Not DisappoinTED

[T-Bags]

G4, it's not yet a TED route. How clear do I have to be? Pull up DEN-MCO (A ted route...) You will see three selectable fares. Keep in mid the $299 DOES NOT INCLUDE PFC's!!! That is the SAME policy as SWA's and FRNT's. Kind of like buying a shirt that's marked $19.99. If you go into the store with a 20, you'll come out empty handed. Would you prefer that the TED site have redirected you to Lufthansa? TED redirects you to UAL if they DON'T fly that route. Humor me, go to the ted site and try ORD to FRA (that's frankfurt for you LCC's). Guess what, Ted doesn't go there. But it WILL give you a itenerary AND a $3000 price (well above Ted pricing...).

 

[AAPilot]

Originally posted by G4G5


Holy S#$& I actually agree with what an American Airlines pilot has to say! This Ted debacle is a poorly executed paint job and press release. Obviously Tague or his subordinates never bothered to check the Ted website before putting Ted into action. I am interested in how T-bags and Andy defend this.

Ouch Mach, where's the love?

 

[G4G5]

T Bags
G4, it's not yet a TED route. How clear do I have to be?

G4G5
It's on the, "Where TED flys ICON" on the TED web site! How clear do I have to be. The general public is not familiar with when an airline institutes service. Which leads me to point two, they are selling service for it on the TED web site. When you purchase a ticket on the TED web site which airline do you think you should be flying?
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Pull up DEN-MCO (A ted route...) You will see three selectable fares. Keep in mid the $299 DOES NOT INCLUDE PFC's!!! That is the SAME policy as SWA's and FRNT's. Kind of like buying a shirt that's marked $19.99. If you go into the store with a 20, you'll come out empty handed. Would you prefer that the TED site have redirected you to Lufthansa? TED redirects you to UAL if they DON'T fly that route.

G4G5
No, what I expect the TED site to do is exactly what the Song/Jetblue/Luv web site do. Sell tickets on their airlines to destinations that they serve. What a concept. Do me a favor and try out the Song web site and then compare it to TED, their is no comparision,

You can't advertise that you only charge $300 and then offer a $350 fare on the TED web site.

 

[Andy]

No, what I expect the TED site to do is exactly what the Song/Jetblue/Luv web site do. Sell tickets on their airlines to destinations that they serve. What a concept. Do me a favor and try out the Song web site and then compare it to TED, their is no comparision,

You can't advertise that you only charge $300 and then offer a $350 fare on the TED web site.

OK, here's my feeble defense of what TED's website is doing. Since TED doesn't fly to those destinations, rather than give no price quote, it gives price quotes for United mainline and Star Alliance carriers. I realize that some will criticize this decision, but at least UAL is trying to capture maximum revenue through TED's online booking system.

 

[G4G5]

Andy,

That is what I thought. My only concern is:
They should not be refering UAL pax to any other carrier. Even if it is a Code share/Alliance partner. This does nothing but dilute the TED brand.

I have no problem with them offering a UAL price, just tell people it's UAL. It's not what I like, notice Song does NOT refer you to DAL. You are either an LCC/airline with in a airline or you are not. Trying to have it both ways does very little to build and support the TED brand.

You may think I am complaing about TED. Again I want to see UAL survive. IMHO, TED is not helping the cause. They need to copy/run it like JetBlue/LUV/SONG, now is not the time to be re-inventing the wheel.

 

[buzzer]

United will claim/Is claiming success for TED as the flights are, for the most part, replacing already full flights they had. Doesn't mean they won't be ultimately successful though. Now that UAL has the employees working for cheap, they need to manage the beast in a lean and mean way.

 

[skykid]

The focus has to be on keeping the domestic fleet up in the air as much as possible. On the big iron flying to say Tokyo or London, you are only going to get so much utilization because your hands are tied with the long legs. United has to keep the 737s and 319/320s moving, and they are. A big break management got to go ahead with Ted is Airbus guys are making the same as 737 guys. So a pilot flying a Ted configured plane makes the same as the 737-500 guy with 46 less seats. This was a good week for United. The monthly BK filing shows UAL put 205 million in the bank in Feb for a cash balance of 2.5 biliion. Not bad considering that the PlaneBusiness folks predicted a 40 to 50 million shortfall and not making the BK loan covenants for the first time. The House and Senate kicked into high gear starting last Tuesday on a final pension reform bill that Bush has indicated he will definitely sign, despite intense lobbying from the LCCs. This bill will probably become law around the middle of April, and this is the main thing the ATSB is waiting on. With that boards recent action on USAir, I don't have much doubt which way that decision will go. Barring a major terrorist event, looks like United will exit BK around August with 4 to 5 billion dollars.

 

[Andy]

Barring a major terrorist event, looks like United will exit BK around August with 4 to 5 billion dollars.

The money that UAL has drawn on DIP financing will need to be repaid. I believe that UAL owes somewhere in the neighborhood of $700 mil in DIP financing. I don't know if UAL has any bills that have gone unpaid during BK; that would also draw down UAL's cash position.
However, there have been rumors (they're just that, rumors) that UAL has lined up an additional $2Bil in unsecured loans on top of ATSB financing. That would give UAL a huge amount of cash to make post-chap 11 purchases for expansion (rumor also has it that's Tilton's plan upon emergence). Again, it's just a rumor, and we all know that most airline rumors never come to fruition.

 

[skykid]

Andy, I was not including the restricted cash in my estimate - it is close to 700 million. Also, there just aren't a lot of unpaid bills, contrary to what people want to believe. I would not count on that rumor being true! I certainly don't think that would be a good idea, even if it were true. More good news today - a 7th daily round trip from JFK to LAX starting Jun3, tickets on sale today. It is a 767 with 10 first class, 33 business, 125 coach. No fire sale, no major hubs closed, lots of new destinations, and increased frequency. The cost of oil is the big bad news out there. Only SWA had the guts and pure genuis to really hedge up big, so all the other majors are pretty much in the hurt locker together on fuel. I have no idea how hedged AirTran, Jetblue, Frontier, or the other LCCs are, anyone know?

 

[jetblue320]

I have no idea how hedged AirTran, Jetblue, Frontier, or the other LCCs are, anyone know?

JB is hedged at 45% for the year, second only to SWA at their 86% (or 80 something)

C yaaa