Here we go again with mysterious stuff.....
Just what is "the reason to believe", other then a ouija board or Miss Cleo?
HP_FA
This is one man's opinion. It doesn't mean I'm right or wrong. So before anyone blast me, it is my O*P*I*N*I*O*N.
When Stephen Wolf took over US Airways, he talked about how we had to clean up our image, be the carrier of choice...as opposed to necessity, and become a global airline. To do this, he renamed us US Airways, ordered up to 400 airbuses to update the fleet, and ordered 30 widebodies to expand. he cleaned up the company and improved service considerably. The COST, however, was for the employees to give back to bring down our cost. Well, actually, it was more of a threat. I think Wolf was prepared to do what would eventually come our way thanks to 9/11.
I feel when Wolf was in charge of the daily operations, we were ran the best in the 19 years here. Our product was great and the airplanes were sharp. Then Gangwall took place and THATS when I saw the decline.
As our image improved and we were making money, we became attractive to potential buyers. All of us knew that it would take us YEARS to build any resemblence to a global carrier, so it only made sense when the proposed US/UA merger was announced. They had the global network AND STAR. There you have it...A Global carrier overnight.
Meanwhile, Wolf and Gangwal put ALL their eggs in the UAL basket. They had NO Plan B should THIS plan falter. BTW, Gangwal was quoted as saying this..What US Airways failed to understand was the growing resentment that the employee owned UAL felt about having this crammed down their throats. This angered many because as owners, they felt they had no say and I can't blame them. Also, many felt the asking price was too high and that United didn't NEED US Airways. Then came the DOH issue that turned the pilots and f/a off COMPLETELY. Things were looking bad at UAL as they were having their own labor issues. Why add to it with a merger. UAL management, I think feeling they alienated the real owners, asked the employees what they thought and well...the rest was history. UAL lost their will and didn't fight in DC for it, making US Airways look desperate at best for a savior. At the end of the day the govt was not impressed and it looked like they would work to block the deal. There was too much slick dealings going on that suggested that US/UA were unwilling to give back much that overlapped , giving them an edge over their competitors.
Meanwhile, during the process, a few overzealous US employee (one an A320 captain) said enough stupid things to cause a stir and after a while there were circles with US Airways written in it with a red line across the name...stickers given out and place all over ORD. Imagine the horror and embarrassment of seeing this. After awhile, it just seemed that UAL saw us as pest, but somehow felt badly for us, so they came up with an alternative. We would not be allowed to go to the prom WITH UAL, but they would make it possible for US to GO to the prom...so they invited us to join STAR....teeth grinding and all.
As all this went down the drain,again the alternative was to have UAL invite US into the STAR ALLIANCE which would kind of make us a global carrier in a less notible way. OK, here we go again. BA saved us before, but at least they gave us money. UAL was giving us...sloppy seconds.
The reason I say that is that in the time that we have been connected to UAL, there has been basically no true coordination of gates, inflight service, PR..nothing...nada!! We would mention UAL in our magazine and clearly mark where the UAL passengers on our flights should go. Our flight boards would have, for example US189 and right under it the UA flight, say UA589. Meanwhile, if you hop to a UA stronghold hub, you would see nothing.
Somewhere alone the way UAL managemnent instilled an attitude that we are just doing this because...and it appears that part was left blank. If you look on the UAL website, we are mention with the other STAR partners but nothing different even though we have this big alliance. The route map is nice enough to have our hub names in blue but the time tables only acknowledge that that United flight is operated by US Airways.
In the beginning, US Airways was happy to plaster UAL everywhere. Besides the flight boards, you don't see the UAL name around much.
As US entered Ch 11 and our management team SLASHED our service to embarrassing levels, I feel this turned UA and STAR off. More and more, most of us at US feel UA would prefer us to just go away. Our planes are chipping paint, the interiors are filthy, inflight sucks...hell, we can't even put the damn Star Alliance sticker on right. Can you blame UA for distancing from US?
US made no attempt to understand that that they were driving customers TO United and away from US. Isn't the dollar amount greater on the airline you originate with? UA continued a lavish F/C service. They offered real meals in coach at the time. Their movies intl AND domestically were free. They gave free booze internationally. At the time, our obituary was being prepared. It wasn't pretty.
Now we are becoming a LCC and while UA had TED, they are still more inline with the service Luftansa offers, so are we too cheesy for STAR or just for UAUA? I don't think UAL ever really put much heart into out alliance. It shows all over the system.
So now we are with you guys and overlap ALOT more than before merger. We gave up the west coast once and since our headquarters is BASED out west, I just don't think DOUG will give in to any threatening bullcrap that UAUA may feed them. All of a sudden we are invading the west coast prom and it sounds like UAUA has the potential to just shut the prom down.
If UAUA has THAT much power, do you REALLY want to be associated with the likes? If we are going to have to answer to a fellow formal CH 11 carrier, I fear for our livelihood. If they DO have the power to pull the plug, it isn't worth being under their potentail threats. It's time to cut and run. If we were THAT important to UAUA, they would be kissing our butts to stay and so would STAR. The headlines tell me....oh...oh...ok..uh..for now...well...I guess.......we'll put up with them. Pretty!!
I have NO LOVE LOST FOR UNITED!! Their employees will sing a different song and I'm sure many will come here and tell THEIR side and twist mine. I could care less. We made ALOT of mistakes but I think it has taken alot of years for US to finally see that it's no fun to just be put up with. And that's how it feels with UAUA...like they are collectively shaking their heads, rolling their eyes and letting out a huuuh!!
Any benefit to staying in STAR will NOT be UAUA...if there ARE actually any. Oh I forgot I can now go from Greenville, NC thru Charlotte to Bejing "seamlessly". Yeah!!
