Ludavid777 From United States, joined Jun 2001, 188 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 19249 times:
Well it is official. Its looks like IDE will tank at the beginning of the year. I am a 3+ year flight attendant at Independence; and I can tell you I definitely was on the wagon drinking the kool-aid... taking my daily injections. And for everyone reading this... if you were an employee you would have believed as well. Management definitely sucks... but I have to give them credit for being outstanding liars. I received my furlough notice today via certified mail. (I have typed the letter verbatim at the bottom of this post.)
I have completely lost all respect for mgmt... as my furlough notice is dated December 23, 2005... the exact day that our President was on the employee hotline... pumping us up on outstanding Las Vegas and San Juan load factors and how things are looking up... just as our furlough notices were fresh off the print. The notices were mailed Christmas Eve and I received them today. Merry F'in Christmas FLYi!!!
Check out the hotline and listen for yourself: 866-465-9309.
December 23, 2005
RE: Furlough
Dear Flight Attendant ######:
As you know, FLYi, Inc, the holding company for Independence Air, has been actively engaged in securing investors in, or purchasers of, the Company as it attempts to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the United States bankruptcy Code.
The Company expects that is it is unable to secure significant external investment or a sale of all or substantially all of its operations before January 7, 2006, it will permanently cease all operations and separate all employees at all locations sometime during the period January 7-21, 2006.
In accordance with Section 16.A.4 of the collective bargaining agreement between the Company and AFA covering flight attendants, this letter shall constitute notice that you will be furloughed effective January 7, 2006. The Company retains the right to amend or rescind this notice of furlough.
Sincerely,
Jeff Rodgers
Vice President, Employee Services
(Sorry for any typos)
So it is official... to all of you IDE nay sayers... you win... you were right. I just wish the best for all of my colleagues and much happier new year!!
Slider From United States, joined Feb 2004, 5347 posts, RR: 49 Reply 3, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 19119 times:
That really sucks...
I must say that I expected them to go belly-up, but that isn't to say there's any pleasure in it. People are always affected and that's unfortunate. Keep your chin up, chest out, be strong and best of luck to you in landing somewhere else.
Also, just a sidenote- I can understand your skepticism for management not saying anything, but given that Flyi is a public traded company, they probably couldn't make premature mention of it. Just a thought, dunno.
MidnightMike From United States, joined Mar 2003, 2892 posts, RR: 37 Reply 4, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 19073 times:
ludavid777
Sorry for the layoff & good luck to you. At least there are options, but, it could involve moving....
CasInterest From United States, joined Feb 2005, 1181 posts, RR: 2 Reply 5, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 19010 times:
Sorry to hear about the job loss.
Sad to see a neat airline go down.
Well it should be interesting to see what the fallout of this is with United and Jetblue, and others competing at IAD and on the east coast.
Chase From United States, joined Nov 2005, 962 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 18860 times:
Just playing with hypotheticals here....let's say I'm the CEO or whatever of FLYI, and there's, oh, say a 60% chance of getting the funding by Jan 7th. I would *have* to send out the notices that the threadstarter posted. Otherwise if the 40% chance of NOT getting funding came to fruition, I'd be forced to pay people after we stopped flying on Jan 7th. But, if the 60% chance of GETTING funding turned out to be the case, I could rescind the furlough notices.
I don't work for FLYI, never have. Haven't even flown them before. But it seems to me that this is the second-to-last nail in the coffin, not the last nail.
CON207 From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2003, 292 posts, RR: 33 Reply 8, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 18824 times:
Hope you find another employment post soon mate. Its the worst time of year to get a kick in the teeth like this.
It goes to show what a dog-eat-dog situation it is within the airline industry.
DL Widget Head From United States, joined Apr 2000, 1883 posts, RR: 5 Reply 9, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 18752 times:
I hate it for you. I know how you feel having gone through this before with Eastern. I wish you the best in the future. One question, would you have rather known about this on Dec 23rd or Dec 27th?
