America West FlightFund (Pre-2005 US Airways merger) - Employee perspective on US/HP Merger

As a HP employee I will throw my 2 cents by stating I really cannot figure out why HP would ever get into bed with US especially considering their huge debt load (US alone owes the gov. over 700 million in loans, while HP owes over 300 million, the 2 combined would be over 1 billion). US for some time now has been on life support while bleeding red financially. My fear is that if a merger goes through, USAIR employees will merge their "baggage" into the new merged company. The moral with US employees must be at all time low considering that most of their employees have taken pay cuts, having their pensions stripped away, and paying more for health care coverage; not to mention their image took a beating during the Christmas/New Year holiday rush with luggage issues. In order for a merged US to be successful, US need to get their operational and labor cost at HP level. I think Doug Parker will not allow the merger proceed until US can get this under control. I just can't imagine US try to ask their employees more wage concessions so they can match labor and operational cost with HP. The bottom line is if a new lowcost USAIR is to be competive especially with WN along with Jetblue and Airtran, getting their operational cost down to HP level will be the cornerstone to making US successful.

I certainly hope Doug Parker meant his word when he said would not take a risk on merger if did not benefit HP as a whole including shareholders and employees. Doug has said their is too much capacity and low yields and there needs to be a shakeup by either consolidation or a couple of airlines going out of business all together. I hope he knows what he is saying. 5 years ago, HP was running a ****ty airline, but HP and its employees have really put 110% effort into turning the company around. No, we are not perfect and there is always room for improvement. But HP is doing something right if we were the only few carriers to turn a profit during 1st qtr. The rumor mill is that Doug Parker would most likely stay on as CEO. Doug has a favorable relationship with most employees. I heard (through rumor mill) that a new merged US would retain headquarters in PHX (Tempe) due to lower cost than Arlington. I am sure the state of Arizona or City of PHX or Tempe may give incentive for staying in AZ. I think the big issue with employees is the intergration with seniority especially with crewmembers. For ground employees (gate and ticket agents, ramp workers, reservations) I do not think that should be much of an issue. USair is mostly on the east while HP on west. Some of HP field stations opertations on the east coast are contracted with CO. While US field stations on the west is few so intergrating those employees should not be much trouble.

I thought perhaps US/HP should start out as codeshare partners rather than merger. CO/NW/DL codeshare arrangements seems to be working for them without the headaches of a merger. However in reality it would not benefit US since they already have UA with a larger network.

By the way, senior management at HP is keeping a tight lid on any merger deal. They do want to have something announced by next week May 16 or 17th at the HP meeting so we'll see.

As a HP employee I will throw my 2 cents by stating I really cannot figure out why HP would ever get into bed with US especially considering their huge debt load (US alone owes the gov. over 700 million in loans, while HP owes over 300 million, the 2 combined would be over 1 billion). US for some time now has been on life support while bleeding red financially. My fear is that if a merger goes through, USAIR employees will merge their "baggage" into the new merged company. The moral with US employees must be at all time low considering that most of their employees have taken pay cuts, having their pensions stripped away, and paying more for health care coverage; not to mention their image took a beating during the Christmas/New Year holiday rush with luggage issues. In order for a merged US to be successful, US need to get their operational and labor cost at HP level. I think Doug Parker will not allow the merger proceed until US can get this under control. I just can't imagine US try to ask their employees more wage concessions so they can match labor and operational cost with HP. The bottom line is if a new lowcost USAIR is to be competive especially with WN along with Jetblue and Airtran, getting their operational cost down to HP level will be the cornerstone to making US successful.

I certainly hope Doug Parker meant his word when he said would not take a risk on merger if did not benefit HP as a whole including shareholders and employees. Doug has said their is too much capacity and low yields and there needs to be a shakeup by either consolidation or a couple of airlines going out of business all together. I hope he knows what he is saying. 5 years ago, HP was running a ****ty airline, but HP and its employees have really put 110% effort into turning the company around. No, we are not perfect and there is always room for improvement. But HP is doing something right if we were the only few carriers to turn a profit during 1st qtr. The rumor mill is that Doug Parker would most likely stay on as CEO. Doug has a favorable relationship with most employees. I heard (through rumor mill) that a new merged US would retain headquarters in PHX (Tempe) due to lower cost than Arlington. I am sure the state of Arizona or City of PHX or Tempe may give incentive for staying in AZ. I think the big issue with employees is the intergration with seniority especially with crewmembers. For ground employees (gate and ticket agents, ramp workers, reservations) I do not think that should be much of an issue. USair is mostly on the east while HP on west. Some of HP field stations opertations on the east coast are contracted with CO. While US field stations on the west is few so intergrating those employees should not be much trouble.

