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American strike Reply
Question:
> I fly mostly America West, and they would kill to make what American FA’s > make. I don’t know what the salaries are but I got the impression it’s > maybe low twenties. I > also fly Southwest, and I don’t know what their salaries are, but I think > they’re probably around American salaries but I think they fly much, much > more. > ..robert
Almost a good point Robert. The 1992 median yearly wages for an American FA was the low twenties, $23,007. I think they fly much, much more is a rather vague term. Why do you think the fly that much more the the rest of the industry? American FAs on average fly as many hours as the other FAs for major airlines do. In general, the numer of hours an FA actually flies depends on the FA, when the FA has a choice. I don’t have any numbers for American West, but I have come up with the following comparing the 3 big airelines: 1993 Yearly Wages Comparison (Based on 75 flying hours monthly) American United %Higher Delta %Higher Two Years $15,876 $16,764 5.6 $17,388 9.6 Four Years $18,180 $18,336 0.9 $20,592 13.3 Six Years $20,784 $25,336 31.5 $24,420 17.5 Eight Years $23,796 $29,520 24.0 $27,588 15.9 Ten Years $29,672 $31,440 6.0 $30,432 2.6 Twelve Years $31,473 $32,880 4.5 $33,564 6.6 Fourteen Years $32,736 $34,128 4.2 $35,652 8.9 No more raises after Fourteen Years for American. Source APFA Contracts, AFA American/AMR CEO’s Compensation versus the industry 1992 Total Compensation AMR/American Robert Crandall $4,009,000 United Airline Stephen M. Wolf $2,548,000 Southwest Herbert D. Kelleher $962,000 USAir Seth E. Schofield $961,000 Delta Ronald W. Allen $536,000 Source: Forbes Magazine Executive Compensation Review According to 1992 Annual Reports for American, Delta and United, American was the most productive with respect to Costs per available seat mile: American 8.93 cents Delta 9.35 cents United 9.6 cents Source: 1992 Annual Reports American/AMRs projected earnings (in millions)? 1993 1994 1995 1996 First Boston $192 $598 $888 N/A Duff & Phelps $137 $453 $841 $954 Standard & Poor’s $118 $393 N/A N/A Value Line $210 $350 N/A N/A Source: Industry & Financial Reports, June 1993 Earnings Comparison, Big Three American/AMR United Delta 1993 $192 million -$102 million -$381 million 1994 $598 million $267 million $97 million 1995 $888 million $490 million $402 million Source: First Boston, June 1993 Due to the double-blind, any mail replies to this message will be anonymized, and an anonymous id will be allocated automatically. You have been warned.
Response:
|> I don’t have any numbers for American West, but I have come up with the |> following comparing the 3 big airelines: Again, this is almost irrelevant. American, United and Delta are all running scared not from each other, but from airlines like Southwest, which has lower costs than all of them (though not lower average salaries). What matters is not how American stacks up against United, but how it stacks up against America West, Southwest, or even Continental, in terms of productivity and so on. A few years ago the consensus view was that the Big Three were going to rule the skies, and that you should just forget about any sort of effective competition to them. Now the view is very different, since there are alternate models which clearly do much better than the Big Three, even in poor economic conditions. Or perhaps that should be, _especially_ in poor economic conditions. United is even thinking of breaking up the airline. That is how badly the Big Three want to reduce costs. I feel sorry for the employees at the Big Three. Any way you look at it they are in for a rough ride in the near future. But the sooner they face up to this, the better, not only for their airlines, but for themselves. RNA
Response:
Does anyone know how travel agents make their money? Is it generally straight commission, or a salary plus commission? The reason I’m interested is that I often have arrange very complicated travel plans with international itineraries that take a lot of time for the agent to work out. And then we change them at the last minute. We’ve been working with the same travel agent for several years. He’s very detail-oriented and conscientious, but sometimes he’s a real whiner. It makes us wonder if we’ve been doing him a favor by giving him all this business, or if we just over-complicate his job. The airline tickets we order are almost always first class and business class, and he arranges hotel and rental cars as well.
Response:
->Does anyone know how travel agents make their money? Is it ->generally straight commission, or a salary plus commission? depends. if it’s a big agency like american express, thomas cook, etc., then it’s probably some salary plus minimal commission. if it’s a small, owner-operated agency, then it’s commission only (between 5-15% on the fare paid for airline tickets, 10% on hotel bookings, and ??? for rental cars). ->The reason I’m interested is that I often have arrange very ->complicated travel plans with international itineraries that ->take a lot of time for the agent to work out. And then we ->change them at the last minute. We’ve been working with the ->same travel agent for several years. He’s very ->detail-oriented and conscientious, but sometimes he’s a real ->whiner. It makes us wonder if we’ve been doing him a favor ->by giving him all this business, or if we just ->over-complicate his job. it’s neither. all his clients do that, so it’s just more of the same. if you were to book an itinerary which required no changes, not on ly would he earn more commission (by spending less time yacking with you, he could yack with another client and make new bookings), but you offer variety (by not giving him the usual "change at the last minute" scenario). i think you should concentrate on the "detail-oriented and conscientious" bits and less on the whiny bits; those details will save your butt (and you can just read other messages in this space from folks who bought tickets who weren’t so detail-oriented). ->The airline tickets we order are almost always first class ->and business class, and he arranges hotel and rental cars as ->well. if they are paid first or business class tickets, then the agent has less reason to be whiny … if you’re using ffb upgrades then you’re costing him money (not only is he not selling a premium fare, but it takes more of his time to process your ticket). — # "on the internet, nobody knows you’re a bear." –tovah hollander