New VPs
 

Any feeling on new VP selection? We won't miss Tague and Mikells, Rj lovers!

Looks like CAL keeps 3 of the 4 of their top brass....Smisek, Zane, Compton. Pete McDonald stays as coo instead of Mark Moran? Don't know about that one. McDonald has been around a looooong time.



Mike Bonds, who joined Continental in 1995, will be responsible for human resources and labor relations.


Jim Compton, who joined Continental in 1995, will serve as chief marketing officer.


Jeffrey Foland, who joined United in 2005, will lead the combined carrier's loyalty program.


Nene Foxhall, who joined Continental in 1995, will oversee the communications and government affairs functions.


Keith Halbert, who joined United in 2008, will be chief information officer.


Pete McDonald, who joined United in 1969, will be chief operations officer.


Zane Rowe, who joined Continental in 1993, will be chief financial officer.


Tom Sabatino, who joined United in 2010, will be general counsel.


And, Glenn will stay on as non-executive chairman.

Thank god the UAL Flt Ops guy is remaining. Hope they fire each and every one of the CAL Flt Ops management losers.

Uh oh! Those are scary words for UA to hear! The majority of us would say the same about our Flt Ops guys :eek:. But maybe that explains why MacDonald will stay? Looks like a game of which turd is the best! I've never met the guy but the consensus on our forum is that he's a moron.

Moron? Yeah, he got to be COO of the world's largest airline by being a moron. The ignorance and immaturity of some airline pilots never ceases to amaze me.

JD

........Then how do you explain Glenn Tilton's 8+ yr tenure at UAL?? :rolleyes:

I cannot attest to the accuracy of Peter McDonald as a Mensa candidate. He did stand in front a group of employees within the past 3-4 years and brag about UAL's upcoming quarterly earnings statement. Mr. McDonald was visibly excited and had to be calmed by Mr. Tilton. The next week UAL reported a loss in the $300 million range.

Sure, we get to fly the around the world in complex jets by being ignorant and immature:cool:. Wow, see how stuff can cut different ways?!

FWIW, I've met people in many important, powerful positions who are total morons. I don't know why you'd be surprised by this.

I guess you told ME! Thanks for setting me straight.

JD

No problem. I'm here to help.

Bonds is satan's labor relation's attorney. "best in breed". :rolleyes:

I've worked in CAL's flight ops. Not everyone is an idiot. I will not argue with sentiments toward a select few, however.

Echoing the afore mentioned setiments.....not the slightest 'in-love' with any of them either.....regardless of what Camp they matriculated from.

Looking at Jeff's purpose of being an M&A 'usher', and Glenn's sub-par UAL run with one foot out the door/ticket in hand within two yrs....I sure hope that the "new board" can find someone (or has already started to ear-tagging) 'outside' the present/or new "CXO" ranks who is well versed in leading a formidable carrier in being the "soon to be" largest airline in the world.

With all the pieces/resources coming to place (albeit, far from 'perfect' as it presently stands), it would be comforting to know that there was 'someone' in the wings ready to steer this future mega-carrier along the road of long-term success.....maybe someone with a 'proven' record?? The likes of "Gordo"??:o

Either way.....we watched two different makings of the "World's Largest Airlines" come about while walking two different paths following their mergers. First there was AA/TWA in the early 2000's.....and most recently the New DAL just last year. Which path will the New UAL follow via it's Mgt style/personel??

None of those decisions have been made as of yet. Probably safe to say that the SVP of Maint will remain as it's now UAL's 145 cert. and CAL doesn't have any turbine shop expertise as of yet. Rumor has it that CAL's troops have hertburn about moving to Chicago. Well, Wait until some of their manangement and QA have to move to San Francisco..

Joe Kolshak could yet remain at UAL but if CAL's 121 op cert is going to be used wouldn't it be FAR easier that their flt ops guy remain in place??

I certainly hope not. We have the most anti-Pilot, Pilots in our Flight Operations department.

I don't think you are going to be very happy then. My guess is that CAL's VP of flight ops is going to become the new Sr. V.P. of flt ops. I've met him and I happen to like the guy. I understand your frustration though 757Driver. Hope pilot/management relations run smoother going forward.

You met and like Fred Abbott? I'd consider you in the minority as most of the CAL Pilots do not like him, his management style or the dim bulbs he's surround himself with.

And yesterday, Jeff announced his choices for the next level of VPs at the combined company. So now they have named the Exec VPs and the Sr. VPs. All that is remaining to name are the regular ole VPs and then the Staff VPs.

