What was wrong was usairways eminent liquidation, not the west's pilots or Arbitrators fault. Maybe you can blame alpa merger policy which the east help write and voted for, or maybe George Nicolau which the east hand picked.

 

nm"
Actually, on the list Nic used they weren't both the last guys on their respective lists. The guy right above Odell on the Nic(forgot his name) had 300 east pilots below him on the list that Nicolau used to construct his list. He only held one group to their 2005 status-the formerly furloughed east pilots. Even in 2005 he should have had nearly 300 below him as we were massively understaffed. Look at the opinion and award and do the math if the east was staffed at the same rate as the west for the 737 and A320.

At least you said Parker and the APA and not AWA pilots. You should be thankful too that Lakefield raised all that money and put the merger together. Remember what Parker told the F/O in a crew session? The one that said we should have never merged? "Without this merger I'm confident that you, at your seniority wouldn't have a job right now."

 

Past returns don't guarantee future results. You want to tell us that with the coming cash crunch, the ATSB loans, and the worst recession since the depression, one that collapsed the housing markets in your two hubs, that AWA would have sailed right through? When DL and NW filed chp 11 the same year we merged? Wow.

How many times did Parker tell you what you guys had coming down the pike without this merger? Your ability to ignore reality is astounding, and a little scary in a pilot.

 

Did US Airways liquidate? Did the assets of US Airways continue at the new US Airways? Was a single aircraft transferred from west to east?

 

Transcript of Crew News Session:

WHO BOUGHT WHOM?

SPEAKER: Thank you. Just a quick
question.

Going back five years ago, I'm a West coast
guy, and I do a lot of commuting in and out of the
West. And I'm just misled constantly from the West
and the East. I mean, we are definitely two
separate airlines, still.


Now, I hear a lot of the West people
talking five years ago during this merger, so they
say, was there money exchanged? Did -- US Airways
and America West, who bought who? Who merged?

Because I hear it constantly from the West,
Well, we bought you, so we should control you.

So who owns who?

MR. PARKER: Who says that to you?

SPEAKER: I hear it constantly from the
West crews.

MR. PARKER: All right. Well, tell them to
call me.

Let me tell you, look -- that's not
accurate.

SPEAKER: Was there money exchanged? I
thought it was just a simple merger.

MR. PARKER: I'm happy to explain it. I
was -- I would like to hope we were past this, but
since it --

SPEAKER: (Unintelligible.)

MR. PARKER: Yeah, no, I know. This is not
meant to be negative on your question. I just wish


we still weren't having to go through this because I
don't think it matters is the real answer.

But I'm happy to go through what did happen
if it helps.

What happened is in 2005, first off, at the
risk of offending people, US Airways was on the
verge of liquidation, not bankruptcy. We were
already in bankruptcy. We were going, I believe
without a merger, would have liquidated. So be it.

I think that's where this some of this
comes from with the "we saved you" stuff. But you
got to finish the story.

USAir -- America West was not in
dramatically better shape. While we weren't on the
verge of, you know, going away liquidating, as I
have said a number of times, I believe without a
merger -- well, let me tell you. By putting the two
companies together, a lot of new money came in is
the answer to your question.

America West did not have the money to go
fund the merger or anything close to it. And,
indeed, I think America West standalone -- this


is -- this gets some America West people upset
because, you know, they -- anyway, whatever reason.

But my view is, and a highly educated view
on this point, is that America West would have been
bankrupt by the end of 2005.

If you recall, by the end of 2005, Delta
and Northwest both filed, and I don't think America
West could have -- I'm pretty sure -- I'm actually,
virtually certain that America West would have filed
bankruptcy because we didn't have enough cash to
make it through the winter in that environment.

So -- and then more importantly, as it
relates to America West, the reason the merger was
so important to America West is America West was an
airline that lived off a cost structure advantage.

Much like I describe to US Airways
employees now, how we don't have the same revenue
generating capabilities as American, Delta, and
United, who are bigger than us. America West had
that in spades.

A Phoenix hub never had the ability to
generate the kind of revenues US Airways did, for


example. But the airline survived 25 years by
having much lower costs, and those lower costs
almost entirely labor based.

So what had happened is, is you, you know,
looking around the world, here at US Airways, for
example, had gotten its labor costs through two
bankruptcies and a lot of pain down to matching
America West.

That did not look like a good formula for
the America West -- for America West Airlines. You
have an airline now that has, not the same ability
to generate revenues, and the same costs as the guys
who can generate a lot more revenues than you.
Those airlines go away.

