[retup] SEC looking into wrongdoing in UALbankruptcy
Friday, November 27, 2009 12:59 PM
From:
"bbeavis" <bbeavis@optonline.net>
Add sender to Contacts
To:
"Retup" <retup@yahoogroups.com>

SEC IG looks into United Airlines bankruptcy
By: Barbara Hollingsworth
Examiner Columnist
11/25/09

David Kotz, inspector general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, acknowledged the agency did not respond appropriately to allegations made in November 2007 by former pilot Dan Hanley that United Airlines violated the Sarbanes-Oxley Act during its post-9/11 Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The law was passed after financial shenanigans by

Enron management cratered the energy company.

In a Nov. 3 letter, Kotz told Hanley, now head of the Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association (www.airline-whistleblower.com/) that after reviewing his complaint, “we did not believe that sufficient action was taken by the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy.” Kotz said he was referring the matter directly to SEC Enforcement Division senior counsel Michelle Barrans for possible criminal action.

One of Hanley’s allegations was that the Department of Justice worked out a deferred prosecution agreement with United management, essentially giving them a pass on criminal charges and allowing them to collect millions of dollars in exit bonuses while United vendors, shareholders and employees – who lost their pensions – were hung out to dry.

Hanley, a veteran pilot who was forced out of his job after complaining about lax safety at the airline, also alleges that the Chicago judge who presided over the United Airline bankruptcy proceedings maintained a $40 million bribery fund, part of which was held in a land trust in Arizona under his initials.

Oct. 25 2009 : From: "moreheadjames@aol.com"
To: retup@yahoogroups.com

I thought some of you might like to know where a few UAL South Florida pilot friends are and how they are doing. With retirement we all get spread around the place. In no order is an update.

Bill Dutour is doing fine in Boca Raton. I try to talk to him when I can. He was MIA based 727 Captain and doing fine.

Pete Gallant is in Lauderdale and he's o.k. and hanging in there. Doing fine and he hopes to make the next Pompano Beach RUPA lunch which is November 11th in Pompano Beach at the Elks. We now hold them on Wednesdays.

Gene Brogan is living near where my MOM used to live. He is doing great and Gene was in Cleveland where we first flew together. Cleveland in winter for a Southern Boy is like a fish out of water, but we all made it. We lost touch with each other and reunited about 3 years ago. He is doing great.

John Bieger is doing o.k. considering and enjoys hearing from friends. He is in Boca Raton, FL and I got to see him with his family at my MOM's service a month ago.

Hambone (aka known as Alexander Hamilton) Wilson is doing fair at 92. I'm so proud of Hambone. He had an extra gall bladder earlier in the summer before he went to Alaska and decided to give it away and so it was removed and given to the highest bidder! He took a tumble recently and has some broken vertebrae, but he is well taken care of with his son JIM in MINN. Hambone hopes to be at the next RUPA luncheon in Pompano Beach.

I'd be happy to connect anyone with these more senior guys if you drop me an e-mail.

It is amazing where a career went in such a short time. Some of you oldies may remember when retired people got Positive Space First Class tickets with reservations to travel. I guess it was the IRS that spoiled this and I know the present management would never heard of this especially since the pilots even traveling to TK for training don't even get First Class today.

I am proud to have known these guys and you all and have spent my life in aviation. It is not the end yet <bfg>, and planning my next trip and looking forward to committing aviation once more. I'll create a separate thread about Australia shortly.

JIM MOREHEAD

Sep 27 2009

MIT Airline Analysts

Aug. 25, 2009

The DOT is getting antsy about

Family Airlines in LAS and it seems to just keep going on and on with no progress.

I have seen it at a startup. You think tomorrow is the day. And the day with the money never comes.....

Apparently the DOT is growing frustrated and Family won't answer the questions and doesn't even have the startup money they need. (Cranky Flyer has an article today about Family Airlines:

http://crankyflier. com/category/ airline/family- airlines/ )

JIM MOREHEAD
>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> .

Outtakes: 2008 Airline Survey Edition

The 9,950 surveyors who participated in Zagat's 2008 Airline Survey had plenty of gripes about air travel. Below are some of our favorite comments. (To see the results of the survey, click here.)
The Rhett Butler of airlines: they just don't give a damn.
Used to be great, now just grating...
A Greyhound bus with wings.
You get what you pay for – in other words, you don't get it if you don't pay extra for it!
Eggs in a carton have more room.
The only thing older than the planes are the flight attendants.
Next they'll charge for using the air vents, seat belts and bathroom.
Did I get fatter or did their seats get smaller?
Too bad passengers can't chip in for a flight attendant friendliness upgrade.
Just another cattle car, but the cows usually get more respect.
Please bring change for your potato chips.
These are tough times and your ass pays the price.
The woman behind the counter told me to blame the Bush Administration.
Trying hard to encourage us to drive.
Like spending four hours in third class on the Titanic.
Gets you where you're going ... sometimes
Bathrooms smell like the lion house at the zoo on a hot day.
Domestic economy is a mobile prison only it lacks the food and the exercise yard.
The boarding agents must have learned public relations from Genghis Khan.
Flight attendants are creative in finding places to hide during the flight.
Oh, for the good old days when we had food to complain about.
Like the Flintstones, their planes are a page right out of history, and their service is bedrock.
Would rather flap my arms than book this airline.
They don't allow guns in the airport because passengers would shoot the desk clerks and be acquitted.
A cross-country flight is as comfortable as a colonoscopy.
Suffers from delusions of adequacy.

Delta Air chief gives bleak assessment of air travel demand

By Harry R. Weber, AP Airlines Writer
February 12, 2009

ATLANTA -- The chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines Inc. gave a bleak assessment Thursday of demand for air travel amid the enormous financial strain that many Americans have been under in recent months.
In a recorded message to employees, CEO Richard Anderson did not specifically say the world's biggest carrier plans to cut more jobs or capacity than previously announced, though he did suggest the erosion in demand that the
airline has seen has been very difficult.
"Passengers, our customers, are not buying tickets at rates they were buying tickets a year ago," Anderson said. "Obviously, we wish we didn't have to decrease our capacity, but we cannot fly our airplanes around at low load factors."
Atlanta-based Delta has previously said it expected about 2,000 employees to accept the company's latest round of severance offers that were made due to its plans to reduce systemwide capacity in 2009 by 6 percent to 8 percent.
The window for employees to accept the severance offers closed at midnight Wednesday. Anderson did not say in his message late Thursday how many employees  accepted the offers or how many jobs the company would ultimately cut.
He did say that Delta would work through the numbers and look at who has chosen to take the packages and align that with the airline's needs. Anderson said Delta needs to right-size the airline based on customer demand.
"The economy is very difficult," Anderson said. "It seems every day we read about companies announcing layoffs by the thousands."
He said customers are tightening their belts, not spending as much on vacations. As a result, Anderson said Delta will need to react quickly.
"A strong, durable airline is truly the only job security for all of us," Anderson said.
The voluntary severance payout offers were made to a majority of the 75,000 employees at Delta and Northwest's mainline operations. The program is similar to one earlier in 2008 that Delta used to trim about 4,000 jobs. Northwest Airlines previously trimmed jobs of its own before being acquired by Delta on Oct. 29. Delta and Northwest's mainline operations include 75,000 employees. The entire company, including regional subsidiaries Comair, Mesaba and Compass, has
about 85,000 employees. The 12,000 pilots of Delta and Northwest, as well as certain management and administrative employees, are not eligible for the voluntary severance programs

A blast from the past
January 19, 2009
By Jim Feehan
Issaquah trumpeter is oldest living Notre Dame marching band alumni

Jack Steidl, 89, plays some notes on a pocket cornet in the living room of his downtown Issaquah home, near a collection of his trumpets. By Greg Farrar.
Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, Jack Steidl took his position alongside the Notre Dame Marching Band. With trumpet in hand, he stood on the same field he did more than 70 years ago. Now 89, the Issaquah man is the oldest living member of the university’s marching band.
But this was no ordinary performance. The alumni band was back home in Indiana to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the university’s fight song, “Notre Dame Victory March.” Members of the classes of 1941 through 2007 returned to campus to celebrate the milestone.“We had a jolly time playing the most famous fight song in college history,” said Steidl, who graduated from Notre Dame in 1941 with a degree in philosophy.
The alumni band performed prior to the Oct. 4 game against Stanford, at halftime and after. It was an occasion for Steidl to see old friends, make new acquaintances and reminisce about all things Notre Dame.
“Band members from other years would come up to me and say, ‘You’re an inspiration to me,’” he said.

What’s with the hat?
Besides being the oldest member of the alumni band, Steidl is perhaps best known for his nontraditional band headgear. In the early 1990s, Steidl’s niece took a construction workers’ hardhat, glued on a small statue of the Virgin Mary and spray-painted it gold. Steidl wore it during pregame practice sessions, in plain view of the staid band director.
“He pointedly looked away anytime I was in plain sight,” Steidl said. “That was enough for me. I took that as tacit approval, even though I was clearly out of uniform. I didn’t know if I’d catch hell or not.”
Steidl’s wife, Katie Kaluzny, was in Seattle watching the nationally televised game. The camera zoomed in on the alumni band and its oldest member.
“The announcer was about to say something frivolous and silly about the alumni band,” she said. “He was about to say something, when he stopped and thought about the letters and cards he would receive if he said something crass. This was, after all, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Notre Dame.”
The golden dome hat can now be found at the band building in South Bend, Ind.
Even the band’s entrance had an ethereal quality as they emerged from a tunnel onto the playing field.
“It gave you goose bumps,” Steidl said. “After a while, you could see light at the end of the tunnel and wild cheers from the audience.”
The stadium is known for its view of “Touchdown Jesus,” a nickname given to a large mural of the resurrected Jesus, entitled The Word of Life, located on Hesburgh Library. The mural looms over the stadium, mirroring the raised arms of a referee signifying a touchdown.
“There is such a lot of history, mystique and tradition with Notre Dame,” Steidl said.