Mikey711MN From United States, joined Nov 2003, 1304 posts, RR: 11 Reply 10, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 18737 times:
Chase, why burn through a few more months worth of cash to delay the inevitable? The end case for either scenario as you've described is the same: the employees get furloughed. Either in January or March is the real difference.
Nothing fundamentally is different with the business plan that leads even this management team to believe now that the ship will right itself [the use of passive voice is deliberate]. Which is certainly unfortunate for the rank-and-file who dilligently and enthusiastically trusted them only to now lose it all. I feel incredibly badly for them.
GDB From United Kingdom, joined May 2001, 11076 posts, RR: 84 Reply 11, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 18711 times:
I knew little of Independence Air, other than seeing their startling livery at IAD in Sept 04, I did not follow the threads on here about the airline either.
But from someone else in the industry, my condolences.
I hope you find better, some secure employment in the industry, if that is your wish.
Isitsafenow From United States, joined Feb 2004, 4126 posts, RR: 32 Reply 12, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 18667 times:
CLICKHAPPY....That Jan 3rd thing was right. Its Jan 7th you need to be concered about.
They could still rise from dead as a UAL regional. Don't rule anything out in the airline biz.
safe
If two people agree on EVERYTHING, then one isn't necessary.
S12PPL From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 15, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 18548 times:
Listening to the phone message on that hotline number you gave us really makes me wonder how people like this can sleep at night. Lying to the employees like that....Just sad.
Sorry to hear you guys are going to be out of a job. Good luck finding another place of employment!
SHUPirate1 From United States, joined Sep 2003, 3568 posts, RR: 25 Reply 17, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 18520 times:
Now that the other shoe has apparently dropped, I would like to say that I hope everybody except those people working in Headquarters get jobs immediately at twice the pay for half the work. For all of the bad things I have said about the carrier, I can't say any of that is true for the front-line employees. You all were great, unfortunately, your management couldn't have done a worse job.
Burma's constitutional referendum options: A. Yes, B. Go to Insein Prison!
Ca2ohHP From United States, joined Sep 2005, 711 posts, RR: 3 Reply 21, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 18006 times:
Wow, really sorry you had to get your furlough notice like this. The way your company was treated by management is terrible, no excuse for it. Kerry should be doing these hotline messages himself, especially running under chapter 11, as Tilton does frequently at United. Sorry you and your team had to put up with that. It's like nobody learned from Lorenzo and his ways of destroying airlines.
JacobCAL From United States, joined Oct 1999, 174 posts, RR: 2 Reply 23, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 17898 times:
I'm really sorry to hear that. I'm sure you know that CO is hiring and as someone else mentioned Air Tran is also. Here is the link to CO if you are interested!
Chase From United States, joined Nov 2005, 962 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 17897 times:
Mike,
You make a very good point. Although I'm sure the suit-wearing types have the motivation of keeping the company in business as long as possible. If they have a January vs. March choice...well, what if something great happens in February? If they had chosen to shut down in January...they'd never know. And then there's the story of Fred Smith going to Vegas with the payroll $$ in the early days of FX.
Anyway, enough of spouting "what if"s. Ludavid777, I'm really sorry to hear about your furlough notice, and those of your fellow employees. I sincerely hope it's just a smokescreen and they'll say "nevermind" as that date grows closer, but chances of that are probably slim. The airline industry is fun, but can be a bitch too. I am now working in another industry, making 50% more, but I certainly am less happy. I wish you and your coworkers all the best in your futures.
LesMainwaring From United States, joined Dec 2005, 531 posts, RR: 5 Reply 25, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 17842 times:
I am truly sorry.
I was living in ATL and had friends at both Air Atlanta and Eastern when this happened.
"Best of luck" sounds so contrived, but it is heart-felt best wishes with you to find another job that you enjoy and that treats you well.
...
The Lester Mainwaring Party
...
