Rumor: Alaska eyeing US Airways

[Paul R. Smith]

This thread made me throw up in my mouth a little.

 

[Chief Pilot]

You hardly would have the cash to "buy" HAL. Hawaiian has a very strong balance sheet, about 400 million in cash on hand. I don't think AK would want to use up all their available cash to purchase a bigger share of the Hawaii market. Interesting to note though, the largest shareholder in Hawaiian is.... Fidelity Investments.. So I don't discount the possibility of anything can happen with the stock. I don't see our push into Asia and our Airbuses being much of match to AK.

The other thing to consider, much of what makes us successful in the Hawaii market is the fact that we are Hawaiian. I know it's a cliche' but people really do feel like they are in Hawaii when they board us as opposed to waiting till the end of the flight. We have a very loyal and large passenger base that could go away if another name is painted on the side of the airplane and non local people staffed them.

Dan,

My comment was meant "tongue-in-cheek". My hope and belief is that we won't be merging with anyone anytime soon.

CP

 

[Dash8don]

I think this thread was meant to be posted on pilotcomedycentral.com! This is some funny!:nuts:

 

[BeCareful!]

Yeah! I heard the same rumors from my cousin gardener al robaski, up- state new york, That Alaska will merge with Usairways, Keep the name (USAIRWAYS) and USAPA will staple every alaska pilot to bottom. :laugh:

Impossible. USAPA's Constitution and Bylaws require DOH integrations with Conditions and Restrictions to protect BOTH sides. No one will ever get "stapled" by USAPA.

 

[Dan Roman]

Dan,

My comment was meant "tongue-in-cheek". My hope and belief is that we won't be merging with anyone anytime soon.

CP

No worries, I did see the little smily face. I didn't mean to sound like I was attacking you. The bottom line is none of us wants to merge with anyone. Most of them end up screwing the employees and making a few people rich.
Personally I think both Hawaiian and Alaska will benefit the most from everyone else merging and reducing the amount of airlines. We both have a pretty good product that passengers seem to like and it seems to me we can both do just fine alone.

 

[becket]

Impossible. USAPA's Constitution and Bylaws require DOH integrations with Conditions and Restrictions to protect BOTH sides. No one will ever get "stapled" by USAPA.

Small problem. The Sc?? A-Holes that run USAPA are the single and solitary resource for determining what is a "fair" Condition and Restriction.

No Thanks. I'll stick with a neutral 3rd party and binding arbitration any day. Excuse my lack of confidence in the altruistic nature of your AFOC. Also, Alaska is ALPA. They are legally bound to honor the Nic. award. Not to worry though, Alaska wouldn't touch US Air with a billion foot pole.

 

[ALGFLYR]

That would be a GREAT combo. Enjoy that! It will be so much fun for someone to buy a ticket from Fayetteville, NC to Charlotte on Alaska Air. Those hillbillies will ask "Hey Pervis, are we flyin that Eskimo lookin Hillary Clinton plane again?" Oh wait, Alaska WANTS to change it's name to USAir? Great plan, stan. And a change in control would give those Easties a 50% raise. Sounds like a great start.


Bye Bye--General Lee

2 things GL...

That post was kinda funny, but I'm surprised you didn't work "LBB" in there somewhere...

Also, I thought the pic on the Alaska tails was a pic of a US Air Flight Attendant...

Anyway... carry on...

 

[Flightdawg]

Hers's some rumor fodder. A little birdie said Alaska is eyeing US Airways again. The problem is the East pay snap back.

The problem isn't the snap back, but the East period.

Alaska would be committing the same error AWA did by buying into that problem. Best to do like DAL did with PanAm, buy them after they go bankrupt then pick up the pieces.

 

[St. Nic]

The only pieces worth anything are east! I totally agree with you! Dump the dead weight in Phoenix- it never was worth anything anyway.

 

[becket]

The only pieces worth anything are east! I totally agree with you! Dump the dead weight in Phoenix- it never was worth anything anyway.

It was worth enough to save your sorry, twice bankrupt a$$es. That's a little fact that keeps slipping the attention of some AFOC members.

 

[reepicheep]

Impossible. USAPA's Constitution and Bylaws require DOH integrations with Conditions and Restrictions to protect BOTH sides. No one will ever get "stapled" by USAPA.

There will never be any "integration" with USAPA anyway...once you are parted out the small number of pilots, if any, that go with airplanes will be offered their place at the bottom of the acquirer seniority list, or preferential interviews; take it or leave it ala Southwest/Republic. Nobody will ever again make the mistake of entering into an actual merger with US Airways.

 

[The Prussian]

Green banana: if "faux new is fairly unbalanced," what is ABC,NBC,CBS, MSNBC, PBS and NPR?

Green Banana's reply:

"They do not tout themselves as 'Fair and Balanced'"


Prussian's reply:

"For good reason..."

