THE COURT: You may be seated.
MR. HUEBNER: Thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: I see you're still here.
MR. HUEBNER: You haven't killed us yet, Your Honor.
We're still here.
THE COURT: Well, I did look at the Northwestern
tentative, put-off-1113-until-next-year changes, and they must be in deep trouble because one of the changes is that they're not going to feed the pilots during any domestic flight. Now that's -- I mean, I just have this image of the pilots, instead of waiting until the end when everybody gets off, rushing off the plane to get in line for McDonald's first.
MR. HUEBNER: Your Honor, one hopes that their
husbands will pack them lunch.
THE COURT: Well, and then I thought about, you know,
how it's going to look for them to carry the little Strawberry Girl tin, you know, with their big bags.
MR. HUEBNER: Yes, that's -- because Captain Moak and
I just the other day were talking about that and, in fact,
while, of course I'm nowhere near a pilot, I actually never get on a plane without a sandwich, fruit, and a one-liter bottle of either water or seltzer.
THE COURT: Well, I can understand that. But, I mean,
they don't have bags. Their bags are already full up.
MR. HUEBNER: I think a lot them probably -- I mean,
you could ask when he's on the stand, but my guess is a lot of pilots probably pack food and drink as well. Is that right?
CAPTAIN MOAK: (Unidentified) Your Honor, I never
carry a strawberry tin.
*******
THE COURT: I honestly -- I really don't understand
why you think this is relevant.
MR. GALLAGHER: Well, Your Honor, we would like to
make a record of when and how the company got to be where it
is, that -
THE COURT: Well, when and how the company got to be
where it is would be -- take us so much time, we would never have any time for the other side. Okay? I mean, you have a retired CEO that got $8 million of severance. He's got a seven-hundred-and-eighty-two-thousand-dollar-a-year pension that's protected under the defined pension plan. I think you might want to ask him for a million dollars back. I mean, he should have plenty of money. You've got ten high-level employees that were given a million dollars. I mean, I'm saying to you that we can look at all of these things and realize that they're all relevant.
********
Q So using flight attendants as an example, Ms. Carolan, if
we're flying the same size airplane, let's say 149 seats, it
perhaps had four flight attendants in the past, but today we
can operate the same airplane with the same number of seats,
but we only use three, which is the FAA minimum, correct?
A That is correct.
Q So hopefully, we generate more revenue, but less flight
attendant costs?
A That's correct.
THE COURT: Well, but, you know, it depends. I mean,
one of the reasons why you can use fewer flight attendants is
because you're not serving the same amount of food as you were
serving before.
THE WITNESS: You're absolutely right. That was a big
part of it, that they were doing less service of food, although
we did try things like selling food on the airplane and things
like that. But mainly, it is that our existing flight
attendants are working harder.
THE COURT: Let me just say to you, as an air
passenger, if you think I'm going to buy your food when I pay for my ticket, I don't think so. It's just sort of one of those things we don't do.
MR. GALLAGHER: That's certainly everyone's
prerogative, Your Honor and I agree with you.
MR. HUEBNER: Thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: I see you're still here.
MR. HUEBNER: You haven't killed us yet, Your Honor.
We're still here.
THE COURT: Well, I did look at the Northwestern
tentative, put-off-1113-until-next-year changes, and they must be in deep trouble because one of the changes is that they're not going to feed the pilots during any domestic flight. Now that's -- I mean, I just have this image of the pilots, instead of waiting until the end when everybody gets off, rushing off the plane to get in line for McDonald's first.
MR. HUEBNER: Your Honor, one hopes that their
husbands will pack them lunch.
THE COURT: Well, and then I thought about, you know,
how it's going to look for them to carry the little Strawberry Girl tin, you know, with their big bags.
MR. HUEBNER: Yes, that's -- because Captain Moak and
I just the other day were talking about that and, in fact,
while, of course I'm nowhere near a pilot, I actually never get on a plane without a sandwich, fruit, and a one-liter bottle of either water or seltzer.
THE COURT: Well, I can understand that. But, I mean,
they don't have bags. Their bags are already full up.
MR. HUEBNER: I think a lot them probably -- I mean,
you could ask when he's on the stand, but my guess is a lot of pilots probably pack food and drink as well. Is that right?
CAPTAIN MOAK: (Unidentified) Your Honor, I never
carry a strawberry tin.
*******
THE COURT: I honestly -- I really don't understand
why you think this is relevant.
MR. GALLAGHER: Well, Your Honor, we would like to
make a record of when and how the company got to be where it
is, that -
THE COURT: Well, when and how the company got to be
where it is would be -- take us so much time, we would never have any time for the other side. Okay? I mean, you have a retired CEO that got $8 million of severance. He's got a seven-hundred-and-eighty-two-thousand-dollar-a-year pension that's protected under the defined pension plan. I think you might want to ask him for a million dollars back. I mean, he should have plenty of money. You've got ten high-level employees that were given a million dollars. I mean, I'm saying to you that we can look at all of these things and realize that they're all relevant.
********
Q So using flight attendants as an example, Ms. Carolan, if
we're flying the same size airplane, let's say 149 seats, it
perhaps had four flight attendants in the past, but today we
can operate the same airplane with the same number of seats,
but we only use three, which is the FAA minimum, correct?
A That is correct.
Q So hopefully, we generate more revenue, but less flight
attendant costs?
A That's correct.
THE COURT: Well, but, you know, it depends. I mean,
one of the reasons why you can use fewer flight attendants is
because you're not serving the same amount of food as you were
serving before.
THE WITNESS: You're absolutely right. That was a big
part of it, that they were doing less service of food, although
we did try things like selling food on the airplane and things
like that. But mainly, it is that our existing flight
attendants are working harder.
THE COURT: Let me just say to you, as an air
passenger, if you think I'm going to buy your food when I pay for my ticket, I don't think so. It's just sort of one of those things we don't do.
MR. GALLAGHER: That's certainly everyone's
prerogative, Your Honor and I agree with you.
