The NWA/DAL case is a wrap, what do you think?

[General Lee]

General,

Its a merger of equals my man, you always seem to forget that.

Come on man, that is NOT what Bloch meant. He meant that our airlines were not failing while the other was the rescuer. We are not equal size, without the same number of widebody jobs (that bring more pay), etc. We are a larger airline with higher pay and more planes to offer, along with more bases. You guys did very well with this merger, giving the number of choices you have now. I do know that there are great parts of your airline, and I am sure you guys are great guys too, but you came here with lower pay, some older equipment that none of us would want to fly, and some interesting testimony that could be considered offensive. (along with your whole DOH/Dynamic proposal) Other than all of that, yes, yes we are equal.... Welcome aboard.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[~~~^~~~]

The real silver lining to the SLI debate was that none of us looked at our stock portfolios for several days.

I lost more in the last few months than I'll make at Delta (regardless of seniority) in the next 10 years.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

No I looked, and then looked away. I am off over three years of pay here.

 

[clippyrip]

Come on man, that is NOT what Bloch meant.

We will see my man. Merger of equals is not a confusing statement.

 

[General Lee]

We will see my man. Merger of equals is not a confusing statement.

So, are we the same size? Do we have the same amount of planes? How about the same amount of pilots? You say we are equal in every way? We all read what Bloch said, and he was comparing the merger itself to the USAir merger, and how that merger had one airline that was failing and one that was not. I am glad you and your cohorts saw something that everyone else did not. Go back and read the context of his statement. In reality, we aren't equal in a lot of ways---especially the pay rates and smaller planes you brought into this merger. We brought EVERY ONE of your pay scales up, and you kept your frozen pensions. You will have a choice of bases soon, and more widebodies to chose from,and a fantastic new uniform along with a spify hat. All we got? A NRT hub and some upper midwest hubs that Southwest is looking at too, along with an old freighter operation that may go away, orders for 787s that may not be here for years, and a lot of older DC9s that are the bottom of our combined pay scale. Your stand alone option had you furloughing up to 300 pilots. It was in an official memo, the one your MEC chair couldn't recall. Recent retirements (about 100) have mitigated some of that, but not all of it maybe. We really aren't "equal", now are we? That doesn't mean we can't be friends, but the truth hurts sometimes.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[jetflier]

So, are we the same size? Do we have the same amount of planes? How about the same amount of pilots? You say we are equal in every way? We all read what Bloch said, and he was comparing the merger itself to the USAir merger, and how that merger had one airline that was failing and one that was not. I am glad you and your cohorts saw something that everyone else did not. Go back and read the context of his statement. In reality, we aren't equal in a lot of ways---especially the pay rates and smaller planes you brought into this merger. We brought EVERY ONE of your pay scales up, and you kept your frozen pensions. You will have a choice of bases soon, and more widebodies to chose from,and a fantastic new uniform along with a spify hat. All we got? A NRT hub and some upper midwest hubs that Southwest is looking at too, along with an old freighter operation that may go away, orders for 787s that may not be here for years, and a lot of older DC9s that are the bottom of our combined pay scale. Your stand alone option had you furloughing up to 300 pilots. It was in an official memo, the one your MEC chair couldn't recall. Recent retirements (about 100) have mitigated some of that, but not all of it maybe. We really aren't "equal", now are we? That doesn't mean we can't be friends, but the truth hurts sometimes.


Bye Bye--General Lee

Dear Gen,

Yup, in your red and tired time zone changed eyes that may be what you are believing. But when you looked at the bottom line$, did you notice who brought the $$$$ to the merger table, (about $3.5B), and which airline makes the highest profit among the network carriers....yeah,...your airline has the biggest arse, but NWA has the biggest $clong

 

[DTW320]

