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UAL/CAL SLI hearings -- Cont'd from Day Three:

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Tail Gunner Joe

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Joined
Apr 22, 2005
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UAL/CAL SLI hearings -- Day Four:
Once again the CAL side walked into the meeting room wearing hats and UAL guys hatless. It reminded me of shirts vs. skins playground basketball games. Except Heppner's toupee covered his skin.

Closing arguments for the continental side began this morning. Today's buzzword: Overlays!
Newark overlayed on IAD. Houston over Chicago. Guam over Tokoyo.
Continental flies to more international destinations and more countries than any other airline. Which begs the question: What does god need with a starship? (sorry, I mean) What does a Mega-Carrier need with tiny United?

And with that the CAL committee ended their half of the presentation until closing argument day.

After Lunch, it was UAL seniority integration committee turn to present their case. UAL MEC Chair Jay Heppner pulled down a white screen from the ceiling while the other committee members readied a laptop and a projector. Long minutes passed as the audience watched the windows startup screen boot the computer. Then we watched as power point was double clicked and the timer symbol began to spin. And just when you thought things couldn't get more boring - the slide show began. Yellow words would sweep in from the side of screen forming sentences on a blue background, looking like something straight out of Window95. If Bill Gates were present, he'd sue for plagiarizing the Office95 templates, but I think the copyright has run out. The program was as old and clapped out as a 747.

About an hour into it, to keep the arbitrators awake, Jay Heppner presented them cups of coffee. "I got in the habit of bringing coffee at the MEC meetings," Heppner said. "It kept things moving because our last MEC chair talked as slow as she taxiied." The cups were Styrofoam with United printed on the side in blue lettering and the logo scratched out.

The Arbitrators refused. "We've had that 'coast-to-coast roast' crap before - No thanks."

(Link to Businessweek article on United's horrible coffee.) Click here

"No,no," Heppner said, "This is pre-merger coffee. Starbucks. The way things used to be."

Tomorrow: Star witnesses are set to testify
 

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