Falling in love
Steidl grew up in Paris, Ill., about 165 miles south of Chicago. The family had a piano in the house. Steidl didn’t care much for the piano, or the year of violin lessons his parents forced him to take.
“All I could do is get squeaks out of the violin,” he said. “All I wanted was a gleaming gold trumpet.”
When he was 12, he got his trumpet and fell in love with the instrument.
Steidl’s mother wanted him to attend Notre Dame. A rich uncle left him $5,000 when he was an infant, so paying for college during the Depression was no problem.
He arrived on campus in 1937 and tried out for the band.
“The university could only afford 100 uniforms, and 101 people applied,” Steidl said. “To my great relief, I was not the one rejected.”
Back then, the big game of the year was the Notre Dame-Army game in New York’s Yankee Stadium. Hundreds of Irish police officers saluted Steidl and his fellow band members as they marched down Fifth Avenue to the stadium, he said.
“Shivers ran down my spine,” he said.

Always in the band
In 1940, Steidl tried to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force, but he was rebuffed because he wore eyeglasses. After graduating, he went to work as a meteorologist and as a baggage handler at the South Bend airport. He then went to work as a civilian flight instructor training Army Air Corpsmen in Jackson, Tenn. When he heard the military was looking for pilots, he hopped a train to Nashville to enlist.
When he got to the front, a sergeant stamped his card “inactive” and told him to wait for further notice. He never heard again from the military. He went back to instructing fliers of Stearman biplanes and Fairchild PT-19s. He spent the next 46 years as a pilot and then a flight engineer for United Airlines, retiring in 1990.
Steidl kept in contact with his alma mater and in the 1980s, Notre Dame invited alumni band members to perform alongside the current marching band.
“There can be no greater thrill in life than to go marching down through the tunnel, drums reverberating and then burst out onto the stadium to the thundering cheers,” he said.
Reach Reporter Jim Feehan at 392-6434, ext. 239, or jfeehan@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.issaquahpress.com.

On Mon, 11/10/08,

From: "Sam ODaniel" <b47sam@yahoo.com

Hi Denis,
The NMB is made up of three members to facilitate negotiations in the industry. The board currently is comprised of two Bush appointees and the third member is Harry Hoglander. Harry is past MEC Chairman for TWA. He led the fight against Carl Icahn buying TWA.
(Unsuccessfuly, I might add). Hopefully with a more "Labor' leaning Board the Airlines might get some more favorable rulings than it has in the past eight years.
Sam'O

Moderator comment: We're sliding into the topic of "politics", so let's get it over with, fast. I said 6 years, not wanting to sound like I had a memory, but OK,in the last 8 years, there have been precious few negotiations going on. Which Unions had enough power to strike and force mediation? It's been too long for me to remember an unfavorable ruling. The Country needs "prosperity" and profits to share. This emotional thinking is pervasive and a bit mad, IMO. Denis

--- On Mon, 11/10/08, Denis O'Malley <dj.omalley@cox. net> wrote:
From: Denis O'Malley <dj.omalley@cox. net>
Subject: Re: [retup] Airline unions see shift in power with new administration
To: retup@yahoogroups. com
Date: Monday, November 10, 2008, 10:36 AM

"Prater and other labor leaders hope the
new president assures there's a
pro-labor tilt to the three-member National Mediation Board, which has
enormous influence over the pace of airline contract talks."

Funny, I don't remember anyone criticizing
the NMB in the past 6 years or so. I wonder how Prater thinks that's
going to work. Maybe Prater's hopes is to take one
of those lucrative local Chicago political positions that will open up,
as the current bunch move to D.C. There's always hope (and
promises). The important thing in not results, but that you feel good
about your new hope! Disappointment typically follows hope,
and will again, as in hope you get your pensions
back.

Good luck!

Denis

Plane Business Banter
Holly Hegeman, Editor and Founder

August 15, 2008

[Holly is a well known and highly respected airline industry analyst]

... Shifting gears from the airline capital of the world, DFW, to Chicago, United Airlines and its management team had their share of problems this week as well.

The week started with a bang Tuesday when the Air Line Pilots Association at United issued a press release in which it called for the resignation of CEO Glenn Tilton. While this tactic is nothing new in the trickbag of union/management relations, I have to hand it to the guys at ALPA. This time they not only issued the usual press release, they rolled out a new website as well. Its address? GlennTilton. com.

Visitors to the site can send Glenn an email, send a complaint about customer service or a miserable airline experience, or merely occupy their time reading background blurbs on such topics as financial failures, strategic failures, and operational failures.

There is even a multiple choice quiz as to where members of the UAL board stay when in town for board meetings. This one was a no-brainer though, as I figured they stayed where Glenn more or less lived for a long time. Yep. I was right. (I won't give the answer away -- I'll give you something to look forward to when you visit the site.)

Needless to say, the rollout of this effort caused a bit of flutter in the PlaneBusiness email bag. But it was nothing like the onslaught that started on Friday, after it was announced that United CFO Jake Brace was "retiring" from the airline.

If I didn't know better, I'd swear that the folks on Wall Street (or at least the ones who were still hanging around on Friday) were happy about the news as well -- as shares of United ended up 12% on the day, far outdistancing the gains posted by any other airline stock.

The news prompted my creative brain to come up with a caption contest for Jake in PlaneBuzz on Friday. You know how these work. You put a photo up and ask readers to supply the captions.

I did it just for the heck of it, as I found a picture of Jake that just seemed to lend itself to creative caption creation.

Readers have not disappointed. As of this posting, I've received more than 300 suggestions.

Maybe we need to do this caption thing more often.

You can check out the fun here.

My take on the news? I think Glenn Tilton is trying to deflect criticism of himself by throwing Jake overboard. I could give a much more nuanced take, but I think when it comes right down to it -- that is it.

Will it be enough? No. In addition, the next screaming that we hear will be that ofUnited employees after they get their hands on the details of Jake's severance/consultin g contract.

... Airline Stocks: Jake Brace's Departure Helps To Send United Shares To The Top of The Heap

Four years ago an airline analyst who shall remain nameless called me up, explained that he had a meeting with United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton coming up in the next week, and asked me what questions or advice I might have for Mr. Tilton.

My answer: Get rid of Jake Brace.

It only took Glenn four years to catch on, and then, only after it came down to a matter of attempting to deflect increasing criticism aimed toward himself, but I guessGlenn Tilton finally took my advice.

As I noted on page one, after the Brace news broke Friday, shares of United picked up a nice gain and shares ended up 12% on the day.

Wonder why that was?

For the week, United Airlines actually managed to snare the top spot -- as shares ofUAUA picked up 27%, closing at 14.18.

Plane Business Banter

Holly Hegeman, Founder and Editor
August 1, 2008

... In other news, the cat fight between pilots and management at United came to a head this week.
We talked about this last week, as we posted a letter from one of our readers concerning the problems surrounding the narrow-body pilot group. This week, the problem became more pronounced with more cancellations being racked up. The company then, on Wednesday, responded by filing suit against several pilots individually, and ALPA as a group, as it asked a Federal judge for a temporary injunction. The accusation? That there was a concerted effort to engage in unlawful job actions against the airline.

For those with inquiring minds, you can download the .pdf file of the complaint here.

Friday, a "deal" was reached, the details of which are still somewhat murky. But essentially, it appears that the pilots have agreed to try and reduce the level of sick leave call-ins, and the company has agreed to do something. I'm not sure what.

Meanwhile, the hearing on the request for a temporary injunction will be heard at the end of August.

A couple of observations on all of this.

One, in the airline's press release this week, it said it had, "canceled 329 flights between July 19 and July 27, costing it about $8 million in lost revenue and $3.9 million in operating profit."

Ah, who's doing the math calculations here? I think they need to go back and repeat the fourth grade.

Some of you felt the same way apparently, as one subscriber noted in an email, "Golly. UAUA says those 329 cancelled flights would have generated $8m in revenue and $3.9m in op profit? That's 50% margin for an airline that had (-4.6%) margins in 2Q. Too bad the rest of the network doesn't happen to have the same margins as the 329 cancelled flights..... "

I would also add that the negative 4.6% margin includes the airline's out-of-period hedge gains. Without those, the airline posted a negative 7% margin.

Two, unlike the infamous summer of 2000, this latest dust-up at United is not an "ALPA" versus management issue. It is concentrated more among those pilots who are potential furloughees -- many of whom have seen their schedules pushed to the limit after coming back to the airline after having been on furlough fairly recently. One of our longtime readers wrote me a very good note this week about the situation. You can read that missive in today's "Readers Write" section.

Meanwhile, down in Dallas, the folks who head up the Allied Pilots Associationtook a rather creative approach to what is a similar situation in the works between the pilots and management at American Airlines.

Here, the APA decided to go public with its intent as they issued a release entitled, "Allied Pilots Association Files Complaint for Declaratory Judgment: "We Are Committed to Using Legal Methods for Mitigating Pilot Furloughs."

According to the release, "The Allied Pilots Association, certified collective bargaining agent for the 12,000 pilots of American Airlines filed a complaint today in district court in Washington, D.C. for approval to advise its pilots of their right to forego voluntary overtime in order to mitigate furloughs.

"We are committed to using legal methods for mitigating pilot furloughs," said APA President, Captain Lloyd Hill. "Accordingly, we are seeking the court's permission to inform our pilots of their right to forego voluntary overtime flying, which would reduce the need for any additional furloughs."

Hill noted that the airline's most junior pilots who would be subject to furlough were only recalled from furlough within the past several months. (Same situation as the one at United.)

"Being furloughed twice in such a short period of time, especially when it's so easily avoidable, would be a tremendous hardship for these pilots and their families," he said.

In APA's court filing, the union's attorneys emphasize that advising pilots of their right to forego voluntary overtime is a well-established past practice by APA and part of the status quo as defined by the Railway Labor Act, which governs all airline industry labor negotiations.

I have to give these guys a gold star. Or a cold beer. Nothing like taking a situation similar to the case at United, and then doing something like this, which more or less short-circuits any legal action by American.

No, here the APA is broadcasting exactly what it is going to do, not to mention the fact it sends the message to the pilots that hey guys, if you don't want to fly -- don't.

There was also a rather amusing quote from the release.

"Hill pointed out that former AMR Chief Executive Officer Donald Carty, in an August 1998 message to employees relating to a series of flight cancellations, described it as "their own" decision when pilots choose not to fly "open time" flights.

'Even senior management at our airline has previously acknowledged that our pilots have the ability to decide for themselves whether to perform voluntary overtime flying,' Hill said."

Oh my. Where do we start with this one? Suffice to say, there is so muchAPA/AMR history wrapped up in the use of this Carty mention that it would take me all day to get all of you up to speed. But hard core APA/AMR followers will understand why I laughed out loud when I read the quote.

I never thought I'd see the day when APA adopted Don Carty as an ally.

These are indeed strange times we live in. Very strange.

...

A number of our subscribers commented this week on our piece last week detailing the DOT's latest recommendations concerning all Airbus narrow-bodied aircraft, following tens of incidents in which more than one cockpit gauge display went dark. The latest incident involved a United Airlines A320 that lost three of six key electronic displays as the aircraft took off from Newark.

This week, a subscriber commented on this situation.

"Holly - I happen to know the First Officer quite well who was on the Newark flight, and would like to comment on several interesting points.

They were day VFR, and were able to visually navigate away from New York and find Newark - the displays they had did not provide useful info. either to navigate with or trust their primary flight attitude display - find any class cockpit guy and ask him to visually navigate around an airfield that is not his home domicile while dealing with an emergency - it is much harder than you think.

You should read the British Airways investigation from a 320 that had a similar incident several years back - Airbus pilots do not get trained on standby instruments because apparently they a) already have the prerequisite skills and b) pilots never lose all the screens - much less the info displayed on those screens (I think Airbus calculates less than 1 in a billion chance).

All the computers/relays/ generators etc. were pulled from the aircraft and bench tested - apparently they all passed, so this wasn't a failure per se, but a system failure of some sort, meaning a lot of smart people are scratching their heads and working overtime.

All in all, that crew gets my vote for aircrew of the year, and if this had happened at night without a defined horizon in mountainous terrain, the investigation would probably follow the same track as the TWA 800 - very long and extensive with lots of rabbit trails. The Airbus is a great airplane and I love flying it, but as with any flying computer, if it burps electrically it still requires great basic headwork and airwork - and a little bit of luck."

Meanwhile, on another United Airlines-related topic, another United Airlines pilot wrote me this, after reading our comments here and in PlaneBuzz this week concerning the "sick call" problems at United.

Hi Holly - I read with great interest your remarks on the relationship between management and the pilots and would like to offer you a couple of points that might shed some light - after all I have been a subscriber for many years - longer than I have been aUAL pilot. Disclosure - I am one of the 2172 and a narrow body (320) first officer forUAL.

1. This isn't a union thing - this is a case of many like minded individuals coming to the same conclusion of how to deal with being a narrow body FO at a large carrier. What you have to understand this is a quality of life issue and it highlights several areas. A. I have no control over my schedule - I can't go to family reunions, weddings, vacations etc. because I can't bid vacation (due to seniority and/coverage) except in Febuary/March or April. I can't drop a trip after the bids come out because historically we have been short of pilots. I can't drop the trip through trip trading because the conditions are such that trip trading only allows you to add flying - not drop it. I can't take a pay hit because there isn't enough coverage to allow you to drop the trip without pay. This basically forces a pilot to use sick time to go to that all important family event. Part of the job? you bet. The first time I was furloughed I worked till the last day - now I know all my sick time I accrued will be taken away and not restored if I get recalled, so I am not leaving with any on the books ( at least all my vacation, which I can't use, will be paid). B. My UAL job is no longer the family's first priority. Mommy has a job, and if we are going to need her to come through it will be reflected in my priorities - I know UALisn't going to be first anymore. C.. I commute, and even if I wanted to work on my day off I know it takes me 8 hours (record time) to get to my domicile - there isn't any way I could help if I wanted to work. D. PBS (preferential bid system, the computer program that builds my monthly schedule) has me working max days and min days off at 91 plus hours (contract is, I believe 95 hours max month and FARs 100 hours in calender month) - I don't have time available to help if I lived in the parking lot at my domicile. E. I have a job interview and I need to drop the trip - care to guess how this is handled?

2. United ALPA is dominated by the senior wide body guys - take a look at the contract and you will quickly understand that life is good if you are on the 747/777/767/ 757. I fly domestic (320/300) and I can't remember a wider disparity between the two groups. I believe that UAL ALPA is somewhat suprised at this and that is why a group like 2172 was formed - to represent the junior 1/4 of the pilot group. The over-riding idea in the past was suck it up and deal with it and you, too, will someday fly international widebody trips - now that we know this isn't the case and the company is parking the 300s we can start to plan our post UAL life.

3. Here is the best way I can describe the situation for you - I joke with the guys still in the military I flew with that in your squadron when the CO wanted to punish you he would take you off the flight schedule and not let you fly. At United when they want to punish you they make you fly all the time.

I wish I could end this on something positive, so I will tell you this - I still love to fly, and once I get past security and release the brakes I, and 99 percent of all pilots here, are in their element. I love to fly, but I don't think for a second UAL has my back. I just hope I can hang in long enough to see some positives after we are merged/bought/ ??

PlaneBusiness Banter - July 8, 2008

Holly Hegeman, Founder and Editor

Meanwhile, the Continental/United tryst is beginning to sound more and more like a trial marriage. This week it was announced that pilots at both airlines have agreed to, well, be agreeable.
Wednesday, Continental and United pilots said they will work together to protect their jobs and interests as the two airlines move closer to cooperating on marketing and flights.
Steve Wallach, United ALPA MEC Chairman, and Jay Pierce, chairman ofContinental's ALPA MEC said in a joint statement that the pilots were positioning themselves to use their combined strength to defend against any threats posed by theUnited-Continental affiliation.
Wallach and Pierce said their pilots had given up "millions upon millions in pay, retirement provisions and benefits so that our airlines could survive. As our management teams develop their new business plans to meet the challenges of today's airline industry and economic environment, we must be included in the process."
I hope the guys at USAPA are happy. Because now, United pilots are working withContinental pilots, and the Northwest pilots appear to have worked out a number of issues regarding the merger with Delta, and USAPA pilots are not going to have a chance to work with anyone.
Just insane. But pilot union issues were one of the big reasons United did not go through with a deal with US Airways. That's apparent. And this week we can start to see just how costly that may be for US Airways going forward.
In other news, other legacy carriers have jumped on the return of the "Saturday night stay" booking penalty that United Airlines brought out of a much-deserved retirement two weeks ago. I still say it's a stupid move, and one that is guaranteed to push more and more business to Southwest Airlines and other carriers who don't opt to join in.
I can tell you one thing. The business travel contingent is not very happy about it. I heard about it loud and clear when I spoke to the recent Chicago Business Travel Association meeting.
And I don't blame them.
This is one rule that used to bug the you-know-what out of me. Still does. I had just forgotten how much until it returned. Thank you United.

Plane Business Banter

May 30, 2008

Phoenix -- Hello to all from the Valley of the Sun. And yes, there is lots of sun in this part of the world during this part of the year. But when I arrived, it was about 15 degrees below normal and was absolutely gorgeous. Yes, I'm on another one of those Wings' Road Trips. I'll be flying out this week to yet another destination before finally alighting at the ATME conference in Las Vegas on June 11. Which reminds me -- I hope to see some of you there.

While I had almost more fun than I could handle last week in Dallas, this week the major airline industry news was not nearly as Metroplex-centric.

  Good Reading, if you are still interested in UAL

Know your Enema.

Jan. 2. 2010

"Know your enema" Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, 4077 MASH .

I've seen so many CEO's come and go in my 31 years at United Airlines, I am running out of fingers to count them on. None of them has acted alone. The one constant in all that time is the involvement by the Chase Manhattan Bank in just about every major malady to befall the United pilots.

The Chase Manhattan Bank, now known as JP Morgan Chase after a recent merger, has long been the enemy of union pilots in general, and United Airlines pilots in particular. The Chase held 75% of the commercial paper at Continental Airlines the day Frank Lorenzo initiated his infamous strike in the early 80's. You don't stiff the Chase for that much money, then or now, if you want to keep your CEO job for more than a few hours. So logic would dictate that Lorenzo took CAL into chapter 11 bankruptcy and a debilitating strike with the tacit approval and probable the guidance of the Chase.

I was furloughed from UAL and working for Merrill Lynch in 1983 when another broker tore an item off of the now quaintly antique DOW Jones Newswire teletype and laid it on my desk. The self same Chase Manhattan Bank had just given Dick Ferris and United Airlines the biggest line of pre-approved revolving corporate credit in the world to that date: 3 BILLION 1983 dollars. UAL Corp only had a $6 billion market cap at the time. It was enough money to buy a controlling interest in UAL! Ferris at that time was considered so much a "friend" to the pilots that we gave him an honorary pilot seniority number: 6000. Tail End Charlie. A mere month after taking the Chase's loan deal, Ferris morphed onto a union-busting goon, bent on being the rock to Lorenzo's hard place and de-unionizing the entire industry between them. A coincidence? I think not.

Ferris let his ego overpower his judgment and bungled the winning hand the Chase had given him. After spending $1 billion of the Chase's money, he got impatient to win our strike when he had us about to crack. He played us off against the AFA who had struck in sympathy with us, and gave the AFA a sliver of daylight in the door to pull us all though and back to out jobs. He could not imagine that AFA would have made a self sacrificing gesture to save us all. But they did.

That is a debt the pilots have yet to repay, by the way.

The strike in '85 was all about the survival of trade unionism in the airline industry. Since UAL had retained earnings of over half a billion dollars after taxes in '84 and was performing well in the first half of '85, it was not about economic issues inside UAL . The strike was about a larger industry wide agenda, possibly dictated by the Chase. They at the very least put an enormous amount of money in Ferris' hands to foster that agenda.

The strike was not about increasing pay for incumbent pilots. It was about survival. We survived, so Ferris failed. The Chase fired him as CEO in 3 short months, and replaced him as Chairman shortly thereafter. Out of work at age 54 and the recent Chairman & CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Ferris could not find work running another company ever again. That's what being blackballed by the Chase gets you.

Fast forward to 1987 and the pilots-only ESOP. 6000 pilots had agreed to pay $300 per share for ALL of the outstanding shares, delisting UAL and taking the company private. All the details of the deal were complete. The union, the company, and the government had all approved the deal. The big Japanese money-center banks had agreed to lend us the money. We had a nice big bow tied around the deal and were simply waiting 1 week for the papers to be signed and the stock to change hands.

Then it was announced that the Chase wanted to be part of the financing syndicate, taking a large part of the financing. I warned other pilots at the time that the outcome would not be good for the United pilots, but even I had no idea how truly bad that outcome would be.

Keep in mind, the Japanese money-center banks do not "hold the paper" on loans they make on this sort of deal. They quickly sell their interest to the second-tier Japanese banks and look for another deal. The more often they turn the money over in a year the better. Having the Chase take a big chunk of the loan off of their hands early sounded appealing. They should have known better.

With UAL selling at $270 per share and Wall Street arbitrageurs borrowing every penny they could get their hands on because it would be worth $300 in just one week, the Chase stabbed their Japanese colleagues in the back. They pre sold their interest at a discount to the second-tier Japanese banks, cheapening the price they would be willing to pay for the rest. When they realized how they had been outmaneuvered, the big Japanese money-center banks pulled out of the deal in unison, causing it to collapse mere days before we would have owned a then highly profitable UAL whole. UAL stock was frozen the next morning due to an order imbalance. When it finally opened around 10 AM , it had dropped from $270 per share to $60. Everyone who had borrowed money to buy UAL got margin calls within the hour. They had until the end of the trading day to come up with the $210 per share cash shortfall for every share they had borrowed money to purchase. Some very big players had to sell every share they held. They panic-sold IBM, Microsoft, US Steel and every other quality company they held. Some even had to sell their seats on the exchange, triggering the single biggest one day percentage drop in the DOW . 25% For years to follow, the UAL Pilots-Only ESOP was known on Wall Street as "the DEAL FROM HELL". Wall Street blamed union pilots, not the Chase for their losses. It's much easier for Harvard MBA's to blame their failures on unwashed union goons than it is their classmates or their own faulty judgment.

A few years later, Steven Wolf had no trouble finding Wall Streeters more than willing to help him craft an ESOP that was little more than a short term lease that was designed from the outset to eventually leave us all empty handed. Payback is a bitch.

Fast forward to the end of our ESOP and the gutting of Contract 2000 in bankruptcy. Our Bankruptcy Debtor in Possession was none other than the self same Chase Manhattan Bank, now known as JPMorgan/Chase. And we have the words of Mr. Rice, a Senior vice President for JP Morgan Chase for corroboration. Just Google "Glenn Tilton", look for the "New York Times" link, and read the story dated April 28, 2008 . On the second page, Mr. Rice claims to have been Glenn Tilton's mentor "since the day he arrived at United Airlines." Is the picture getting any clearer?

Mr. Rice goes on to outline his personal vision for UAUA. It involves a merger that produces economies through the elimination of needless duplication. That's shorthand for you & me.

The Chase is deep into the financial dealings of three major airlines. We are one. Continental is obviously the other. Guess who the third one is? Yup. Good old US Air. Is it any wonder that the old US Air merger keeps rising out of the grave like a 'B' move vampire?

The only thing that saved us from the US Air merger in early 2001 was the Bush Administration Justice Department vetoing the deal because it gave us a near monopoly in Washington DC . Regardless of our personal political affiliations, we all need to send Dumb Old George a thank you card for saving our jobs. Saddling ourselves with $11 billion of needless debt just before 9/11/2001 would have all but guaranteed liquidation for UAL Corp., much to AMR's delight.

Those of you in Denver should recall how brutally critical I was of APLA's paid financial advisor face to face in front of hundreds of pilots for supporting the US Air merger. In that meeting, months before 9/11, I criticized his assessment that the US AIR merger would be "good" for us economically as being shallow to the point of negligence. I stated that despite the then rosy economy, we were soon headed toward a train wreck of a recession and the deal's crushing debt would kill us as a viable company, eliminating all our jobs in the process. Sadly, 9/11 accelerated the recession I told the group I saw coming, driving us into a bankruptcy we have barely survived even without the added debt burden a merger would have crushed us under.

So, where does that leave us now? The credit market collapse and resulting lack of available financing for an 'actual' merger has pushed management toward virtual mergers via code shares and limited partnerships. In my judgment, the Aer Lingus deal is nothing less than a trial balloon for Star Alliance Air, and the end of our profession. ANA has openly expressed a desire to join UAUA and copy the Aer Lingus deal in Asia . Could the recent lawsuit against ALPA be a ploy to keep us quiet while the Aer Lingus deal unfolds? Is Tilton creative enough to have laid this plan out all by himself, or is he being guided by others? Mr. Rice and his staff at JPMorgan/Chase, perhaps? Whoever is calling the shots, underestimating Tilton as being 'stupid' is a huge mistake. It would also be a mistake to think that Glenn Tilton is negotiating against us alone.

It has taken a quarter century for the intended result of airline deregulation to come near to reality. In my opinion we are in for a struggle that may well make the Strike in 1985 seem like an easy fight. Already we are seeing the company dust off some of the old tactics from 1984, and come up with some truly alarming new ones. What can we each do about it? I can't choose what's right for each of you, but I will tell you what I've done and plan to do for myself.

Disclaimer: Consult with your own investment advisor before following any of the financial advice below. I can not and will not manage investments for other pilots.

First, save every penny you can. Pay down debt. No easy feat these days, but having a personal war chest will be absolutely vital in the days ahead. Start raising one now. Establish lines of credit. And if a strike looks imminent, withdraw every penny from your credit line and put it in an interest-bearing account before your bank or credit union can cut your credit limit. If you wait until after a strike begins, it may be too late to get at those funds.

Although I doubt it, the strike may fall to the AFA or the IAM instead of ALPA this time, but it can still put you on the street without a paycheck. I went without a paycheck for 53 days in 1979 when the new-to-IAM ramp workers drug the mechanics out on strike with them.

Next, get comfortable with the concept that the union is not "they," the union is "we." Each of us must step up and pull on the same end of the rope if we are to succeed. If we oppose one another, or wait for 'the union" to do all the heavy lifting, we play into management's hands. Stay informed. Get involved. It's your future that's at risk. Don't leave the job of saving it to others.

Len Predaina.

Know Your Enema, vol 2

New widebody aircraft orders!!!! Narrow body orders next summer!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!

Before you get too excited, let me remind you of tactics Ferris used in 1984, just before our last strike.

Hill & Knowlton, the consulting firm headquartered in the infamous Watergate Hotel was paid by Ferris to do a psychological profile of the pilot group and come up with tactics to exploit our weaknesses. Over my next few e-notes, I'll be reminding you all of what those tactics were, so when Tilton dusts off the old "How to Screw with the Pilots Minds" manual that Ferris paid so much for, you will recognize those tactics for what they are, and be better armed to resist them.

Interestingly, many of these tactics were copied from those used in the Hanoi Hilton prison camp. Those of you who have been through military Resistance Training, what I'm going to cover over the next few installments will hopefully be a review.

Part of the pilot psychological profile is that we generally view ourselves as "rugged individuals" , highly skilled and highly confident individuals who do not confide our fears or insecurities to others because we feel it would make us appear "weak." We have friends who revolve around common interests: golfing buddies, ski buddies, motorcycle buddies, tennis buddies, etc. But few of us have a so much as a single friend so close we will confide our fears to them. And few of our close "away from work" friends are UAL pilots.

The emotions of a strong, confident personality type such at this are like a steel bar. If you attack them by striking at them directly, you will most likely break your hand before you break the steel bar. But if you bend a steel bar back and forth enough times, it will easily snap on it's own.

Our emotional strength is no different. Ferris was advised to raise and lower our emotional state on a regular cycle. Good news/bad news. Lift everyone to a level of euphoria by announcing wonderful news like an aircraft buy or a recall from furlough. Then a few weeks later dash those hopes with an aircraft order cancellation or renewed furloughs... Good news, bad news, then repeat every 4 weeks or so. Eventually your mind defends its self from disappointment by not responding favorably to good news... You get "down" and stay there... and hopefully for management you become more easily manipulated into giving up when times get tough.

The currently announced widebody aircraft buy was met by excitement by most of the people who told me about it the first day. I asked them all if the buy was for expansion or for the retirement of older aircraft, and none knew. A closer examination of the press release shows that the 767 and 747 fleets will be sold off as the new widebodies arrive. And since those new aircraft do not arrive for 5 years, they could easily be used as a bargaining chip against us. In this case, the bad news was in the same press release as the good, so it doesn't quite fit the classic mold. The emotional up/down is too quick. Either Tilton is not following the guidebook all that closely, or he thinks he has a close to an "end game" mental state already... As contract deadlines draw closer and management thinks they have us in a compliant state, expect every piece of "good" news from the company to have bad news in the same press release, just like this one.