So whether or not America West would have
filed, you know, in late 2005, like I believe, that
airline, I'm certain, wouldn't have been able to
stand alone on its own in today's environment. You
know, much like Frontier, was very -- it's very
similar I think to America West.

You know, small West Coast, whole --
entirely labor-cost-based cost advantage. And, you


know, Frontier went bankrupt. They are still
floating around somewhere, but, you know, they are a
fifth of the size they used to be. And I think
that's the best I think America West could have done
on its own.

So the merger helped both of us, and in a 6
huge way. I don't think America West would have
made it on its own. I'm certain US Airways wouldn't
have. And with the merger, what we were able to
do -- you know, which, again, I -- I think we should
all feel good about -- we were able to go convince
people that, while these two airlines on their own
are having trouble, we can put them together and
build a real airline, and all we need is cash.

And so will you, Mr. Investor, invest in
this?

Now, we found some people who wanted to do
that because they didn't want us to go away, like
GE, who had a lot of airplanes leased to us, and
Airbus, who had a lot of airplanes on order to both
companies. So they put in monies because they
didn't want to see us go away.


But we found some other, you know, just
true equity investors, you know, stockholders that
said, yeah, that looks like something that will
work. I'll invest in that.

So the money that came to fund the merger
didn't exist, and neither airline could have raised
it on their own. It only came from the power of the
merger. 8

So the merger saved both of us. So if
anybody tells you, We saved you, vice versa, they
are wrong. We saved each other. And we saved each
other by merging the two companies and building a
stronger airline.

And, again, I haven't had to say this in a
few years, but I have said it a lot. And the story
has been entirely consistent. So it's a little
frustrating to me to have to keep saying it because
I, like you, get tired of hearing this stuff.

It's just absolutely.

SPEAKER: That's exactly what it was.

MR. PARKER: It's just absolutely
inaccurate.


So, anyway, hopefully this will help. We
have filmed it. People can watch it, but that's
what happened.

SPEAKER: (Unintelligible).

MR. PARKER: But, anyway, but that's the
point. But, anyway, the answer is, you know, we --
we needed each other. And I know we still got a lot
of work to do. As Eddie says, we haven't quite
gotten the marriage completed.

But, you know, if we hadn't gotten the
engagement done, we wouldn't be here. "

 

Most major airlines went through bankruptcy once during this past economic downturn, it is unique that AWA wasn't one of them. I agree with you it says a lot about the resilience of the airline and the LCC model that AWA found some limited successes with- all during a severe recession and having the fiercest LCC competitor in your back yard. Thank you for acknowledging the sacrifices we made at AWA to bring a profitable future to you- I was glad to share it with you in 2005. Now, after I've seem your character over these past nine years, not so much. I now see you more of a fungus, and I think a lot if us at AWA would now have much rathered to watch you all just die quietly. But, Parker saved you and now the APA has given you a gift far greater than you (or I) could have ever had in a stand alone model- we are both going to benefit greatly from the American pilots and the Kirby/ Parker team.
I just wish you guys would quit with the delays, the frivolous union actions and move on peacefully. Your east union has been a road block to progress for almost seven years now. Totally unacceptable.

 

What delays? We have a PA and everything is back on track.

Did you even read the above? I even highlighted the pertinent parts. Absent our merger you would have been worse off than today. Parkers words, not mine.

 

Do you even read before responding? Doesn't sound like it. You should take a deep breath and step away from the keyboard- you're on here practically 24/7 and it's affecting what little objectivity, if any, you have left.

P.s. The protocol agreement was supposed to be completed in early February, instead of negotiating with the APA in good faith you filed a frivolous lawsuit. Only cost us 7 months- hardly noticeable by your standards, I guess.

 

Do you? Quite a dodge.

You said quit with the delays. They're done. Do you read your own posts?

An agreement couldn't be reached. It caused delays. Neither side would completely back down and a compromise was finally reached. Lawsuit dropped. Too bad we couldn't have done the same years ago.

Nobody answered my question so I will pose directly to you. The APA claims it wants you to have your own merger committee . Why do you think they compromised instead of waiting for SCS and dictating it?

 

Have a good night on planet Usapa, my friend. Enjoy the moments, they are dwindling down to a precious few. And believe it or not, this will be better for you in the long run after APA takes away your pistol. How many times can you shoot yourself in the foot in a week?