Couple of things. Yes, we complain, yes we work for an incredibly inept management, despite what you may think, no I'm not complaining about profit sharing. I view that as a bonus--great if I get it, but I'm not holding my breath. The incredibly paltry sum of 4th quarter earnings, even including the fuel hedge debacle, (yet again,) has me worried that our company won't survive the next downturn. Yes, we are pathetic, and no I'm not an alarmist that comes on here for 10 minutes despite what some may think. Folks, like, Mako, I'm here for the long haul.

Second, I'm sure that one of the reasons AA is doing so well is they have a great number of our former premier passengers, enabling record profits. P**** e'm off and they'll run away in droves.

Third, Unless you work here, anyone on the outside could not possibly comprehend the astonishing incompetence of our management, starting at the top. Yes, the board is doing nothing to change it. That makes it all the more alarming. Embrace the suck, it's here to stay. Can I make it to retirement? It's starting to look like a long shot.

Fourth, "Operations at AA are probably better. There is more to an "operation" than a pilot contract; conceding that United's contract in better than AA's.

AA has better on time performance and better financial performance.
Ignore the facts if you want, they wont change."

AA seems capable of learning from our mistakes. I do foresee some missteps, but in general I do not see them committing the magnitude of incompetence we have seen. That scares me, and should scare our CEO and board. If they are doing this well without the merger complete, they will be a force to recon with for a long time. Time I'm not sure we at UAL have.

Yes and yes. We at UAL are not here to compete or provide a reasonable product or service to our customers, we are here to pay management and board bonuses. Comparable to AA operations, not yet, as was pointed out. APA and new parts, have been over a decade without a modern contract, and the differences are great. However, I'm guessing those differences do not add up to a $1.4B.

We most definitely and assuredly suck.

Please don't get me wrong. I will work as hard as I can to ensure the success of this company, my future depends on it. Do I whine about it, yes--I'm a pilot. I'm just trying to be a realist.

Dave your points are spot on. I share your concern. Until these wide gaps in performance are closed, it's hard not to feel vulnerable. Somebody has to be the first to falter in a severe economic downturn / industry crisis, which we will no doubt see again. As it stands right now, that would appear to be us.

Anytime I login here; I read the same thing over and over. Majority are experts in corporate management, financial gurus, and mentalists/fortune-tellers.
If you feel, that UAL will not survive next economical downturn, you should quit now and start working on that "backup plan" ahead of the rest of the sheeps here, so you can take an advantage of all of the opportunities out there. Why suffer? Perhaps start your own airline and show the rest of us how it supposed to be done.
Otherwise, stay strong one union: Beeeee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=QcE5aDTszrY

If the bear is chasing your group, you don't have to win the race, but you don't want to come in last. It gets uglier. After the bear claws you unconscious, the blue collar vultures fly in writing letters and fight over how to divide your carcass while the white collar vultures just rip out your entrails piece by piece. The process is quite efficient until you are picked clean.

What Dave is pointing out, which is indisputable, is that our financial and operational performance metrics are significantly lagging that of our competitors. Senior management has admitted this, and all we can hope is that the gaps are soon closed. Will it happen? Maybe, maybe not. We will have to wait and see. If you are comfortable with where we are at right now, then you are a fool.

I've got too many years in to bother moving on. I'm sure you've met some lifer Captain types at Jetlink that feel the same way. By the way, I don't want this company to simply limp along until I am "done" with it only to ultimately fail. I sincerely hope that every half-winger has a more stable and lucrative career than I have had. Our current state of mediocrity puts us all at an elevated risk level.

Couldn't agree more. The current state of UAL is worse than I ever seen. I am a 95 hire, and don't want to start over at another carrier. I am starting the process to go back to flying contracts. I don't think anybody has a great career expectation here, and I am putting my future where my mouth is.

I cannot effect change at UAL. I can only effect change in my life.

The big difference between then and now is our significant pricing power brought about by consolidation and massive ancillary revenues gouged from the pax.

While I have no illusions that this place will ever reclaim lost glory, a marginally capable team ought to be able to keep the ship afloat in an average economic downturn. While I'm very disappointed with our performance as compared to our peers, this is pretty much what I expected. You didn't need to be Bernoulli Nostradamus to see this coming. How many quarters have we lagged (badly at times) DAL? Those guys are getting significantly more in their PS checks.

Outside of making the pax sweat in summer (and freeze in the winter) while at the gate, SE taxi and picking an optimal cruise altitude, what I do at work matters not one whit in the big scheme of things. One widebody full of misconnects will trump my efforts every time. "For want of a nail" comes to mind. More like "for want of a few rampers".

When things do go south, I fully expect the pilot group to be tasked with saving the airline. And again, the chumps will wring their hands and capitulate and the bonus train will roll into Willis station. Pattern bargaining indeed.

Six months saved! But with our current contract, better make it twelve.

Don't confuse my screen name with call sign my friend;
I believe, that many of you are missing the fact that UAL has invested a lot in the past year; AA/USAir just starting. Give it a time and we should see.