Jaunted - Tag: Midwest Death Watch

Despite Death Watch, Midwest Remains Zagat Favorite

pbb — 2008-11-24T14:34:11-05:00

The annual Zagat Survey look at airlines is out today, and leather seats are in. Despite a monumentally rough year, Midwest Airlines is still the favorite "mid-sized" airline for coach of the nearly 10,000 people Zagat polled this year. Among bigger players, JetBlue took the top slot with Southwest coming in second. Yep, those chairs are leather, leather and leather.

Midwest, however, didn't show up in the list of winners for "mid-sized" premium product--which isn't surprising given that passengers now have to pay extra for the swanky seats that used to be free. Virgin America, instead, pulled first place for first class; in-seat massages probably helped, uh, finesse the results.

Among legacy carriers, Continental did better than its peers, apparently because survey respondents think free airline food is priceless. (We'd call it worthless.) For international trips, Singapore was the top pick either up front or in coach, but you won't go wrong, Zagat says, with either Emirates or Cathay Pacific either.

Related Stories:
· Global Air Travel Survey Results [Zagat Survey]
· Zagat Airline Survey: The Winners and The Losers [Jaunted]
· Midwest Airlines coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: md11forever]

Oak Park: Midwest, Angry Pilots Headed For Arbitration

pbb — 2008-11-06T10:30:08-05:00

Pilots and flight attendants working for Midwest Airlines have been picketing and protesting the carrier's September decision to hire Republic Airways to operate a number of flights on Embraer 170s instead of Midwest's signature 717s. As a part of that contract, 270 jobs were cut, though Midwest says the 125 pilots that were let go will be re-hired after they are trained on the smaller jets. The pilots aren't buying that.

But starting today the pilot's union and the airline will enter arbitration to sort out the mess. A different union representing flight attendants will sit down for similar talks starting Saturday, the Journal-Sentinel reports. Will this be the end of the animosity between the airline and its workforce? Doubtful. And no matter what agreement is made, it likely won't fix the rapidly eroding quality of the Midwest product.

Still, at least one person must be welcoming this news: CEO Timothy Hoeksema has been enduring pilot picketing at his house.

Related Stories:
· Midwest Union Grievances Go to Arbitration [MJS]
· Midwest Death Watch coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of a protest at Casa Hoeksema: Dontoutsourcemidwest.com]

"You Have Chunks In Your Beer"

pbb — 2008-10-31T15:30:04-05:00

A friend of the blog Upgrade: Travel Better has finally had it with Midwest Airlines and its strategy of cutting its way to survival. In an epic letter to CEO Timothy Hoeksema, a miffed passenger outlines how Schlitz ruined its beer while trying to cut costs, eventually turning customers off and ruining the brand. Same thing's happening to Midwest, he argues:

Midwest has long been known for the comfort of its seating and the quality of its service. I read some time ago that Midwest was refitting its planes to offer two types of seats, but the implication was that the smaller seats were for cheaper, discount tickets and tourist travel, not business travelers. However, you recently decided to start charging an extra $50 fee for the types of seats that were standard on your flights just last month. ...
On my [recent] flight to Washington, there were nine people in the “Signature Seating” section. On my return, exactly three people. The back sections of both flights were full. The difference was so obvious that I’m surprised that, while you were refitting the 717s, you didn’t add a tail wheel to address the potential load imbalance.
In other words, it appears that your new seating charges netted you $450 in extra fees going to DC, and $150 on the return.

Hey, with 600 extra bucks in the bank, maybe Hoeksema can host a BBQ and make nice with the pilots' union before the airline implodes!

Related Stories:
· "You Have Chunks in Your Beer" [UTB]
· This Is What a Struggling Airline Looks Like [Jaunted]
· Struggling Airline Now Yanking Legroom [Jaunted]

[Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas]

Oak Creek: Midwest Death Watch: Rallying Pilots Say, Outsource This!

egw — 2008-10-13T14:49:46-05:00

Struggling now-basically-regional carrier Midwest Airlines is hardly the only carrier trying to cut jobs these days to stay afloat. But Midwest may have got more than it bargained for when its deal with Republic Airlines eliminated 270 jobs, including the positions of 125 unionized pilots whose jobs will be taken over.

Oak Creek: Midwest Death Watch: This Is What a Struggling Airline Looks Like

egw — 2008-10-06T09:50:39-05:00

This Friday-night flight to Milwaukee boasted just five passengers, leaving plenty of leg room and plenty of cookies, but also a new wealth of worries for the struggling Wisconsin carrier.

When we asked a gate attendant why there were so few people waiting in the terminal to depart, she said, "Well, because it's so late." This was at 8:30 pm, though, admittedly, right around last call at the airport bar.

Our flight wasn't one of the newly outsourced routes officially taken over Wednesday by Republic Airlines, and potential Midwest passengers may well be scared by the subcontractor. Republic is more like an octopus of regional operations, a former subsidiary of Frontier which currently flies for Midwest as Midwest Connect (to New York-LaGuardia, Denver and Washington-Reagan among others) and for US Airways as US Airways Express. On the bright side, they're hiring!

Midwest Pilots Convinced Service Will Suffer

pbb — 2008-09-12T13:15:26-05:00

Roughly 200 Midwest Airlines pilots rallied at Mitchell International in Milwaukee Thursday to protest upcoming layoffs and outsourcing. The troubled carrier, which recently got a cash infusion that could stave off bankruptcy, has decided to outsource some service to Republic Airlines, which will fly Embraer 170s instead of Boeing 717s.

One of the protesting pilots says that's not what passengers expect:

Midwest is going to be down to about 360 of the wide leather seats and 2,000 basically coach seats. The passenger is going to see a big difference in what kind of service they're going to receive.

Another pilot was more blunt:

They must think the public is stupid, and isn't going to notice.

Oh, we noticed!

Related Stories:
· Midwest Airlines Workers Protest Leasing Plan [J-S]
· Midwest Pilots Protest, Claim Service Will Suffer [WTMJ]
· Midwest Airlines coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Journal-Sentinel]

Airline Open Thread: Is Midwest Airlines Still Worth Paying a Premium For?

pbb — 2008-09-05T11:50:23-05:00

So far this year, Midwest Airlines has laid off more than 1,000 employees, trimmed its fleet, announced plans to add smaller seats and checked bag fees--and the carrier even started cutting back on the number of cookies it hands out. When will it all end?!

All the changes led us to wonder if it's worth booking a Midwest seat anymore. When the seats were large, the service terrific and the cookies copious, we'd pay a premium to fly the carrier, as long as we were headed to a city it served. But now? The airline is so focused on the bottom line it hardly seems different than any other out there. (Admittedly, a recent cash infusion has the threat of bankruptcy at bay for the moment.)

But what say you? Is Midwest still worth booking--even at a fare premium? Or have the glory days gone the way of its MD-80s? Spill your thoughts in our open thread.

Related Stories:
· Midwest Airlines coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas]