Originally Posted by
CousinEddie
Remember Ratt? 'Round and 'Round.....
Sleeves I clearly remember a long layover in SFO in early April of 2010. I was out to dinner with two other crews, and we had all known each other for a long time. The topic of conversation that night was the news that had broken earlier in the day. The news was that UAL was in deep merger negotiations with USAirways. So much for any chance of a CAL merger being revived we figured. Obviously, Glen was serious about moving on. Given all of the previous work that had been done on a USair deal, we figured this was going to happen fast. Remember, this is already pushing two years since DAL/NWA.
That weekend, Glen was tending to his horses on his Santa Fe ranch when Jeff called. He begged him not to marry the "ugly girl." Tilton reversed course, and the rest was history.
Evidently, your management team was not comfortable with CAL and AAL being the last two legacy carriers standing alone. With major overlaps in NY, Latin / South America, and two large hubs close together in Texas, that seems understandable.
If you would have rather gone down that road, then just say so. I'm sure you would have been thrilled with APA.
LOL! you were in the room for that conversation with Glenn?
Funny, the insiders in the Wall Street Journal had a different take altogether on that US AIR deal.
IF there is any truth to your story, it is only because Smisek knew the CAL mgt would bail rather than do it and this was his only chance to sit in the big chair. Shows the kind of guy he is.
Larry Kellner told me personally he refused to do the deal because it was not a good deal and offered his resignation.
I saw him two years later and he said he was glad he left, but felt bad for the friends he left behind.
It's water under the bridge now anyway- some, like divorced wives can't let go. They are too fat and ugly to get picked up.