APA President blasts management.

[FWAAA]

Now look at the financials. Think about how future bookings are here in the US for airlines (Solid) Oil being forecast to remain low for many more years. AA is adding debt but they also have plenty of cash on hand. 7 Billion in operating cash and almost 9 in total cash. I personally believe that we and the industry are out of the woods but too many are not seeing it yet.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=AAL+Key+Statistics

The nuumbers in that Yahoo! link are not up-to-date.

Today, AA reported $6.9 billion of cash and short-term investments as of 12/31/15, of which nearly $700 million is restricted. That leaves $6.2 billion in unrestricted cash.

As of Dec. 31, 2015, the Company had $6.9 billion in total cash and short term investments, of which $695 million was restricted (the foregoing amounts are after giving effect to the write-off of Venezuelan bolivars described in the special items section below). The Company also had an undrawn revolving credit facility of $2.4 billion.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-airlines-group-reports-record-123000458.html

 

[WeAAsles]

The nuumbers in that Yahoo! link are not up-to-date.

Today, AA reported $6.9 billion of cash and short-term investments as of 12/31/15, of which nearly $700 million is restricted. That leaves $6.2 billion in unrestricted cash.


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-airlines-group-reports-record-123000458.html

Thanks. Yahoo has been having a few problems lately keeping things up to date.

 

[ChockJockey]

(Parker did nothing at US after the US/HP merger)

 
Parker steered US through the highest fuel prices in history and the worst economic correction in generations and came out of it with a lean airline that was filling seats, making profits, and consistently vying with DL for the top of the DOT's performance rankings.  Of course he's hated for this, given what it took to make it happen, especially and specifically in regards to employee sacrifices, but to say he did "nothing" at US after 2006 is simply wrong.

 

[texasreb]

Carty? He gave us the best contract we've ever had in 2001. That's your choice as the worst? Good grief.

Yes, that contract lasted a whole year.

 

[nycbusdriver]

W,
I agree that the merger was inevitable but I think we legacy members at AAL would have been better off with either exiting BK and merger later or agreeing to the merger but with different leadership (Parker did nothing at US after the US/HP merger), Perker is clearly stripping AAL's value for his own benefit. AAL stock still sideways even after posting largest profit ever. The fundamentals are not good at AAL with taking on more debt, buying back stock to artificially inflate EPS, and degrading AAL's brand to Spirit's level.
 
The future right now is bleak in my opinion for labor. We might get gains now but the company is not being built for longevity, its being built for the short term. Next down turn we will be saddled with debt (low interest though, yeah!!!). Guess where the money will come from to keep AAL a float...the unions and BK.

 
NAILED IT!

 

[CMH_GSE]

Yes, that contract lasted a whole year.

It actually lasted 20 months.
You know what gets me about that 2001 contract and then the give back that followed in 2003?

It took a matter of WEEKS for the company and union to bang out that give back deal.
There were literally no hang ups at all during that "negotiations".

Look at the current pace of negotiations , you know, when it comes to actually putting more money in our pockets.

By the end of the 1st quarter, we should have TA's on Fittnes for duty, uniforms and grievance procedures, yay.

 

[nycbusdriver]

Years ago, the company (US AIrways) changed the way the information from the ACARS was used.  It was done unilaterally and diminished the paychecks of the pilots and flight attendants.  It basically happened overnight with no glitches.
 
The union(s) filed a grievance and won.  But it took the company upwards of a year to undo the software that they had implemented overnight.  "It's a very complicated IT issue and it will take time."  (Sound familiar?)  We had to keep records and file paperwork to get the pay owed to us.  It wasn't very much of a difference to each individual, so most didn't bother.  The company, however, stole millions in the process from the groups as a whole.

 

[WeAAsles]

Years ago, the company (US AIrways) changed the way the information from the ACARS was used.  It was done unilaterally and diminished the paychecks of the pilots and flight attendants.  It basically happened overnight with no glitches.
 
The union(s) filed a grievance and won.  But it took the company upwards of a year to undo the software that they had implemented overnight.  "It's a very complicated IT issue and it will take time."  (Sound familiar?)  We had to keep records and file paperwork to get the pay owed to us.  It wasn't very much of a difference to each individual, so most didn't bother.  The company, however, stole millions in the process from the groups as a whole.

