Conversation With Lakefeild On Thurs In Clt

[Fly]

Exactly 700! If assets transfer, so do employees. If you take partial assets, you take partial employees. There is overlap, and I don't think UAL would take all the employees when they only need some of the assets. (I'd love to see them take all employees except pilots....imagine WHO would be freakin out then! )


This is only meant for one particular pilot.

 

[justaumechanic]

You folks that are dreaming of some big merger better think twice..

Two wrongs do not make a right.

UAL can't afford to buy anything.. They can't even afford the fuel they are buying to fly their aircraft..

Chunks.. That is what US Airways is good for.. Chunks.. No one gets to go either. Not AFA, Not ALPA not IAM.. No one will get to go for the ride.. Planes will be parked. Routes will be integrated into the remaining carriers.. This place will be nothing but a memory by fall.

 

[767jetz]

If there is a merger, the US contracts contain Mohawk/Allegheny Labor Provision Protections, they have to be honored in a merger.

[post="259141"][/post]​

Here we go again. It is simply not reasonable to think that 2 companies can combine and keep all the employees, even when all the assets are not retained. You can't keep people if there is no job for them. Then the fight will begin over who stays and who goes, and where they sit on the food chain. Once again it will boil over into a deal breaker.

People can claim a right to whatever they want. If they say "you can't do this unless I keep my job and position and pay," then someone else will eventually say... "OK, then pound sand and take your chances on your own. See ya!"

There would either have to be a mutual agreement (pre-nup or whatever you want to call it) or there wouldn't be any integration.

That may be true 700 but if you ask the active people if they want a job or if they are willing to walk away, I bet you get a resounding 'WORK' reply. This should be interesting.

[post="259147"][/post]​

Fly is correct. A majority of people still at work will say a job at the surviving airline is better than starting at the bottom somewhere else. This goes for either airline, even if US were the surviving airline. (Which in all reality seems highly unlikely, regardless of the rants and dreams of you-know-who.) Those on furlough will not have a vote on the matter.

Additionally, people will argue over symantics. Is it a "merger" or really a combination, or an aquisition, etc? Then they will fight over Allegheny/Mohawk and ALPA's career expectation.

No folks. It ain't gonna happen that way. Any industry consolidation will be quick and pre-arranged or it won't happen at all. No one can afford a drawn out litigation in the new aviation industry. It will hurt for those left without a seat when the music stops, and those who's unreasonably high expectations are dashed. The rest will rebuild and prosper once again.

 

[justaumechanic]

Now your talking..

There won't be any people movement at all..

They are clinging to a dream..

Never going to happen.. Nothing will be prearranged..

US Airways would never be the surviving entity..

United has worldwide appeal.. US Airways is nothing but a domestic
carrier that has lost its way..

CCY could care less.. Just getting ready for the big sale.

 

[ClueByFour]

This is an interesting scenerio. This isnt that common on Wall Street but did happen yesterday between Sun Gard Data Systems and Silver Lake Partners for $10.8 Billion ( See todays Wall Street Jornal Sec C-5) A bigger leveraged buyout was done to RJR Nabisco a few years back. Could it work for UAL and UAIRQ ? Possibly even with the combination of America West ? Consolidation is inevitable so any opinions how a "leverage buyout " could work ?

[post="259146"][/post]​

The Sungard deal involved seven capital firms. The reason they could get 7 firms to agree to share the love is due to the extreme upside of taking Sungard's business private.

There is no upside to a UAL/U combination, unless you massacre the UAL labor with the U rates, and park everything that's not transatlantic, the islands, and BOS/LGA/DCA on the U side.

Won't happen, and if it does, it'll be somebody like TPG using both bankruptcy courts to do exactly as I've outlined above.

 

[nycbusdriver]

For those disbelievers, I know etops personally and he is an honest, hard working f/a. He has no reason to lie, he's one of the good guys. Thanks etops for getting as much info out of Lakefield as you could. Great job!

