Every time I was in Narita or even Los Angeles, UAL guys would come up and ask when we would merge and what have I heard. This as gone on for years. The truth is that yall wanted to get out of the money pit that Tilton dug.
Trust me (and I've met more UAL guys than you have
), none of us were looking forward to merging with CAL in hopes of career advancement at your expense. You might have met some pilots doing their 'pilot thing' making conversation... If anything, the topic stayed in the forefront because of the seeming inevitability of further consolidation. The truth is we wanted to GET RID OF TILTON! Almost to the 100th%, everyone I know would choose to continue as a standalone carrier with a management team that entertained the idea of internal growth.
But from our point of view, and through absolutely no fault of the UAL pilots, the UAL company will be a boat anchor around our necks. Now I understand that the merger may be necessary.
Two things.... You should revisit your idea that UA is a boat anchor. Second, a merger is NOT necessary...it is financially expedient for the ones who actually make the decisions.
In fact, if UAL didnt have a decent quarter and we look back a few months, it would be just another period of an incredible story of writing off billions in losses again.
I'm no Marvin Mainliner or management apologist, but it is clear that UA is excelling in revenue growth and other key industry metrics. Simply saying it was good quarter is ignoring the bigger picture.
We really have no idea how it survived through the last number of years. Everytime we would flip open the USA today, it was another report of billions of dollars in losses and we were certain yall would liquidate. So one good quarter does not a strong airline make.
The fact that our liquidation (or major asset sale) was the wet dream of so many of our industry brothers made me ill. If that same mentality gains a foothold amongst our pilot groups, we are in real trouble. We have a common foe and we should direct our energy, derision, disgust, and angst directly at them!
Old fleets and bad management. That is what they bring to the table. And that is what every United pilot I have ever spoken to wanted us to fix.
As I mentioned earlier, I have spoken to a great many more UAL pilots than you have, and I can unequivocally assure you that we didn't want (or need) you to fix anything. Please stop and consider the 'tone' of your posts before you hit 'submit reply'. My gut reaction to the statement quoted above is, lets just say, not good. Whatever picture your minds eye has built based on your interaction with UA pilots is not accurate. I'd encourage you to keep an open mind as we go forward.
But fortunately the arbitrators will take the emotion out of the decision. I wish us both the best of luck. Cheers.
I trust our merger committees to do a professional job and present the cases on the (non emotional) merits. I too wish the best of luck to us all!
FWIW, I think I'm similarly situated as you. I'm a 13yr 767FO, live 1 hour from domicile, very happy with the schedules I hold, and am but a stones throw from 320 CAP and 777 FO in IAD (enough so that I removed my permanent bids since I was afraid I might actually get them
). IMO my potential career will depend much more on the JCBA than on the SLI.....