Doug Parker's Letter to employees

[Silver Meteor]

Frank,
Yes, we all recognize that DL and NW's BKs were planned w/ the intention of a future merger - which ended up happening.
DL and NW both emerged independently and maintained profitability despite the fuel price spike in 2008. They were not committed to a merger and likely would not have merged if either one had failed to maintain its post-BK financial performance.
It doesn't change the fact that AA has to be able to emerge as a viable standalone airline in order to be a viable partner for anyone. Parker wants to short-circuit the restructuring process, grab AA, and then deal with the fact that the new airline won't be viable by taking another trip thru BK later.
That's not a risk AA people should take.

DCaf,
sorry if you find the truth to be insulting. It is still the truth.
I do not work in the airline industry - my job will not be affected by whatever happens to AA, DL, or US.



I can appreciate your position without walking in your shoes....
I am NOT saying you should continue w/ the same old, same old.... you are clearly smart enough to know that repeating the same thing expecting different results is the definition of insanity.
If you believe that walking away from it all and shutting the place down after the 1113 process is forced upon you is what you need to do - and if you find enough people to join you - then you should follow through on your convictions. AA still has alot of assets and someone will buy those assets and take alot of employees with them.
I am simply saying that you and other AA employees are setting yourself up for another fall if you believe that US mgmt's plan will solve AA's problems and avoid further cuts.

Have to agree with WT on a lot of things about what is happening. In my opinion...this thing is FAR from over. Delta...among other people will be trying to do something. How this will all play out...who knows...but people thinking that US/AA is basically a done deal are totally wrong. Yes...it might happen. But take it from somebody who has been through these kind of things, but in Telecommunications..."the Grass is not always Greener".

Employees at a previous Telecommunications company I worked for couldn't wait for "new" management to come in and run the place. To put it mildly...this new management almost put the place out of business. Watch what you wish for.

 

[DCaf]

DCaf,
sorry if you find the truth to be insulting. It is still the truth.
I do not work in the airline industry - my job will not be affected by whatever happens to AA, DL, or US.

Yes, I find your posts to be insulting, mostly to the employees of AA, some of whom fall for your drivel.

Your definition of truth is different from mine. Your suppositions are not truth.

Don't work in the "industry"? Nicely worded. PR firm hired by DL, law firm perhaps? Bottom line, you're the Delta rep here.
As such, I think your posts regarding this potential transaction are really suspect. Let the AA employees make up their own minds.

 

[Frank Szabo]

Frank,
Yes, we all recognize that DL and NW's BKs were planned w/ the intention of a future merger - which ended up happening.
DL and NW both emerged independently and maintained profitability despite the fuel price spike in 2008. They were not committed to a merger and likely would not have merged if either one had failed to maintain its post-BK financial performance.
It doesn't change the fact that AA has to be able to emerge as a viable standalone airline in order to be a viable partner for anyone. Parker wants to short-circuit the restructuring process, grab AA, and then deal with the fact that the new airline won't be viable by taking another trip thru BK later.
That's not a risk AA people should take.

I understand full well why the "stand alone" thing is necessary - for a viable business. AA is not viable, in my opinion and that of many others, with its present management team. What's going on between US and AA's unions, however, is far too obvious.

Re: a second trip through Chapter 11 - that would obviously be coming within a year as Parker has no intent of allowing AA's workers (or his own) to reap any benefit from this filing. His offers have been to simply get AA's unions in his court.

AA's unions bought into the sham to put a poison pill in place for Horton hoping to bolster their respective positions and no other reason . The US/AA merger would not be beneficial to employees of either airline. Horton and Co. would be the biggest losers if a merger went through before emergence as they would probably lose their expected payday after not having "led" the company through restructuring. The BODs would be fighting, the managements would be fighting, both companies would probably implode in rather short order but in the process provide the employees of both sides with some comic relief and short term entertainment whilst the executives show their backsides.

Many of us have finally been broken and really aren't worried about the possibility of the company's demise, as the Informer says.

Karma is a b#### and if you're lucky, you'll get to watch it at work.

 

[AA89]

Have to agree with WT on a lot of things about what is happening. In my opinion...this thing is FAR from over. Delta...among other people will be trying to do something. How this will all play out...who knows...but people thinking that US/AA is basically a done deal are totally wrong. Yes...it might happen. But take it from somebody who has been through these kind of things, but in Telecommunications..."the Grass is not always Greener".

Employees at a previous Telecommunications company I worked for couldn't wait for "new" management to come in and run the place. To put it mildly...this new management almost put the place out of business. Watch what you wish for.

Well it's too late to watch what we wish for because we have Horton now. As you say this "new" management is evidently hellbent on putting AA out of business. Very few believe they have any viable plan beyond raping the employees.

For those that say the employees at the other airlines continued to show up after BK don't seem to realize that there has to be a bottom. There has to be a minimum of pay and benefits that airline employees will accept for what we do. Horton and the bean counters have no concept of the human factor nor do they care. We have to be competetive yes. But part of being competetive is having employees that feel they are worth something to the company. These cuts put us far below below the industry standard in some cases and it seems are as much punitive as practical. Just because people show up for work doesn't mean they are giving as much back to the company as they did before.
In aircraft maintenance we have licensed mechanics that will be forced to either take $10 an hour pay cuts among other benefits, or hit the street. What kind of employee will that be? If that employee leaves you might have an unlicensed coffee maker mechanic with less seniority allowed to now work on an actual aircraft or engine. Does either of those sound like a viable business plan?
These guys are clueless !!!!

