Who wants a merger with US?

[BoeingBoy]

The FA's really don't clean at all - they tidy, at least on the east.

"limited to the following: collecting papers and refuse in the cabin of the aircraft, crossing seatbelts, stowing pillows and blankets in the overhead compartments, removing visible items from the seatback pockets, and collecting and stowing magazines as applicable."

Jim

 

[WorldTraveler]

Among other tidbits that indicate that UAL might be interested in AMR as well (presumably for Latin America):


It said though that AMR is not pleased with the 'vibes' it is getting from US Airways' CEO Doug Parker. In fact, Adam Pilarski of the aviation consulting firm Avitas thinks the only way such a merger would come about is that “US Airways management would have to quit to make a deal with AMR work.” Another negative factor with this possible deal is the 'baggage', including the pilots' court battle, US Airways still carries from its previous merger with America West Airlines.

http://beta.fool.com/tdalmoe/2012/04/11/future-amr-air/3516/?ticker=DAL&source=eogyholnk0000001

 

[wings396]

Has anyone questioned where the 3 Union leaders were last week? Heard they were in Phoenix.

Was WT with them?
His views are very important, don't ya know....
If this merger does ever take place, I have a feeling that we are going to be scraping him off the pavement somewhere...

 

[737823]

If you knew anything Shuttle flights are cleaned by the Flight Attendants. The hubs have their cleaning outsourced. Cleaning has been outsourced since May of 2005.

Flight Attendants clean the short haul flight, ramp or a vendor does long haul.

Another lame attempt at trying to bash the union, when are you gonna learn?

Every time you do this you make yourself look even more ignorant.

I don't think cleaning arrangements are within the spectrum of knowledge from frequent travelers. I'm sure notice or take an interest to ask but most don't. Were the jobs outsourced IAM jobs? Perhaps the union should have done more or come up with better work rules to keep the jobs for your members and dues revenue for the IAM. What is considered a hub for US? CLT, DCA, PHL, and PHX? Is the designation extended to focus cities and former hubs like BOS, LAS, LGA, and PIT? I'm not here to bash just letting you know and want US to address the issue. Otherwise uneventful flight.

Josh

 

[damajagua]

Consultant casts doubt on wisdom of US Airways-American Airlines hookup

By Terry Maxon/Reporter
tmaxon@dallasnews.com | Bio
12:07 PM on Wed., Apr. 11, 2012 | Permalink
Airline consultant Bill Swelbar, in a commentary last week, did not jump on the bandwagon of support for a merger between US Airways and American Airlines.

In a long post on his Swelblog site, Swelbar acknowledged how badly US Airways wants a deal and has been pushing for one, but questions its value to American.

"US Airways is absolutely not the only option for American. What about a fully integrated relationship with each Alaska and jetBlue? These would certainly better address the weaknesses on the west coast and in New York, particularly at JFK - two aspects of American's not-successful-to-date 'cornerstone strategy.'
"The point is, there are options for American beyond US Airways and I might suggest there are better options than the Tempe-based airline - and they do not require a seniority integration process and potentially do not add seats to the capacity fragile U.S. domestic market. Then again the restructuring needs to be completed in full before we can begin to evaluate options - something that US Airways wants to avoid. For a company that constantly claims it does not need to merge, it seems to this observer to be incredibly desperate and fearful of not merging with its bigger counterpart."

Swelbar shakes his head at union whisperings that they'd be better off in a US Airways merger than with a standalone American with its current management.

As for other critics: "Most of the naysayers regarding American's stated stand-alone business plan have vested interests in the outcome of the game. Wall Street has made the case that consolidation and strict capacity discipline absolutely need to be adhered to if the industry is to be stable. They cite American's 20 percent stated growth as something to fear. And it might be. But what is the 20 percent American has mentioned? Nobody knows. What if it is the ability to generate 20 percent more city pairs to sell through code sharing alliances with Alaska and jetBlue that add no new capacity to the system? Net effect equals zero. Period."

Swelbar is a research engineer in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's International Center for Air Transportation. He started in the business as a flight attendant, then became a consultant and then joined the MIT center.

