Originally Posted by
TED74
This is a good thought-provoker - thanks for posting it.
I'm at a loss explaining the company's timing of the $5B buyback through this lens. Perhaps it was a late-game decision and they simply HAD to announce on the front side of a TA to avoid a massive revolt if they were to announce on the back side? I have to believe that the price point of any pilot who is paying attention went way up after seeing management throw $5B to the wind (and themselves) so easily.
It was an alpha-dog move made by management to slap our "union" guys in the face similar to an abusive husband who knows his wife has nowhere else to go. They did the exact same thing
before the TA vote in 2012 when Richard and Ed came out with their interviews calling our new
contract cost neutral. They called it a contract while it was still a TA, then referred to it as cost neutral. A totally unnecessary slap in the face to the very "union" officials that gave them the concessions to make the cost neutral claim.
Carl