The pilots of both Delta and NorthWest Airlines have approved a new joint collective bargaining agreement according to CNN.  This is likely the biggest obstacle, labor-wise, to this merger although I do think that there is potential trouble when it comes to the flight attendants of each airline.

You see, Delta’s flight attendants are not unionized but they do enjoy some of the best pay, schedules and working conditions of any of the legacy airlines.  NorthWest flight attendants, however, are highly unionized and have not traditionally been very management friendly.  No doubt, some of that enmity is earned.  From time to time, there is a movement to unionize Delta FAs but it always results in a no vote with only about 1/3 of their FA’s ever voting for a union.

In this new matchup, it is quite likely that Northwest flight attendants will move to organize under the new company structure immediately and they themeslves have a physical majority over the total number of Delta flight attendants.  See where this is going? 

Delta, particularly the current leadership, needs to go to great lengths to try to head off that move for two reasons:  First, they just gave a very handsome deal to the pilots and flight attendants are going to want to share in that wealth.  Second, they currently enjoy unprecedented flexibility that allows them to work much more closely with the flight attendants on things like scheduling and other work rules.  That flexibility rewards both parties presently but a pro-union/anti-management organization will cut deeply into Delta’s ability to maneuver in today’s business climate.

I don’t hold out much hope for Delta though.

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This story was passed on to me today: Just Plane Art

Simply bringing a more human touch to the flight experience changes passenger impressions forever.  It’s a shame that more airlines don’t have more people like this woman, Jewel Van Valin of Delta. 

I used to say that my dream job would be bringing a more human touch to service at some place like American Airlines.  Teaching flight crews the art of using humour to deflect the problems of that day’s flight would raise the bar on customer experience everywhere.

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The latest on-time statistics are out on US airlines and the Dallas Morning News has them here.

I’m struck by  more than one item. First, how strange is it that 2 commuter airlines that fly for legacy airlines have better on-time numbers than any 48 state legacy airline? These airlines fly aircraft that is subject to more technical delays and cancellations. It boggles my mind that SkyWest and Pinnacle Airlines are at the top.

Skywest flies for United, Delta and Midwest as their feeder “connection” airline using CRJ200/700ER/900 aircraft (and a few Embraer EMB-120 turbo-props).  Ordinarily, the Bombardier aircraft is not universally known for its dispatch reliability but the new(er) CRJ700/900 must be doing much better than its older cousin the CRJ200. 

Pinnacle Airlines flies the CRJ200/440/900 aircraft, all similar or the same as Skywest, for Northwest Airlines and Delta.  Right now, you could drop me with a feather.  In addition to the aircraft, these airlines fly out of major hubs that are often disastrously affected by summertime weather. 

What is a bit more surprising (if you can believe it) is that US Airways is the top on-time non-LCC legacy carrier.  There are reports that they’ve made drastic improvements at their Philadelphia hub.  Right now, they are neck and neck with Southwest Airlines and, frankly, I’d say you are doing pretty good to be playing ball in Southwest’s neighborhood.

What I have to ask is this:  Is it an anomaly (unlikely as US Airways has been climbing steadily) or is because they’re able to depart on-time more often since instituting charges for checking bags?  If this climb in reliability is due to changes in customer baggage habits, look out. 

Three LCC carriers, Southwest, Frontier and Airtran, are virtually neck and neck in these ratings and, again, I wonder if this might be due to people traveling with more carry-on luggage than in the past. 

American Airlines is dead last (even beat by American Eagle) in the ratings and that, to me, indicates graver trouble at that airline.  There have been some reports of pilots becoming slightly inflexible with respect to work rules.  I believe it is more a symptom of an airline that has become sick in morale and flexibility.  Gerard Arpey won’t fix this with more mattressmakers.com analysis, better financing or capacity constraints.  It gets fixed with leadership.  Something that American Airlines really hasn’t been blessed with since Robert Crandall retired. 

Finally, if you offered me a bet that Mesa would have better on-time ratings than American Eagle, I’d have taken the bet with glee.  When you are worse than Mesa, you’ve got real problems.

Filed under: Airline Service by ajax
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