Remember the old joke "We're United Airlines... We're not happy until you're not happy..." It's no joke in this case...

Bottom line: don't get too excited or depressed by anything you read on company letterhead. Just like the Hanoi Hilton Prison Camp, your "captors" will try to shape what you read or what you hear from fellow employees so they can use it to weaken your resolve. Fact check everything before you pass rumors on. The ALPA rumor line is a good place to start. And watch the good news/bad news cycle for yourself.

Knowledge is Power.

More later.

Len

Retirement Fun!

Fifteen years ago my wife and I moved into a retirement development on Florida's Southeast coast. The last time we saw our grand kids was on Grandchildren' s Day when they were dragged down by their parents. We were living in the Delray/Boca/ Boynton, Golf, Spa, Bath and Tennis Club on Lake Fake-a-hachee. There are 3000 lakes in Florida, only 3 are real.

It would be great if the kids came down to visit us this winter, as there is so much going on. Back by popular demand, the feisty, Hip Replacement Tappers club will be tap dancing to the Flight Of The Bumble Bee. It promises to be quite a production with lots of singing and dancing. This year I am not in the cast but will be standing by with the defibrillator volunteers.

Our biggest retirement concern was time management. What were we going to do all day? Let me assure you, passing the time is not a problem. Your days will be eaten up by simple, daily activities. Just getting out of your car takes 15 minutes. Trying to find where you parked takes 20 minutes. It takes 1/2 hour on the checkout line in Wal-Mart and 1 hour to return the item the next day. Then of course, there are the visits to the doctor's and dentist's offices.

Let me take you through a typical day.

We get up at 5:00 am; have a quick breakfast and join the early morning Walk and Talk Club. There are about 30 of us and rain or shine we walk around the streets, all talking at once. Every development has some late risers who stay in bed until 6 AM. After a nimble walk avoiding irate drivers out to make us road kill, we go back home, shower and change for the next activity.

My wife goes directly to the pool for her underwater Pilates class, followed by gasping for breath and CPR.

I put on my 'Ask me about my Grandchildren' T-shirt, my mid-calf shorts, my socks and sandals and go to the clubhouse lobby for a nice nap. Before you know it it's time for lunch. We go to Costco to partake of the many tasty samples dispensed by ladies in white hairnets. All free! After a filling lunch, if we don't have any doctor appointments, we might go to the flea market to see if any new white belts have come in or to buy a Rolex watch for $2.00. We're usually back home by 2 PM to get ready for dinner. People start lining up for the early bird about 3 PM, but we get there by 3:45 because we are late eaters. The dinners are very popular because of the large portions they serve. You can take home enough food for the next day's lunch and dinner, including extra bread, crackers, Sweet- and-Low packets and mints.

At 5:30 we're home ready to watch the 6 o'clock news. By 6:30 we're fast asleep. Then we get up and make 5 or 6 trips to the bathroom during the night and it's time to get up and start a new day all over again.

Doctor related activities will eat up most of your retirement time. I enjoy reading old magazines in sub zero temperatures in the waiting room, so I don't mind. Calling for test results also help the days fly by. It takes at least half an hour just getting through the doctor's phone menu. Then there is the hold time until you are connected to the right party. Sometimes they forget you are holding, and the whole office goes to lunch.

Many of the receptionists are quite rude. They keep you standing at that dopey little, closed glass window, totally ignoring you. After 1/2 an hr, I ignore the 'Do not tap on the window' sign and tap on the window. This always drives them nuts. If you do, they put down their Egg McMuffin or their copy of the Enquirer, and fling open the window, ready for a fight. I lie, explaining I tapped on the window accidentally because I have Parkinson's. They claim they are required to keep the window closed because of the privacy law but l don't believe it. Are they afraid if I were to overhear Sol Lipshitz has hemorrhoids, that I would blackmail him or sell the information to a foreign government? In Florida everyone has hemorrhoids!

Should one find they still have time on their hands, volunteering provides a rewarding opportunity to help the less fortunate. Florida has the largest concentration of seniors under five feet and they need our help. I myself am a volunteer for 'The Vertically Challenged Over 80.' I coach their basketball team --'The Arthritic Avengers.' The hoop is only 4 1/2 feet from the floor. You should see the look of confidence on their faces when they make a slam-dunk.

Food shopping is a problem for short seniors or 'bottom feeders' as we call them because they can't reach the items on the upper shelves. There are many foods they have never tasted. Whenever I see one of them struggling to reach a jar of gefilte fish, I rush over to lend a hand. After shopping, most seniors can't remember where they parked their cars. They wander the parking lot for hours looking for their car while their food defrosts.

Choosing a development with suitable amenities is an important decision. The various clubs in these communities provide most of the activities. Our development has over 300 clubs. There's something for everyone. Clubs like the kidney-donating club, the Taliban Club, the East meets West club, not to be confused with the West meets East club, etc. A truly active community is one where the ambulance is there several times a day and is part of the Travel Club.

Lastly, it's important to choose a development with an impressive name. Italian names are very popular in Florida. They convey. world traveler, uppity sophistication and wealth. Where would you rather live. Murray's Condo's or the Lakes Of Venice? There is no difference. They are both owned by Murray who happens to be a cheap S.O.B.!

The Italian names appeal to those name-dropping, phony snowbirds that are out to impress their friends up north. I once heard someone say. 'We spend our summers in the Catskills, but we winter at Villa Borghese in Delray Beach'. I have been to Villa Borghese. There are 1,200 Jews and 2 Italians!!

I hope this material has been of some help to you future retires. If I can be of any further assistance, please look me up when you're in Florida. I live in The Leaning Condos of Pisa in Boynton Beach.

(Leon Scarbrough)

------------ ---------

Boeing delivers 1,400th

Jumbojet.

Friday February 29, 11:54 am ET
Boeing Delivers 1,400th 747, Continuing 38 Year History for the Jumbojet.

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) -- Boeing has delivered its 1,400th 747,
continuing a 38-year history for the jumbojet that has flown more than
17 million flights.
The 747-400 Freighter delivered Thursday at the Everett factory went
to GE Commercial Aviation Services for lease to a Russian company,
AirBridgeCargo Airlines of Moscow.

Boeing says the 747 has logged approximately 89 million flight hours
or more than 10,000 years of flight time. The airplanes have flown
about 48 billion miles, the equivalent distance of nearly 203,000
trips to the moon.

The plane continues to evolve. Boeing plans to deliver the first 747-8
Freighter in late 2009 and the first 747-8 Intercontinental passenger
plane in late 2010.

The first 747 was delivered Dec. 30, 1969, to Pan American.

Greetings!
To all United Retired Pilots. There are two great sites available to send/receive information. The following two emails explain what they have available. I have been a contributing member for a while and if you have spare time they would afford you interesting information and subjects. Of course, the delete key is always handy. Hello to all.
Semper Fi ! bob beavis

Bob,

You have my permission to give RUPA the information about RUFF. They can request to join by contacting; Charles Tolleson, bibag@comcast. net or go to the site http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/RUFF/ and click on Join This Group.

Charles

Gentlemen,  Aug 30, 2009

In an effort to provide our 'customers' with better service, the RETUP moderators created an "Ad File" in the RETUP site. The file is named, "Ads from RETUP Members". You can find it in the file section here . http://tinyurl. com/ndzqnc
If you would like to advertise on the RETUP site we will offer a 20% discount between now and- just kidding! :-) The ads are free! Another great service RETUP provides to our 'customers'.

Charles Tolleson, RETUP Marketing Consultant

From: CharlesTolleson [mailto:bibag@ comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 1:35 PM
To: bbeavis@optonline. net
Subject: RUFF

Bob,

RUFF is not advertised. It is by word of mouth. It has been mentioned a few times on RETUP that RUFF was for political and other opinions. When I first started RETUP it was unmoderated, any subject could be discussed. Too many members left because of the political and free wheeling dialog. I then started to moderate RETUP and restrict posting to aviation and retired pilot stuff. To avoid any messages being rejected, I created RUFF, where I would forward political messages.

Pete and Denis do a good job of moderating RETUP. I am a standby moderator at RETUP and the only moderator at RUFF. RETUP rarely has a message that needs rejecting. RUFF is for almost any subject. I try to keep the guys from calling each other idiot or stupid or other derogatory names. No girls are allowed on RUFF.

There are 152 members on RUFF. Over 400 on RETUP. All RUFF members are also RETUP members. If you send a message to RETUP, the members on RUFF will read your message. There is no need to send the message to both groups.

Charles Tolleson, RUFF moderator

AP  Friday March 20, 1:38 pm ET

United Airlines sees key revenue measure drop as much as 12 percent, but cost-cutting helps

CHICAGO (AP) -- United Airlines said Friday a key measure of revenue would fall 11 percent to 12 percent in the first quarter, one more sign that the recession is hurting air travel.

Shares of United's parent UAL Corp. fell 80 cents, or 15.4 percent, to $4.39 in afternoon trading.

United reported the drop in its system-wide passenger unit revenue in a regulatory filing. It said its mainline passenger unit revenue, which excludes regional operations, would fall 12.3 percent to 13.2 percent.

United also said it is on pace for $80 million in cash losses on fuel hedges that will settle during the first quarter. Based on a March 13 price of $46.25 per barrel of oil, its hedges would add 51 cents per gallon to its fuel expenses.

When oil prices spiked over the summer of 2008, many airlines bet that high prices were here to stay. Those bets are now costing them hundreds of millions of dollars. The bets have forced United to post some $645 million in collateral for the first quarter, which will be used to pay off its losing fuel bets.

