Maybe I've missed the answer to my question in some report, but since the airlines are cutting back, laying off, etc. have any of them specified exactly where these cutbacks are coming from? i.e. maintenance??? With the concentration on security, is there a possibility that this is being overlooked?? Has anyone out there read some legitimate press on this???

Most cutbacks seem to be "across the board" as the fleets get smaller. Maintenance staffs will be cut because the airlines will have fewer aircraft to service. Ditto for pilots, flight attendants, gate agents, marketing people, etc etc etc. Food handlers, too, as AA/TWA has already discontinued most domestic food service.

Hi Cissy,
I don't know if there as been much press on the details of the nature of the cutbacks. However, my friend in the airline industry has said that many flights have been overwhelmingly close to empty. She believes cutbacks will begin in locations where several flights a day are offered to the same city, some of those flights will be cut, to help ensure the planes that go will be as close to full as possible. So those employees who work the eliminated flights in any capacity may be the first affected. I think it's incorrect to believe that the same amount of planes are in the air, and the cuts will come only in ground personnel.

Thanks Sam and Beachbum. Guess I'm dwelling on this issue due to the fact I'm flying Oct. 11 and maintenance is as serious as security to me! Your comments make sense. Many thanks.

United and American have already announced across-the-board cutbacks of 20,000 each. Delta will announce its cutback next week. When I asked a friend at United if her job was safe, she replied, "No one's job is safe!"
As for cancelling flights, United has cancelled about 20% of its schedule. (Coincidentally, I had booked a November United flight to Chicago last week. I was called this week when that flight was cancelled and they booked me on another flight.)

Northwest announced today that they are cutting 10,000 jobs.

I think that what upsets me about these layoffs is that although the industry was hurting before the tragedy, they are now using this to get rid of so many people. Why don't they start with their overbloated management staffs first?! BTW, United as also decided to do away with food. I guess we should all just fly Southwest from now on - lower prices, same type of service that the majors are now going to be providing. What's really the difference.

The other thing that bothers me is that the industry is going to be receiving a huge bailout from the government (which I agree they should), but shouldn't one of the conditions be that VERY few people lose their jobs? With the way that the economy is right now and all of these events going on, having 100K people out of work just adds more heartache to more lives.

BTW, I am not in the travel industry at all - just a frequent traveller myself.