I want something under my wheels thats plenty long and mighty dry --- Vern Demarest
26 Mariner: Independence Air has burned through nearly $500 million of other people's money in just over a year. They have a fiduciary repsonsibility to the shar
27 JetBluefan1: I'm so sorry to hear about this. Where are you based? In any case, many airlines are hiring. B6 and WN are very well run from a management standpoint
28 Contrails: This is very sad news. I wish FlyI employees all the luck in the world.
29 Cessnapimp: My best in the new year to you Ludavid777 from one flight attendant to another. I hope you have fun right 'til the end... and make sure you grab all t
30 Tozairport: Well, I don't think anybody won in this, the worst airline venture ever undertaken. UAL lost money because it had to compete with Fly I's fares, whic
31 StevenUhl777: I'm sorry to hear about the job losses...that's very unfortunate, especially this time of year. At least they didn't time the furlough letters to arri
32 UA772IAD: Ludavid777, I'm sorry for your situation. One of my mother's best friends is a recruiter for DH in the Wash DC area, and she's beginning her search fo
33 Jmc1975: That's a rough situtation....but this too shall pass. Although they give a target shutdown date of Jan. 7-21, is there any certainty that you will get
34 Aaway: Federal law stipulates this formal warning to employees governed by a collective barganining agreement. Ludavid, there's never an opportune time for
35 FlyCMH: So what the crews were saying is true. Your sheer lack of tact is astounding. It's a good thing you're in the cockpit and not on the front line. I wis
36 S5FA170: Ludavid- As a fellow flight attendant, I am truly saddened to hear this. I am based in Columbus, OH and frequently chat with Independence employees on
37 Flashmeister: Should it be no surprise that Independence is still accepting reservations after January 7 with no indication to the traveler that they might be purch
38 A330300: Sorry for the news. Working the DH flights on the ground, the best people were the crews that came in and out - as well as the frontline folks across
39 Planespotting: That is too bad. In Corporate Bankruptcies and Liquidations, it is nearly always the employees who get the shortest end of the stick. Ironically, I am
40 ChiGB1973: I kind of know how you feel. I was laid off from TZ, but we had a little more notice. That's awful. I guess the only stable job in the airline industr
41 LTBEWR: First of all, sorry to hear about your and your fellow Fly-i employees being noticed. In large part I suspect (as suggested previously) that this is a
42 Clipper707: A real sad day once again. I know it's a hard thing to deal with. I was sick when the ball fell on Pan American in 1991, and again in 1997 when Myrtle
43 Foxecho: Or running the airlines into the ground and getting a big fat golden parachute Good luck to the folks at Indy, I wish all the best. I worked with som
44 Aa757first: It is true that Independence Air's fares hurt not only them, but other airlines throughout the East Coast. --- I picked some random dates (03/27 and
45 Rage323machine: Sorry to it had to come to this..Wish all FLYI staff the best..Anyone wanting to get back on try Alaskaair.com they will hire 2006
46 Pshifrin: This is all terrible news. I really enjoyed DH service from NY to CRW which I have to take a few times per year. (see trip report below). http://www.a
47 Malaysia: I checked with this and my friends at flyi, and they called employee services, this section was NEVER included in any furlough letter, apparently the
48 FriendlySkies: Because FLYi's management doesn't give a sh*t about anything or anyone but themselves.
49 SHUPirate1: So, is FlyI going to have mechanical soda machines walking up and down the aisles of the CRJ's doing seat-belt and safety checks? Otherwise, it's kin