September 1, 2010

Dear Co-worker,

As we move closer to the anticipated October 1 legal closing of our merger with United, I am pleased to let you know that we have now selected substantially all other members of the combined company’s senior leadership team. We expect that the board of the new company will elect these officers as Senior Vice Presidents of the new United Airlines at the closing. The officers, their company affiliations and responsibilities at the new company follow.

· Fred Abbott, Continental; Flight Operations
· Mark Bergsrud, Continental; Marketing
· Scott Dolan, United; Airport Operations
· Greg Hart, Continental; Network Planning and Scheduling
· Dave Hilfman, Continental; Worldwide Sales
· Jim Keenan, United; Technical Operations
· Leon Kinloch, Continental; Pricing and Revenue Management.
· Gerald Laderman, Continental; Corporate Finance and Treasurer
· Alexandria Marren, United; System Operations Control and United Express
· Doug McKeen, United; Labor Relations
· Tom O’Toole, United; Loyalty Business
· Rohit Philip, United; Corporate Strategy and Business Development
· John Rainey, Continental; Financial Planning and Analysis
· Mark Schwab, United; Alliances

Part of the problem with us is there is far too much middle management that has nothing better to do than harass us and implement inefficient policies. I see that trend will carry over to the new UAL.

What's up with the flight operations choices at the combined company??

First the UAL guy as Exec VP and now Fred "I'll make your commute easier" Abbot? These guys are both 60ish with some other CAL minions 60ish++. Would it hurt to actually pick someone born after 1955 who just might be around awhile? :rolleyes:

Part of the problem with us is there is far too much middle management that has nothing better to do than harass us and implement inefficient policies. I see that trend will carry over to the new UAL. 17,000 VP's and no one can figure out that an in-range report means there should be a ground crew waiting to catch us when we arrive. It shouldn't be a surprise when we show up.

Hopefully they'll stay just long enough to cash in their millions and move on. The biggest problem with Fred is his minions who will continue to infest the CPO for years to come, (see FMR's).

Fred Abbot as VP of combined pilot group! That takes vision Sismek. Granted convoluted and dark vision, but vision nonetheless...:eek:

+1! . . . something we agree on.

This is quite possibly the very worst news the merger has created so far. At least UAL's Flight Ops people remember that they're still Pilots. Ours have forgotten that little fact decades ago.

I would say the UAL pilots are in for one heck of a rude awakening. Non-contractual policies will more than likely follow the CAL model. Gate agent's authority, jumpseat access, conditions of the crew area restrooms, Captain's authority issues, on it goes, wow. This shapes the pilot's day-in day-out existence future more than anything we've heard yet.

Nothing should give pilots more pause to insure the JCBA covers every conceivable area, with iron clad "company must" language, than this announcement.

Oh, come on now. The longer Fred stays the more pilot friendly things become and the easier all of our commutes become. Remember, they are pilot advocates after all. :D

New VP's
 

************************************************** ********
Well Here it is guys,

By now, you probably have seen the announcement about the selection of senior vice presidents for the new company. They include the following leaders selected as senior vice presidents in Operations:

·Fred Abbott, Continental; Flight Operations
·Scott Dolan, United; Airport Operations
·Jim Keenan, United; Technical Operations
·Alex Marren, United; System Operations Control and United Express

I also want to let you know that this Operations senior leadership team and I have chosen the rest of the officer team. We expect the board of the new company will name the following officers as vice presidents at the closing of the merger. The officers, their company affiliations and responsibilities at the new company follow:

Reporting to Scott Dolan:

·Robbie Anderson, Continental; Cargo
·Terry Brady, United; O’Hare Hub
·Stephanie Buchanan, Continental; IAH Hub
·Jon Roitman, Continental; Newark Hub
·Cynthia Szadokierski, United; Airport Operations Planning
·Fernando (Fernie) Lopez, Continental; Airport Operations Line Stations

Reporting to Alex Marren:

·Don Dillman, United; System Operations Control
·Tracy Lee, Continental; Operations Planning
·Toby Enqvist, Continental; Environmental and Security

Reporting to Jim Keenan:

·Joe Ferreira, Continental; Line Maintenance
·Ken Burtt, Continental; Technical Services
·Manny Naeem, Continental; Maintenance Planning

In addition to the senior vice presidents, the following vice presidents will report to me:

·Kate Gebo, United; Real Estate
·Sandra Pineau, Continental; Catering
·Mike Quiello, United; Safety
·Sam Risoli, Continental; Inflight

As you know, United and Continental will be operating as two separate carriers until the FAA issues our single operating certificate (SOC) in late 2011 or early 2012. Some officers will continue to work for us until that time. They are:

·Mark Moran, Continental’s executive vice president and chief operations officer, who will oversee the issuance of the SOC.
·Don Gunther, staff vice president Safety at Continental, will remain in that position and help oversee the issuance of the SOC.
·Jay Ellzey, Continental’s vice president of Operations Administration, will head Continental’s System Operations Control Center until the co-location of United’s and Continental’s SOCCs.
·Howard Attarian, United’s vice president of Flight Operations will lead United’s Flight Operations reporting to Fred Abbott until the issuance of a Single Operating Certificate. Howard will also be United’s Director of Operations.