 

[wings396]

Consultant, Anal-list, same things. Just someone's opinion that has little or nothing to do with anything. Just a writers opinion, and you know what they say about opinions...
Some articles for, some against, but nobody knows for certain what will happen until it does. We have people writing books and articles about the end of the world too.
As holds true with these boards, you have to shuffle thru the bs for some facts, and come to your own conclusion. I like to post and read on here, but none of it really means squat. Deals and corporate decisions are not being made based on what is posted here.

From flight attendant to industry expert, let me guess...former AA f/a. ...
At least I have increased hopes of a career after the airlines..

 

[eolesen]

Has anyone questioned where the 3 Union leaders were last week? Heard they were in Phoenix.

Maybe there was a half-off on golf special at one of the resorts up in Scottsdale?

Lots of aviation symposiums in PHX during late March, including attendees from some of the unions.

 

[AAStew]

Yes, there are aviation symposiums, what a coincidence that all three were there at the same time! And they didn't fly AA! Not even with their AA provided positive space travel...more convenient to pay or non-rev on a competing carrier, isn't it? So funny that Hale came out with that letter denying the APA's interest immediately after as well. Nah....they weren't there at the invitation of Parker, what was I thinking and where did I get that info? Silly me.

 

[eolesen]

My apologies for this post, as it is off on a tangent started by someone else.... but it can't go unchecked any further.

That is exactly what is happening to FL in ATL... they could justify the size of their hub even though it carried alot of low fare connecting traffic based on lower costs and the fact that ATL was FL's largest hub.

WN does strategically need an operation in ATL as big as what FL has operated esp. since WN is a higher cost operator. Thus, FL/WN combined going forward is smaller than it was when the merger was announced.

You've made the claim a few times that WNFL is shrinking at ATL... Let's look at the facts for a change, and not half-truths & split-hair explanations....

FL + WN @ ATL, May OAG Loads

July 13 2009 - 242 flights, 57 destinations
July 12 2010 - 214 flights, 58 destinations  <--- Six months before merger announcement
July 11 2011 - 222 flights, 55 destinations  <--- OAG load from 2 days prior to merger approval
July 09 2012 - 204 flights, 49 destinations  <--- OAG load from last week

Yes, it is a fact that WNFL has "shrunk" at ATL since the merger was approved, going down by 18 flights and dropping 6 destinations.

It is also a fact that FL had been shrinking the ATL operation for the two years prior to the merger approval.

------------------------------------

Now, let's look at where and possibly why the cuts took place:

ACY     -2     Market withdrawl    
AUS      2     Add
BDA     -1     Market withdrawl   still served from BWI
BMI     -3     Market withdrawl    
BWI      3     10x per day	   H2H
DAY     -1     3x per day
DFW     -7     Wright Amendment
HOU      2     9x per day          H2H
IAD     -4     Market withdrawl    BWI +3
LAS      1     5x per day          H2H
MCO     -1     10x per day         H2H
MDW      3     11x per day         H2H
PHF     -4     Market withdrawl    
PHL     -1     5x per day
PHX      1     3x per day          H2H
PIT     -1     3x per day
PWM     -2     Market withdrawl    Ceded to DL
SEA     -1     2x per day
SFO     -1     3x per day
SJU     -1     2x per day

FL had no choice but to close DFW -- it's a requirement under the Wright Amendment Sunset Compromise.

They also closed IAD, and given the larger BWI combined operation, that probably makes sense.

Four of the markets (ACY, BMI, PHF, PWM) were relatively small, and all but ACY had competing service from DL or DL*. They were also significantly smaller than the normal profile for a WN city.

All in all, a net loss of 23 flights by eliminating six markets.

They also threw in adds in some strong markets (many hub to hub), did some trimming in others, which mitigated the losses somewhat to just 18 flights.

---------------------------------

Those are the unshakeable facts.

No spin, no half-truths, no opinions beyond the press releases.

Just cold, hard, indisputable facts.

