-To no one’s surprise, the courts have approved the merger of American and USAir, which creates the world’s largest airline. Meanwhile, United, our sole air carrier thru their sub, United Express, was the ONLY major air carrier to lose money this past quarter. To add to UAL’s problems, two of the runways at SFO will be unavailable this summer, leading to lots and lots of delays and consumer unhappiness for the unprepared.
What to do, what to do? Driving to Redding won’t help. They only offer three flights a day to the beleagered SFO, again thru United Express. Driving to Medford gives you access to Horizon, SkyWest, United Express and Allegeant which offer nonstops to Portland, Seattle, LAX, Denver, Salt Lake City and , seasonally to Las Vegas. Lots more choices, but a four-hour drive, which more and more people are doing from what I hear. Then there’s Sacramento, which offers many choices including direct flights to Mexico. Don’t forget your gas will cost $4.50 according to some predictions. Bargains will be hard to come by so be sure to share with us if you find any.
– According to The Economist China will overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy later this year, partly as a result of their relaxing the one-baby rule. Does this bother you? I see it as an enormous opportunity for Americans in the baby businesses -baby clothes, cribs etc. Their disposable income is rising so fast that the cheap COSCO stuff sold at KMart won’t be good enough for them. Humboldt County has never had a garment industry to speak of but wouldn’t it be nice if someone figured out how to make baby or children’s clothes our of that nice soft hemp cloth? Someone local?
-Greg Gehr an FOB -Friend of the Blog- shared a link to Titan TV as an alternative to whatever comes out in this week’s URGE. I was pretty impressed especially as it gives more info, like is the show new or a repeat. Definitely useful. Thanks, Greg!
-Another FOB shared this about Northern Redwood Federal Credit Union, an institution I have not dealt with but considering my recent travails with Coast Central I just might look into them. Their Visa Classic Credit Card offers a 1% cash back applied as a credit to your savings account. They’re at 1270 Giuntoli Lane in Arcata and the phone is 800-822-5903. Jenna Cardoza is their Operations Officer and you might want to check them out.
– Finally just a peek into the future. The Eureka Fair Wage initiative is felt by its backers to be a sure shot for qualifying for the ballot in November and you’ll be hearing plenty about it before them because it is already a bone of contention between the two 4th District Supervisorial contenders, Kerrigan in favor and Bass against. This is an enormous issue for Eureka so pay attention! There should be some lively debate and it may well affect YOUR pocketbook.
See you later. Gonna be a busy summer!
It’s been a rough few weeks for United Airlines; once again coming in dead last in an annual customer satisfaction survey of major U.S. carriers, and then posting a quarterly loss of nearly half a billion dollars while Delta and American earned huge profits. Now the leadership of the largest chapter of the United pilots union is making no attempt to hide their disapproval of CEO Jeff Smisek.
The Street reports that in an April 25 letter to the 2,300 members of the Air Line Pilots Association chapter representing United’s pilots based in Newark and New York, chapter officers write that “It’s time to find a new CEO who understands how to run an airline, not just make excuses for his failures.”
The three officers explain that they “have absolutely zero confidence in the ability of present management to lead a turnaround.”
The letter takes issue with what are apparently still-lingering growing pains resulting from United’s merger with Continental. That deal was approved in 2010 and the two carriers have been operating as a single entity since 2012.
“[A] merger that should have been completed in three years or less remains incomplete after nearly four years (and) interdepartmental communication and cooperation are nearly nonexistent,” reads the letter, which also cites “terrible employee morale and excessive outsourcing… combined with chronic operational and IT issues” as a reason that United’s highest tier of frequent fliers have left the airline “in droves,” according to union leadership.
“No one else has a greater financial stake in United Airlines than the collective stake of our pilots,” explains the letter. “Our careers should not be jeopardized by the worst senior management in the airline industry.”
Yes, that merger was a mess.Last time I flew was right in the middle of it.
After a four hour drive, we parked at Snoopy International in Santa Rosa. They have nonstop flights to Portland, Seattle, San Diego and LAX on the Horizon Air Q. This is what our Fifth District Supervisor did when taking his family to Disneyland.
Yes, I should have mentioned the Santa Rosa option. I am determined never to fly out of ACV again.