Its collateral requirement drops to $340 million in the second quarter and reaches $30 million by fourth quarter. The estimates are all based on the March 13 oil price.

United said, however, its cost-cutting efforts are running better than expected.

It said its first-quarter cost for every seat flown one mile would rise 1.5 percent to 2 percent from the same period last year, not counting profit sharing and some accounting charges. That cost increase would be less than half as much as it predicted in January, when it predicted those costs would rise 4 percent to 5 percent. It said the smaller cost increase is because of a combination of cost savings and the impact of lower demand for flying.

United said it expects to end the first quarter with $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion in cash, along with another $300 million in restricted cash, as well as the collateral on the hedges. It ended the fourth quarter with $2.04 billion in unrestricted cash.

The airline said it is reducing capacity by 11.7 percent in the first quarter, about what it had predicted previously.

"By reducing the supply of seats, we can ensure we are matching our capacity to what the market demands, rather than providing more seats than customers are willing to purchase, which dilutes the price we can command," Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells told employees in a memo on Friday. She said United would report first-quarter results the week of April 20.

Jan 29, 2009

Earnings: United Airlines
Holly Hegeman, Publisher, Plane Business Banter

This week, United Airlines reported fourth quarter earnings.
And Glenn Tilton, Kathy Mikells and John Tague were upstaged by a dog on the airline's earnings call.
Having said that, however, here is our take on the airline's quarterly results.
United reported a loss of $1.3 billion or 9.91. This compared to last year when the airline posted a loss of $53 million or $0.47.
Excluding special items, the airline posted a loss of $555 million or $4.22 a share. This was a little under consensus, which forecast a loss of $4.44 a share.
Operating revenue was down 9.6% while operating expenses shot up 5.2%. The airline saw a 1168.8% decrease in operating income. Last year the airline reported an operating loss of $64 million. This year it reported an operating loss of $812 million.
Revenue passenger miles were down 12.1% while available seat miles were down 11.7%. This resulted in basically a flat load factor -- down 0.3% for the quarter to 79.5%.
Yield was up 2.3% to 13.88 cents/mile, while passenger revenue per available seat mile was up 1.8% to 11.06 cents/ mile. Cost per available seat mile was up 20.8% to 14.97 cents mile.
Cost per ASM excluding special items and Mark-to-Market gains and losses was up 4% to 12.91 cents/mile.
The airline ended the quarter with $2 billion in cash and short-term investments.
For the year, the airline posted a $5.3 billion loss or $42.21 a share. Excluding charges, the loss was $1.7 billion.

Our Take
All in all not a bad quarter for the airline. Then again, there were those unfortunate hedge issues. But you know what they say on Wall Street. Earnings are outdated the day they are released. From that point on all anyone wants to know about is what is going to happen in the future -- and on this front the airline actually posted some decent trendline numbers. Including their costs.
As for Kathy's comments about the CapEx expenditures, I couldn't help but think about the joke that has been running around for the last two years in regard to the issue of United and new aircraft. Needless to say the punchline goes something like, "Why do they need any new airplanes? Continental has all the new metal they are going to need."
As for the overall "tone" of the call -- there is no question that the calls have greatly improved since Jake Brace left the building. Clearly some of the positive vibe is because of Kathy's excellent handling of her part of the call. I really do think she is handling the calls very well. But I also think that Jake's departure has benefited Glenn Tilton's presence on the calls as well.
All in all -- aside from the hedge debacle -- a decent effort.
However, I say that in context -- the airline still lost a boatload of money during the year.

Please click here to access the publicly posted transcript for United Airlines.

7/20/08 Earnings: United
Holly Hegeman, Founder & Editor, Plane Business Banter
United Airlines

United Airlines reported earnings this week, which, frankly, were nothing to get excited about, although they did "beat" expectations. (Well, they did if you included the airline's SFAS gain.) But it wasn't the details of the airline's quarter that took center stage in the headlines.
No, the airline also announced a number of moves this week aimed at shoring up the airline's liquidity -- and these announcements were made almost simultaneously with the earnings call -- but not at the earnings call.
Smart move to announce the additional financing as a separate release at roughly the same time as the earnings call. Nothing like creating an "event."
The result was that this good news trumped the earnings numbers, and shares ofUnited were off to the races. Instead of the airline reporting the numbers, people digesting them, and then, oh by the way, we also just pulled this rabbit out of the hat because, well, we were getting worried about our liquidity situation -- it all came across as one big positive experience.
For the quarter, United reported a loss of $2.7 billion, or $21.47 a share. This compared quite poorly to last year when the airline reported a profit of $274 million or $1.83 a share.
Excluding special items, the airline lost $151 million or $1.19 a share.
Analysts had been expecting a loss of $2.05 a share, so the airline easily beat those expectations. Or did they?
As more than one analyst noted, if you exclude the SFAS 133 gain from the P&L, the airline would have reported a much bigger loss than analysts had expected. Important point. Excluding one time items and out-of-period fuel hedges, the airline's loss was $380 million, or $2.99 a share.
Everyone understand this? To put it another way, US Airways, Alaska andSouthwest are reporting these out of period hedge amounts correctly. United, in our opinion, is not.
United saw operating revenue up 3% while operating expenses rose a whopping 72.5%. This resulted in a 602% decrease in operating income, as the airline posted a $2.7 billion operating loss.
Revenue passenger miles were down 4.5% while available seat miles were down 1.3%.
This is not the combination the airline would have liked to have seen as load factor declined by 2.8 points to 83.2%.
Yield was up 8.2% to 13.88 cents/mile, while revenue per ASM was up 5.6% to 11.68 cents/mile.
Cost per ASM was up an astounding 85.5% to 20.39 cents/mile. Yes, you read that correctly. (Of course, this actually mostly reflects the airline's $2.3 billion goodwill charge.)
Cost per ASM excluding special items, UAFC, and fuel was up 2.6%, to 7.8 cents/mile.
The airline ended the quarter with $2.9 billion in unrestricted cash, no change compared to the end of the March quarter.
On the airline's call this week for United were: Glenn Tilton, Chairman, President and CEO; Jake Brace, EVP, CFO; John Tague, COO; Graham Atkinson, Chief Customer Officer; Pete McDonald, CAO; and Kathryn Mikells, VP Investor Relations.
On the other side was the usual full house of industry analysts.
As usual Glenn Tilton opened up the call, and there was very little new to report from his opening comments. Except that yes, he forgot to thank the employees ofUnited Airlines for a job well done during the quarter. Until the very end of the call.
But those mentions don't count.
He outlined the fact the airline had recently closed on a number of transactions geared to increase liquidity, he discussed the fact that the airline's domestic capacity will have been reduced by some 16% by the fourth quarter, and he talked about the partnership with Continental Airlines. More than once. But again, there was no real "breaking" news in his comments.

7/15/08

Thoughts on UAUA:

Well, United pretty much 86'd (if not 76'd) liquidity concerns that
seemed to be dragging on the shares yesterday. We never understood
that concern and, in fact, upgraded at about these levels just a few
weeks ago with our industry upgrade. United is cutting capacity and
has also committed to doing whatever it takes to get back to
profitability. Despite a massive move yesterday (+68.5%), we still
think it's got the most upside in the sector, though we wouldn't be
surprised to see a near-term fade from a move like yesterday's. We
had been modeling a trivial equity raise for United, but given the
extent and scope of yesterday's announcements have eliminated that
assumption from our model, which brings our target back up to the
$16.50 level.
* Reports 2Q results of ($1.19) ex-items versus our ($2.00) and
the streets' ($2.06). Beat to us came in non-op and on the cost side,
with better than expected non-fuel cost performance and lower fuel
expense.
* UAUA announced ~$1.7bn in additional liquidity in a variety of
transactions, including $600mm in affinity program revenue and a
$350mm reduction in credit card holdback. Had a small equity offering
modeled in 4Q08, which is now off the table.
* Incremental capacity reduction (~250 bps in 4Q08) points to a
deeper capacity pull than we had modeled (at materially higher oil),
with the reductions skewed towards international mainline and regional
capacity.
* Raise target to $16.50 as a result of removing expected
equity dilution in 4Q08; cutting estimates as a result of a lower
share count assumption.

The Second Death of the U.S. Airlines
June 18, 2008;

Smart businesses ask themselves how they can make themselves more popular with customers by "unbundling" the goods or services they provide. Burger joints charge extra for cheese, but not usually for lettuce and tomato. Yet fairness is surely served by letting haters of lettuce and tomato escape the burden of subsidizing those who love them?

Never mind. No business is more loathed than the airlines right now, even as they do their customers the unbundling favor. Carriers are slicing away at services to create options for the most price-sensitive fliers to avoid services they don't want to pay for: checked luggage, meals, pillows and blankets.

To keep fares low, airlines also skimp on backup planes and empty seats -- even if this makes it harder to get home if your flight is cancelled.

Even so, it's far from enough as fuel costs price the flying public out of the air. Herb Kelleher was speaking for Southwest when he observed a basic economic reality: "Our only competition is the car or the television set. People who fly us are people who weren't going to fly in any case." He might have been speaking for all airlines. Their fleets and networks today are designed to fly thousands of people who don't have to fly. If ticket prices fully reflected current fuel prices, by common estimate the industry would have to be 20% smaller.

No wonder there is panic at the Business Travel Coalition, representing corporate travelers who need the discretionary grannies and backpackers to sustain a system of frequent connections even to smaller cities. "Brand name legacy carriers that we and American communities from coast-to-coast have depended upon for decades to provide us with affordable, frequent air service are running out of cash, and therefore, toward a date with bankruptcy, and even liquidation, " the group warned last week.

