Maybe NWA will fly after all


After two months of flight cancellations and the associated PR nightmare due to pilot shortages, NWA and their pilots union have agreed to terms that will hopefully allow for fewer cancelled flights this month. Basically the pilots will get overtime for flight time over 80 hours, rather than the 90 hours mark that they agreed to in the renegotiation of their contracts a while back. And the pilots will get a 15% bonus, just for showing up to work every day in August. No real details on what NWA gets out of the deal, other than “contract changes on work rules related to international flying and settled some outstanding grievances.”

It seems to me that the pilots made out pretty good on this one, and the passengers will benefit as well by not having flights cancelled. And the CEO will probably get to keep his job a few more months by not plunging the carrier back into bankruptcy.

So who is the big loser? I can’t figure it out, but there’s got to be one out there somewhere…

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Seth Miller

I'm Seth, also known as the Wandering Aramean. I was bit by the travel bug 30 years ago and there's no sign of a cure. I fly ~200,000 miles annually; these are my stories. You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.