Acquisition By Another Airline Best Solution

[Light Years]

Good point, Funguy. I hadn't considered that.

But, as I pointed out, I would think that an express agent would rather work for Continental than America West. And who's to say that America West wouldn't continue using CO to run a PIT operation? It might be less headache to let the contractor run the show while America West reaps the profit.

Hey, that sounds a lot like what's going on right now at US.

Ktfly, sorry if my post was hard to follow. Sometimes I get a thought and just let it take me where it will go. My mindset was, "What if ACAA already knows who is planning to come here and they are using their contacts in other state agencies to get things moving improvement-wise in and around the airport?" I was just throwing an idea out there like a baited hook. You never know what you might catch. The possibility of a pre-existing operation taking over Express at PIT was one of those flitting thoughts I had.

America West only contracts out the work in stations that are smaller outstations for them. And Continental would not take on a "hub" full of employees to staff another airline... These contract agreements make sense when there is so little presence its not worth having thier own station.

An example (not a real one) would be if US and Lufthansa had an agreeement like this. US flights at say, MUC and FRA would be handled by LH, and LH flights at PHL and CLT by US, who each have large staffs there.

 

[Just Plane Crazy]

If HP would take over U than they would want to throw out all contracts and adjust the existing U contracts to HP standard.

One of the reasons HP could be interested in U is for the international routes and the STAR alliance.

 

[Prince of PAWOBs]

Thank you, LightYears. Now I see the.......ahem......light.

I wonder how much PSA is actually worth dollar-wise.

 

[deltawatch]

I should have been clearer. The CWA customer service contract has language that says for a buyout or merger to take place the new airline must honor seniority one for one. Not the CWA/AFA contract. If AmericaWest wants Usairways' east coast bad enough they will take us with the language.

 

[jimntx]

I should have been clearer. The CWA customer service contract has language that says for a buyout or merger to take place the new airline must honor seniority one for one. Not the CWA/AFA contract. If AmericaWest wants Usairways' east coast bad enough they will take us with the language.

At the time that U mgt was last threatening to sell the Shuttle, I am certain that someone from the U pilot or f/a unions posted that there was a requirement to take a percentage of U pilots and f/as if there was a partial sale (15% or greater, I think) of assets. And, that the transferred employees retained full seniority at the receiving company.

If so, I am assuming that the employees transferred (i.e., get to keep their jobs, just at a different carrier) would be selected in top-down seniority order. As U has been around much longer than America West, do you think the employees at AW would sit still for U people coming in with higher seniority? Right or wrong, look at what happened in the AA-TWA deal.

If this clause exists, I think it precludes anyone buying U assets prior to the liquidation yard sale. Most airlines already have enough labor troubles of their very own without taking on something new.

Could someone clarify?

 

[hp_fa]

Jim:

One more question to ask is whether AWA could afford to pay the employees their seniority level even at the America West payscales. The answer, I believe, is no.

 

[Bear96]

At the time that U mgt was last threatening to sell the Shuttle, I am certain that someone from the U pilot or f/a unions posted that there was a requirement to take a percentage of U pilots and f/as if there was a partial sale (15% or greater, I think) of assets. And, that the transferred employees retained full seniority at the receiving company.

Perhaps that is what Lakefield meant by there needing to be adjustments in "scope and seniority" in the looming Round III of concessions.

Looks like they will be seeking to get all that kind of language thrown out the window.

 

[Aryeh]

Management continues doing much as they always have:
Trying to be all things, a little bit of this and a little bit of that...
We're in a global alliance, we've got bilateral alliances, we're regional, we're international, we're Carribean, we're east coast and forget about the west coast or anything in between...This is the company's schizophrenic-model.

Then again there's mgmts. recent comment that they're looking at JetBlue's and America West's business model, NOT Southwest's. What about coming up with a workable, profitable model of their own design? Trying to use another company's business model when the companies are dissimilar seems sort of like trying to place a square peg into a round hole.

 

[deltawatch]

As U has been around much longer than America West, do you think the employees at AW would sit still for U people coming in with higher seniority? Right or wrong, look at what happened in the AA-TWA deal.

Answer 1; Do you think we care if AmericaWest employees sit still our not. It all come down to how bad the big boys that run AmericaWest want U's eastcoast.

Answer 2; TWA didn't have the language.

If we end up with piss poor AW wages the only thing we will have left is our seniority. If the CWA even thanks about giving it up in order to obtain representation of AW customer service they are not worth a nickel.

 

[jimntx]

Answer 1; Do you think we care if AmericaWest employees sit still our not. It all come down to how bad the big boys that run AmericaWest want U's eastcoast.

Answer 2; TWA didn't have the language.

If we end up with piss poor AW wages the only thing we will have left is our seniority. If the CWA even thanks about giving it up in order to obtain representation of AW customer service they are not worth a nickel.

You've just reinforced what I was saying. The inflexible attitude is what will make potential buyers wait for the yard sale when they can pick up the routes, the a/c, and the landing slots without having to take on the employees except on their terms.--i.e., you start as a new employee at the bottom of the stack and the bottom of the pay scale.

 

[Winglet]

There is no way that any existing company that would buy pieces of U would take employees. They risk disention in their own ranks, and besides, there's 20% too much capacity in the airline system now anyway. It's a crummy, cold thing to say, but a major airline or two in this country needs to go out of business for the rest to survive.

 

[deltawatch]

To be honest with you, I’m still trying to decide if either one of these two will be worth working for. Ones been mismanaged for 15 years and the other don’t pay enough to bother with. I feel for JR. AW employees, at least I saw the good years. AW guys will never qualifiy as middle-class on their wage, never. If it does happen it could be RSA making a deal for AmericaWest alway.

 

[deltawatch]

I find Winglet and jimntx post interesting, both AA employees. I guess they fear this potential merger most.

 

[Borescope]

I should have been clearer. The CWA customer service contract has language that says for a buyout or merger to take place the new airline must honor seniority one for one. Not the CWA/AFA contract. If AmericaWest wants Usairways' east coast bad enough they will take us with the language.

Didn't TWA have this "language" in there contract? All HP has to do is what AA did to TWA. Have you file BK again and throw out the contracts, staple you to the bottom and give you pay and bene's of HP.

Now, with that said, there would be some pretty pi&&ed off people at US and IMHO they (HP) would lose more than they would ever gain by picking up US as a whole. If someone does buy US it will probably be pieces here and there. Just my opinion.

 

[deltawatch]

No TWA customer service did not have it. And yes if U does a 2nd BK then the language is out the window. I look for the pilots to see that a 2nd BK dosn't happen though. Time will tell.

Borescope .... United employee?

I figure UA and AA are really hoping for a break up, rather than a merger between U and HP.