txaggiemiles

AA and WN didn’t furlough a bunch of unvaccinated pilots. The other two did.

AirbusFan2B

Two out of UA’s nine EWR-MIA flights tomorrow canceled. Remaining flights nearly sold out. UA had better upgauge.

emcampbe

I’m confused as well, and specific meaning is sometimes hard to tell over a forum like this. Can’t tell if the ‘thanks kids’ was sarcastic or not. But my reading is the staffing is not ideal comment is reacting more to the reasons for the general cancels the last several days and the way their situation was vs. the young crew on their flight. Again, specifics can be hard to gauge on a board like this, so I could be wrong.

if it was meaning for the general cancels, I’m not sympathizing with a comment like that. I know the situation sucks, and people want to place blame for if they cant get where they are supposed to go at the time they are supposed to go there, but there are a bunch of extenuating circumstances that are beyond the norm, and
that was pretty unpredictable, realistically, even a week or two ago. Xmas and the days around are always a bit tough for organizations that need to be open and operating at full strength - even on a good year (tend to be more people than normal calling in ‘sick’) - of which this is not even one. Throw in a new, ultra contagious variant of COVID, and one of the first really full capacity peak weeks in almost 2 years, and that’s going to be an issue. COVID-like symptoms are nothing to sneeze at (yeah, the pun there) for employees who don’t have an option to work at home, and need to be in close quarters with passengers, as well as other crew, who then may need to be quarantined if it turns out, yeah, that was the ultra-contagious virus. if it turns out that way, all those that the crew members they had worked with recently needs to quarantine for 10 days, and all those crew that crew member worked with, etc. that puts further strain on the system, and exponentially if that happens, say, 10, 20, or 100 times. Pretty soon you’re down to well beyond minimum levels.

look, there’s been so much going on that’s ‘not normal’ beyond just the pandemic now, I just take it as a given that nothing will go as planned anymore, and be happy if it does. I’ve had more planned trips cancelled in the last 2 years than I have in the last decade or two proceeding it. I’m honestly pretty surprised, when, say, the grocery store has everything on my list on any given week, or when I can travel to the store on a weekend without traffic. It’s just life these days, and I suspect this will go on for quite a while - so the best way to deal, IMO, is to adapt and get used to it.

HNLbasedFlyer

UA fired 6 - 80 went on unpaid leave - doesn't seem like a bunch considering how many pilots they have.

txaggiemiles

I thought it was said above that number was 300.

HeadInTheClouds

Some good speculation on this point below.

HNLbasedFlyer

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics...er-scott-kirby

"Kirby also told Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that his company fired six pilots for failure to comply with the mandate and put "about 80" on unpaid leave."

txaggiemiles

other news reports say 2000 employees / 300 pilots. I’ll let you find them or ask the people upthread reporting the same

HNLbasedFlyer

https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...gress-hearing/

"United Airlines fired only six of its pilots for failing to get vaccinated and submit documentation to the airline, CEO Scott Kirby revealed on Wednesday.

About 80 of the airline’s pilots were approved for exemptions to the airline’s vaccine mandate, either religious or medical, and were placed on unpaid leave, Kirby added. The airline has about 13,000 pilots on staff."

oblisk

I really hope they up-gauge. 772 or even 753 would be a welcome change

txaggiemiles

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) blasted United CEO Scott Kirby during a hearing with airline CEOs last week, singling him out for a company policy that drastically differs from those of competitors American, Southwest, and Delta. Cruz said AE4HF told him they represent over 2,000 United employees placed on unpaid leave after seeking exemptions, 331 of whom are pilots.

https://justthenews.com/politics-pol...d-unpaid-leave

https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom...accine-mandate

LarryJ

I believe there were a significant number who held out to the deadline but then took the vaccination to avoid the unpaid leave. AE4HF would only know of their change in status if each such employee told them.

txaggiemiles

Excellent info. It appears as a policy decision that didn’t really help with keeping employees able to work once breakthrough cases became common (well before Nov 4)

Kurt

The young crew was awesome and hustled to serve lunch in record time; I meant crew shortages, but let's not open that can of worms.

BTW, I noticed that this flight was operated with a 767-300 on 12/26, so obviously UA is doing what it can to relieve the situation.

zombietooth

CDC just shortened the quarantine period to 5 days. This should really help with staffing levels and planning, and get the schedule back on track. See here:

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2...-guidance.html