[post="258851"][/post]​

I don't know who etops is, but I could very well know him. At any rate, I wouldn't call him a liar, because I have no basis for doing so. Let's just say I refuse to believe that his post is gospel. Who knows what agenda Lakelfield might have been trying to promote when the chat took place? Also, unless etops recorded the conversation, his spin is present in the post. Sorry, but I have to assume etops is a human being and subject to our limitations of memory and interpretation. Finally, I can't really believe Lakefield would say such things to a front line employee without having a hidden agenda. It's called a "leak."

I do agree that fuel is our problem, but it is also United's (and American's and Delta's and NWA's and...) and a buyout by United before June is nonsense. We may very well be out of business by June 30, but looking for UAL to be our knight in shining armor is hysterical!

 

[700UW]

Don't be surprised if you see TPG and Bonderman step up for UAL's exit financing and then buy US.

Lots of speculation in high ranks about that happening.

 

[TransatlanticFlyGuy]

700UW....I have to admit that for once i do agree with you. I really think that is what is going to play out. I also belive the ever so quiet Dr Bronner will have some play in a UAL/US merge.

 

[avek00]

IMHO, if such a deal were to happen, it will be more like TPG and Bonderman stepping to the plate for UAL with Gordon Bethune as United's post-emergence CEO, and UAL taking *pieces* of this airline - United has no use for the whole of US Airways.

 

[700UW]

I don't think Gordon can run another airline, he retired early from CO and is still on their board I believe.

 

[avek00]

"I don't think Gordon can run another airline, he retired early from CO and is still on their board I believe."

Gordon's contract did not have a non-compete clause, and he is not on the board of Continental Airlines. He continues to work for Continental as a consultant, however.

 

[etops1]

I don't know who etops is, but I could very well know him. At any rate, I wouldn't call him a liar, because I have no basis for doing so. Let's just say I refuse to believe that his post is gospel. Who knows what agenda Lakelfield might have been trying to promote when the chat took place? Also, unless etops recorded the conversation, his spin is present in the post. Sorry, but I have to assume etops is a human being and subject to our limitations of memory and interpretation. Finally, I can't really believe Lakefield would say such things to a front line employee without having a hidden agenda. It's called a "leak."

I do agree that fuel is our problem, but it is also United's (and American's and Delta's and NWA's and...) and a buyout by United before June is nonsense. We may very well be out of business by June 30, but looking for UAL to be our knight in shining armor is hysterical!

[post="259186"][/post]​

well beleive it. to me i felt that lakefeild did not care that i was a frontline employee. we spoke like the way crew members talk shop in the bar or on the crew vanor in the galley. to him i was just another fellow co-worker by the way we spoke. i did not feel any intimidation speaking with him. i was as surprised as some of you are about the things he said to me. but then again he told me that he had no reason to bull##it me. there were somethings he could not answer understandably.

 

[700UW]

When he Gordon retired he still had 18 months left on his contract.

 

[USA320Pilot]

There are some things in ETOPS1's post that are accurate and some things that were most likely said in a "benign" manner that have been sensationalized.

In regard to running out of cash in June -- that's not true. June is an important month due to the ATSB and GE requirements, but US Airways is closing the gap on balancing the budget due to fuel price increases. In fact, the company is closer to making the numbers work to have the POR/business plan approved by the court that I suspected. The 3 fare increases, increased load factor, and stronger than expected May/June bookings are having a measurable positive effect on the disclosure statement and POR.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[700UW]

In fact, the company is closer to making the numbers work to have the POR/business plan approved by the court that I suspected. The 3 fare increases, increased load factor, and stronger than expected May/June bookings are having a measurable positive effect on the disclosure statement and POR.
Regards,
USA320Pilot

[post="259221"][/post]​

That is why the company filed for another two month extension because they don't have a POR ready and the last fare increase was pulled back starting with CO.

Increase load factor does not mean increase in profits.

But once again, don't let the facts get in your way.