January 2009 Archives

American Airlines takes a very different view of mediation than do its unions. When the last of its worker groups went to the National Mediation Board this week, it was with real anger. 'American is a bunch of no-goodnicks and they should all go away and be chicken-pluckers' was the basic message. Their language was slightly less blunt, but contained plenty of accusations of bad faith, etc. The airline has a slightly calmer view of things, and its senior veep for human resources, Jeff Brundage, was ready to take to the web to explain its position. The airline, he says, joined in the request for an outside third-party referee, he says, although "we recognize that mediation is no panacea. It doesn't guarantee an outcome better for either side than might have been achieved otherwise."

All for one, one for all, and it's unanimous: nobody is happy at American Airlines. The airline and every one of its employee groups have now handed their negotiatIons over to National Mediation Board referees. The last group standing, the Transport Workers Union, now says it has sought a federal mediator for the last two of the employee groups it represents. The airline, based near the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, says it "agrees guidance by the National Mediation Board would be beneficial."
Bill Swelbar of The MIT Airline Project offers some perspective, noting that "this is the first time in memory that any large carrier has seen every one of its unions seeking mediation."

You don't need to read this. You already know things are bad, but we thought we'd offer you the chance for further depression. Not only are airlines in sagging shape, but hotels, no pun intended, are as well. After a three- or four-year run in which hotels could charge pretty much anything they wanted, the US lodging industry is reversing course. A research firm called Lodging Econometrics says, "Guestroom demand has turned negative, resulting in significant declines in occupancy ... and putting considerable pressure on room rates. This is causing many developers to retreat to the sidelines to await a bottoming in economic conditions and a thaw in the lending environment. As a result, project cancellations and postponements are at trend-line highs, while new project announcements are well below previous cyclical peaks."

'Leaving to spend more time with family.' Where have we heard that before? Well, it's an excuse offered when someone gets fired or indicted. Sometimes they leave 'to pursue other interests,' but that means that they really got canned. Now however comes someone leaving to spend more time with family because now she has family. Michelle Peluso, the chief of Travelocity Global and an executive veep at Travelocity's parent, Sabre, says she's leaving because she has a baby. A Wharton business school graduate, Peluso says she will look for a position "that does not involve an on-going cross-country commute." Considering her 18-hour workdays at Travelocity, and her vow to answer any Travelocity employee's email within 24 hours, she'll have to slow down.

It is so stunningly vulgar, so tasteless, that one would think that the popularity of Las Vegas would be undiminished. But the tapes tell a different tale:  Passenger traffic at the main airport there, McCarran International, fell a precipitous 14.7% in November. McCarran saw an across-the-board drop on major and minor domestic airlines, and even Southwest, the largest carrier at the airport, suffered a 10% decline in November, year over year. The decline was steep enough to prompt Southwest to offer a short-term sale on flights to and from Las Vegas.  A 31% plunge in US Airways passenger boardings led the parade of bad news.
The decline at what had been one of the nation's fastest growing airport mirrors a weakening economy but also suggests serious troubles for gambling and hospitality, an industry that had held itself out as a one able to withstand wider economic trends.

Okay, we couldn't resist. We've been resisting for about a week now, but we give up. After all, every New Year deserves a new dog, so we present the new JetBlue Jet Paws program, an effort that the New York-based carrier launched to attract dogs, cats and their owners to the airways. The program includes special tags for a bag that the doggy or pussycat will ride in and a few other tidbits. As importantly, it gives two True Blue frequent flyer points for each mile (one for the human, one for the non-human).
Of course, some money changes hands, specifically a $100 non-refundable fee, and the animal (dare we use the word) must stay in a container while in the airliner cabin.