 

[Jaffo]

You are dilousional, most westies have no intrest in your sh**y trans atlantic routes
or a/c. By the way AWA was one of 3 airlines to report a profit the quarter before the
Merger.

 

[BeCareful!]

Really Jaffo?

If westicles don't want all the east flying for themselves, then why haven't they suggested a fence to see if we could all move on with this abortion?

In other words, you say they're not interested in the 330's....OK then, what exactly are they interested in? Are you saying they don't want our flying? Or what? Let's fence off all our stuff you think you're too good for and MOVE ON WITH IT!

 

[BeCareful!]

There will never be any "integration" with USAPA anyway...once you are parted out the small number of pilots, if any, that go with airplanes will be offered their place at the bottom of the acquirer seniority list, or preferential interviews; take it or leave it ala Southwest/Republic. Nobody will ever again make the mistake of entering into an actual merger with US Airways.

Wow, you sound like you really know all about everything. Impressive.

 

[becket]

Really Jaffo?

If westicles don't want all the east flying for themselves, then why haven't they suggested a fence to see if we could all move on with this abortion?

In other words, you say they're not interested in the 330's....OK then, what exactly are they interested in? Are you saying they don't want our flying? Or what? Let's fence off all our stuff you think you're too good for and MOVE ON WITH IT!

There is no "West" to negotiate with. Nobody has the authority to offer any solutions other than what was agreed to...meaning the Nic. award. Leonidas CANNOT negotiate with a labor union to strike a deal affecting 40% of another labor unions members! Get it?!

The SC??s thought they were so clever with this USAPA thing, well it was the dumbest move they could have made if they wanted to evade the Nic. award. One airline, one union, one seniority list at contract signing or whenever Judge Wake decides to enforce it. Once again, you dipshi*s did this to yourselves.

 

[Grandpa +65]

Whao! This has become a non sense Thread

 

[igneousy2]

Oh my good this is like trying to talk to a three year old. How many times do I have to repeat myself? Alaska wants the EAST flying. To AVOID being acquired by a larger airline. It would be ALASKA PURCHASING US AIRWAYS. It's really true most airline pilots are stupid. No wonder management finds you all so easy to manipulate.

I'm guessing you don't work for Alaska because if you did you would know that...

1. Buying US Air East would require Bill or Brad to stick their neck out and do something radical which does not happen around here.

2. In light of these risky financial times, they are decreasing there debt and therefore it is doubtful that they would do anything that would require the debt load to go higher which a transaction to purchase US-Air East almost certainly would. They are not even borrowing money for this years aircraft deliveries.

3. Any steps Alaska does take are very small, calculated and easily reversed. i.e. no new fleet types to serve new markets (Allegiant to Hawaii) Notice the Hawaii flying started out with a couple of airplanes in a couple of hub cities. If Hawaii didn't work out it would have been very easy to rip out the rafts and redeploy the aircraft elsewhere in the existing route network. New routes are almost always previous code shares (almost all of Hawaii, SEA-ATL, SEA-IAH)or routes where someone has left the market (PDX-HNL, SJC-AUS). Buying US-Air would definitely not fit into this pattern.

4. I don't think our management is really worried about being bought. In the past year, our market cap has gone from around 600 Million to 1.5 Billion today. If nobody snatched us up at 600 Million, it is doubtful they could pay 1.5 Billion +. In reality name one airline that could afford a hostile take over of another major airline right now as the way you do a hostile takeover is to somehow offer a large premium of what the shareholders could get on the open market...1.5 - 2 times, which for Alaska would imply a price of 2 - 3 BILLION dollars. If these industry consolidation predictions come true, I doubt any of the mergers in the airline industry would be hostile.

 

[waveflyer]

Igneousy2-
the world has nothing but disdain for you and your logic...

;-)

 

[Two Feathers]

igneousy2 are you trying to make sense? That's a dangerous game to play in this industry. You know damn well what is going to happen and only the timing remains a mystery. AA and AS will join up in one form or another and this has nothing to do with facts, rumors or things making sense. It will take place simply because it is your dream come true. Not your good dream but who's keeping track. Maybe the code will be AA or AS. Or maybe AAA or AAAS or even ASS. Tough to guess at this point.

Study up bruddah.

 

[igneousy2]

igneousy2 are you trying to make sense? That's a dangerous game to play in this industry. You know damn well what is going to happen and only the timing remains a mystery. AA and AS will join up in one form or another and this has nothing to do with facts, rumors or things making sense. It will take place simply because it is your dream come true. Not your good dream but who's keeping track. Maybe the code will be AA or AS. Or maybe AAA or AAAS or even ASS. Tough to guess at this point.

Study up bruddah.

AA will buy us and will change our name to AAlaska Airlines.

