Midwest to ground all MD80's by the fall [MERGED]

[nikandboys]

6 business days? I haven't got mine yet and I cancelled on the Sunday it was announced (20th?).

 

[mcrabeck]

Add me to the list of those waiting for their refunds... We canceled our reservation on Friday 7/25. I know it is too soon but I too am hoping to be able to use the refund to offset the new tickets on Airtran.

 

[snels]

nikandboys:

I requested our refund on Tues the 22nd through the link on the Midwest site and received it Monday the 28th.

 

[LJD2143]

I'm still waiting for my refund too......
Requested it online last Tuesday, so it's been about 4 full business days.

 

[trirae]

Mine showed up as of this morning. I cancelled on Wednesday, and today's tuesday, so it was about the same time as others have experienced. It was short about $20 of what I paid, but frankly, I'm not going to sweat it.

Now I am crossing my fingers for another schedule change with air tran so I can be moved into one of the nonstop flights they added since I booked my return with one stop.

I admit I'm a bit down that I booked and now a cheaper nonstop option is available, but I'm trying not to stress.

 

[OhMari]

It was my non stop flight TO Florida that was actually cheaper by $27 each yesterday. Did you check prices as well as to be sure your flight was still there?

My flight is still there. And it is the same price $91.00. The flight home has actually gone up to $140, so I am happy I got it for $91.

trirae
Mine showed up as of this morning. I cancelled on Wednesday, and today's tuesday, so it was about the same time as others have experienced. It was short about $20 of what I paid, but frankly, I'm not going to sweat it.

I looked up my price again, after you said yours was short $20. I paid $260 a piece since we were paying a little more to fly home from Fort Lauderdale. I listened again and I was short $20 a piece too. I was reimbursed $240, not $260. I think I might call since it is $80 total for me.

 

[disneyleslie]

we canceled three tickets last friday and got two of them refunded today.

leslie

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

We cancelled our trip last week Monday, and I just got the refund today!

Hope everyone else gets their refunds soon!

 

[McDISer]

I just wrote an e-mail to Midwest. It probably won't mean anything to them, but it made me feel better.

Yes, I got my refund, since they couldn't get me on a flight home, since the plane was full. But low and behold today, there are 4 flights home, with open seats on my day home from Orlando.

I really think they wanted to get rid of the lower airfare's and sell these seats for triple the price. I can't believe anyone would purchase tickets for $880. I hope that sentence doesn't come back to haunt me, if I loose my airline tickets with AirTran.

 

[LJD2143]

Received my refunds!

Actually, the transaction date for the refunds on my Disney Visa card was 7/24 - just 2 days after I submitted the request online. It was Visa that did not post it until 7/29 - another 5 days later....

 

[FogliaFamily]

Our flights were cancelled and they put our refund in for processing Sunday, July 21st. We still haven't seen the refund go through on our credit card. When I called they said it could take 10 business days, today is day 10. How many others are still waiting?

 

[Ilovemylife]

Our flights were cancelled and they put our refund in for processing Sunday, July 21st. We still haven't seen the refund go through on our credit card. When I called they said it could take 10 business days, today is day 10. How many others are still waiting?

Monday-Friday are business days.

 

[disneyleslie]

ours actually came a bit quicker - i canceled two different flights and used two different cards and one showed up a couple days before the other - so I'm wondering if it isn't when the credit card co. decides to post it.

Leslie

 

[Nicoal13]

Has everyone gotten their refunds?

I got through to Midwest the day after the cancellations were announced. I finally got the refunds today, but only 3 of the 4 tickets are showing up as refunded right now. Not sure what is going on. I'll wait a few days and call back if the 4th ticket doesn't show up.

 

[OhMari]

Has everyone gotten their refunds?

I got through to Midwest the day after the cancellations were announced. I finally got the refunds today, but only 3 of the 4 tickets are showing up as refunded right now. Not sure what is going on. I'll wait a few days and call back if the 4th ticket doesn't show up.

Call Customer Service if you haven't received your refund.

Just a note about Midwest again,
They have layed off all their pilots now. The Union is trying to negotiate. But Midwest is actually hiring out.

Midwest may avoid bankruptcy &lt
|&gt


But new source of funding from Indiana-based airline will cost another 270 jobs

Author: TOM DAYKIN Staff Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Publication: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Publish Date: September 4, 2008
Word Count: 984
Document ID: 1230089BE7FE76E0

Midwest Airlines Inc. may have found a way to dodge a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing — but its new source of cash will result in the loss of another 270 jobs at the financially troubled airline. Midwest Airlines has agreed to lease a dozen Embraer 170 jets from Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings, beginning Oct. 1, it was announced Wednesday. The jets will be flown and maintained by Republic employees for the first year or so, which is why Midwest will be laying off some of its workers. Those will be the latest in a series of major job cuts for the Oak Creek-based company, which will end up with 45% of the work force it had when the year began.

Republic, to secure the 10-year lease, agreed to provide a one-year, $15 million loan to cash-strapped Midwest. Republic has a separate loan commitment of another $10 million for Midwest if the company achieves certain financial goals.

Republic’s $25 million in financing is part of up to $60 million in new cash for Midwest. The airline said the new cash represents significant progress in its financial restructuring plan.

