IAHB756

And we forget that CAL operates 737's, even classics. If UAL had announced that they were parking the airbus fleet then that might make sense but USair has a nice new fleet of airbuses thus UAL, in their proposed merger with USair would not want to park the compatible fleet.

BTW, I pulled that out of my rear just like someone who claims the UAL 737's were parked to facilitate a CAL merger did years ago. The difference is this, many UAL furloughed pilots and pilots forced to downgrade as a result of that fleet being parked have hung on to those words and dearly want to believe that to be the truth. CAL has had new airplanes on order for years. Most of the 2005 hires held captain in late 2007-2008 and 2006 and on hires were moving up quickly with upgrades expected in 5 years or less. The retirement age change added five years to that and "voila", here we are. The movement due to aircraft deliveries and age related retirements are starting to finally drive system bids with numbers like we saw yesterday. A vast anti-UAL pilot conspiracy this is not. Sorry.

If UAL had had 787's on firm order and new A320's in the delivery pipeline and those aircraft were arriving now and the growth was on your side, we wouldn't be having this discussion. It is what it is. Let's get a contract and the SLI completed so we can all enjoy the growth!!!

mccurtool

True. I remember being on the line in May of 2008 and hearing the uproar over that prospective merger.

I still believe though that CAL management and Tilton and Co. did not simply stop communicating, and make decisions without a strategic plan in place. Whether it was Plan A, B or C only they will ever know.

We can agree to disagree

cadetdrivr

And you forgot the part that required UAL to go through the merger discussion motions with USAir as part of the domestic Star agreement.

It's good thing that CAL was ready and able to step up for the "virtual merger" just mere days after the USAir announcement and the announcement of the aircraft groundings. So quick, in fact, that it almost seems like it had been in the oven for a while....hmm......

I never liked Tilton but I never doubted that he had a plan.

IAHB756

Yep. A Joint venture. The guy on the right wanted no part of a complete merger and left the airline when some on the board started talking about supporting a full blown merger.

Like all you L-UAL guys, I wish this thing hadn't happened. I'd be happy flying the 787 from the right seat or the 737 from the left seat right about now and I believe we would have had our contract settled a year ago had we not been forced to start over so we could do a JCBA as a result of this merger. You guys could have enjoyed all your widebody aircraft and your great route network along with an orderbook for new aircraft that I am sure your airline would have made absent the Continental merger.

None of that took place. We are where we are and arguing our differences of opinion on a message board only serves to point out where we differ at a time when we should be coming together to support our joint negotiators as they compel the NMB to get this thing done ASAP. This stupid bid we are arguing about will not be completely staffed before the SLI could be done should we get a TA we can vote in and start the 180 day SLI process. Before next Summer this 12 month lookout we call system bid 0813 could very well place guys who were forced to downgrade at L-UAL back in the left seat of the A320 or the B737 in bases that are either familiar to them or a base closer to their residence.

Let's keep our eye on the ball.

dvhighdrive88

Didn't CAL have vacancies from last bid? 160 or so?
Now they have 451. How does that work then-how many do they have total now?

APC225

They aren't cumulative.

EWR73FO

They usually don't fill all of the vacancies before the next bid comes out. You won't see all 202 CA vacancies filled before the next system bid is published sometime in the1st quarter 2013.

Airhoss

IAH,

So we are getting rid of 150 + 757's and replacing them with 100 737's. I think those are the right numbers please correct me if they aren't. But in any case we are getting rid of more than we are replacing so that is growth in your book? Interesting.

IAHB756

First off, you are quoting someone else as that doesn't sound like anything I have said. Please provide the full quote so we can attribute that comment to the correct person.

Secondly, United doesn't even have 150 757's in their fleet. Our combined fleet only comprises 138 757-200 series jets and of those, 41 are new, Rolls Royce powered, ETOPS and winglet equiped Continental jets with 2 cockpit jumpseats so YES, I am correcting you here. I am pretty confident that around 85-90 UAL 757's are targeted for replacement over the next five years with the remaining ETOPS 757's (8 or so?) staying around for a good while. Remember I said this as the first bid post SLI will have a separate category for these aircraft as they will be flown on domestic routes and Mexico/Central America by separate category of pilots that will not be trained on the 767-400. If domestic 757 is someone's thing, it will be a perfect gig that comes with displacement rights when he/she is surplused off the equipment as the airframes are retired. I do not believe the 767-400 will be fenced at all so what I am saying here is that I believe the 757's slated for retirement will be a separate category, available for bid by anyone who can hold it post SLI, just like the 756 catagory which will contain all the other aircraft(757-300, 767-300, 767-400).

Again, the quote above does not sound like me. I am not trying to be argumentative. Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

SOTeric

Hoss...this 757 guy is not worth getting worked up about. He's obsessed with where he'll fall on the SLI...and as many UAL guys as he can step over.

We'll have our day before the arbitration panel.