I thought perhaps US/HP should start out as codeshare partners rather than merger. CO/NW/DL codeshare arrangements seems to be working for them without the headaches of a merger. However in reality it would not benefit US since they already have UA with a larger network.

By the way, senior management at HP is keeping a tight lid on any merger deal. They do want to have something announced by next week May 16 or 17th at the HP meeting so we'll see.

Skyfly, Thank you. Your comments are great and should be sent to USA Today or the Wall Street Journal.
As a business flyer who spends over $30,000/year flying HP I do it because of dedicated people like you(and not for the food in first class).I could see Franke making a stupid decission like this, however I have a lot of respect for Doug Parker and I cannot see him completing these merger talks.This would be a course to destruction for HP. If the merger happens, I will shift my business to other carriers.
To you and the other dedicated employees of HP, please keep your spirits high.

(and not for the food in first class).
Oh you know you like it!!! :)

Lance

Skyfly, Thank you. Your comments are great and should be sent to USA Today or the Wall Street Journal.
As a business flyer who spends over $30,000/year flying HP I do it because of dedicated people like you(and not for the food in first class).I could see Franke making a stupid decission like this, however I have a lot of respect for Doug Parker and I cannot see him completing these merger talks.This would be a course to destruction for HP. If the merger happens, I will shift my business to other carriers.
To you and the other dedicated employees of HP, please keep your spirits high.

Ditto. We need more employees like yourself offering feedback on this board. And, I couldn't agree more with your commentary re: merging the problems with US into HP.

Ditto. We need more employees like yourself offering feedback on this board. And, I couldn't agree more with your commentary re: merging the problems with US into HP.

From a Reservations standpoint, agents have come to me concerned that this merger would not be good. US has outsourced most of their reservations call centers to outside the US. They have centers in Mexico City, El Sanvador and the Phillipines to go along with their center in the US (Winston-Salem I believe!).
I just tell them that we are in good hands with Hp management and they will not do anything that has not been thought through to the fullest degree. As a five year employee in Reservations, I can say that I am proud of the company I work for. No, we are not perfect but we are MUCH improved over where we were five years ago.

[QUOTE=skyfly]As a HP employee I will throw my 2 cents by stating I really cannot figure out why HP would ever get into bed with US especially considering their huge debt load (US alone owes the gov. over 700 million in loans, while HP owes over 300 million, the 2 combined would be over 1 billion). US for some time now has been on life support while bleeding red financially. My fear is that if a merger goes through, USAIR employees will merge their "baggage" into the new merged company. The moral with US employees must be at all time low considering that most of their employees have taken pay cuts, having their pensions stripped away, and paying more for health care coverage; not to mention their image took a beating during the Christmas/New Year holiday rush with luggage issues. In order for a merged US to be successful, US need to get their operational and labor cost at HP level. I think Doug Parker will not allow the merger proceed until US can get this under control. I just can't imagine US try to ask their employees more wage concessions so they can match labor and operational cost with HP. The bottom line is if a new lowcost USAIR is to be competive especially with WN along with Jetblue and Airtran, getting their operational cost down to HP level will be the cornerstone to making US successful.
QUOTE]

I'm not an airline employee, just a guy who lives two miles from US's corporate headquarters, whose family lives in Scottsdale, and who went to school at ASU... long before HP had a corporate headquarters building of its own. I do fly US and HP a lot, the former for east coast travel and the latter for my trips to see the family in the Phoenix area and to Vegas to, uh, well, the same reason everyone goes there.

The only reason I can see for HP to do this deal is to take advantage of US's east coast presence; for instance, right now I wouldn't take HP to Cancun because it would require flying DC to PHX to CUN... US has DC to Charlotte (or Philly) to CUN. But like you say, someone's going to have to show US how to be a successful carrier... and if you check the fares right now, you'll see that US is nothing near a low-cost carrier... I was looking today for a booking from DC to Vegas and found UA at $235, NW at $275, HP at $414 and US at $500... maybe HP should merge with UA instead.

I am not sure that I would even agree to a codeshare until US gets its house in order. US has a storied history with primarily negative stories (with the exception of Piedmont and PSA Airlines). Certainly, Allegheny Airlines (predecessor to USAir) was called "Agony" for a reason. USAir dropped a lot of the routes of Piedmont and PSA, after seriously building up on the West Coast. Except for a few good years in the 90's, I was never enthralled by US Air (poor operations with a lot of excuses).

HP should run away -- VERY FAST -- from this merger. The only way that I would agree to this is if you could negate all the contracts and decide which US employees to hire. Plus, the labor cost would have to be very similar!

Buy US' Caribbean routes and move away from merger talks, STAT!

Buy US' Caribbean routes and move away from merger talks, STAT!

