An Ode To Busdrvr

[Stratocruiser]

Busdrvr:

After reading one rancid post after another, I am forced to ask; “what is your deal?â€

First, you claim not to be a United employee (and will never work for them again), yet you laud (do you know what that word means?) them at every turn, while never missing an opportunity to point-out what’s wrong with other carriers (you seem to have a particular “soft spot†for Northwest).

Second, for someone who is constantly berating (another word you’ll probably need to look-up) others for their supposed lack of factual information, I’m frequently amazed at the volume of made-up facts you use to support your arguments.

Case in point, how “someone†at United told you that Ted was profitable in March. Of course they’re going to say that, you dope! What do you think they’re going to say? That this silly little “airline within an airline†that

a. Most analysts were skeptical of to begin with,

b. Likely only achieves a marginally lower CASM than the mainline, primarily by stuffing more seats on the jets and increasing utilization, and

c. ***** your best customers by taking away First Class (I was sadly amused how anyone who brought-up that point was instantly dismissed as a “whinerâ€)

is losing money by the planeload? Of course not!

Better yet, given the above-referenced analyst skepticism of the whole idea, if Ted was indeed profitable, don’t you think United would have mentioned that in their first quarter financial release? Why didn’t they? Because the SEC has a term for companies intentionally misrepresenting financial information; it’s spelled F-R-A-U-D. Our friend Jake Brace seems to dabble in this from time to time.

PORTION DELETED

 

[Fly]

First post and already

 

[C54Capt]

Fly,
That wasn't very nice. It seems to me that straocruiser's thoughts are held by the vast majority. Just because you and I like busdriver doesn't mean we should chase off new posters.

 

[Dave]

So Strato,

Are you just going to trash this person with your opinions, or are you going to provide any facts? And I see you're acusing our CFO of criminal fraud. Do you have anything to back up your charge? I didn't think so.

 

[UnitedChicago]

Shame on all of you. This board has been pretty stable the last several months. I dont give a crap who started the mud slinging - but it's got to stop.

None of us have any access to strategic plans, in-depth financial data, ATSB communications, etc.

How bout we just sit tight and watch things play out real-time.

 

[Fly]

You're kidding, right? Stable? Not quite. It's our entertainment....some people drink, we sling mud. Take that!

 

[Bigsky]

You're kidding, right? Stable? Not quite. It's our entertainment....some people drink, we sling mud. Take that!

Agreed. I got a kick out of FLY's loser post. Hilarious. Cheers

 

[Busdrvr]

I'm HONORED!!! My OWN STRING!!!

"Case in point, how “someoneâ€￾ at United told you that Ted was profitable in March. Of course they’re going to say that, you dope! What do you think they’re going to say? That this silly little “airline within an airlineâ€￾ that"

Not "someone", Glen Tilton, who could go to jail for lying about it, said it was profitable, PUBLICALLY.

a. Think how much money most analysts would make if they actually had the ability to run the show themselves. Incidentally, Transportation is typically where the loser analyst goes....

b. 18 more seats than mainline. That's a 13% increase. Math Major?

c. Express doesn't have much of a first class, so the customer could lose service all together or get express instead of mainline. And to top it off, in most Ted markets, there is no "direct" first class competition. Ted LF in April was approx 20% higher than FRNT's LF.

"Because the SEC has a term for companies intentionally misrepresenting financial information; it’s spelled F-R-A-U-D."

See above and try google, it might stop you from looking foolish next time

"I’m frequently amazed at the volume of made-up facts you use to support your arguments."

Examples? When I do make a factual gaff, I fess up.

 

[Busdrvr]

"Second, for someone who is constantly berating (another word you’ll probably need to look-up) others for their supposed lack of factual information, I’m frequently amazed at the volume of made-up facts you use to support your arguments.

Case in point, how “someoneâ€￾ at United told you that Ted was profitable in March. Of course they’re going to say that, you dope! What do you think they’re going to say? That this silly little “airline within an airlineâ€￾ that"

Hey Schoolmarm, maybe you should take a break from the board and read the F****** newspaper.


"In February, United launched a low-fare unit called Ted, which Tilton said was profitable in March. Ted's results aren't separately reported. He said United's revenue projections now assume that airfares won't return to the high levels of the late '90s."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/20...03-united_x.htm

More smiley faces for you

(how do i get one to give him the finger?)

 

[Fly]

post deleted by moderator.

Fly, you're treading on thin ice today.

