Merger with LCC in the spring

[Fly]

I'm sure the other airline wants to be the survivor too.

We'll just have to wait and let this one run the course. Just because they want it doesn't mean they get it (we learned this in union negotiations over the years) If we want it, we get something that resembles it but is Not IT.

So much fun to wonder about who will be stealing from you next. So, you at DL put your retirees at a lower boarding priority than regular non revs? Wow! At UA our retirees have a best boarding priority before everyone, including active employees. If we hook up with "DL we must fix it to keep the old people with the good passes. Someday we will all be old people with passes and bad memories. We'll think we had a super job flying around on these great big planes to all sorts of exciting places.......let's keep it that way, they earned it.

I love Karma and Karma loves old people.

 

[boxer]

Hey Fly
When was the last time you were able to get on an airplane with a pass? My doh is 6-29-1959 (I'm retired 🙂 ). Wife and I bought tickets on VX SFO-IAD over the holidays and had great rides. UA rescinded most service charges as it was a no cost gesture to them because you have two chances flying SA. Slim and none.

 

[Kev3188]

So, you at DL put your retirees at a lower boarding priority than regular non revs? Wow! At UA our retirees have a best boarding priority before everyone, including active employees.
I love Karma and Karma loves old people.

NW retirees are at a lower boarding priority as well...

 

[Fly]

I went ORD/HKG/SGN over the summer and got First there and back.....must have been a lucky streak.

Domestically, passes aren't worth too much. :down:



**** I still think retirees deserve the higher boarding priority out of respect for all they gave to the company ***
(glad United didn't take that away from them)

 

[brokenwrench]

So, you at DL put your retirees at a lower boarding priority than regular non revs? Wow! At UA our retirees have a best boarding priority before everyone, including active employees.

Not to take anything away from "older" people, we will all be there. DL reasoning for the lower priority for retirees is that they have more flexibility in their schedule to get where they want to go. An active, especially junior, employee has a limited amount of vacation time and therefore is more sensitive to time constraints.

 

[Fly]

That stinks.

The passes become worthless then. I'd never retire and just drop all my trips if that were the case. Ugghh!

 

[lasttoboard]

That stinks.

The passes become worthless then. I'd never retire and just drop all my trips if that were the case. Ugghh!

Fly, just curious if NW and DL have changed their boarding priority or is this policy their way of dumping on the retired membership after they lose power?

Also, can you tell me if your hotels in SGN were up to your standards or should I be dubious? The last time I was in Saigon there were sand bags and machine guns in the front entrances at most hotels....

 

[crusher]

US changed boarding priority as well


Active employees are sa3
retirees and family menbers without employee are sa4

They also use the "flexibility of schedules" for the changes.. Retirees supposedly have a more flexible schedule . However my wife has "earned " her boarding priority just as much as I have and should travel at the same priority with or without me.

 

[Fly]

Fly, just curious if NW and DL have changed their boarding priority or is this policy their way of dumping on the retired membership after they lose power?

No idea



Also, can you tell me if your hotels in SGN were up to your standards or should I be dubious? The last time I was in Saigon there were sand bags and machine guns in the front entrances at most hotels....


We stayed at the Renaissance Riverside Hotel and thought it was nice. That part of Ho Chi Minh was about the only place I'd recommend for tourists though. Once inside the hotel, it was like being back in the US (thank goodness)........but you could still see the scooters zipping by outside. (how do they do that?) :blink: Fun city but good to stay in a comfortable hotel.

 

[lasttoboard]

Thanks Fly, it's good to hear from someone that's been there recently.
Also, let's just hope that UAL has a marginal amount of integrity remaining or the retiree's flight benefits will just be a fond memory after a merger!

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

I think it's a fair bet, that if a poll was taken of all the active, and retired employees of AA..UA..DL..CO..NW..US, that a LARGE majority would say..."JUST DO IT" (Consolidate) "And get it over with", once and for all.

