US/UA Merger Master Thread

[lynyrdskynyrd]

I would love for a UA-US merged airline to be based in PHX and I'm not sure why it couldn't be. You could still keep ord as your biggest hub but there is no reason your corporate offices have to be based in the city where you have the most flights. Phx has a lot of advantages such as weather, costs, growing economy and most important, better sports teams.

I read in the AZ Republic the other day that Arizona is officially in a recession. All these thirty thousand dollar a year millionaires and the greedy lenders have put us in a spot.

 

[john john]

We take a less confrontational way of working. yes we are very laid back and the issues are frustrating to watch :blink: :blink: on the Crew news, but there are so many of us that only work part of the time here, so we take the path of least resistance :unsure: in the meantime, which is why we love our jobs..we don't dwell on the bad, just the great things. Not all...but most.

Sounds like somebody has been hanging out in the desert with the cacti getting in touch with their spiritual guardian

 

[safety stud]

I would love for a UA-US merged airline to be based in PHX and I'm not sure why it couldn't be.

Simple, LCC is losing money in PHX, regardless of what corporate does, to try to dilute this.

Phx has a lot of advantages

How does a city in recession have advantages other than headaches?

such as weather,

Better to drink more Koolaid?

costs, growing economy

oximoron if you ask me. PHX hasn't been growing in more than a decade... the economy is just as bad there as it is everywhere else in this country...

and most important, better sports teams.

This is my favorite... Sports Teams, How many preytell NBA championships has the PHX Suns won compared to the Bulls? Don't answer that you will look stupid doing so. You have the Bears, Blackhawks, White Sox, Cubs need I go on... And what does the city of PHX have else to offer? Oh yea the Cardinals, and Diamondbacks... So on just a numerical sense you loose PHX 5-3. On a traditional sense, ORD blows you away. Tradition, that is something you no nothing of in the city of sand...

Just my opinion...

 

[BuffaloJoe]

United/US Airways HQ expected to remain in Chicago with Parker in charge.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Stor...p;siteid=yhoof2

DoUgIe will have many great bars to drink at in Chicago. Let's hope he will learn the public h34r: transit schedule.

 

[gaucho99]

I thought this was interesting. Below were the proposed new routes the last time UA and US planned to merge. Some of these came to be without the merger.

Domestic

BWI-SEA
BOS-SAN
BOS-SJC
BOS-SEA
CLT-AUS
CLT-SAT
CLT-PDX
DEN-PBI
DEN-RDU
PHL-SJC
PHL-SNA
PHL-PDX
PIT-PDX
PIT-SJC
SFO-FLL
SFO-RDU
SFO-TPA
IAD-SNA

International

BOS-NRT
BOS-FRA
CLT-AUA
CLT-BGI
DEN-LGW
JFK-FRA
PHL-AMS
PHL-BGI
PHL-BRU
PHL-YVR
IAD-BDA
IAD-CPH
IAD-SJU
IAD-SXM

 

[Flyz4food]

Simple, LCC is losing money in PHX, regardless of what corporate does, to try to dilute this.



How does a city in recession have advantages other than headaches?



Better to drink more Koolaid?



oximoron if you ask me. PHX hasn't been growing in more than a decade... the economy is just as bad there as it is everywhere else in this country...



This is my favorite... Sports Teams, How many preytell NBA championships has the PHX Suns won compared to the Bulls? Don't answer that you will look stupid doing so. You have the Bears, Blackhawks, White Sox, Cubs need I go on... And what does the city of PHX have else to offer? Oh yea the Cardinals, and Diamondbacks... So on just a numerical sense you loose PHX 5-3. On a traditional sense, ORD blows you away. Tradition, that is something you no nothing of in the city of sand...

Just my opinion...

What is this elementary school?

 

[gaucho99]

Simple, LCC is losing money in PHX, regardless of what corporate does, to try to dilute this.

If true, that would be reason to shrink the flight operation but has no bearing on where to have your corporate office.

How does a city in recession have advantages other than headaches?

Phx is in no more of a ressesion than anywhere else.

Better to drink more Koolaid?

Koolaid or not, phx is considered to have much better wx than ord.


oximoron if you ask me. PHX hasn't been growing in more than a decade... the economy is just as bad there as it is everywhere else in this country...

Phx is still growing by leaps and bounds. The economy is not better but we're still growing.


This is my favorite... Sports Teams, How many preytell NBA championships has the PHX Suns won compared to the Bulls? Don't answer that you will look stupid doing so. You have the Bears, Blackhawks, White Sox, Cubs need I go on... And what does the city of PHX have else to offer? Oh yea the Cardinals, and Diamondbacks... So on just a numerical sense you loose PHX 5-3. On a traditional sense, ORD blows you away. Tradition, that is something you no nothing of in the city of sand...

I' better not comment on this because the mods might yank it down as being irelevant. Only to ask how many Cubs fans remember their last world series title???

Just my opinion...

 

[zethya]

Many of these publicized projections, including the HQ locations, are likely intended to lessen political objections to the merger and essentially follow the DL/NW strategy of saying what the various local congressional forces want to hear. I would speculate it would be very difficult for Parker/Kirby to accept Chicago as their new permanent residence and daily workplace after living in the Southwest. Not impossible, but also not an appealing situation to trade a golf club for a snow shovel 4 months each year. In any event, the initial state of the merged airline is likely not what it will be even a year after (if) the combination is approved by DOJ. I could even see the final situation being like they now have at PHL. A main HQ in PHX (or some other appealing location) and Satellite HQ facilities at ORD and the East Coast. The other matter driving a final decision will likely be which city will offer the best HQ incentives. I mean Boeing did just that, moved it's HQ to Chicago - 1500nm from it's main workforce in Seattle because of incentives.