 

[SVQLBA]

From good, independent sources:

a) Ted is profitable

B) It is taking back market share from Frontier (no wonder they are complaining to the ATSB), and boosting travel and total revenue in markets in which it is launched.

c) FFers such as the guy who set up DontFlyTed.com that have had a lot of publicity are the minority, and unprofitable at that. Although that guy claimed to be a frequent first class flier, he actually was a buyer of highly discounted fares who used FF miles and status for upgrades. While there's still education to do of UA FFers and the general market, overall customer satisfaction with Ted is high

d) The economics of an A320 with 156 seats and UA labor costs are very different to the economics of a (Song) 757 with DL labor costs and 199 seats. Basic problem -- that's a lot of seats to fill ... the labor costs sure don't help either

e) The simplified pricing structure on Ted (overlooked by most of the press) is leading to increased yields in Ted markets (yes -- increased)

f) Performance is so good, UA is looking at markets in which to expand Ted that they couldn't think of before (e.g., Mexico, Caribbean).

g) Ted productivity improvements aren't just the seats and utilization. There are plenty of other things (e.g., web site utilization for Ted is over twice as high as for mainline, reducing distribution costs). And the 25 minute turns are being achieved with 89% load factors, which is no mean feat. Cargo loads are being raised for Ted, so that will just increase further Ted's revenue generation.

As Tilton said "Ted can do whatever Ted bloody well wants"

The analysts may be right on lots of things, but at the moment they're wrong on this one ...

 

[N230UA]

Busdrvr:

After reading one rancid post after another, I am forced to ask; “what is your deal?â€

First, you claim not to be a United employee (and will never work for them again), yet you laud (do you know what that word means?) them at every turn, while never missing an opportunity to point-out what’s wrong with other carriers (you seem to have a particular “soft spot†for Northwest).

Second, for someone who is constantly berating (another word you’ll probably need to look-up) others for their supposed lack of factual information, I’m frequently amazed at the volume of made-up facts you use to support your arguments.

Case in point, how “someone†at United told you that Ted was profitable in March. Of course they’re going to say that, you dope! What do you think they’re going to say? That this silly little “airline within an airline†that

a. Most analysts were skeptical of to begin with,

b. Likely only achieves a marginally lower CASM than the mainline, primarily by stuffing more seats on the jets and increasing utilization, and

c. ****** your best customers by taking away First Class (I was sadly amused how anyone who brought-up that point was instantly dismissed as a “whinerâ€)

is losing money by the planeload? Of course not!

Better yet, given the above-referenced analyst skepticism of the whole idea, if Ted was indeed profitable, don’t you think United would have mentioned that in their first quarter financial release? Why didn’t they? Because the SEC has a term for companies intentionally misrepresenting financial information; it’s spelled F-R-A-U-D. Our friend Jake Brace seems to dabble in this from time to time.

PORTION DELETED

Ummm... stratocruiser, Ted *was* profitable in March. United would not be distributing it in internal publications falsely, otherwise they would hear from the SEC mighty quick... Yes, the SEC is mainly there to monitor public reports to investors, but internal company reports are within their realm too...

 

[737nCH11]

Fly,

You're cracking me up! Nothing more needs to be said on this post.

GO UNITED!!!!!!

 

[Ukridge]

Stratocruiser

I am sure that Busdriver is not in need of the most humble and venerable Ukridge (you do know what venerable means do you not?) to rally to his defence. If I remember correctly though, Busdriver threw his hat in with the Young Sophists and Flat Earther's Society at a time when it was under sharp attack by a USAirways pilot and thus he is to be afforded all aid and succor (you do know what the word succor means do you not?) Yet such a haughty tone and scrofulous remarks (you do know what scrofulous means do you not?) against someone that enlivens the debate to such an extent as he, is certainly a misplaced sentiment. Since I am not sprung from a volk that is as sensitive to, and apparently aggrieved by, pointed repartee as you seem to be, I actually appreciate such spirit and indeed consider it a form of art. Though I will admit that I cannot vouchsafe the particulars of all the points he makes, he is certainly entitled to make them and let the reader form the appropriate conclusions.

Although I as well will fault him (or her as the case may be) for his lax and even libertine approach to the spelling of such words as ‘labour’ and ‘centre,’ he sports a vigour in responding to what often is nothing more than odioum scholasticum (you do know what this means do you not?) on the part of many.

Beware also of playing Cerberus in guarding the entry to the English language (You do recognize the mythical alliteration do you not?) Many of us type quickly and spelling errors creep in from time to time. To the benefit of all, they are overlooked and not grounds for criticism.
Cheers.

 

[Segue]

To Strato's point, nobody really knows if Ted is profitable...I don't think United really knows either. Ted is not really a separated airline and shares many costs with mainline operatons.

Its all about allocation of costs, when so many are shared fixed costs, your allocation will make the difference between loss and profitability. Its not fraud, its just the reality of accounting.

But, Ted could very well be profitable!