I gotta say, with Jet-A in "triple digits"(and NEVER to return to double digits), plus Stocks "swimming in the CRAPPER" , That If the legacy's don't "pull the trigger" in 2008,......They NEVER WILL.

 

[luv2fly]

I think it's a fair bet, that if a poll was taken of all the active, and retired employees of AA..UA..DL..CO..NW..US, that a LARGE majority would say..."JUST DO IT" (Consolidate) "And get it over with", once and for all.

I'll take that bet Bear, at least amongst active employees. Especially the ones who stand to lose their jobs quite possibly for the second or third time.
Retired employees, IMO, are a different animal. No pun intended Bear.
Must be nice to just be an observer at this point in airline history.

 

[767jetz]

Interesting article about consolidation here: US Airways on the Outside Looking In

A few key points...

"A year ago, US Airways was the belle of the consolidation ball. Now, it just wants an invitation to the party."

"Parker told an investor conference in November. 'Being the sixth of the big six, we're not going to be somebody's first choice,' he said."

"US Airways is probably at some risk of being marginalized," says Standard & Poor's analyst Philip Baggaley. "If Delta were to go to one [partner] and Continental went to the other, American would be left apart, but at least they would have started out as the largest airline. Then you would have US Airways, who wanted to be involved, left on the sidelines," he says.

 

[signals]

It's understandable that I don't have a clue about the airline industry. I don't know my AI from my AZ and can't tell a merger from a consolidation from a hostile take-over. Let me see if I get this straight, for the most part, most think a merger usually means complimenting the routes of the airline. Jet A flies north and Jet B flies south, so they make a good merger...from what I understand. Another is Jet A has a stronghold in a busy hub, so Jet B merges to share that stronghold. Regardless why and who mergers, what is the bottom line for employees?

From what I gather a pilot's union is stronger than the csr's union. So if there were cuts would it start from the top or from the ground? I don't really want an answer, I just want you to think about it. Are the existing unions the same? Trouble happens if they aren't.

Analysists can talk and predict all they want, but for the most part they just blow air. The big airlines were always in cahoots with each other and always orchestrated the crushing of low-fare competitors. Lower prices more that low-fair airlines, competition goes out-of-business, raise prices higher than they originally were! Relax, this goes on anywhere there are corporations making money. The general public doesn't seem to care how many airlines merge, unless a big one takes a low-fare one. Say any of the top six airlines wanted to merge with SW or jetBlue, I'm sure it would be broadcast as Congress at least TRIES to stop that from happening. I really don't think, for instance, that Sen. Chuck Schumer(D-NY) is going to allow a merger like that without a big fight. He pushed for low-fair airlines and competition. US Airways-jetBlue, for example, will never happen as long as he is in office.

I once heard that in a few years there will only be maybe 4 major US carriers, especially internationally. I'm sure your industry as a whole doesn't have a darkside, because if it did I would wonder if dirty dark dealings aren't being made behind the scenes. Maybe it's time to knock one or two of the 'Big Boys' off. Naw, that would never happen.

Of course since I know nothing about this volatile airline industry, I MIGHT be wrong! If I owned stock in airlines, I would have had a heart attack a long time ago.

 

[signals]

Interesting article about consolidation here: US Airways on the Outside Looking In

A few key points...

"A year ago, US Airways was the belle of the consolidation ball. Now, it just wants an invitation to the party."

"Parker told an investor conference in November. 'Being the sixth of the big six, we're not going to be somebody's first choice,' he said."

Things have happened since last year and a bit beyond. Moreso than mergers they are actually political and have to do with future 'demographics'. I won't get into that.

Add to this the bickering among employees, that isn't really a secret, and you have an airline that you wouldn't touch if it was the only airline in the world.

Sometimes it might not sound like it, but I hope US pulls through whatever it faces, because in that 'political' matter, they handled it right. 'nuf sed!