Mergers, touted as the answer just a few weeks ago, have been all but abandoned in the face of the coming plane wreck. Only the Delta-Northwest pairing remains on the drawing board, though shareholders appear to be losing enthusiasm.

Why? Because even in the unlikely development that regulators would welcome capacity-shrinking mergers, the immediate costs and disruption would likely bankrupt the combined carriers before any benefits materialize. Continental and US Airways, looking at United as a potential life raft, looked closely and now see a ticket straight to Chapter 11.

Let's also dispense with any idea that Southwest, which continues to be profitable thanks to prescient fuel-price hedging, offers an answer. Southwest, though not much of a "low-fare" carrier anymore, sticks to its business model of mostly flying point to point.

Of the 50,000 city pairs served by the U.S. airline industry, only 3% can sustain such direct service. If you want to fly from most places in America to most places in America, you need your own plane -- or a legacy carrier's hub and spoke system.

With luck, fuel prices will drop sharply after the summer Olympics if Chinese diesel hoarding really is the primary culprit for $140 oil. If not, what could Congress do to prevent industry-wide bankruptcies without repeating the unsatisfying billion-dollar taxpayer airline bailout after the 2001 terrorist attacks?

1) Repeal limits on foreign ownership. Air France was ready to pump $750 million into the Delta-Northwest merger, until the airlines waved Paris off fearing political backlash. British Air would love to buy American. As part of larger global networks, domestic carriers would be supported by a much less volatile financial structure. Says Giovanni Bisignani, head of the International Air Transport Association: "How many car manufacturers do you have in the world -- 20 or 30? We have over 1,000 airlines."

2) Admit our antitrust laws don't have all the answers. Basic property rights and freedom of contract are necessarily abridged when businesses are forbidden from negotiating with competitors. But in "code-sharing, " airlines have a ready-made way to collude to preserve capacity in a downturn without losing their shirts. Give airlines license to enter and exit these deals at will. Any abusive pricing would surely attract new entrants to compete away excessive profits. Fewer giveaway fares might be available on the Web, but passengers would get more of the services they are genuinely willing to pay for.

Without a decline in fuel prices, massive airline bankruptcies are almost certainly coming. About the only suspense is who will be in the White House when they hit.

Note from Moderator Pete Sofman: April 22, 2008

Despite the disclaimer below, this is definitely a RUMOR!!
============ ========= ===

Interesting possible scenario.

------------ --------- ----

Begin forwarded message:

<< This one just popped up on my email radar screen...apparently originating at UsAir...I am not rumor-mongering. ..just passing along an email.

<< Dear Fellow Pilot, It is my understanding that the United-US Airways merger announcement could be made this week. UAL is bleeding to death and needs to get access to cash, which US Airways has. Doug Parker will become the combined carriers CEO with some members of the Tempe-based airline as executive management team remaining, Glenn Tilton will retire, and most of senior management will come from UAL.

<< The Nicolau Award will be used as the new US Airways because its in the possession of the company, is the list that will be used when the snap shot is taken, the durability of the Transition Agreement is in question because we went from two MEC's with separate operations to one union leadership group, and there could be some furloughs. ALPA will return to the property when the UAL pilots use their voting majority to impose their will on the US Airways pilots. >>

------------ --------- ----

April 16, 2008; Page D1

By SCOTT MCCARTNEY

What's in a Merger?   For Fliers, Not Much
History Doesn't Bode Well For Delta-Northwest Combo;
A Legacy of Dropped Routes

The names change, but the problems remain. Airline mergers often mean travel headaches for customers -- and they often don't work so well for the airlines involved, either.

One constant of the U.S. airline industry since it was deregulated in 1979 has been change. In 1987, the largest U.S. airlines included Trans World Airlines, Eastern Air Lines, Pan American World Airways, Western Airlines and Piedmont Airways -- all names that have been painted over on the side of airplanes because of mergers. Now Delta Air Lines Inc. plans to paint over the Northwest Airlines Corp. name. In each case, airlines exasperated by years of economic struggles saw acquiring assets as a path to stronger finances. But in few cases does it work out that well.

DISCUSS
Do you welcome a Delta acquisition of Northwest, and other mergers it might trigger? Have you ever had a good experience with an airline merger? Share your thoughts.

The history of airline combinations shows that travelers face a couple of years of more frequent missed connections, vanished reservations and lost baggage, flight delays and unhappy employees. Equally daunting for the companies themselves, many airlines have ended up losing the assets they bought.

"The track record of airline mergers is checkered, with few examples delivering on promised benefits," Standard & Poor's airline analyst Philip Baggaley said in a research report.

UAL Corp.'s United Airlines bought Pan American's Miami hub and South American routes -- and lost all of it to competitors. Delta bought Western Airlines and a hub in Los Angeles, and has little to show for it except a nice, underutilized terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. Delta/Western carried 12.4% of all passengers at LAX in 1988, the first full year after their 1987 merger. Last year, Delta had just 7.6% of the passengers at LAX. And Delta/Western is considered one of the more successful airline mergers.

AMR Corp.'s American Airlines bought AirCal and Reno Air to compete up and down the West Coast, but nearly all of that flying has gone to other carriers. US Airways Group Inc. bought Pacific Southwest Airlines on the West Coast and wiped the smile off of PSA planes. The result was the same -- US Airways retreated from the West Coast.

Bottom line: Hubs and routes that were able to generate profits before the merger typically survive, and air service that struggled to make money before a merger often disappears after a merger.

"There's no history of anything good that happens in mergers," said Adam Pilarski, senior vice president at Avitas Inc., an aviation-consulting firm. "Two drunks holding each other up is not a good idea."

Yesterday, Delta executives said their deal will be a different kind of airline merger, pairing airlines of equal strength. Customers will benefit from a larger combined route network offering greater travel choice in Asia, where Northwest has extensive operations, and Europe, where Delta thrives, they said. A spokeswoman for Delta said the Western merger worked because it "married complementary networks successfully."

In theory, airlines should be the poster children for the benefits of corporate mergers. The air-travel business is a network business, not so different from telecommunications or banking. A bigger network should give you a disproportionately higher share of customers.

Today, the airline business is splintered between 10 major carriers in the U.S., and executives have argued that the industry would be financially stronger with fewer players. With oil topping $100 a barrel and recession at hand, airline CEOs who have slashed salaries and service and reorganized their businesses feel there are few arrows left in their quivers other than mergers to ride out the next major downturn.

"It's the only real big idea we have left," US Airways Chief Executive Douglas Parker said at a recent conference. He argues mergers would result in more efficient travel in the U.S. -- better for airlines and for customers.

Putting two big airlines together puts all their corporate accounts and frequent fliers under the same umbrella. A Delta flight to Barcelona, Spain, or Boise, Idaho, or Boston should, in theory, have more demand for its seats, producing higher ticket prices. At the same time, a merger should generate savings by combining all kinds of departments in two separate headquarters into one.

But executives also acknowledge that there is tremendous complexity involved, and to merge airlines is far more difficult than simply changing airport signs and repainting airplanes.

For airlines, few new trips are generated simply because one airline can offer more destinations -- airlines end up fighting to steal customers from competitors.

What's more, airlines already share passengers and, in the case of alliance partners, already price and sell their product as if they were the same airline. That's true in the case of Delta and Northwest; they've already merged their flight schedules as SkyTeam partners. Generating new revenue may be tough.

At the same time, history has shown that competitors can take away customers of the merged airlines when their flights run late or labor groups stage protests. Another pitfall: Losing alliance partners. Continental Airlines Inc. is currently partnered with Delta and Northwest, but could well enter into its own merger feeling the need to get bigger. That could result in the Delta-Northwest combination losing substantial presence in New York and Houston, two of the four biggest cities in the country.

"If Delta and Northwest merge, in a couple of years they will be smaller than they are today as separate entities," said Mr. Pilarski of Avitas.

Discounters often step in, too. Since its 2005 merger with America West Airlines, US Airways mainline passenger boardings had dropped 16.5% in Philadelphia by last year; Southwest Airlines Co.'s increased 64.1% over the same two-year period.

While it's tough to generate new revenue, it's even harder to reduce costs at merged airlines. Sure, there's some savings to be had by combining departments at headquarters and consolidating gates at airports. But costs can rocket upward quickly at airlines when things go wrong.

New contracts for employees can push costs higher. Different types of airplanes drive expenses up by requiring more spare parts, more training for pilots and mechanics, and refitting of cabins and cockpits, for example.

Even when planes are the same, there may be huge differences. TWA food carts didn't fit American's planes, for example. Cockpit switches are often different in aircraft: Some airlines set up switches so that the forward position on a toggle switch is "on," while others set that as "off." Pilots have to be trained on the differences, or new equipment has to be installed, or the merged airline has to segregate its labor so only pilots trained on those airplanes fly those airplanes. It all adds to expenses.

As with Daimler/Chrysler, merging corporate cultures can weigh down a pairing. Airlines also have the particular trip-wire of merging seniority lists at labor unions. At US Airways, East Coast pilots who flew for the former US Airways are challenging an arbitrator's ruling on combining seniority lists, which determine pay and schedule for pilots.

That's the last major hurdle for integrating those two companies, but whether the merger works long-term remains to be seen. Many argue that both US Airways and America West might have been liquidated by now had they not merged. US Airways was last among the 10 biggest airlines in on-time percentage last year and worst in baggage handling, according to the U.S. Department of Transportatio"Be careful what you wish for because you may not like the results," says aviation analyst Edmund Greenslet of ESG Aviation Services. "There has never been a successful combination of equals."