It's also a fact that the FL facility was capable of managing >240 flights a day in a banked schedule.

In my opinion, using WN flight scheduling practices with rolling banks and quick turns, and it isn't unfathomable to imagine them being back above 250 departures, if not 280, once the integration starts and the economy dictates.

But that's a topic already beaten to death in the DL forum....

 

[AAviator]

I suggest everyone purchase rain gear or at least have an umbrella handy when LCC's offer for AA, and offer we all know is coming is made public......

Lord knows what will be flying..

😀 😀

 

[wings396]

If union leadership is listening, perhaps it isn't that bad of an offer.

 

[AAviator]

Yet another article...
it seems that the NYC as a focus city is difficult to expand.....My money is on a merger with JetBlue when all is said and done....

http://beta.fool.com/tdalmoe/2012/04/11/future-amr-air/3516/?ticker=FAA&source=eogyholnk0000001

yea, when the few AAer's that think this is a good idea start to realize that LCC+AA is TWA all over again but on a larger scale, maybe they'll see we'll still short in NYC and the Pacific. With 38,000 additional employee's ... And a mis matched fleet of a few A330-2' and A330-3's, about a dozen 76-200's and 757's that are older than ours..

Make room in your bid status if they succeed folks, they'll be bringing themselves, and not much more.

 

[wings396]

I disagree, just because AA squandered the TWA merger, doesn't mean that any others will be the same. Different airlines, different routes, different management, and different times.

 

[AAviator]

If union leadership is listening, perhaps it isn't that bad of an offer.

They have an obligation to look at every option for their constituents. I wouldn't read into it any more than that. Given LCC's intense desire to merge with anyone, this full court press is expected. It doesn't mean it makes sense for AA employees, rather, a last ditch effort by Dougie and Co. to do something with LCC.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Eric,
this is not a personal discussion - although you are clearly still trying to justify your position in that DL thread about WN's growth..... let it go.
That's probably why you have now TWICE taken general comments about hub dynamics - including ATL - and felt a need to attempt to defend yourself and discredit someone else, derailing general discussions.
.
you could have stopped right here and you would have been completely accurate:
.

Yes, it is a fact that WNFL has "shrunk" at ATL since the merger was approved, going down by 18 flights and dropping 6 destinations.

The simple fact is that WN/FL pulled down ATL for alot of the same reasons that markets are pulled down in ANY MERGER. Sure, there are unique events like the Wright Amendment that WN has to consider for now...
but the FL hub was built on a lot of markets that WN says aren't a sustainable part of their network - or not at the levels that FL served them.
Factor in WN's higher costs, larger aircraft size, and larger number of hubs, and it was obvious to many of us from the beginning that WN likely never would grow ATL to the max size it was when FL operated it (260 plus flights/day).
.
And notably, Eric, all of those reasons have NOTHING to do with DL and everything to do with the merger process which WN has to work through as well as a prioritization of ATL within WN's larger strategic goals, the primary of which is returning LUV to its previous high-flying financial performance.
.
Maybe they will grow ATL to 280 plus flights per day - but that is realsitically so far down the horizon, it likely isn't even on their planning horizon. If it happens, celebrate it. It just won't happen for a number of years, at best.
.
Right now, their primary focus is integrating FL - and for right now, they are ROLLING BACK WN's buildup in ATL and putting FL BACK on those same markets... their CEO doesn't even have a date for a res system that can support codesharing but it won't be this year.
Even w/ th FL/WN integration, they still are clearly highly focused on expanding their south of the border presence (makes a lot of sense - and ATL is NOT the best hub to do that which is probably why they want to do it at HOU even though ATL has customs facilities open to FL), and then they have enormous opportunities with DAL as the Wright Amendment falls.
.
FOR NOW, however, WN/FL is smaller in ATL. Period. Full stop.
.
Accept it, move on, and don't take it personally.
.
For now, AA's primary focus is convincing the world that it is capable of emerging as a standalone company, something I have said they still have a better than average chance of doing - and that even if it comes to bids for AA - in whole or in part - it is doubtful that US could offer the best bid.