Famous last words of a CEO

Tim

Tim

New Member
Grinstein also said that Delta has no plans to ask its pilots for a third pay cut, and he dismissed the idea, at least for now, that the bankrupt company could merge with another carrier.

Grinstein said the $280-million-a-year concessions agreement that pilots and the bankruptcy court approved Wednesday gives the airline the cost cuts it needs.

"I don't expect to go back to the pilots," Grinstein said. "We have all our people at the market rate. We are going to have to be more efficient both in the way we operate the airline but also in what can be recouped in revenue management, handling the network and utilization of our equipment."

The airline's chief financial officer, Edward Bastian, had been noncommittal when asked in March by AP whether the company might seek a third pay cut from pilots.
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I believe those words are the same ones he used when the company asked for the cuts and got them the first time from the pilots and the rest of the company. Low and behold less than a year later they wanted more again.
 
Yeah, I've heard the "do it once do it right" line before.

I didn't believe it then, and I sure as h-e-double-hockey-sticks don't believe it now.
 
Notice the words "I don't expect to go back to the pilots."

"I don't expect" doesn't mean " I won't go back to the pilots", or it could've been " I'm not necessarily going back to the pilots" in placement of " I don't expect". It seems like a nice play of words , whether it was intentional or not.
 
It's a weasel. That way, if he does go back, when someone throws his words back at him, he can say, well, I really didn't expect to but the business conditions demanded I do it because of blah, blah, blah.
 
personally, it's this statement that I like the most...

"We have all our people at the market rate."

really?? so this was what it was all about then? not to much that they *needed* the money but just to put people in their place??? whoda thunk it.

that statement makes me feel doug's being ripped off! market rate shouldn't be equivalent to what you *should* be paid for the type of job you do!
 
well i dunno if i am qualified to make this statement but i am going to anyways. did you think that a couple hundred million dollars a year was going to save the company? i mean come on they spend that in advertising alone. i work in new york city and i cant count how many cabs i see that have the gateway to europe slogan plastered on them. it's not only the cabs but the trains and grand central have tons of ads everywhere. this costs millions, the pilot concession was not going to make or break the company. i agree with you when you say your husband is getting the short end of the stick. they are ripping off professionals and it is demoralizing to see this happen again and again.
 
amorris311 said:
well i dunno if i am qualified to make this statement but i am going to anyways. did you think that a couple hundred million dollars a year was going to save the company? i mean come on they spend that in advertising alone. i work in new york city and i cant count how many cabs i see that have the gateway to europe slogan plastered on them. it's not only the cabs but the trains and grand central have tons of ads everywhere. this costs millions, the pilot concession was not going to make or break the company. i agree with you when you say your husband is getting the short end of the stick. they are ripping off professionals and it is demoralizing to see this happen again and again.
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Hey captain obvious I think that she ststed that in her post. But I'm sure they knew the score long before we did!
 
I love the term market rate. I can tell you thought that his statement about everyone being at market rate is big BS. The ACS/ramp/ticketing/gate agents pay is actually 3rd from the bottom with JB and AT being lower but just by a few dollars. From my understanding is market rate would be close to the middle not the bottom but hey I am not the CEO what do I know
 
Yeah, market rate. Is that why DL's F/As are still paid more than just about any other? They make more than AA!
 
Tim said:
"We are going to have to be more efficient both in the way we operate the airline but also in what can be recouped in revenue management, handling the network and utilization of our equipment."
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Damn. If they had done this in the first place, they wouldn't even be in this mess!
 
Steve that is the biggest thing. HINDSIGHT!!!!! Just goes to show that a majority of airlines management were piss poor at best. As tragic as 9/11 was it shows just how bad major corportations, not just airlines, were managed
 
Well, I'm no apologist for management, but here is what I think happens.

When times are good, people get fat, dumb, happy, and lazy. Why bother to look for more efficient ways to do things and worry about whether or not it makes sense to run feeder routes that lose money? You are making money, times are good, why mess with it?

Then when things go bad, everyone says, hey, what the hell were you doing x, y, and z for? I mean, that was stupid, what were you thinking?
 
I think the problem with many of the legacy carriers is that they never really got out doing business the way is was done during regulated times. The companies never adjusted much of the business plan. During regulated times airlines didnt have to worry to much about pricing and routes the CAB controlled that. Well the CAB is gone and they have to think on their own and the airlines were not prepared for that.
 
I think Tim hit the nail on the head right there. Most of the companies you see doing well are the ones that started post-deregulation. SWA has been "fighting" ever since they started. Even when things are going well, they don't relax. They have tombstones on the wall in DAL of airlines that have relaxed to remind them of that fact. Even CAL in post-bankruptcy restructuring has emerged leaner and smarter.
 
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