50 APFPilot1985: Did you read the rest of his post.... this could be an interesting development.
51 SHUPirate1: I sure did, and it seemed as if the two developments are mutually exclusive of each other. That said, looking at the source, I take anything he has t
52 Malaysia: less flights + less planes = less pilots + less f/a
53 Malaysia: try flyi.com look under management, and you will see who is who for VP and I dont think I see a jeff rodgers anyway. so the person who posted this to
55 Mariner: Um - like this?: http://forums.aca-lounge.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=54407 cheers mariner
56 Tozairport: No, you kool aid guzzlers having a "lets kill United" party was tactless. You reap what you sow, and your crop never had a chance to grow. You should
57 Legacytravel: Hell that would be the best present ever!!!! Anyway I have lost a job due to a shut down and as long as you keep head up and a positive attitude all
58 SHUPirate1: http://forums.aca-lounge.com/showthr...ion-pilots-flying&s=&threadid=4050 Read on...if #4 on the pilot seniority list is getting this letter, it proba
59 HZ747300: A crucial two letter word was left out of the this paragraph. It changes the meaning of the letter, but not entirely. However, it does affect the ton
60 FlyCMH: Just who exactly are your "friends" at FLYi, Malaysia? Angie Sherman posted her resignation months ago. I don't know what her exact last date was, bu
61 Zsx81: Ludavid777 I hope my comments dont make it worse for you, but I am listening to this guy talk on the employee line and he sounds incrediably insincere
62 Malaysia: Yeah all my sources are non-union, so I guess it explains the misinformation
63 Richarlc: I listen on local radio station that flyi had a bidder but they were not saying who. The station was WTOP or WTOP.com
64 Lincoln: It seems that evidence contradicts both of these statements, though the "is it is" portion should have been "if it is", but hey, if you just got a le
65 SHUPirate1: http://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm Might that be what you speak of?
66 Lincoln: Yep, that was exactly what I was thinking of, thank you. Quite enlightening. In any event, may the affected Independence Air employees bounce back qu
67 Birdbrainz: Dear Ludavid, Hveing been sacked more than once (as an electrical engineer, not an FA), I can say that all of us employees, alrline or not, drink the
68 QQflyboy: The amount of notice doesn't seem to be in accordance with the law. There is a law called the WARN act that requires a 60 day notice before furlough.
69 Jfrworld: I actually called the hotline and didn't hear such a message. Is this a false posting?
70 SHUPirate1: No...the point is that the management continues to deceive their employees and act as if nothing is happening even as they receive their furlough not
71 TNboy: Its bad enough losing a job without having to go with such bitter thoughts. Hope you get a good job real soon, and can once again love the industry an
72 Vulindlela744: I am an Airtran f/a. I know we are still hiring f/a. I've been here a year and it seems like a fairly good company to work for. Good luck
73 SK909: Sorry to hear that you are losing your job. The best of luck with future.
74 Skidmarks: Well, another one about to bite the dust. I am sorry to see your management is a duplicitous as ours. But, maybe they'll get their funding, maybe they
75 ChiGB1973: It was part of out CBA at TZ, and was less than 60 days, maybe 2 weeks, I cannot remember exactly, so I am ass-u-ming it is California specific. Good
76 Juventus: This thread came up on the USAToday. http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/
77 Mcdu: FlyCMH, I am a UAL pilot and I have a few friends that work for flyi. I have known these people for a very long time and they have no reason to BS me
78 BigOrange: Why do so many a**holes come out of the woodwork when there is bad news around?? To all Flyi employees, I hope you come out of this on the up side. U
79 Desh: Damn- that is a sad thing to hear. Just this Monday, late night, I remember thinking "this would have never happened on Flyi" as I waited for 50 minut
80 Dsa: Hi Sorry to hear about this. I hope you get a job soon. I have always thought well of Indy as it is so cool but somethings just are'nt meant to be! On
81 Slider: Bad karma comes full circle. A bad business plan from the get-go certainly doesn't help either!
82 Pensacolaguy: I don't think so...Try 280 miles (451 km) (244 nautical miles) Or as DL says..272 miles
83 ChiGB1973: I meant my Dad lives in ATL and Mom lives in Monroeville, AL (MVC), about 80 miles north of Pensacola, give or take). M
84 D L X: Channel 7 here in DC just reported the same thing, that Indy is probably going down and alerted the employees as such.
