flydcoop-
If you are referring to the email reply sent out by AA''s Jane Allen - I saw it and some of what she says is correct....
HOWEVER, much of what she says is incorrect. I don''t have a copy of it, but I remember there were 3 big areas where she was incorrect, one of which was our duty rigs for a 1-day trip....she was trying to tell the AA F/A''s that at UA we will not have a minimum duty-credit for a 1-day trip. We do - it''s 5 hours! Further, we are INCREASING our 2-day trip rig to 10 hours (from 9 hours), and even though we are giving up our 17-hour 3-day rig to go to 15-hours, the 1 for 3 1/2 time-away rig will mean many 3-day trips will be over 17 hours anyway.
I also remember her stating that our retirement multiplier was being reduced. Yes, it is being reduced but the entire retirement equation is being changed - so the context she was using was blatantly misleading. Actually, our pension amounts really aren''t changing but by a very small amount (a matter of a few dollars benefit per month), and in some cases the new formula is better, especially for those who will not be retiring for several more years. What will be changing is the age of retirement (up to 55) and the pre-medicare costs.
Further, she didn''t elaborate on anything that AFA was able to preserve... I didn''t study Jane''s email extensively but it sure seemed that many points were carefully omitted by her in an attempt to gain support for the AA/APFA proposal.
Make no mistake, it sucks. We are in some ways taking a bigger hit in some areas than AA F/A''s (hey, we are in Chapter 11 after all!), but some of the things that AA is taking away seem really severe, and I can''t help but think that some of the terms of the AA/APFA tentative are really panic-driven. Not that anyone shouldn''t fear Chapter 11 - but the chances at this point that AA will have to go down that route anyway appear high.
I mean, honestly, UA is looking pretty good for some sort of stability if not recovery - how can AA compete against UA with the lower lease payments and other costs that are being sliced by UA through the Chapter 11 process? AA knows it has to do the same. Not that I wish this on anyone....