 

[get2flyin]

Impossible. USAPA's Constitution and Bylaws require DOH integrations with Conditions and Restrictions to protect BOTH sides. No one will ever get "stapled" by USAPA.

I guess the definition of "staple" is in the eye of the beholder. You are certainly entitled to your view even if nobody else in there right mind agrees with it.

Really Jaffo?

If westicles don't want all the east flying for themselves, then why haven't they suggested a fence to see if we could all move on with this abortion?

In other words, you say they're not interested in the 330's....OK then, what exactly are they interested in? Are you saying they don't want our flying? Or what? Let's fence off all our stuff you think you're too good for and MOVE ON WITH IT!

I *LOVE* the East "fence" argument. What makes it so laughable is pre-Nic when the East was banging the straight DOH drum, they REFUSED any discussion about fences because fences would have prevented furloughed East pilots from coming back off of hiatus and becoming Captains in Phoenix. Heaven forbid anyone try to restrict them from their "rightful" seniority bidding position.

Post Nic, suddenly the idea of bidding a position your seniority could hold, including on the other side of the Mississippi, was UNTHINKABLE because of your handful of revered 330s and junked out 767s. That's what makes the foundation of USAPA so laughable. It was created to attempted to improve the fortunes of the former "original" USAir pilots at the expense of any other group they were, or might ever be, in contact with. As entertaining as USAPA attorney Lee Seham's prediction that in the event of a theoretical merger with UAL, United's pilots would jump ALPA's ship and join USAPA, they knew damn well it would never happen. I'm sure given the opportunity they would have done ANYTHING to prevent a merger with United since they are "integrated" with the West, thus watering down their ability to grab onto those 747 Captain seats that they are "entitled" to.

As far as Alaska goes, I hope for their sake they stay away. USAir, both old and new, is toxic. Odds are it would very possibly lead to the demise of another pretty decent company. But hey, nobody in management gives a damn what the pilots want...just show them the money and they'll do what's in the stockholder's (and their own) best interest.

Then again, I'm just a rookie. What do I know about this "senior" stuff?

 

[cactusboy53]

It was worth enough to save your sorry, twice bankrupt a$$es. That's a little fact that keeps slipping the attention of some AFOC members.

Shhhhh...You're going to confuse him with facts. :laugh:

 

[bmpilot]

Whao! This has become a non sense Thread

started that way :laugh:

 

[Jaffo]

Really Jaffo?

If westicles don't want all the east flying for themselves, then why haven't they suggested a fence to see if we could all move on with this abortion?

In other words, you say they're not interested in the 330's....OK then, what exactly are they interested in? Are you saying they don't want our flying? Or what? Let's fence off all our stuff you think you're too good for and MOVE ON WITH IT!

You are very uninformed! If your union leadership would have been willing to listen to anybody but themselves we wouldn't be where we are now, not to mention maybe actually informing YOU! The west had no problems with fences to keep you all out of PHX, but that was only good for them if it was one way keeping westies out of PHL and CLT. What exactly are we interested in? Well a good start would be getting a contract that gets us off the bottom of every other airline in the US contract wise. Every person I have flown with since this "abortion" was consumated, has agreeed that east and west will never be integrated for many reasons, the biggest being SAFETY! We have no intrest in your flying, AWA was in much better shape than US and was expanding before the "merger" (which is seen by everybody except eastholes as symantics). It all boils down to how misinformed you guys are on the east.

 

[ImbracableCrunk]

This thread is enough evidence for me that we never - ever - want to merge with USAir.

 

[Dash8don]

This thread is enough evidence for me that we never - ever - want to merge with USAir.

That was my exact thought too. Can we say "thread drift"?

 

[get2flyin]

You are very uninformed! If your union leadership would have been willing to listen to anybody but themselves we wouldn't be where we are now, not to mention maybe actually informing YOU! The west had no problems with fences to keep you all out of PHX, but that was only good for them if it was one way keeping westies out of PHL and CLT. What exactly are we interested in? Well a good start would be getting a contract that gets us off the bottom of every other airline in the US contract wise. Every person I have flown with since this "abortion" was consumated, has agreeed that east and west will never be integrated for many reasons, the biggest being SAFETY! We have no intrest in your flying, AWA was in much better shape than US and was expanding before the "merger" (which is seen by everybody except eastholes as symantics). It all boils down to how misinformed you guys are on the east.

I disagree with you on the idea of "safety" as the root of the inability for West and East to share a cockpit. If we can't all be big boys and girls and do our jobs without compromising safety, maybe we need to find a different way to make a living.

 

[waveflyer]

The ironic thing is that there are plenty of USAir guys who want to remain separate and sold as their own entity to another airline minus the West. Who would want them?

 

[Two Feathers]

The ironic thing is that there are plenty of USAir guys who want to remain separate and sold as their own entity to another airline minus the West. Who would want them?

Mesa?