Additionally, Joanne Calabrese, United’s vice president-Hubs, will stay in her position to assist in transition until sometime in 2011, when Joanne will retire.

We know you want to know how you will be affected. As Jeff has said, we expect the merger will have minimal impact on frontline employees. Any change in the leadership reporting structure in current organizations will not determine which co-workers are selected for individual salaried and management positions. For those positions, we will follow the talent selection process that is being developed and expect to select a reasonably balanced mix of salaried and management employees from United and Continental. We will keep you informed as we progress.

I have confidence that this group of officers will be a driving force in helping us turn the new United into the world’s leading airline, with the industry’s strongest, most reliable operation, best customer service and most professional men and women in the industry. I’m looking forward to working with the new team.

Pete

Is this really a surprise? Why wouldn't the company pick the best people for them and not the pilots? This merger is NOT going to help any employee group. It's about consolidation and profit for stockholders and management.

Agree Bligh. UAL types are in for a rude awakening.

Although we currently have a couple of very good chief pilots who would go out of their way to help a pilot, we have also endured the likes of Bob 31:06 and The Water Boy in flight operations. We will be just fine.

'The Water Boy'? Well sadly the strongest pro pilot thing Fredrick has done in my time at CAL was write a bulletin stating that is was acceptable to receive a bottle of water from the back during a leg.

Got you beat! Our Water Boy said only one bottle of agua sin gas per transcon. Anything less, ask for a cup.

I think you forgot some important details:p

There was some kind of mileage limit placed on whether we got water or not... 2500 miles? If the flight was 2499 they would say H3LL NO. Turned into quite the ****ing contest:eek: I can honestly say that after it reached a boiling point I've never had SO much water in the cockpit! The FAs were great!

Your correct. The cockpit was so wet, I needed foul wx gear just to fly a trip. Good times.

May I suggest that when you step out of your hotel room in the morning and there is a paper at every door but the airline crew member's rooms, that someone is saving something at your expense. Highly doubtful the hotel management came up with the idea on their own. More likely, the airline's administrator of hotel purchasing said, "What else can we do to make this cheaper?"

Water, newspapers, stripped down amenities at hotels - All part of the new deal. Yes folks, sadly, you work for people that aren't willing to buy you a cup of water. That my friends is at best greed and at the far end, even hatred.

Tag Teamed
 

Well we lost, or or going to lose our cast of pathetic, ineffectual Dumb-A's but are getting a whole new team of self-centered idiots!

I was in the room the day Tilton-Satan first addressed a group of captains after he was paid off to join UAL and he sounded/acted surprisingly like Smisek does now!!! Nice sounding sound bites but actions that defy a CEO who gives a crap about morale in a service dependent organization. ...and anyone who has ever studied business realizes the critical nature of maintaining morale in a service related company, ie the airlines. Just talk to the team at LUV, they seem to understand that simple fact.

Cancelling performance awards
70 seaters in IAH
ATI with ANA

These are the actions that speak louder than the words!

Tilton-Satan was very vocal and visible the first year...part of the plan to dupe us all into thinking he was a decent human being vice the antichrist. I'm waiting for the desguise to be shed off Smisek, and quote me....IT WILL!

Enjoy the Kool Aid brothers. It tastes so sweet now but the dry heaves are just around the corner!

Once we come to the realization that not a single one of our self proclaimed management team is even remorely employee friendly, then we can start the battle drums and construct the signs. The are NOT our friends, and they will not deal with us in any kind of decent, respectful manner but will demand that the pilots do.

I recall a captain in the first year at UAL said to me about trusting ATC: "They want to kill you, rape your wife, enslave your kids, burn down your house and destroy anything you value. That's why you never trust an ATC controller with your life." The same goes for UAL management.....if they could legally enslave us they would!

Cheers!

Naahh -- it's just a courtesy to keep sleeping pilots from being awakened by the annoying plop of a newspaper. Your copy can be found by the next door, along with some tasty uneaten food on a room service tray. :p

I hear the "Water Boy" was also the leader of the pack in such subjects as cockpit decorum (risqué art hidden in our offices) and giving pilot wings to 1Ks.....and he is now at the negotiating table with our JCBA, but on the company side.....and he's ALPA???
Just a rumor though....

Proof enough for me that the company isn't serious about negotiating!