UALinIAH

The UAL pilots shot it down the first time. When UAL was still ESOP and the pilots owned 25% of the stock and had veto power on the board. It's an easy Google search.

Yes the second time was a DOJ block even though the UAL pilots aggressively opposed it and the US Air pilots were "open to discussion".

Spoiler

If you think he was pro ALPA then you have a reading comprehension problem

R57 relay

Wolf sold UA a bunch of snake oil. They were going to way overpay and with the coming recession, UA had buyers remorse. The DOJ action was a convenient escape.

I think UA/US could have been a good merger, but not on those terms. Going into bad times and 9/11, it would have been a disaster for everyone. In the end, best it died.

Frip

I remember riding a hotel bus with a UAL crew back about the first go-round. Captain was a real mellow dude. F/O, as in just off IOE new type newhire F/O stated quite firmly, and loudly too, for the benefit of everyone I suppose, that there was "no way any of those __________ US Air guys were going to go in front of him", being as how we real UAL pilot and actually got hired by UAL and all.

Yes, the Captain dude did nicely explain that he didn't understand how these things worked.

TQ Nola

I looked back at his last week's worth of posts (yes, I'm at my pad looking for things to do) and didn't see anything noticeably different from his other thousands of posts. Maybe it was a PM that got him.

Baron50

It wasn't Wolf, he was long gone and who knew (well maybe Bush) 911 would happen. It was during the summer of 2000 that UA negotiated the best contract in the industry. When the US 2000 merger was proposed employees owned 55% of the company, but not control. The attraction of the USAir merger was the combined company would be either number one or two in market share in most major markets, more than any competitor, and that gives a company an extra revenue boost. The merger was a done deal except for DOJ approval and that was the only reason that ultimately killed the deal. The breakup fees were 93 million for the expenses and lawyers alone, no one was going to walk away.

Notwithstanding individual line pilot bad behavior, the merger committees were very respectful of each other, although they only met once and there was never any agreements. The UA pilots were able to get a pay protection agreement from the UA board in the event the arbitration went badly, you can do that when you own 55%.

In any case, in 2000 the thought was that the better merger would be with CAL, but pilots did not have much to say about it. No one wanted to be left without a dance partner or the ugly sister. Mergers are about consolidation, CAL had the least overlap from a pilot viewpoint.

FWIW, the Nic was a consequence of a lazy arb, ALPA merger policy allowed for a three person board, but the lawyers thought it was unnecessary, three arbs would just see fair and equitable the same way as one. That proved wrong, with three arbs you should see the best results, although not perfect it will be bullet proof in court. Best of Luck, but 50 years from now no one will remember.

R57 relay

Stephen Wolf was the big mover on the merger and he was still around when it fell through. Here's an article:

USATODAY.com - US Airways' Wolf says he has no regrets

10/05/2001
"ABOARD US AIRWAYS FLIGHT 6850 — His critics may blame him for many of US Airways' troubles, but Chairman Stephen Wolf says he has no regrets about his decisions — and that includes this year's failed effort to sell the company to United Airlines.
"If I turned left and I should have turned right — I turned left," Wolf said with a shrug during a rare exclusive interview..."



The cracks in the industry were already showing when this merger fell through. They could see those, 9/11 just ripped them open.

I agree on the Nicolau award, thanks for the good wishes.

R57 relay

As you say, we really never really got close on a SLI with that merger, but I saw more nastiness between groups than I have with US/AA. Maybe it's memory, but those usually fade. Perception? Maybe it was the ALPA web.

Vendetta

I was flying the 320 during the merger talks with United and had an fo tell me we should all be on the bottom because " they were actually hired by United" it was amazing to hear I almost busted out laughing considering he was hired 6 years ago at the time. He was Newark based, it's funny cause almost every 767, 777 captain out of Newark now is a Lorenzo scap. That exact guy is raising gear for scabs, karma is a *****.
This is a True story my son who was 18 at the time a few years was up at school and met a in his words a "gorgeous " girl who's dad was at ex continental. He told me he was 58yo and was on the 777 cpt for 6 years ( yes he asked her) flying China. Come to find out he was a first monther Lorenzo scap on the master scab list confirmed that actually bragged to my son at dinner who was a (cfi working his way up at the time) that scabbing was the only way to get a secure future at the time. My son dated her for 2 years eventually they broke up. He was applying at regionals and her father even sent in a letter for him. I was told he retired 3 years early on the 777 for personal reasons. My son only told me this 6 months ago yes she was hot....True story

untied

This looks like it was written by a 3rd grader.

To clear up a few points.....

If the F/O had 6 years of seniority at UAL in 2000, he is about seniority #4,000 at UAL now out of 12,500 (NOT "pulling gear on a 777, but a 767 Captain).

It's SCAB....not scap.

The rest of your post is practically unreadable.