By MITCHELL SCHNURMAN
mschnurman@star-telegram.com
With employees like these, who needs enemies?
The leaders of the pilots union at American Airlines are about to jump the shark again. This time, they’re trying to undermine American’s bid for antitrust immunity on international routes — a corporate priority for 13 years and about the only growth initiative on the company’s agenda.
The pilots don’t have much influence with the U.S. Transportation Department, which will ultimately decide the issue. But they’re taking their case to Congress to stir up opposition and politicize the process.
Why would pilots fight an idea that could lead to more flights, more passengers, more revenue and more profits?
They say it’s about job security: "Not everything that’s good for American Airlines is good for the pilots," said the union’s Scott Shankland.
At this point, I’m wondering whether anything that’s good for the pilots is good for American Airlines.
This is the same group that started contract talks by asking for a 50 percent raise and holiday pay for Super Bowl Sunday. When negotiations predictably stalled, the union ratcheted up the rhetoric, even while airlines around the world were battered by record fuel prices and recession.
Last year, the pilots union put up a billboard near Dallas/Fort Worth Airport that read, "AA’s top priority? Not you!" The sign directed readers to a Web site to file complaints about late flights and cancellations.
Pilots picketed Roger Staubach’s real estate company, supposedly to point out American’s "poor customer service" to the AMR director. They also demonstrated at corporate customers like Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis and Wells Fargo in San Francisco.
Early this year, they plotted ways to delay flights by three to four hours without violating federal rules. They said they wanted to punish corporate management.
All these maneuvers are embarrassing, and I guess that’s the point. In the end, though, they’re the equivalent of corporate paper cuts — painful, but not long-lasting.
The antitrust initiative is in another league. American’s major competitors, including Delta and United, already have antitrust immunity on key international routes. And Continental was granted immunity in July, joining United, Lufthansa and Air Canada in an alliance that lets them share scheduling, marketing and revenue.
American wants the same flexibility with British Airways and Iberia, partners in its Oneworld alliance. The members are currently allowed to feed traffic into one another’s network, but without antitrust immunity, they can’t collaborate on schedules and resources.
In approving Continental’s application, the Transportation Department said the alliance would likely lead to more travel options, shorter travel times and lower fares. And the potential efficiencies for the airlines, the agency said, would enhance the overall consumer benefits.
Not everyone agrees. The Justice Department objected, saying the immunity would reduce competition on some routes and hurt consumers.
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