 

[signals]

Good News Bad News

Doogie plans to correct a mistake:
...Mr. Parker told union officials that if a merger with United were to happen (he spoke in the hypothetical and did not confirm ongoing talks), the CEO would handle it differently than the 2005 union of the old US Airways and American West Airlines -- a combination still hampered by labor integration problems. Instead of waiting years for workers from rival airlines to hammer out a single contract, he said he would automatically grant the highest-cost contract among the two...

 

[PA18]

I know there were big reasons why it stayed in PHX before and if CP is in charge those reasons are still valid.
So we will see.
Geek

The fact that the company was paying a million dollars a square foot for office space in Washington was probably one of those reasons.

 

[nycbusdriver]

Good News Bad News

Doogie plans to correct a mistake:
...Mr. Parker told union officials that if a merger with United were to happen (he spoke in the hypothetical and did not confirm ongoing talks), the CEO would handle it differently than the 2005 union of the old US Airways and American West Airlines -- a combination still hampered by labor integration problems. Instead of waiting years for workers from rival airlines to hammer out a single contract, he said he would automatically grant the highest-cost contract among the two...

It's basically the same thing he told the Delta people when he tried to boonswaggle them into embracing a merger. It does look like he learned THAT lesson the hard way, given where the current US/AW merger is right now. (I would go further, but then it would be thread creep of the most grievous kind.)

 

[sharonstoneseat]

Many of these publicized projections, including the HQ locations, are likely intended to lessen political objections to the merger and essentially follow the DL/NW strategy of saying what the various local congressional forces want to hear. I would speculate it would be very difficult for Parker/Kirby to accept Chicago as their new permanent residence and daily workplace after living in the Southwest. Not impossible, but also not an appealing situation to trade a golf club for a snow shovel 4 months each year. In any event, the initial state of the merged airline is likely not what it will be even a year after (if) the combination is approved by DOJ. I could even see the final situation being like they now have at PHL. A main HQ in PHX (or some other appealing location) and Satellite HQ facilities at ORD and the East Coast. The other matter driving a final decision will likely be which city will offer the best HQ incentives. I mean Boeing did just that, moved it's HQ to Chicago - 1500nm from it's main workforce in Seattle because of incentives.

Jeez...

Parker and Kirby will not find it difficult at all to move to Chicago to run the 2nd largest airline. That is their ambition and their goal. They (or any one else I would think) will happily relocate to any city in the world for this opportunity. Believe me they find this VERY appealing and the people of Chicago consider their location appealing.

Also, Chicago is a great, vibrant city and attractive to young professionals.

I would seriously bank on HQ in Chicago. It is United's historical home with all of the necessary facilites, labor resources and knowledge bank to try to get this merger to be different. If they could tear down Crystal City (alot of knowledge bank was lost) they will close Tempe or use the buildings differently but HQ will not move out of Chicago.

He will not p*ss off his largest constituancy (the United employees) and it makes no financial sense to let go of the expertise that the United people have. You have to have some sense of how big they really are to see how costly it would be to relocate or rehire and retrain people to run the merged airline from here in PHX. It would be a debacle.

As far as politically well it is likely the next President will be from Arizona or.......Illinois.

When Doug says he is going to do this one differently I would bank on that too. In this situation....size matters.

 

[N965VJ]

Is UA’s HQ within walking distance to Rush Street?

The frat boys in Tempe would have a blast!

 

[usabusdriver]

Good News Bad News

Doogie plans to correct a mistake:
...Mr. Parker told union officials that if a merger with United were to happen (he spoke in the hypothetical and did not confirm ongoing talks), the CEO would handle it differently than the 2005 union of the old US Airways and American West Airlines -- a combination still hampered by labor integration problems. Instead of waiting years for workers from rival airlines to hammer out a single contract, he said he would automatically grant the highest-cost contract among the two...

That quote by Dougwiser needs to be parsed because it is not very specific. What does highest cost contract mean? Does he mean that pay rates will be equal? Does he mean that overall cost will be equal? Does he mean impose a single contract on the pilot group?

If you compare those other not so inconsequential costs such as DC rates paid, number of vacation days, duty rigs, and D/H pay to name a few, there can be a large difference in contract costs with similar pay rates. But doing those types of calculations as done in negotiations is very complex. I believe he meant that the seat/aircraft/length of service tables would be mirrored which would be the most simple.

We must always beware of interpretation when it comes to management and statements made. We need clear concise and unambiguous language IMHO.

 

[Art at ISP]

Not for nothing, but Parker and Kirby have NOT proven they are capable of running an airline the size of the new US, let alone take on UA. They are over their heads now. I can only imagine what would happen if this deal goes through.

I am amazed that anyone would allow this merger to happen, especially since they have not even completed the merger between US and HP, almost three years later. I can just imagine how the high cost of cheap will wreak havoc for UA--who has MANY more high yield customers than US ever did, and how the bottom line will be affected when Doug and Scot start treating them with the same contempt they have treated their current high yield customers....

And if you think US/HP has labor problems, just wait to see how the unions react to this deal...

I am sorry, but it's a trainwreck waiting to happen.....

The merger COULD work if there were a more qualified and trustworthy leadership team.....gee I wonder what Gordon Bethune is up to these days........