"Orville Wright said to his brother, Wilbur, 'You were only in the air for twelve seconds. How could my luggage be in Cleveland?'" -- Red Buttons
Reuters is reporting that bankrupt US Airways Group (OTC BB: UAIRQ) is asking employees based in Philadelphia, but not scheduled to work on Dec. 30 to Jan. 3, to volunteer to work for free. What's next, getting the passengers to pitch in too?
US Airways' current woes started two days before Christmas when weather disrupted operations. On Christmas Day, the airline said, "Our efforts to recover from the severe weather on Thursday were complicated when some of our employees chose to call in sick at record numbers over the weekend."
Does a sick-out make sense during Christmas? It is the only time an airline can squirrel away dollars for the seasonally slow wintertime. To starve a bankrupt airline of cash and spike its operating expenses at that time is nothing short of a kiss of death.
Operations were so disrupted by a lack of staff that more than 400 flights during the Christmas weekend were canceled. Baggage, especially in Philadelphia, stacked up as staff could not cope with the volume.
On Dec. 28 the company made this announcement: "Although we would like to be able to advise our customers of the exact location of their bags and possible delivery times, due to our efforts to expedite the baggage as quickly as possible, we are unable to do so." Ah, the situation is truly out of hand.
Airlines are struggling. Giants such as UAL (OTC BB: UALAQ) and so-called low-cost carriers such as ATA Holdings (OTC BB: ATAHQ) are living under bankruptcy court protection. They and the not-in-bankruptcy-yet crowd that includes AMR (NYSE: AMR), parent of American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) have destroyed billions of investor dollars.
Investors in the "winners" are not faring well either. The stock of perennial moneymaker Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) is unchanged over the last 52 weeks. Even high-flying JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU), a Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter recommendation, is down 12%.
US Airways is clearly in trouble when it has to ask its employees to work for free to help it recover from an operating problem. It is time to stop trying to restructure this airline and recognize that its employees have now sapped its strength to such a point that it is ready for liquidation.
The Motley Fool is investors talking to investors. Discuss Southwest Airlines and JetBlue -- or just investing in general -- on The Motley Fool discussion boards.
Fool contributor W.D. Crotty does not own stock in any of the companies mentioned.
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