Originally Posted by
globalexpress
Actually, I was looking for something not as subjective....no offense.
If the bankruptcy transcripts illustrating your points are readily available, could you post a link please, specifically to the bidding you are referring to? They aren't readily available to me.
I don't agree with your comments about airlines "hiding" money. They are required to account for their revenue and expenses using GAAP rules. If you are aware and have proof of an airline "hiding" anything I am sure the SEC would love to have a conversation with you.
Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to get the court transcripts. If anyone knows how to get them , please post.
Global,
No offense taken. The BK transcripts are available but I'll have to do some digging in my archives and perhaps contact a couple of the TWA pilots directly involved in the whole affair at the time to get a reference to them. They're a matter of public record and they're out there somewhere.
It's America...you're entitled to disagree. However, if you think every large company out there isn't able to legally hide money by taking advantage of the loopholes in GAAP and the tax code you're severely deluded. There are myriad ways for even a half-wit accountant to legally take cash off the books, and the SEC has no interest in such legal shenanigans...only the illegal kind.
I can tell you this...any research you do will bring you right back around to exactly what I said happened. It's been 10 years so my recollection of a few of the minor complexities may be a little rusty but my account above is essentially accurate.
My point is: Saying that TWA would have been out of business anyway is misinformed and inaccurate. Would TWA have eventually gone away on their own? Maybe. But if that were the case why would AA invest a very large chunk of cash to buy a competitor that AA's room full of Harvard MBA's thought was going away anyway? They could have waited for the fire sale and bought the assets for pennies on the dollar with no labor integration headaches. AA has a history of buying competitors they can't eliminate any other way, and TWA was in a resurgence. TWA's "Focus City" strategy in San Juan was putting a serious dent in AA's large Puerto Rico operation and AA simply would not suffer that. The purchase of TWA as an on-going entity gave AA "largest airline in the world" status and eliminated a competitor. AA was also the largest operator of MD-80's in the world and TWA had an entire fleet of the newest MD-80's built. TWA also had a load of active and dormant route authorities that AA now owns. AA sold TWA's Worldspan ownership interest and made back nearly the entire cash outlay they originally paid for TWA. All in all, a great deal for AA....not so much for the TWA employees who were stapled and furloughed into a black hole.
And how does all this relate to the instant conversation?....ALPA left the TWA pilots to twist in the wind without fair representation exactly as the jury determined. The funny thing is, ALPA was courting the AA pilots and APA to return to the ALPA fold. Once the deal was done, APA looked at ALPO and said "if this is the way you represent your members we don't want anything to do with you". Ironic, wouldn't you say?