Well, I can see both points of view here. Before everyone condemns UAL78, I for one am very thankful for all of the advice he gave during the late 90s and into 2000.
UAL78 saw her getting special treatment due to her being on the Olympic luge team (and it's luge, not bobsled, FWIW). She chose to leave of her own accord when times got REALLY tough at UAL, and UAL78 likely views that as a betrayal after the special treatment that she received. I can understand that feeling, and I hope that most others can feel that way when someone leaves an organization where they were treated special. When I left the Air Force, those of us that chose to leave were considered ingrates and traitors by some who stayed, especially the higher up brass.
I personally felt that ACA betrayed UAL when they asked for concessions and ACA refused. I had already been furloughed, and felt that everyone needed to lend a hand to get UAL out of the deep problems that UAL faced. I'm getting over that anger, but it's taken a while.
I can also understand LD's (not her real initials) choice of leaving UAL. Times were very bad and it was looking like liquidation would happen at any time. It was a miserable place to work (I don't think that's improved much over time). JetBlue is not a miserable place to work and the comeraderie that exists there is great; I wish that UAL could get to that point.
I do not think that she's trying to come back to UAL; that seems unlikely.
For me personally, I'm happy that she left. It meant one less furloughed pilot on the street which means that I'll be recalled just a little bit faster. I also hope that all of the bypasses above me decide to not return to UAL. It's all about where you are on the seniority list.
UAL78, if this helps ease the anger, remember that she left when there were many downgrades going on. She spared someone junior to her in that fleet/seat/domicile from being downgrade. In the end, her decision to depart UAL saved UAL a few dollars when we needed it most.
In closing, let us not forget that we all feel the same way as UAL78 about a person/organization/situation. He chose to openly ask the question, which is probably cathartic for him. Better to let it out than keep it bottled up inside.
And UAL78 has done a lot of great work here for a very long time. Let's not fire up a lynch mob because we find a single post in poor taste. If that were the case, there are a few posters here who should have been hunted down and shot, since just about all of their posts are in poor taste.
