SoCalGuy

BLIGH....you finally changed your Avitar.

Back on point & just one man's take.....

Stating the obvious, in any merger there is going to be some sort of 'heart burn' on both sides, that's to be expected. We ALL know without that 'litmus test', one side is getting shorted without question. Once that 'equal heart burn' becomes reality, and all who are directly involved settle in and rub elbows on a common cause (GET a joint CBA), this will be what NEEDS to be done if we are to go forward in any form of a successful merger.

As the drama of the impending merger fortes, it does NOT have to be something that is foreign & complex. We have seen two major/legacy merger's in the last 5 yrs. BOTH have take two completely different paths. It's 'our' choice on which one to follow.....no matter what path 'we' take......the outcome of the previous merger's have been eloquently displayed for all to see.....the post "DELTA" vs "USAir".

FLAT-OUT......In this merger, it's going to be strength in numbers, not having two divided groups trying to go forward on their separate agenda's. If the lighter of the two is chosen, we might as well just give Jeffery/Glenn a gift wrapped "whip-saw". If that's what it chosen, it does not take much to realize that it's going to 'no where real fast'. Assuming the announcement is made within the next 24 hrs.....it's ours to 'win', or ours to 'loose' strictly on how 'we' come together as the "New UAL" pilot group.

Personally, I would like to choose the road on having a joint pilot group come together and 'win' on this deal.....the alternative looks grim.

Is this impossible??? I would choose to think not. If you feel so compelled, please flame away.....skin's thick here.

Captain Bligh

Flame away? The question was rhetorical. We will all be better off taking a higher DAL/NW approach than the LCC route. These people will play us as two groups if we give them a chance.

SoCalGuy

Simple man, with simple thoughts.....

As stated earlier Bligh, I'm 100% with you on that. If we DON'T give them the chance to 'play us' by coming together ASAP, this will negate their ability to do so.

A Single Voice will carry more weight than the mumbling's of two.

Captain Bligh

Wow, a lot more assumed about me than my ideas

May sound like one but not a management pilot. Nor am I attempting to "measure" anything. But I have watched how these people manipulate for a long, long time. If I were a UAL pilot, I'd appreciate this little heads up.

All we can do there is place a gentleman's wager and look back in a few years.

...nope, just staffing reports and info common and available on-line

You may not have signed anything but your 401(k) plan administrator has been directed by law to make sure that you don't engage in certain positions. Highly subjective, but those limits are there. If you remember the post Enron congressional hearings, there was volumes about employees holding too much company stock. I have bumped up against a few of these limits when trading with retirement dollars.

It has cost me. A big bite out of returns because in every situation (mostly trying to dollar cost average down) I was right. Had the trade not been rejected I would have gained every time I got a "your trade has been rejected" or a "this account already holds the maximum percentage of XYZ corp." notification.

Fred and his entourage will insist you learn a bit about them too...

My very first statement was that I was making some speculative assumptions and with a very small portion of my investment dollars, a speculative investment.

OK tough guy. Surely the real management people are just filled with fear of ever having to deal with the wrath of the line pilots... What's the threat here anyways? That you wont go have a beer with a former management guy on a layover? You wont read the checklist when it's called for? Or would you really poop in his flight bag when he wasn't looking?

The "in line" comment was sarcasm. For the most part I have seen that most pilots want very little in the way of confrontation with their immediate supervisors. It only takes a rumor that "they are cracking down on "______" (fill in the blank) for the average pilot to change his behavior. There is no need, in fact no business justification for CAL to have the current management to line pilot ratio, unless they are looking to dispatch them (as I surmise) or they are planning for growth, or as a real far out theory as bubba-deal payback for buddies and friends.

AMND1

Dude... this is the internet... ladies are gentlemen and gentlemen pose as ladies, or worse... kids!

It's even harder to tell the difference in a message board.

Estee

News Alert
from The Wall Street Journal


UAL's United Airlines is expected to announce early Monday that it will acquire Continental Airlines in a share swap valued at more than $3 billion, a deal that would create the world’s largest airline.

The boards of UAL and Continental were scheduled to meet Sunday and, barring a last-minute snag, were expected to sign off on a merger agreement that would pay Continental shareholders a price higher than the airline's current market capitalization of $3.1 billion.

Business News & Financial News - The Wall Street Journal - WSJ.com

SUPERfluf

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-update1-.html

UAL Board Said to Approve Merger With Continental Air (Update1)

May 02, 2010, 4:00 PM EDT

By Mary Jane Credeur and Mary Schlangenstein

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Directors at United Airlines parent UAL Corp. approved a merger with Continental Airlines Inc. that would create the world’s biggest carrier, a person familiar with the matter said.

Continental’s board will vote later today, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public.

The companies plan to announce a deal as early as tomorrow, people familiar with the situation have said.

United, the third-largest U.S. airline, and No. 4 Continental began talks last month on a combination, reviving negotiations that Houston-based Continental abandoned in April 2008. The terms call for an all-stock transaction, according to people familiar with the matter.

Jean Medina, a spokeswoman for Chicago-based UAL, didn’t immediately return messages seeking a comment. A message left with Continental’s media office wasn’t immediately returned.

SoCalGuy

A "little birdy" said something about 7am, Monday morning, being the hour of revelation.....anyone want the over/under on the time??

"Just say'in"......

SIDE NOTE: Sounds like we need to host a "Bligh vs Zoomie" in the Octagon and let them take it to the mat to prove who's "watch" is bigger........

Fritzthepilot

Socal,

Welcome to sandbox we call United. Hopefully we can come together, determine a SLI that equally upsets everyone, achieve the contract we all deserve, and then go out and have a beer together.

Fritz

alfaromeo

I don't have either CAL's or UAL's contract to read, but I am sure they are close to DAL's and NWA's. Both of our contracts allowed management to merge without any pilot approval. In fact before the DAL/NWA deal, no labor group ever was involved up front. What happens is that management has a certain amount of time to operate separate carriers. During that time, the seniority lists will be merged according to ALPA merger policy and then a joint contract will have to negotiated. I imagine that each contract has some protection against loss of flying while in separate operations.

There can be a transition agreement that gives management and each pilot group rights and responsibilities above and beyond the current contract. Such an agreement would have to be approved by each individual pilot group.

So the bottom line is that pilots do not have a veto over the deal. In the DAL/NWA case, the Delta MEC made the case to the Delta board of directors that we could add value to the corporation by speeding up the integration process and working together rather than fighting each other. In exchange, we got contract value and stock. This was the first time this was done and is not the norm.

So if either pilot group doesn't want to play ball, then the integration will proceed per their current contractual arrangements. You can't strike until the NMB says you can strike. That only occurs when the Section 6 process has played out. It is doubtful that the NMB would declare an impasse for either pilot group in the middle of an integration. It will be a joint contract or nothing.