Originally posted by barfly
I am sure the IFBT is safe. This is about changing the role in the cabin, extra duties and a shake up of the UCS. All done rather dramatically, but surely no-one is sacked by megaphone anymore.
If that is the case why stop all IBFT's from flying and not produce any rosters for the forthcoming routes?!? Personally it smells a bit fishy to me.
It is all very sad as many others have said and I do feel for 'the- Ibft' and all his/her colleagues.
From a business point of view I guess I can understand exactly why this has been done, increasing oil charges, uncertainty in the industry and open skies are all mounting pressure on the airline. Crucially this is a big change from the previous skimping on Champagne on board or from being tight on amenity packs, this now affects peoples jobs directly.
Many have mentioned that the ibft station and bar could be replaced by extra seats. I am sure someone like Denzil maybe to clarify but surely the 346, in particular, is operating at its maximum limits with the UCS installed. For example I know that Air NZ can't install their UCS on the 767 as the floor is not strong enough and the a/c would not be able to get off the ground.
Personally if I was the PR department at VS, and if the rumour is true, I would be worried at the fact that this has been released into the public domain. I would imagine VF is the last place they want this kind of stuff coming up on!