So, are we the same size? Do we have the same amount of planes? How about the same amount of pilots? You say we are equal in every way? We all read what Bloch said, and he was comparing the merger itself to the USAir merger, and how that merger had one airline that was failing and one that was not. I am glad you and your cohorts saw something that everyone else did not. Go back and read the context of his statement. In reality, we aren't equal in a lot of ways---especially the pay rates and smaller planes you brought into this merger. We brought EVERY ONE of your pay scales up, and you kept your frozen pensions. You will have a choice of bases soon, and more widebodies to chose from,and a fantastic new uniform along with a spify hat. All we got? A NRT hub and some upper midwest hubs that Southwest is looking at too, along with an old freighter operation that may go away, orders for 787s that may not be here for years, and a lot of older DC9s that are the bottom of our combined pay scale. Your stand alone option had you furloughing up to 300 pilots. It was in an official memo, the one your MEC chair couldn't recall. Recent retirements (about 100) have mitigated some of that, but not all of it maybe. We really aren't "equal", now are we? That doesn't mean we can't be friends, but the truth hurts sometimes.


Bye Bye--General Lee

You're right general. We weren't equal at all.....we were more profitable than you in almost every metric. Doesn't mean we can't be friends though....

Truth hurts right? I mean, I heard that right here after all...

 

[FDJ2]

We will see my man. Merger of equals is not a confusing statement.

Just as long as you realize that there is a difference between equal and identical.

 

[General Lee]

Dear Gen,

Yup, in your red and tired time zone changed eyes that may be what you are believing. But when you looked at the bottom line$, did you notice who brought the $$$$ to the merger table, (about $3.5B), and which airline makes the highest profit among the network carriers....yeah,...your airline has the biggest arse, but NWA has the biggest $clong

What you fail to see is that Steenland wanted OUT. He horded the cash, and did not expand, at all. He didn't buy new airplanes other than the 787 orders (we bought used 757ERs from AA---17 of them), and he looked for a merger partner. He used the cash as an incentive. Even my friends in the finance sector believe this. Steenland got a nice bonus for leaving, and now has an even bigger house on Lake Minnetonka. You are wrong.

Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[General Lee]

You're right general. We weren't equal at all.....we were more profitable than you in almost every metric. Doesn't mean we can't be friends though....

Truth hurts right? I mean, I heard that right here after all...

More profitable, or kept more cash to find friends? Truth does hurt. The guy who lead you to all that money is already GONE. He also sold 10 or more of your 757s to Fedex to give you more cash, and your pay cuts after BK allowed even more money to flow into the coffers. Great job. See ya buddy!

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[FDJ2]

Dear Gen,

Yup, in your red and tired time zone changed eyes that may be what you are believing. But when you looked at the bottom line$, did you notice who brought the $$$$ to the merger table, (about $3.5B), and which airline makes the highest profit among the network carriers....yeah,...your airline has the biggest arse, but NWA has the biggest $clong

You also brought a disproportionate amount of debt. Don't fool yourself, your cash postion was from borrowed money.

BTW, did you notice who brought most of the international flying, most of the wide bodied aircraft, most of high paying jobs.

 

[General Lee]

You also brought a disproportionate amount of debt. Don't fool yourself, your cash postion was from borrowed money.

BTW, did you notice who brought most of the international flying, most of the wide bodied aircraft, most of high paying jobs.

Come on FDJ2. They did bring more analog planes, more de-ice equipment, and more cargo loaders. I think that means we are EQUAL.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[DTW320]

More profitable, or kept more cash to find friends? BOTH, actually!! More cash AND higher yield/profits....thanks for asking! Truth does hurt. The guy who lead you to all that money is already GONE. He also sold 10 or more of your 757s to Fedex to give you more cash, and your pay cuts after BK allowed even more money to flow into the coffers. Great job. See ya buddy!

Bye Bye--General Lee

Truth really hurts doesn't it?

 

[DTW320]

You also brought a disproportionate amount of debt. Don't fool yourself, your cash postion was from borrowed money.

BTW, did you notice who brought most of the international flying, most of the wide bodied aircraft, most of high paying jobs.

Who had more long term debt? Whose ratio of debt to monthly expenses was much higher? We both had/have lots of borrowed money to be sure. Which airline was producing higher returns with it?

 

[General Lee]

Truth really hurts doesn't it?

Again good buddy, why all the cash on hand? Any reason? We all know where Steenland got the cash? You guys. And, with that cash he kept it in his special box, while the rest of us expanded (you had 176 newhires, we had 700). It's not that hard to see, really. Open your eyes best friend.


Bye Bye--General Lee