Business Week
Chicago. March 19, 2008
It's Time for United's CEO to Go

(This article can be found at http://tinyurl. com/256scq
The readers' comments can be found at http://tinyurl. com/2sthv4 )

UAL should keep United Airlines in Chicago—but send Glenn Tilton, its deal-hungry CEO, packing

by Bob Reed

It's hard to find a chief executive more eager to dump his own company than UAL's Glenn Tilton. For months now, airline CEOs have been playing the dating game, and Tilton seems to be most eager to tango. But the parent of United Airlines shouldn't be sold merely because Tilton is itching to do a deal, or craves a big merger-related payday, or is plain tuckered out. Instead, the carrier's board should take a more promising approach: Drop the merger talks and bring in a new CEO who's committed to building a successful, stand-alone airline.

This is not a gratuitous slap at Tilton, who became UAL's top gun in
2002. A former vice-chairman of Chevron (CVX), Tilton, 59, deserves an attaboy for taking UAL (UAUA) through an arduous bankruptcy reorganization that ultimately forged a financially stronger company—albeit mostly by gutting employee pensions and benefits. Since bringing UAL out of Chapter 11, though, he has had no plan except selling the Chicago airline.

A Goal of Questionable Merit

Over the past two years, Tilton has chanted a mantra that airline
industry consolidation is inevitable. To help that along, he has been
squeezing every possible dime out of existing operations by postponing orders for new aircraft or refusing labor an extra nickel. There's no need to invest for the future, he seems to be thinking, if you're going to be gone anyway.

The fruit of his efforts? Employee morale is now worse than ever,
especially among the pilots, who are openly hostile to Tilton's
regime. What's more, United's customer satisfaction levels are
tumbling. Of the top 20 U.S. airlines, United had more customer
grievances last year than any other except US Airways (LCC). Making passengers pay a $25 bounty for toting an extra bag on board is hardly going to help.

Tilton would have us believe that a merger will ease United's service
ills and make it more competitive. Global carriers are getting
stronger, while U.S. airlines sit on their hands, he argues. Moreover,
sky-high fuel costs and other expenses are chipping away at United's
returning financial health. O.K., I'll buy all that. But let's also
consider this: Where's proof that previous airline mergers have
worked? Has the industry prospered? Are employees better off?
Passengers happier? Investors richer? The answer is a resounding "No."

A Strong Incentive

Here's another question: Who stands to profit if UAL is taken over?
Glenn Tilton. His contract permits him to cash out if there's a change
of control at UAL, letting him reap up to $36.3 million in stock,
options, and lump-sum payments, according to the 2007 proxy. (UAL contends his payout would come to only $13 million since his options
are currently underwater.) Cash is king, but it's overly cynical to
say Tilton is pushing a merger merely to fatten his wallet. It's also
cynical, however, to contend that United can't go it alone. If the UAL
board needs evidence a big domestic carrier can rise from the abyss,
it need only look at Continental Airlines (CAL).

As a wee reporter in Texas during the late 1980s, I covered
Continental, which was then run by the controversial and oft-despised Frank Lorenzo. Still, the airline survived his tenure (along with two
bankruptcies) and eventually morphed into one of the country's most
successful large carriers. Now Continental is enjoying solid financial
returns, improved customer satisfaction, and stronger employee
relations. What's more, its CEO doesn't want to merge and is even
ordering new planes.

At UAL, the board has extended Tilton's contract to 2011 and says it
supports his five-year plan. Instead, UAL directors should give Tilton
his due, provide him fair compensation for time served—and begin the
hunt for an executive who can build on his accomplishments and take an independent airline to greater heights.

Reed is a monthly columnist for BW Chicago.
============ ========= ========= ========= =====

Subject: Fw: [Fwd: Fw: Secret Service Opinions on Past (and hopefully NOT future) Presidents]
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:05:30 -0600

SECRET SERVICE VIEWS ON THE PRESIDENTS OF THE PAST YOU WILL FIND THE SECRET SERVICE VIEWS ON THE PERSONALITIES OF PAST PRESIDENTS TO BE QUITE INTERESTING.

For those who don't know... Capt. Denny Keast flies for UAL and flew many SAM's (Special Air Mission's) for the White House.
********************************************************

I flew 4 Presidential support missions in the C-141 out of Dover AFB,DE..Two for President Johnson and two for President Nixon.

Johnson was a first class jerk and on the two occasions I flew for
him, if the Secret Service and their Liaison in the Pentagon hadn't
intervened, we would have had to stay on the airplane for hours while he (Johnson) was off somewhere. Nixon never required that and the four (4) stops we made with him he was cordial to the Secret Service and to me and my crew.

We had a neighbor when I lived in DC who was part of the secret
service presidential detail for many years. His stories of Kennedy
and Johnson were the same as those I heard from the guys who flew the presidents' plane

> Yes, Kennedy did have Marilyn Monroe flown in for secret "dates," and LBJ was a typical Texas "good ole boy" womanizer. Nixon, Bush 41, and Carter never cheated on their wives. Clinton cheated, but couldn't match Kennedy or LBJ in style or variety.

The information below is accurate: The elder Bush and current
president Bush make it a point to thank and take care of the air
crews who fly them around. When the president flies, there are
several planes that also go, one carries the armored limo, another
the security detail, plus usually a press aircraft.

Both Bushes made it a point to stay home on holidays, so the Air
Force and security people could have a day with their families.

Hillary Clinton was arrogant and orally abusive to her security
detail. She forbade her daughter, Chelsea, from exchanging
pleasantries with them. Sometimes Chelsea, miffed at her mother's
obvious conceit and mean spiritedness, ignored her demands and
exchanged pleasantries regardless, but never in her mother's
presence. Chelsea really was a nice, kindhearted, and lovely young
lady. The consensus opinion was that Chelsea loved her Mom but did
not like her. Hillary Clinton was continuously rude and abrasive to
those who were charged to protect her life. Her security detail
dutifully did their job, as professionals should, but they all
loathed her and wanted to be on a different detail.

Hillary Clinton was despised by the Secret Service as a whole. Former
President Bill Clinton was much more amiable than his wife. Often the
Secret Service would cringe at the verbal attacks Hillary would use
against her husband. They were embarrassed for his sake by the manner and frequency in which she verbally insulted him, sometimes in the presence of the Secret Service, and sometimes behind closed doors. Even behind closed doors Hillary Clinton would scream and holler so loudly that everyone could hear what she was saying. Many felt sorry for President Clinton and most wondered why he tolerated it instead of just divorcing his "attack dog" wife. It was crystal clear that the Clintons neither liked nor respected each other and this was true
long before the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Theirs was genuinely a
"marriage of convenience."

Chelsea was much closer to her father than her mother, even after the
Lewinsky scandal, which hurt her gravely. Bill Clinton did in fact
have charisma, and occasionally would smile at or shake hands with
his security detail. Still, he always displayed an obvious air of
superiority towards them.

His security detail uniformly believed him to be disingenuous, false,
and that he did nothing without a motive that in some way would
enhance his image and political career. He was polite, but not kind.
They did not particularly like him and nobody trusted him.

Al Gore was the male version of Hillary Clinton . They were
friendlier toward each other than either of them were towards former
President Clinton . They were not intimate, so please don't read that
in. They were very close in a political way. Tipper Gore was
generally nice and pleasant. She initially liked Hillary but soon
after the election she had her "pegged" and no longer liked her or> associated with her except for events that were politically
obligatory.

Al Gore was far more left wing than Bill Clinton . Al Gore resented
Bill Clinton and thought he was too "centrist." He despised all
Republicans. His hatred was bitter and this was long before he
announced for the Presidency. This hatred was something that he and
Hillary had in common. They often said as much, even in the presence
of their security detail. Neither of them trusted Bill Clinton and,
the Secret Service opined, neither of them even liked him. Bill
Clinton did have some good qualities, whereas Al Gore and Hillary had none, in the view of their security details.

Al Gore, like Hillary, was very rude and arrogant toward his security
detail. He was extremely unappreciative and would not hesitate to
scold them in the presence of their peers for minor details over
which they had no control. Al Gore also looked down on them, as they
finally observed and learned with certainty on one occasion. Al got
angry at his offspring and pointed at his security detail and said,
"Do you want to grow up and be like them?" Word of this insult by the former Vice-President quickly spread and he became as disliked by the Secret Service as Hillary. Most of them prayed Al Gore would not be elected President, and they really did have private celebrations in a
few of their homes after President Bush won. This was not necessarily
to celebrate President Bush's election, but to celebrate Al Gore's defeat.

Everyone in the Secret Service wants to be on First Lady Laura Bush's
detail. Without exception, they concede that she is perhaps the
nicest and most kind person they have ever had the privilege of
serving. Where Hillary patently refused to allow her picture to be
taken with her security detail, Laura Bush doesn't even have to be
asked, she offers. She doesn't just shake their hand and say, "Thank
you." Very often, she will give members of her detail a kindhearted
hug to express her appreciation. There is nothing false about her.
This is her genuine nature. Her security detail considers her to be a
"breath of fresh air." They joke that comparing Laura Bush with
Hillary Clinton is like comparing "Mother Teresa" with the "Wicked
Witch of the North."

Likewise, the Secret Service considers President Bush to be a gem of
a man to work for. He always treats them with genuine respect and he
always trusts and listens to their expert advice. They really like
the Crawford, Texas detail. Every time the president goes to Crawford
he has a Bar-B-Q for his security detail and he helps serve their
meals. He sits with them, eats with them, and talks with them.. He
knows each of them by their first name, and calls them by their first
name as a show of affection. He always asks about their family, the
names of which he always remembers. They believe that he is deeply and genuinely appreciative of their service. They could not like,
love, or respect anyone more than President Bush. Most of them did
not know they would feel this way, until they had an opportunity to
work for him and learn that his manner was genuine and consistent.
It has never changed since he began his Presidency. He always treats
them with the utmost respect, kindness, a nd compassion.

Please pass this on. It is important for Americans to have a true
inside understanding of their President.. And also the woman who is
currently a candidate for president..