AA depleting $$$$$

[Hopeful]

Has anyone else seen all the new LCD monitors being installed at their stations? Not just for desktop computers, but hanging on walls and suspended from ceilings for everyone's viewing pleasure.
I think this is just a minor cash outlay which is part of a much grander scale where AMR is beginning to deplete its cash reserves on the path to filing Chapter 11.
I believe this will happen to finally "get those pilots"......But the pilots won't be the only casualties....If anyone thinks we can't give back anymore....think again!

They can still cut your pay and benefits further and freeze the pension.....


NEVER SAY "NEVER!"

 

[N288AA]

They do not have to deplete their cash. They can do what is called a pre packaged Chapter 11 where they work with creditors and use the cash reserves they have for debtor in possesion financing.

 

[Hopeful]

The less $$$$ on hand, the better.

 

[FWAAA]

Exactly. Lord only knows why people insist that companies can't file until they're out of cash. AMR could have filed when it had $6 billion of cash and it could file now.

The flat screens may be the biggest waste of money this decade but they have nothing to do with AMR's ability to file a Ch 11 petition.

 

[Hopeful]

I didn't say the monitors were the SOLE factor.....I said it was a minor part of a much grander plan to deplete money.
You seem to forget that some of the bankruptcy laws were changed...thats why Delta United and NWA filed before the changes took place.

I have no great knowledge if the bankruptcy code..Unless you are a bankruptcy judge or lawyer or professor of law, your opinion is no more or no less qualified than mine.

 

[FWAAA]

You seem to forget that some of the bankruptcy laws were changed...thats why Delta United and NWA filed before the changes took place.

No, I haven't forgotten about the 2005 changes. And those changes did not make it more attractive to file with less cash than before.

I have no great knowledge if the bankruptcy code..Unless you are a bankruptcy judge or lawyer or professor of law, your opinion is no more or no less qualified than mine.

Well, I am a lawyer, have worked on various large bankruptcy cases and have taught continuing legal education courses on various subjects, including bankruptcy.

Your opinions are fine. It's your faulty factual assertions with which I take issue. It's never better for a corporate debtor to file a bankruptcy petition with less cash than was on hand previously. The more cash on hand when you file, the better. Sometimes individuals can benefit by depleting their cash. Not companies like AMR.

 

[Hopeful]

Ok you're a lawyer...You should have stated that earlier... Can't argue with your knowledge there. But I stand by my uneducated gut feeling that AMR will be filing for bankruptcy. And when I see money being wasted when Horton tells the JP Morgan conference that AA has the highest labor costs in the industry, I am suspicious.
Since you're a lawyer, can you say for fact that AA IS NOT intentionally depleting its cash reserves?

And I do not need a law degree to know that AA management is not any different from any other greedy corporate entity.

There are those that post here who like to remind us how we should not expect restore and more because the economic climate can't support such demands. But it doesn't apply to executives.

Look at AIG still getting their bonuses because its contractual. They took welfare money from the government and no bonuses will be paid. Aside from any government handout, AA execs will get "theirs" next month. AA employees, like every other taxpayer is watching the fat cats still getting their rewards, but unions are being called the greedy and unrealistic ones.

 

[Skymess]

Has anyone else seen all the new LCD monitors being installed at their stations? Not just for desktop computers, but hanging on walls and suspended from ceilings for everyone's viewing pleasure.
I think this is just a minor cash outlay which is part of a much grander scale where AMR is beginning to deplete its cash reserves on the path to filing Chapter 11.
I believe this will happen to finally "get those pilots"......But the pilots won't be the only casualties....If anyone thinks we can't give back anymore....think again!

They can still cut your pay and benefits further and freeze the pension.....


NEVER SAY "NEVER!"

No, I haven't seen the new monitors. I wish they'd spend some of that depletion money on some new printers in LGA and JFK ops. The cruddo ones we have now are really annoying. I'd like to pick them up and launch them through the window half the time. After that, maybe they could use those printers to print a LGA bus schedule to clear up the mystery of when it actually runs. It would be nice to not have to show up an hour early to the parking lot just to be sure I make it into work. It seems as though the bus at LGA has ATC holds too.

 

[Ralph]

:cop: Ok, we are going to try this once more. Ignoring this request may earn time off from the boards.