85 Hiflyer: Wondered how long it would take the DC press to figure this out. The rest will jump on this and the situation there will probably snowball as the pre
86 ATWZW170: Shutting down an airline isn't fun.....but with the state of the airline industry this nees to happen. FlyI depressed revenue for every airline on the
87 Airsuply55: Hey folks, I work for I-Air and I am afraid MOST if not ALL of you are jumping the gun. I-Air is here to stay. Yes, we are restructuring, and yes ther
89 SHUPirate1: Unfortunately for you, the one rating that really matters, namely profit/loss margin, is a rating that you guys are at the bottom of. And while your
90 Birdbrainz: Geez. Lighten up. Once again, the "let's kill the competition" is all very commonplace in the marketplace. The mistake is to take it too seriously. B
91 Tozairport: Dude! I think you spent too much time swimming in the bowl! I know the cherry flavor is good and all that, but you need to detox. Bubble Boy is gone.
92 Malaysia: If Flyi falls, then the industry will benefit from the demise of Flyi But, if Flyi falls, then the Customers will not benefit at all from it and lose
93 SHUPirate1: I didn't know that gross incompetence was an arrestable offense...
94 Airsuply55: Fly-I won't be missed because we aren't going anywhere. The key to our success will be our outstanding service. Period. Buh Bye, Wise Guy.
95 ChiGB1973: By the CBA, maybe? Otherwise, you can shut down with no notice. Even with the CBA, if you are liquidating, the court will probably not make you conti
96 QQflyboy: FYI, WARN is federal, not state. I decided to read through the "workers rights" section from the link I provided in reply 68. Here is what is said are
97 Malaysia: I am referring to CEOs, Pin stripes, those are thin thin stripes on a business suit Crandall, Lorenzo, etc. and Legacy carrier CEOs
98 Stretch 8: It is amazing to me that Indy Air has survived to this point. It will be sad to see them go, as will the cheap airfares to hubs such as DTW, etc. I ho
99 SHUPirate1: Whoops...forgot to make it clear that I was being sarcastic!
101 LTBEWR: Apparently the Wall Street Journal is using these letters in a article in I believe today's editions (saw article via MSNBC.com website this morning)
102 Jaysit: I hope I-Air is here to stay. It was the best airline we had around. Best wishes and best of luck to all you I-Air cabin and flight crew. I always had
103 Sheraboam: F/As for Independence have been recieving e-mail from the local AFA MEC President, confirming the doors will close within the next 2 weeks, states the
104 Mcdu: Your failure to accept reality may be a huge factor in the reason you guys are going TU. It is over the band is playing the fat lady has been singing
105 Airsuply55: Again, this is false. Someone out there sure is going out of their way to make people believe that I-Air is closing it's doors. We are not. Business
106 FriendlySkies: I really do feel bad for you...FLYi management has hopped you up on so much BS that you are programmed to think that everything is A-OK until they pu
111 Tozairport: DUDE! DRINK SOME WATER. That koolaid is saturating your system. By the way. I loved how one of your A319's dropped the anchor prior to the FAF at IAD
112 Ha763: It is Aloha, but they are supposed to exit soon if all the appeals are rejected.
113 Xpfg: If they are appealing something, wouldn't they want the opposite of rejection? Correct me if I'm wrong! To all of you at FlyI, hang in there, and kee
114 Skymileman: Have any of you read the biography of the Independence CEO on their web-site? They make him out to be some sort of hero. He's a crook. That's what he
115 Markabcan: Isn't it wrong then that Fly-I is still taking reservations for several months down to road? I mean if they are sure that they will be ending operatio
116 Ha763: Aloha isn't doing the appealing, it's the PCGB that could appeal the decision to allow Aloha to dump their pensions on them.