The other chief financing source is TPG Capital, the Fort Worth, Texas-based investment firm that owns 53% of Midwest. Northwest Airlines Corp., which owns 47% of the airline and already has written off its $213 million investment in Midwest, is providing a small portion of the added financing, said Midwest spokesman Michael Brophy.

Including the TPG cash, Midwest has received $40 million, with another $20 million in reserve if the company achieves its financial goals, said Timothy Hoeksema, Midwest chairman and chief executive officer.

Avoiding Chapter 11

Midwest, hit by high jet fuel prices and declining demand for air travel, is trying to avoid a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Under Chapter 11, a company has more power to renegotiate contracts with labor unions, creditors and suppliers. But the process is expensive and occurs under court supervision.

The additional cash from Republic and TPG positions Midwest "for a return to sustained profitability and future growth," Hoeksema said in a statement.

"For the foreseeable future, we are out of the shadows of Chapter 11," Brophy said.

Republic’s 12 jets, flying under the Midwest Connect regional service owned by Midwest Airlines, will replace some of the Boeing 717s now flown by Midwest Airlines on lesser-used routes. The Embraer jets have 76 seats. The Boeing jets have 88 seats but are being expanded by Midwest to carry 99 passengers.

Midwest this fall is rolling out its new seating configuration for nine Boeing jets, which include a mix of its signature, two-across wide seats and the narrower, less expensive seats in two-by-three rows. That mixed seating configuration will not be immediately offered on the 12 Embraer 170s, Brophy said.

Boeing Capital Corp., which owns the Boeing 717s and leases them to Midwest, is one of Midwest’s largest creditors. Boeing has agreed to take back 16 of the 25 Boeing 717 jets leased by Midwest, Brophy said. That’s an important part of Midwest’s financial restructuring and helps reduce the airline’s operating costs, he said.

More layoffs

But the replacement of the Boeing 717s with the Republic jets also means layoffs for 270 Midwest employees: 125 pilots, 120 flight attendants and 25 maintenance technicians, Brophy said.

Midwest plans to eventually operate the Republic jets with its own flight crews and maintenance employees, which would restore those jobs, Brophy said. That process, which includes training for those employees, would take eight months to a year, he said.

The latest news of reduced jobs brought an angry reaction from Capt. Jay Schnedorf, head of the Midwest pilots union.

"They have officially sounded the death knell of this airline," Schnedorf said.

That’s an overstatement, said Scott Hamilton, who operates Leeham Co., an aviation consulting firm based in Issaquah, Wash. Republic simply will take over routes that are marginal for the larger Boeing 717s to fly, he said.

Meanwhile, Midwest is still seeking drastic wage cuts from its pilots, Schnedorf said, "holding our very jobs hostage as part of its deal with Republic."

Midwest management "cannot hold a gun to our heads and deal with our pilot group in this manner," Schnedorf said in a statement. He said outsourcing the jobs to Republic repudiates the company’s labor contract and said the union is exploring its options.

Midwest still needs wage cuts from its pilots and union flight attendants, Brophy said. Schnedorf has said pilot wages would be cut from 45% to 65%, and the flight attendants union says its members would take pay cuts averaging 33%.

Hit harder than most

With the latest round of layoffs, Midwest will have cut 1,850 jobs since the beginning of the year. The company’s work force was around 3,380 employees when it was sold for $451.8 million to TPG/Northwest on Jan. 31. It will have around 1,530 employees with the latest cuts, which will occur in October.

The company said July 14 that it was cutting 1,200 jobs, or about 40% of its 3,000-plus work force, because of service cuts that take effect this month.

That comes on top of 380 jobs cut this spring when the company hired Utah-based SkyWest Airlines Inc. to handle Midwest Connect flights, a move designed to save money.

 

[3BoysRDisneyFreaks]

Has everyone gotten their refunds?

I got through to Midwest the day after the cancellations were announced. I finally got the refunds today, but only 3 of the 4 tickets are showing up as refunded right now. Not sure what is going on. I'll wait a few days and call back if the 4th ticket doesn't show up.

We got ours about 10 days after we requested it. It was back I think the day after it was announced.


Sarah

 

[bavaria]

Call Customer Service if you haven't received your refund.

Just a note about Midwest again,
They have layed off all their pilots now. The Union is trying to negotiate. But Midwest is actually hiring out.

I started a new thread to clarify. They aren't exactly 'hiring out'; they are returning planes to Boeing and have contracted Republic to fly their (Republic's) aircraft for them. Along with a host of other changes, the only thing the 'same' about Midwest now is the name and the cookie. I would say 'cookies' but the OP of this thread actually pointed out that the two cookies went down to one.

If you have a ticket booked on Midwest, check your seats shortly. They are changing almost all the equipment on almost every flight as of October, so seat assignments will change if you have them.

There will also not be the larger seats at first, unlike what they advertised.

 

[Inkmahm]

Call Customer Service if you haven't received your refund.

Just a note about Midwest again,
They have layed off all their pilots now. The Union is trying to negotiate. But Midwest is actually hiring out.

I don't think it is "all" of its pilots, is it? They still are operating some of the 717's on their own.

 

[bavaria]

I think that they are keeping 9 717s from what I have read, for the near future at least.