AllenAllert

I see jsled let you be Captain Hook at the last 3 ringer party.

You guys have the wrong huckleberry here but I'll play - just not at the 3 ringer parties.

gettinbumped

AFA issued statement;

“Oscar Munoz has presented a vision for United Airlines that passengers and employees can believe in. Even during his recovery and sick leave, Munoz engaged meaningfully in repairing labor relations and getting Flight Attendant contract negotiations on track to conclusion. Our union has worked with a lot of management teams over seven decades and we have rarely experienced a CEO as engaged or committed to the success of an airline.

“Oscar is moving United Airlines out of the era of struggling airlines and a failed merger to a vision of shared purpose that provides hope and excitement for the future of the airline. He has barely had the opportunity to put his plan into effect, but already we are seeing results. These investors are creating a distraction at just the wrong time if their interest is truly in turning around United and building an airline that will again lead the industry with performance, profits, share price and importantly, engaged employees who take pride in the place where they work.

“Oscar Munoz is shaping up to be the best CEO at United Airlines since William Patterson. Flight Attendants support his efforts to return United Airlines to world-class, premier status.”

AFA represents 24,000 Flight Attendants at United Airlines.

CousinEddie

UAL is underperforming financially. Our 2015 operating margins trailed SWA, DAL, and AA. The gap with DAL (and SWA) is enormous. While the operating margin gap with AA is smaller, it is inexcusable given where they are in the merger process. Which company will be the first on its knees when industry conditions go in the toilet again? Our profits have far too much to do with low fuel prices. We aren't printing money.

I agree that we should be concerned about the intentions here. Unfortunately, industry laggards get unwanted attention like the hunted weak animal at the back of the herd.

AllenAllert

I love our Flight Attendants but the money people smell blood in the water. We saw what Lorenzo did to Texas Air and Ichan did to TWA. Tilton was chosen to extract as much out of UAL without losing the cow(UAL) He still sits on the board and will likely side with the outsiders

As far as OM doing everything to make United a world class airline again, his respite may have undermined his plan. The money people believe in the numbers and money, not the smoke and mirrors.

XHooker

I don't think so.

APC225

This is a short term view and an incorrect correlating of events. Munoz did not move us forward. Smisek was holding us back like a gorilla sitting on a puppy. Once he was gone a huge five-year weight was lifted, the employees could breath again, and they started moving back to their natural state of enthusiasm for working at a possibly great airline. That Munoz was out of commission the entire time that the numbers were improving shows that even an empty block at the top of the org chart was better than one with Smisek's name in it.

Bethune is a pilot if nothing else--he wants to make the most money with the least work. With Smisek gone, CEO success over the next couple of years will be like taking candy from a baby. Bethune can sidle in, watch us rise while he yuks it up, take credit and leave with another $50m. In fact, someone has told me he's already written his new book, "From Flailing to Flying."

AllenAllert

I stand corrected but it doesn't change the likely outcome.

It may be a good idea to save that little raise we recently got. May need it in the near future.

UALfor25

UCH BOD
http://insiders.morningstar.com/trading/board-of-directors.action?t=UAL&region=usa&culture=en-US

Probe

I heard it described by someone else as "pent up positive energy." Lets hope it lasts. I do remember another short period of time a little over 10 years ago. For a few months, UAL did well, and employee morale spiked (up). We had a new CEO, and a new hope. Our new hero's name? Glenn Tilton.

The other thing that scares me is all the unions' overwhelming support for OM. That has also happened in the past, and they just turned out to be empty suits as well, and pushovers for the union leadership. An empty suit of a different flavor, is still an empty suit.

Many of us have seen variations of this same movie before. It hasn't turned out well. All that being said, I too hope it is different this time. I guess I have 20 years worth of "pent up positive energy" waiting to be spent.

I believe out biggest financial hold back right now is thousands of us, FA's, and Mechanics being utilized extremely inefficiently. I don't know that 6 new board members, or Gordo, will make a difference. They should have launched money at the FA's and mechanics 5 years ago. Instead, they have spent 2B a year on deadheading, furloughing, etc. The pilots should have been sorted by now but there are still fleets and seats that are both massively overstaffed and massively understaffed.

Baron50

These people are not interested in improving United's performance. They don't give a hoot about fixing the inefficiencies of the operations or past management's failures. For them it is about the ransom they can extract for their own benefit. If they thought they could get away with simply shutting down the company and distributing all the cash to the investors, that's what they would do. The people hurt are only collateral damage, they are raiders, Gordo Geicos', the barbarians at the gate. Management's mistake was they left too much cash sitting around, these miscreants think they can put it into their own pockets. Didn't anyone learn anything from the 80's and 90's. This was one of the primary reasons for the ESOP.

UAL Labor had better get their act together quickly. The Flight Attendants seem to understand the consequences of this move. The message that must be sent is that labor will use "whatever means necessary" to oppose these bandits. It may already be too late, the new owners once they have control will only be interested in the next quarters portfolio performance. Ichan and Lorenzo, (may they rot soon) were not benevolent people, these people are only their latest reincarnation.