Please, do NOT use the reply button at the bottom of a post when responding to that post immediately below. Take the extra nanosecond to glance down to the bottom of the page. There are 3 buttons there which are labelled FAST REPLY, ADD REPLY, and NEW TOPIC. Use the FAST REPLY or the ADD REPLY button. This does not copy the entire previous post. You are wasting disk space and bandwidth when you copy every single post over and over. Thank you for your cooperation. :cop:

 

[Barfbag]

They do not have to deplete their cash. They can do what is called a pre packaged Chapter 11 where they work with creditors and use the cash reserves they have for debtor in possesion financing.

At TWA, Carl Icahn's specialty was always pre-packaged BK, strip whatever's is worth saving with board approval ( he controlled the board ) then bring the rest to the court.

TV panels? surely they ( AMR ) can burn cash faster than that, if they really wanted to.

Like buy into a failing airline

 

[FrequentFlierCA]

So is AA supposed to suspend all cap ex until things are so outdated they don't work, look bad and frustrate travelers?

I don't know about these specific monitors, but I do know that replacing a CRT with another CRT would be a huge waste of money. It's an outdated technology, and replacements should be made with the next evolutionary step, LCD in this case.

 

[jimntx]

So is AA supposed to suspend all cap ex until things are so outdated they don't work, look bad and frustrate travelers?

Uh, they are already doing that on anything that involves flight crews or passengers. Now executive bonusses and play toys are #1, but I just flew a trip on a series of S80s. In 3 days I encountered a/c that
1. Had a non-working lav. Solution: Lock it off and make a pa that only 1 coach lav would be operative.
2. Had a non-working coffee maker in coach (there is now only one anyway). Turns out my report to the cockpit made the 3rd time that this problem had been entered in the log. Never fixed, placarded. Only f/as and passengers inconvenienced. Mustn't spend money or take an a/c out of service for passenger comfort, now should we?
3. Almost cancelled a flight due to problems with cockpit equipment. Company tried to get the captain to sign off on the non-repair. Fortunately, he wouldn't. When they were forced to fix the problem "which would probably mean cancelling the flight and taking the plane out of service for days," it took about 15 minutes to correct--but with an expensive part.
4. A/C are not being cleaned even on overnights. I took a plane to SLC and took it back out the next day. The gum that children had smashed into the carpet in coach was still there. The stained seat cushion cover from a child spilling a soda that we had asked to be replaced was still there.

This was on 1 3-day trip. A month or so ago, I boarded an a/c that had 4E and 4F (First Class seats on the S80) covered in duct tape with a hand-lettered sign that said DO NOT USE. No kidding???? Really an impressive sight for the frequent fliers.

I could go on and on, as I'm sure any other f/a could. Yeah, LCD screens are really what we need right now.
How about a vacuum cleaner run over the a/c carpets first?

 

[FA Mikey]

The question is are they AA's screens or the airports? In Miami all the FID screens and the ones behind the counters belong to "MIA". Could very well be the same in many other places.

 

[ZundappBella]

>

Mustn't spend money or take an a/c out of service for passenger comfort, now should we?

I'm no great supporter of AA, but I think I will take their side on this one if you are suggesting that they take an airplane out of service due to a bad coffee maker and lav. I'm thinking that 100% of the passengers would be more comfortable flying on an airplane with a bad coffee maker and lav than sitting in an airport for hours on end waiting for them to be fixed.

Almost cancelled a flight due to problems with cockpit equipment. Company tried to get the captain to sign off on the non-repair. Fortunately, he wouldn't. When they were forced to fix the problem "which would probably mean cancelling the flight and taking the plane out of service for days," it took about 15 minutes to correct--but with an expensive part.

In 23 years of line maintenance at AA I have NEVER seen them try to push an airplane because the part was too expensive. Other reasons, yes, but not because the part was too expensive. I'm actually getting a bit frustrated these days, with stricter FAA oversight, what used to be a quick call to tech services to report some minor seal damaged or other insignificant broken part is now an out of service airplane until said insignificant part can be ordered, shipped, and installed. AA seems to be a little gun shy about anything these days that is not 100% by the book. Example: a couple of weeks ago we had a 737 with a pirep about the nose wheel spin after retraction. The spin down pads (don't remember the exact term for those) up in the nose wheel well were worn out. Since they wear unevenly I could have removed and rotated them 180 degrees exposing the good area which would have worked perfectly for months until they could be replaced. In the past this would have been allowed, but now the aircraft was out of service until new ones could be shipped in and installed. This inconvenienced 150 passengers for 5 hours.

 

[AAflygirl]

This is a scary thought. I saw an article recently that talked about how we need to raise a bunch of money in the next 18 months to roll over debt. If the debt markets stay closed that is going to be tough to do, and we're going to need every penny we have available.

I don't want to end up like my friends at UAL post-bk...