 

[wings396]

Yes, I find your posts to be insulting, mostly to the employees of AA, some of whom fall for your drivel.

Your definition of truth is different from mine. Your suppositions are not truth.

Don't work in the "industry"? Nicely worded. PR firm hired by DL, law firm perhaps? Bottom line, you're the Delta rep here.
As such, I think your posts regarding this potential transaction are really suspect. Let the AA employees make up their own minds.

Amen.........


This dude is way too involved, not to be involved.......

 

[luvthe9]

Don't expect to get what you were offered by Parker, you will learn.

 

[TWU informer]

Have to agree with WT on a lot of things about what is happening. In my opinion...this thing is FAR from over. Delta...among other people will be trying to do something. How this will all play out...who knows...but people thinking that US/AA is basically a done deal are totally wrong. Yes...it might happen. But take it from somebody who has been through these kind of things, but in Telecommunications..."the Grass is not always Greener".

Employees at a previous Telecommunications company I worked for couldn't wait for "new" management to come in and run the place. To put it mildly...this new management almost put the place out of business. Watch what you wish for.

When the whole landscape is now yellow brown, the grass has to be greener elsewhere.

 

[TWU informer]

Don't expect to get what you were offered by Parker, you will learn.

That is fine with me.
I am lied to by AA Management also, so I am ready to learn from someone else and their lies now.

It would just be more of the same for me.
The name of the deceiver matters not.

 

[tech2101]

We need to shuit it down.

Enough is enough.

Shut what down?

The TWU shut down AA?

 

[tech2101]

They were not committed to a merger

I call BS on that one.

 

[SBN580]

Just like to point this out. It's not HIS American! In case you two history buffs, pining away for the days of old, hadn't noticed - the airline industry has gone to hell in a handbasket.

You want the AA employees to fight like hell? To support Tom Horton the resident carpet bagger and his cadre of overpaid yes men. Only to be locked into a 6 year, morale busting, POS contract! No freaking thanks!

I am fully aware the days of old are no more. I understand the state of the industry. However, I have lost track of AA's management situation since Arpey left however. I'll take your word for it that Horton is that bad. I read his bio. Being at AT&T before coming back says a lot. Overall reads like a bean counter. Once a bean counter, always a bean counter eh? I hope nothing but the best for American employees. I hope that somehow it remains standing on its own, without employees being cheated by its present management and without being faced with taking a chance with US and Parker's track record.

 

[SBN580]

No one should doubt that DL is in a position and will move to acquire AA if it has to –

It seems like a game board where all the players will make a move if it is in its bests interests for better position or to block an opponent from getting a better position in the airline marketplace. Perhaps a bad metaphor, but I think I understand what you are saying.

 

[Phoenix]

Yes, I find your posts to be insulting, mostly to the employees of AA, some of whom fall for your drivel.

Your definition of truth is different from mine. Your suppositions are not truth.

Don't work in the "industry"? Nicely worded. PR firm hired by DL, law firm perhaps? Bottom line, you're the Delta rep here.
As such, I think your posts regarding this potential transaction are really suspect. Let the AA employees make up their own minds.

Yes the Delta rep. Probably works the Delta Wikipedia entries too. He/she is busted.

 

[WorldTraveler]

It seems like a game board where all the players will make a move if it is in its bests interests for better position or to block an opponent from getting a better position in the airline marketplace. Perhaps a bad metaphor, but I think I understand what you are saying.

Thankfully, there are people who get it and don't attempt to see demons behind every doorknob just because they don't like the sounds they hear.
.
Yes, the airline industry is highly competitive and those who "have" are going to do what they can to ensure that those who "don't have" don't get more.
DL and US execs both know that DL has the upper hand if AA is unable to restructure on its own which is why Parker is trying to jump start the process - even if his efforts really don't give him an upper hand when the real bidding process begins.
DL has a finished merger that is paying dividends, has financials far better than US' - including a marketcap that is even now 5X higher than US' current inflated rate based on all the hope that a merger will finally make US into something, and DL really has no more overlap with the key assets that AA has and DL wants - LHR, Latin America, MIA/DFW - than US has.
.
And we still have other parties that have an interest in AA's outcome and could compete with US, including BA and even UA - which would love to have the MIA hub... although they couldn't really take much else.
.
So, yes, there will be those who don't want to hear the logic that stomps on their hopes that US will finally be saved from itself or that the creditors and AA mgmt will have a difference of opinion with AA labor - surprise, surprise - even if Parker has wooed them - but that is exactly what will happen.
.
And those that "have" today will make sure that they are able to continue to build on what they have and are managing well while not allowing anyone else to be admitted to that club - and they will find support from those who control AA's outcome - who are also interested in reducing risk and increasing their own wealth.
.
This is big business, not hopscotch on the elementary school playground.
.
Grasping that reality has everything to do with understanding the way business works - and nothing to do with loyalty - or not - to any company.

 

[JAMAKE1]

WT: Why would DL want Latin America, when DL has successfully grown Lat Am organically from ATL...so successfully in fact, that UA retreated from MIA soon afterwards? Furthermore, why would DL need LHR after successfully securing the one missing crown jewel in DL's network; JFK-LHR (from UA)? I just don't see what strategic basis DL would have for growing LHR when their key alliance partner is AF. DL flies to LON from all of their hubs, sans SLC, correct?

Lastly, up until the UA-CO merger, DL/NW became the world's largest airline. I just cannot see the DOJ...especially under the current administration...approving any transaction that would give the goliath that is DL, any additional market power.