Losing 20 nonstop Hawaii flights would create a huge problem for all airlines and visitors.
13 thoughts on “Hawaii Travel Could Be Upended As Alaska Pilots Approve Strike”
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Losing 20 nonstop Hawaii flights would create a huge problem for all airlines and visitors.
Comments are closed.
Not this summer, but, come winter could be serious. We are snowbirds to the Big Island and are very loyal to Ak airlines. Certainly hope that doesn’t change?
Alaska Airlines pilots will Not be striking this summer. The last time the pilots at a major airline went on strike was in June 2010 (Spirit Airlines). The Spirit pilots voted to authorize a strike in April 2009. So it took 14 months for the National Labor Relations Board to release them (allow them, in other words) to strike. And back then, Spirit only had about 30 planes (they now have about 180). Alaska Airlines has about 230 mainline aircraft (plus about 100 regional jets and turboprops operated for them by Horizon Air and Skywest). The NRLB will take all the steps available to themselves to prevent a strike, and failing that – to postpone it as long as possible. You – could – see various slowdowns, refusal to pick up OT, etc.
Pilots that already make good money complaining about making more money to do even less work. Meanwhile aircraft mechanics are classified as “unskilled labor”, work long hours in all different types of weather each and every day to ensure all aircraft are safe for travel.
If you knew the costs and amount of study and training it took to get to the Major Airline level you wouldn’t be saying pilots make too much.
On top of that, bi-yearly medicals ( eyes, EKG’s, hearing), yearly jeopardy training, yearly jeopardy line checks, schudules that change monthly, missee birthdays, graduations, anniversaries.
Add in multiple red eye flights a month, reduced rest overnights where pilots typically get 6 hrs of actual sleep. A missed signature in a log book, or a line service guy miss calculates a wing clearance. Guess who ends up in the boss’s office?
If pilots missed as much as any other profession, planes would fall out of the sky once a day.
If pilots were as off as Fauci, forget about trusting airplane travel.
You obviously know nothing about what aircraft maintenance technicians do or are responsible for
It’s always about the money. Give them their raise and raise prices.
If the strike occurs does anyone know when this will happen?
Well, as what may turn out to be a formerly loyal Alaska Airlines customer I may be casting off for a better place to spend my money.
I view this as a slap in the face from a group of people, Alaska Pilots, to strike after the federal government subsidized them for not working during the early stages of the Covid Pandemic. The US Government shored up the airline industry to the tune of $74 billion dollars, mostly to keep staff (i.e. pilots) on their rosters. Now here they are, biting the hand that has kept them fed.
I don’t know the particulars but the company owes the pilots a fair working agreement and if the company is digging in their heels this may very well be the only recourse the pilots have. That said this is just a step in the process, too bad the company had to push it this far rather then settle. But in no way can Alaska justify paying below industry standard wages. I suspect talks will get serious now. The strong vote in favor says volumes about whose at fault for letting it get this far.
Alaska doesn’t pay below industry standard. That’s just nonsense the pilots who want even more money to do even less continue to say
There is not much history of pilot strikes of airlines serving the state of Alaska——the most recent of any scale was the ALPA pilot strike against Wien Air Alaska during the 1970s, first resulting in the hiring of scabs (qualified non-union pilots) to run the airline but later was the trigger of a domino effect that eventually resulted in Wien going bankrupt and out of existence. I lived through that while a resident of Nome. Suffice to say that in Alaska’s bush (read it rural areas where there are NO roads or railroads), airlines are the only freight and mail carriers which – beyond the unlikely event of a new labor/management agreement – leaves only an unlikely possibility of federal intervention. Jim E
If anyone thinks this potential strike action would not cause a problem, they have not looked far enough to realize that Alaska Airlines is the only scheduled passenger carrier serving many cities in Alaska. The last time ALPA struck a scheduled airline serving Alaska was the disastrous strike against the now defunct Wien Air Alaska 47 years ago. At that time ALPA de facto effectively isolated many people and businesses for their own self-serving reasons. Jim E
Unfortunately it will affect other work groups from the airline