In that 2001 contract at AA we received retro back to the amendable date. I went back and did the math on what was owed to me down to the dime. It took quite some time with a calculator and paper. The company of course shortchanged me. When I called Tulsa about their error they said they were working on it. I ultimately got 7 checks dated 12/21/2001, I kid you not. I'd get a check issued to me that was still wrong and I kept calling them back until I got every cent that was owed to me. They really wanted to keep something from me. I'm still wondering to this day how much they stole from others who didn't do the work to make sure everything was correct?

 

[conehead777]

Carty? He gave us the best contract we've ever had in 2001. That's your choice as the worst? Good grief.

sorry but amfa got us that contract with the northwest amt carty bled money like it was going out of style Canada pacific comes to mind buying twa etc etc plus when carty asked every one for pay cuts he had the secrete retirement fund set up for upper management

 

[WeAAsles]

Parker seemed mildly perturbed about the direction of Friday's call. JPMorgan analyst Jamie Baker had questioned why "the implementation of the Q1 guide is that every single dollar of year-on-year fuel savings in the first quarter is going to be handed back to employees and passengers" in the form of higher wages and lower ticket prices.
 
In a note, Baker wrote that in the fourth quarter American retained 16% of its year-over-year fuel savings, while United and Delta retained 45%. Baker said American attributes the gap to rising labor costs, Dallas competition, the lack of a revised credit card agreement and weakness in Brazil's economy, but he nevertheless is reconsidering his previous expectation that American could eclipse Delta's margins.
 
"We are increasingly concerned by a business plan at American that seems un-phased and unaltered despite continued RASM malaise and paltry fuel retention metrics," Baker wrote.

"Our employees have gone through incredibly difficult times and pay cuts that were going to be restored when they only got profitable and that's a good thing and we're really happy about that," Parker said.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/13441799/1/american-air-ceo-low-share-price-is-disconnect-from-reality.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO
 

 

[CMH_GSE]

Parker can commence with the "restore" thingy immediately, yet we wait as he is only proposing at the moment to "restore" bulletin boards and uniforms, apparently.

It's such a nuanced process this CBA thing, takes a very long time, except when they are taking money back, then it's only a matter of weeks.

 

[Overspeed]

NYer,
Carty "gave" AA'ers the TWA acquisition and was planning on leading AMR in to BK while fully funding the SERP (exec pensions) prior to taking action. He never "gave" the TWU a raise. The pattern in the industry was moving to higher pay for all in the industry fter record profits and there were people recommending a no vote until the 9/11 tragedy happened.
 
Carty gave us a company finanicially weaked by bad senior leadership decisions.

 

[Overspeed]

ChockJockey,
Parker did what for bring the labor agreements as one? The airline operated as two separate airlines for flight crews up until the megere with AA. And surving the fuel shock, didn't the other airlines that survive do the same? Parker was only keeping US limping along until he could find a willing merger partner and after getting shut out of UA, CO, DL, and NW he managed to find a way to get it done and accept his plan.

 

[WeAAsles]

NYer,
Carty "gave" AA'ers the TWA acquisition and was planning on leading AMR in to BK while fully funding the SERP (exec pensions) prior to taking action. He never "gave" the TWU a raise. The pattern in the industry was moving to higher pay for all in the industry fter record profits and there were people recommending a no vote until the 9/11 tragedy happened.
 
Carty gave us a company finanicially weaked by bad senior leadership decisions.

Agree 100%. Carty had to go for TWA because he couldn't handle the idea of UAL winding up bigger than AA if they had merged with US. Nothing personal to TWA folks but from a business perspective it was a horrible move. Even before 9/11 there were huge signs that the economy was collapsing in on itself. TWA "probably" would have went out of business and been forced to liquidate and AA could have bid for what it wanted. Especially if UAL and US had merged they wouldn't have had the cash (or been allowed) to acquire any of its assets. Most of the pickins would have went to AA, CO, DL and some to NWA and maybe SWA. All of that certainly wouldn't have costed the mostly wasted 3 billion spent.

Of course though the story has been beaten to death and is firmly in the rearview now.

And besides anyone who thought we were keeping those raises after 9/11 happened and people were not flying (empty terminals) were just fooling themselves. But AA could have had 3 billion more in the bank to at least try and weather that storm.

 

[700UW]

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