Flagship News in the MAIL?

RV4

Veteran
Aug 20, 2002
1,885
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Recently we were told that to SAVE MONEY the company newspaper flagship news would no longer be mailed and we would read through jetnet on-line. In fact, I believe the cost of employee subsidized computers were also part of this equation.
Well guess what? I just recieved my flagship news in the mail with all kinds of fear and propaganda.
Do they think we are that uninformed and too stupid to remember the dollar savings idea about on-line flagship? I can do without the slanted fear material and read for myself on-line about our current situtation.
I am now filled with disgust!
I was fully prepared to be open minded about these financial issues, but the more I see management try to SAVE MONEY the more disconnected I get!
It obviously isn't enough to be publishing in every local and national newspaper, now they spend precious money to add to the over communication.
For GOD's sake AA, just get on with the plan and stop the BS!
 
Ummmm...a CNN news article said that AA had made more than enough money off of advertising sales to cover the cost of mailing.

As to the propaganda, it's just like getting the jetwire in your email every day, filled with fear-mongering as every headline regarding other carriers wages cuts and lay off threats are repeated for AA employees on a daily basis.

Talk about your morale boosters! None of my friends at AA will read it anymore, they all just delete it as soon as it arrives.

PS - How did you get mail on a postal holiday?
 
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On 2/17/2003 6:12:20 PM WingNaPrayer wrote:

PS - How did you get mail on a postal holiday?
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I have nothing more to say to you! And I never claimed I got mail "today". Now run to the moderator will ya?
 
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On 2/17/2003 8:19:22 PM twaokc wrote:

WNP,


"PS - How did you get mail on a postal holiday?"


Don't know about where you live, but I have a P. O. Box and I did receive mail today and many other holidays also...




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I'll be darn, someone else too? Imagine that!
 
WNP,


"PS - How did you get mail on a postal holiday?"


Don't know about where you live, but I have a P. O. Box and I did receive mail today and many other holidays also...
 
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Ahem..."I have nothing more to say to you!"
 
WOW...they find a way to not cost the company any money (sell advertising...hey TWA folks remember the Skyliner...with advertising!) and you complain. The idea, whether you like it or not, was to give people the information and let them go over it at their leisure. I'm betting, based on how most of the posts on this board are 'conspiracy theory' beliefs or individuals, is that it's less propaganda, more reality.
 
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On 2/17/2003 5:15:48 PM RV4 wrote:

Well guess what? I just recieved my flagship news in the mail with all kinds of fear and propaganda.
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Ahem....say what?
 
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On 2/17/2003 6:12:20 PM WingNaPrayer wrote:

As to the propaganda, it's just like getting the jetwire in your email every day, filled with fear-mongering as every headline regarding other carriers wages cuts and lay off threats are repeated for AA employees on a daily basis.

Talk about your morale boosters! None of my friends at AA will read it anymore, they all just delete it as soon as it arrives.

PS - How did you get mail on a postal holiday?
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[/blockquote]
You have to Opt-In to receive the Jetwire by e-mail. So you and your friends? must have signed up for this service.
 
American selling ads in newsletter
By Trebor Banstetter
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH - As they read the grim details in the latest employee newsletter of management's request to slash $1.8 billion in labor costs, American Airlines workers may also notice something new -- ads hawking new cars, vacation packages and condos for rent.

The financially strapped airline confirmed Tuesday that it is selling advertising in Flagship News, the monthly newsletter for its 100,000 employees.

"We can raise a substantial amount of revenue," said American spokesman Marty Heires, who declined to disclose how much companies paid for ads in the current issue.

The move underscores American's desperation to raise money from nearly any source possible. While resisting the urge to raise ticket prices, American and other major airlines have implemented a host of fees and restrictions designed to increase revenue from passengers.

"I think they're looking at anything they can to save money or make a little money," said airline consultant Michael Boyd of The Boyd Group in Evergreen, Colo. "Given their financial condition, if someone will pay for an ad, why not?"

During the past two years, American has lost $5.2 billion as it grapples with a steep downturn in business travel and an intense price war waged by efficient, low-cost discount airlines like Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways. American is expected to lose another $800 million during the first quarter of 2003.

The company is in the midst of an intense cost-cutting campaign, and executives hope to eventually slash $4 billion in annual expenses. Last year, the airline says, it cut $900 million in operating costs, and it has targeted another $1.1 billion over the next two years.

The airline has been burning roughly $5 million in cash every day.

Last week, executives asked employees for $1.8 billion in concessions, which would likely mean cuts in wages and benefits, tightened work rules and additional layoffs. The carrier's unions are considering those concessions.

For the current issue of the newsletter, which was printed this week, the ads will offset the cost of mailing a copy to the home of every American employee, Heires said.

Some of the advertisers include Fort Worth auto dealership Texas Motors Ford, Executive Tour and Travel Services, and a ski resort in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

American halted home delivery of the newsletter soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, but the current issue will be mailed because it details the company's request for steep cuts in labor costs. Future editions will not be mailed on a regular basis, Heires said.

In a message to employees recorded Tuesday, Chief Executive Don Carty suggested that families sit down and review the proposed concessions together.

"This is an emotional period, and its only natural to feel both frightened, a bit frustrated, and perhaps even angry," he said.

Carty defended the airline's strategy of cutting costs, rather than raising fares or changing its business model to resemble that of discounter Southwest Airlines.

"Raising fares is next to impossible in our environment because of low-cost carriers and deep industry discounting," he said.

He said restructuring American's fleet and route system to match Southwest's would be painful and would strip the airline of its strengths.

"We'd be forced to get rid of hundreds of airplanes and lay off tens of thousands of employees," he said. "We would no longer be a strong global network carrier, but just one more airline in a pack of point-to-point low-cost carriers."
***** ***** ***** ***** *****​
 
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American selling ads in newsletter
By Trebor Banstetter
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH - As they read the grim details in the latest employee newsletter of management's request to slash $1.8 billion in labor costs, American Airlines workers may also notice something new -- ads hawking new cars, vacation packages and condos for rent.

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All that is left to do, now, is targeted advertising.

Instead of advertisements for cars, vacations and resort rental, Flagship News editions mailed to St. Louis based employees should contain ads for career counselors, resume writing services, relocation consultants and, for a good measure, bankruptcy lawyers and health insurance plans that fit into budgets of those who are collecting a maximum of $250 a week in unemployment insurance benefits.
 

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