. This is not how they are parked either before or after maintenance. This is normally the spot that Sun Country or Fedex parks their planes before or after a trip. So, it is out of the ordinary. Come up with all the hypothetical explanations you want, but my experience (including actually touring said maintainance facilities twice) tells me this is not normal OPS. Even if it is related to the fall schedule, I still would expect these planes to be in use in the Fall Schedule (tm).

No panic here, just some actual, hard evidence from the ground that most people on FT may not be privy too. Last I checked, all your locations on your profiles were not MSP, so I'm reporting what I see.

Oh, and I'll take that drink, but I'd ask you buy one for our mechanic friends, too. Regardless of whether all of them wanted to strike, they're now out of work. And it's not as easy as just "finding another job" for them, so I'd gather they'd need the drink.

LTRS--as usual you make many good points. You seem to be one of the few on flyertalk who really get it. I guess the hostility to working people is not surprising. Most high level frequent flyers are naturally prone to side with management rather than the people who do the work. If you search some of the past posts on these boards, some of the same people who lambast the mechanics for refusing to cut their salary 25% and give up half their jobs will whine endlessly when they don't get some upgrade or are dont get some minor perk they feel entitled to because of their "status." Yet they have no sympathy for people who earn a fraction of what they do getting pushed around by management. It's all part of the "me first" mentality.

Flight consolidation is BS, unless it is directly related to the strike, in which case my assertion of idle planes = losing money still stands. Why don't they consolidate all the time like you're supposing they might be doing now? Why the hourly service to ORD/MDW from MSP with half full planes? Competition with UA/AA? Perhaps, but UA/AA tend to fill their planes pretty well on these routes while NW can't. IOW, i'd accept your possiblity if it happened during previously normal OPS.

As a plat FF I wish I earned as much as a NorthWest mechanic. My company recently introduced a 10% salary cut and laid off 20% of the workforce. Not one person whined - they just appreciated that they were still able to work and that the company was able to remain in exisitence. Those laid off actively sought new jobs and were quickly reemployed elsewhere. The people who do the work in any company are both management and the labour force - it is ridiculous to imply that management do not 'do the work'.

Isn't that the truth! There is a lot of good information on flyer talk and reading it can help you get status on airlines. But boy oh boy, if I see one more trivial post complaining about getting a "snack" versus a "meal", or whether their pet airline offers both coke or pepsi, or offer a damn pillow -- I swear to gawd! And to hear these same people contend that people trying to make a living wage should just suck up 25% pay cuts and loss of pensions without complaint and move on.... it's TRULY unbelievable.