117 Sheraboam: Quoting Airsuply55 [quote=FriendlySkies,reply=106]Again, this is false. Someone out there sure is going out of their way to make people believe that
118 Sheraboam: Oops, sorry about that friendly , meant to quote airsuply55
119 Hiflyer: Understand the higher ups were observed leaving town last couple days...Moore to the west coast and Skeen to CHS. If true then this is in the hands of
120 Aloha717200: This is terrible news, I really wanted to see FlyI succeed and defeat the nay-sayers, but I guess that won't happen. I hope you can find a job with an
121 Airsuply55: I understand you received letters. Just that, a letter. I understand that possibly you may be furloughed or even lose YOUR job. However, the company i
122 Airsuply55: And I suppose UA's idiots have never done that. I know differently. Every single day I see enough crap to choke an elephant from every airline that s
123 Malaysia: One guy who was in MCO went to IAD, last I heard, then he jumped ship for AirTran in ATL
124 KabAir: While I really do admire your upbeat attitude (it's too bad more airline employees aren't like you!), it seems to me at least from this thread that y
125 Tozairport: You know, AirSupply, I think you are "All out of Love" and the demise of your airline has you thinking irrationally. Don't worry though, "Even the Ni
126 Hiflyer: Just over 128 hrs on the rumored CountDown to ShutDown 0001est Friday. I would think that, if it does happen, that we would see flights canceled out o
127 ChiGB1973: Some of the regionals too. I think Mesaba and one of DL's feeders filed also. M
128 PITrules: Oh, really? I guess UAL cutting Air Wisconsin was our imagination. Most likely, that would have been ACA, even if we signed a new agreement with UAL,
129 Cubsrule: In the air yes, but I'd take UA ground staff (even the surly ones at IAD) over DH ground staff any day.
130 APFPilot1985: For what it's worth I bought one of those college student passes this summer and never used it so consider it a small donation to what I hoped would b
131 PITrules: Cubsrule, you're certainly entitled to your opinion. Many others believe Independence Air has wonderful customer service agents.
133 Tozairport: Actually, I was just parroting some of the comments I heard some of YOUR pilots making about flying UA's airplanes when "we go out of business". I gu
134 Dadoftyler: Although I think most of the posters on this board may be too young to remember either Air Supply or their two hits (geez, did they have more?), that
135 PITrules: Whatever, child. Don't try to turn this around. Provide a link where FLYi pilots said they will be flying United airplanes. I have not personally sai
136 Tozairport: OOOH. You so funny! True. You waited to sign your concessionary agreement to get your 319's! You bottom feeders signed for 15 bucks an hour less than
137 MrMcCoy: Well that's out of hand, but anyways.. FlyI was a great airline. I'm sad to hear they won't be making it, becuase my Alabama family absolutely LOVED t
138 FreakyDeaky: Geez, I'm glad I don't have to fly with you. If you think UA's and your $hit doesn't stink, then you are drunk on UA's koolaid and are in need of a f
139 Airsuply55: No, what that means is that we don't pay people to stand around doing nothing when they can be working elsewhere in the operation. We know when we ne
140 StowAway: Yet we still had a break even factor of over 100%.....
141 Mcdu: PIT, No doubt you loved your company but I an not sure you have a loyal following in NOVA. Was it not the mantra of the flyi developers that the majo
142 Mcdu: Another disgruntled UAX employee? Perhaps you should talk to your companies management if you don't like the UAX program.
143 Hiflyer: Any ideas on how they are going to park all 48 aircraft by Friday morning? I would expect they would have to be off the gates by then but will they al
144 Tozairport: I'm sorry. I should have been more specific. There were plenty of CS agents there, just no passengers! You kept fares low by pricing yourselves out o
145 PITrules: Our concessionary agreement for the 50 seaters was not nearly what management wanted for a new United agreement. Infact, after it was done, we still
146 FreakyDeaky: Nope. Spouse is UAL employee and stressed out from working 12+ hours a day and getting paid for 8 and having 6 days off a month because understaffing
147 Hiflyer: uhhh freaky that post you quoted was number 142 from someone else besides me....
148 Airsuply55: I was the dumb ass who believed. It's over. You were all right. Thank You I-Air for raping my soul for 16 months.
149 FlyCMH: AirSupply55... I know this news is difficult to take. No matter how much you prepare mentally for it nor how many times it has happened before to you,
150 DLX737200: Listen to the number mentioned above for today's message: 1-866-465-9309 It makes me sorta sick to here the CEO trying to act so sincere to the 1000s
151 Airlinelover: I can't believe how he was able to deliver what was basically a F-YOU message then try to be like.. "I know I can't ask for something, but do good wo
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