UPDRAFT

SPINELESS.............bent over for 6 YEARS! .............ENJOY

R57 relay

So, it's done. I know it was a tough pill to swallow, even for Yes voters. I wish you guys the best of luck whether we merge or not.

One question, sorry if it's been covered. When AA pilots rejected the first "last, best" a lot of other carriers pilots said they AA pilots were stupid. At first glance this deal seems much better and the AA pilots were right. Correct?

OnMyWay

Accuse me of smoking crack, but if a merger happens, it's going to be AA coming after US once they emerge.

aa73

satpak... the UCC needed a deal so that they could evaluate both scenarios (standalone vs merger.) It is my opinion that a combined AA-US will provide the UCC a lot more $$$ than the standalone. And we all know that with any big merger, contracts get renegotiated - ESPECIALLY in USAir's case, which still has a separate East-West contract. That's why I believe this is nothing more than a bridge contract. BTW, I voted No at the very last minute (after leaning Yes.)

R57... we did indeed raise the bar for all future airline BKs: if the "last final best offer" sucks, we proved that rejecting it and taking our chances with the 1113 actually turned around and bit the company hard too, hence the slightly improved LBFO2, although this one still falls well short of what we were after, which was an ISC along DAL/UAL's lines.

I still maintain that this will be a bridge agreement that will probably be negotiated upwards if/when the merger happens. And as far as BK bridge TAs go, it's definitely the best one seen coming out of BK. But of course, we had the benefit of studying all past BK airline pilot groups who've been through it.

R57 relay

Well I'm sure all those guys that said you were stupid for not taking the LFBO I will be along shortly to admit they were wrong.

BTW, last-final. That has bugged me for years when gate agents say "This is the last and final boarding announcement..." Isn't that redundant? Wouldn't the last be the final? Sorry, just one of my Saturday brain ramblings.

Denny Crane

From someone outside this mess the simple answer is that this now provides the AMR pilots with a "second bite of the apple" in a relatively short time if the merger goes through and a joint contract needs to be negotiated.

The rub will come in how a joint contract will be voted in. Will it be like UCAL where both MEC's have to approve it but then it just takes a majority of the combined pilot group to vote it in. Or will it be like the DAL/NW merger where both MEC's had to approve it and then both pilot groups had to approve it separately......time will tell.........

As far as who wins, hopefully nobody..........

Denny

LarryDavid

Why on earth would anyone else want to even think about merging with US scareways? They haven't even finished their 1st merger. That place is a straight up train wreck.

OnMyWay

Incase you haven't noticed yet, little makes sense in this industry.

satpak77

...I am just wondering how ALPA and APA will play in the sandbox together if the merger indeed happens. Maybe APA will be forced to play nice if US Airways is the "stronger" carrier. Or vice versa ?

Like someone else stated, I am not sure if the West/East merger hiccups are all ironed out.

More questions are what is going to happen to the regional feeds. One big American Eagle ? Etc ?

More questions than answers, at least any that I have....

cactiboss

the term sheet specifies that usapa must be gone, the apa will drive the whole thing.