I might not describe it as hilarious, but it is pretty obvious both airlines airlines are over scheduling for next year's gate reallotment. I do think AA will get a couple or so gates back from someone next year.

 

AA is almost guaranteed to get some gates back next year because the allocation scheme seems pretty flawed in the short term. Next spring they are going to look at the total average usage for full year 2025 based on the gate allocation effective Dec 25. That means UAL only has 3 months to use the extra gates but get judged as though they had them the full 12 months.
conversely AA gets judged as though they never had the 4 gates they are using, but DO actually get to use them for 9 months.
Of course 2026 into 2027 that whole dynamic reverses. It’s almost guaranteed to ping pong back and forth for a while. Long term it might make sense and give a good allocation, but it seems like some more thought could have gone into the year to year allocation.

 

This is the most correct statement in this entire thread. Being successful is about finding opportunity and exploiting it. Kirby isn't a risk taker. Quite the opposite. He's risk averse. Every decision he makes is calculated. The difference between him and other airline CEOs is Kirby isn't afraid to lose a few hands, because he knows in the long run he will win more than he loses.

Here's an analogy. If I gave you a 6 sided dice and told you that if you rolled a 1 or 2 you would have to give me $1M but if you rolled a 3, 4, 5 or 6 I'd give you $1M. You only get one roll. Would you roll it? What if It was the same $1M each roll but you get to roll it 10 times? Now would you do it? Odds are you'd win either way. But many people are more afraid to lose the $1M than to win it, even though it makes a lot of sense to roll it.

Kirby has been watching and understanding the industry for years. In numerous interviews he's used the phrase "I've never understood why..." and then explained what other airlines have done that didn't make sense to him. He's not a risk taker. He's seeing areas where the odds are in his favor and he's going after those. He knows we won't win them all, but so far, we have won many more than we have lost and he's going to continue doing this.

I don't think Kirby has any particular disdain for labor groups, despite what is starting to emerge on this thread. He's in this to maximize opportunity for himself and his family just like all of us are. Fortunately he's taken a growth path that's greatly affected us in a positive way. More faster upgrades, more flying opportunities and more profit sharing. I don't believe for one second we would be on the other end of this if the economic landscape changed in a substantial way.

To Joepilot's original statement, Kirby isn't a "visionary". He's rolling the dice over and over because he's seeing an advantage in our network that other airlines don't have and he's exploiting it.

 

Yes this is correct. United does have its foot on the pedal, so we might not actually lose any gates, but AA is likely to get a couple back from airlines that aren't pushing hard. I think Spirit has 5 or 6 gates and they will likely lose a couple as well.

 

I’ll give SK the benefit of doubt on not hiring Vasu Raja as CCO. He certainly wouldn’t have approved Vasu retiring AA B75/76 and A330 fleet. I doubt he would have approved Vasu’s direct distribution of tickets and self-serve tools for customers. Those terrible decisions have cost American billions in profits and those corporate accounts went to DL and UA boosting their profits—86% of DL and UA profits came directly from premium travel. Oh, and I doubt SK would have allowed Vasu to pull flying out of NYC/LAX/ORD, and add more flying to freaking El Paso.

 

🤣🤣🤣 love it….

 

Cry harder. Sorry about your TBNT.

 

I’ve found one truth in all that I’ve read on the forum about Kirby. He screwed AA pilots when he was at American and he screws AA pilots now that he’s CEO of United. What did you guys at AA do to him😄

 

Kirby knows AA weaknesses and knows how to use it against them. He is the definition of insider knowledge lol.

Don't get me wrong, AA doesn't need any help going for 8th but a high up executive like Kirby with everything they knew about AA going to a strong competitor doesn't help.