Merger 101

[UPNAWAY]

on the intergration and learned something that I think would be useful for all.
Don't expect lots of changes in the sense that the come up with something complete new. That may happen but in most areas first they must match practices so they will adopt either the East or West way. To get both sides doing things the same, so they can merge into 1 carrier (by April 2007). At that point expect to see more inovation and thoughtful looks into all kind of things like fleet, inflight services, routings etc. In many cases they just cannot do that now becuase of time. They have to look at each side and decide which is best for now, but that does not mean it will be like that forever. I would expect that summer 2009 will see a much better overall product than whatever we will see summer 2007. By the way I think the product in 2007 will still be better than what US or HP offered alone in 2005.

 

[NCFL]

...To get both sides doing things the same.

Thank God nobody has spoken the words "Mirror Image," a la the US/PI merger.

 

[Dog Wonder]

Keep those expectations low.

 

[tadjr]

I dont think mirror image is in the vocabulary. It seems that they are truly trying to take things from both sides to make this work. Of course its basically the same as starting from scratch and trying to decide what you want to do, its just that they already have 2 options to choose from instead of having to actually start from 0.
I have had good feelings from the IT people trying to get the computer systems to work. They seem to really care what things at US work better than the things at HP do and if they can get them to work on QIK. There are some things on QIK that work better than what we can do on Sabre. They seem to really be trying to make things as easy as possible on the front end computer merge and seem to want to really make things user friendly. Some of the suggestions we submitted were actually implemented the next day!

 

[azjetdude]

You are right and I am on one of those teams. We create a "gap analysis" which covers every procedure, policy of each specific department, than review for "best practice" to decide which to go with.

At first my group thought everything would go the US way, just because of retraining purposes, we would have less HP people to train. But,we are really going after the best practice vs numbers to be trained.

I have to say I really enjoy the US people that I am working with. A really great group.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

Thank God nobody has spoken the words "Mirror Image," a la the US/PI merger.

Or "Cool Northern Efficiency"!

What could be an equally obnoxious Tempeism? "Hot Western...?"

 

[Dog Wonder]

What could be an equally obnoxious Tempeism? "Hot Western...?"

Merger 101 is pretty arrogant. How about that?

 

[EricLv2Fish]

I have had good feelings from the IT people trying to get the computer systems to work. They seem to really care what things at US work better than the things at HP do and if they can get them to work on QIK.

Our IT folks rock at the hangar in Phx. Sometimes they get overwhelmed and can't come to the rescue right away, but most of the time they are johnny (or susie) on the spot.

 

[delldude]

Or "Cool Northern Efficiency"!

What could be an equally obnoxious Tempeism? "Hot Western...?"

CACTI COOLNESS?

 

[allunionsdeceive]

You are right and I am on one of those teams. We create a "gap analysis" which covers every procedure, policy of each specific department, than review for "best practice" to decide which to go with.

At first my group thought everything would go the US way, just because of retraining purposes, we would have less HP people to train. But,we are really going after the best practice vs numbers to be trained.

I have to say I really enjoy the US people that I am working with. A really great group.

That would be true about training due to the #'s that have to be trained on sceptre for the mx dept.

 

[nycbusdriver]

As far at the FAA Operating Certificate is concerned, I would be surprised if the USAirways certificate was not the survivor. Not that it is really any better than the AWA Certificate, it's just that the "East" certificate has more critical/necessary authorities attached to it which would be difficult and time-consuming to get put on the AWA certificate. 180 minute transatlantic ETOPS is one. 162NM offshore waivers is another. "More than 162 NM offshore" authority (Caribbean) is yet another. As I understand it, AWA aircraft still have to remain within 50NM of all coastlines. The "east" division left that restriction behind more than 10 years ago.

Additionally, the entire Airbus fleet and the 757/767 fleets are CAT IIIB cetified; I've been told that AWA does not have that authority right now (and I could be wrong on this. I heard it from an AWA jumpseater and may have misunderstood.)

It would make more sense to keep the certificate with the most whistles and bells already attached, IMHO.

Maybe the AWA cetificate will be useful for dividing the pilot group into the C Scale vs. D Scale. Or the Haves vs. the Have Nots. Jerry Glass would be a good source of information regarding that. Maybe the EMB190's could conitnue to operate under the AWA certificate as second class citizens. I have no doubt something like this will be attempted in light of the pay scales that the weak-kneed pilot group agreed to.

(Sorry, I didn't really intend to segue into a rant.)

 

[allunionsdeceive]

Additionally, the entire Airbus fleet and the 757/767 fleets are CAT IIIB cetified; I've been told that AWA does not have that authority right now (and I could be wrong on this. I heard it from an AWA jumpseater and may have misunderstood.)

It would make more sense to keep the certificate with the most whistles and bells already attached, IMHO.


(Sorry, I didn't really intend to segue into a rant.)

All of the a320 and a319 are cat 3b. The 757 are cat 2 and working to cat 3 b and the 737 are between cat 2 and 3a. Some of the 737 will only be cat 2.

 

[Heinrich]

It's a shame that many synergies won't happen for a few years. What happens if oil does go to $100/barrell with Iran being touchy like this?

 

[gonzo]

It's a shame that many synergies won't happen for a few years. What happens if oil does go to $100/barrel with Iran being touchy like this?

The best time for it to happen is right now. Think about the merger.....now is the time for the price to go sky high.

 

[nycbusdriver]

It's a shame that many synergies won't happen for a few years. What happens if oil does go to $100/barrell with Iran being touchy like this?

If that happens, management will come to the employees and threaten to shutdown the airline unless everyone agrees to pay the airline for the opportunity to come to work.

The pilots will pass the proposal 68 to 32 percent rather than be without a job.

Management will grab whatever loot they can and close the company down anyway.

(Sorry, I'm only speaking of the "east" pilots. The "west" pilots are still somewhat of an unknown quantity to me.)