Southwest Line on Credit?

[HowardBorden]

Yeah, let's start with Richard Anderson.

Do you mean the Richard Anderson that presided over Northwest while they racked up losses of more than $2 billion and cut more than 14,000 jobs, that Richard Anderson?

 

[redflyer65]

I just think that it's fair that if your airline gets bought, you should keep your seat and
base. Why is that too much to ask?

Agreed. See Agreement #1 that the MEC blew a hole in.

PCL comes on here and says you never would have seen the pay with Agreement 1, or the fences, or the whatever. Complete BS. Gary would have followed through on all of it.

Richard Anderson?

I think he's doing a fine job at Delta. At Northwest? Not so much. Remember he bailed for UHC right before they filed for bankruptcy.

Isn't Delta the same carrier that was run thru bankruptcy and came out the other side with a very, very large pension obligation. So 40 years of profitablity at Delta? Try again.

 

[Muskycat]

Gary Kelly became CEO of SWA in July 2004. If an investor would have made a $100K investment in all 4 of the big 4, LUV, AMR, DAL, and UAL in July 2004, here is what that investment would approximately be worth today:

AMR: $0
DAL: $0
UAL: $0
LUV: $90K

While SWA margins are not as high as they were 10 or 20 years ago, their 40 years of consecutive profits and history of being financially conservative has created a balance sheet that the Big 3 will not have anytime soon. A strong balance sheet is one of the biggest factors in pilot job security during economic downturns or energy price spikes.

Why would anyone buy a bankrupt stock in 2004, UAL and DAL??? Pretty much guaranteed to be worthless when the new stock is issued emerging from bankruptcy. AMR was not foreseeably off from bankruptcy at the time either.

Poor analogy, try again.

 

[redflyer65]

Here you go.

Jan. 1995 to current...

AMR - 0
DAL - 0
UAL - 0
LUV - 341%


If you go back to 1990 timeframe, the numbers get even more insane.

Southwest has kept a strong balance sheet through all the years. The others weren't even close.

Any other airline still run a newhire class on Sept. 12, 2001? Need I say more?

 

[waveflyer]

.

Any other airline still run a newhire class on Sept. 12, 2001? Need I say more?

And ultimately,THIS ^^^ is the deal.

SWA didn't furlough in '08-09 when the economy was melting down and every other major did furlough- many times right after they'd just been recalled after lengthy furloughs-

AT pilots, At some point, you will NEED SWA. Life will happen. Sickness. Cancer. Death. Accidents. Injury. Divorce. And the southwest FAMILY will be there for you.
And if you never share it, I hope you let yourself cry in your Cheerios over the words you've said about southwest when those days come.

At some point, what this culture is, will click.

 

[slaquer5]

Here you go.

Jan. 1995 to current...

AMR - 0
DAL - 0
UAL - 0
LUV - 341%


If you go back to 1990 timeframe, the numbers get even more insane.

I do not think they want the facts.

 

[PCL_128]

Gary Kelly became CEO of SWA in July 2004. If an investor would have made a $100K investment in all 4 of the big 4, LUV, AMR, DAL, and UAL in July 2004, here is what that investment would approximately be worth today:

AMR: $0
DAL: $0
UAL: $0
LUV: $90K

While SWA margins are not as high as they were 10 or 20 years ago, their 40 years of consecutive profits and history of being financially conservative has created a balance sheet that the Big 3 will not have anytime soon. A strong balance sheet is one of the biggest factors in pilot job security during economic downturns or energy price spikes.

You're comparing apples to coconuts, of course, because the CEOs of those carriers today are not the CEOs of those carriers then. By going back to 2004, you can measure Gary's effectiveness, or lack thereof, but not someone like Richard Anderson, because he wasn't running Delta at the time. We're talking about Gary and SWA's current performance and prospects compared to the other major carriers. And when doing that comparison, it's clear that Gary isn't stacking up very well.

 

[PCL_128]

Do you mean the Richard Anderson that presided over Northwest while they racked up losses of more than $2 billion and cut more than 14,000 jobs, that Richard Anderson?

Yes, that Richard Anderson. The one who bailed out for UHC because he didn't feel that bankruptcy was the right move. The one who managed the most effective merger in airline history. The one who presides over great margins, ROE, ROA, etc. The one who is kicking SWA's ass in Atlanta. That Richard Anderson.

You can "luv" your airline without feeling the need to defend the poor performance of your CEO. He's not your best buddy, you know.

 

[waveflyer]

PCL,
I won't argue bc I know your posts aren't so much true opinions, just you working the same tired angle you've been working since the beginning.
Bc you know about the restructuring going on here- you know about the 5 initiatives that are carrying us toward 15% ROIC w/o paycuts-
A truly objective person w/ knowledge of these projects would measure his success by progress made on these, and then financials after 2015 when all are scheduled to be complete-

But we know you're pretty much just about poisoning the well at this point

 

[PCL_128]

No, wave, I just don't believe that any of that is going to lead to 15% ROIC. You know what would? Ancillary fees. Gary is leaving tons of money on the table by not charging for bags. And it's costing shareholders a lot of money. I finally sold all of my shares a couple of weeks ago because I was tired of sitting around and waiting for someone to wake up and care about shareholder value.