This makes no sense without US's feed in PHL and CLT (especially CLT).

The only thing I am clinging to during this period is Doug Parker's promise he would do nothing to harm the employees and the stockholders. He has not lied to us in the past, and that is what I am pinning my hopes on.

To be honest, I would be perfectly happy staying little ole America West.

To be honest, I would be perfectly happy staying little ole America West.
And taking over FlyI and waiting until US ends up in the junk heap! This would give us our East Coast presence that we need. Comments on this?

And taking over FlyI and waiting until US ends up in the junk heap! This would give us our East Coast presence that we need. Comments on this?


FlyI's costs are significantly higher than US' costs. Furthermore, FlyI is mostly RJs -- is that what made up HP's failed Columbus hub?

This makes no sense without US's feed in PHL and CLT (especially CLT).

I agree. PHL and CLT wouldn't be enough O&D to make the Caribbean routes profitable, especially CLT. You would need some feeder traffic.

Five years ago, HP was running a ****ty airline, but HP and its employees have really put 110% effort into turning the company around. No, we are not perfect and there is always room for improvement. But HP is doing something right if we were the only few carriers to turn a profit during 1st qtr.

Skyfly, I too thank you for your comments and believe you are absolutely right! I have not been on HP in 12 months or so because my current client base isn't where you fly, but I flew HP extensively 2000-2003 and saw the
improvements firsthand.

HP's people management and employee-empowerment culture is obviously working and there lies the biggest "compatibility challenge" associated with this merger. It's not fleet commonality or route overlap. It's that US employees are at war with their management and frequently (cf. Christmas) with their customers, and you guys are the exact opposite. How do you blend those two cultures -- one of them can-do and ascendant and profitable and more or less cordial to management, the other bitter and burned-out and resigned and enraged at their management?

Cashiering the whole US management team (which I think MUST be a precondition) won't solve the whole problem. You will be bringing aboard thousands of cynical, do-the-minimum senior employees who will think you HP folks are naive patsies for even trying to do a good job.

I am extremely fearful about this merger. I am afraid you will take one good, solid medium-size carrier and one charred, screw-up husk of a mainline carrier and blend them into one big, sloppy, mediocre, who-cares carrier.

I cannot believe the plan is to fly under the US brand. No major brand in American aviation has higher negatives. And, yes, that's among the general public as well as people like us... US Airways is mass-media shorthand for labor unrest, holiday catastrophes, angry and tearful customers, wholesale cancellations, etc. It'd be like Wendy's adopting as its new slogan "Food at your fingertips." The associations are literally stomach-turning.

You can count past successful airline mergers on the fingers of one hand. Most of them result in years of adjustments and minor meltdowns, usually at the expense of the customer base, and they are usually undertaken under more favorable circumstances than those facing HP/US.

I really hope Doug Parker can articulate some good reasons for doing this. I still don't see why HP doesn't just wait for US to drop dead, then grab the east coast slots it wants and maybe rebrand east coast operations as America East. Cheaper, easier, more control for HP, bigger win for HP employees.

This had better not be Parker's ego-driven bid for major-carrier greatness. I am so skeptical about this and worried that hard-working HP employees are about to be "rewarded" by forced mixing with angry and vicious maniacs from the dark side of this industry. My best to you Skyfly.

Everyone seems to have an opinion so here's mine....

Maybe this will turn out to be the best of all creations in the airline industry in this country! Maybe the US employees, who are bitter as BearX220 stated, are looking for a silver lining with having a management team that actually knows how to run an airline and rewards it's employees appropriately.

There's too much negativity about this merger. We are CUSTOMERS, not the employees. If you dont' like the idea of a HP/US merger there are other airlines that will be happy to take your money and fly you. I look at this as a possible winner for the HP & US customer base.

Maybe is a unique word. There's no telling what is going to happen until it actually happens. And if you don't like the outcome, well maybe you weren't meant to continue to do business with HP/US anymore.

Maybe?!

Buy US' Caribbean routes and move away from merger talks, STAT!

Why would any airline buy routes in an environment where it is very easy to gain the route authorities on their own? The days of buying and selling route authorities are pretty much over.

Why would any airline buy routes in an environment where it is very easy to gain the route authorities on their own? The days of buying and selling route authorities are pretty much over.

Route authority may be easy to get domestically, however internationally it is much harder sometimes impossible and needs dual government approval. Not to mention the fact that the airport on both ends must have gates and available landing slots. Slots, gates and route authorities are very valuable and will continue to be so. If anyone one doubts this than I have two words to prove it LONDON HEATHROW. ;)

Why would any airline buy routes in an environment where it is very easy to gain the route authorities on their own? The days of buying and selling route authorities are pretty much over.

US has plenty of slots and gates at two airports where they're still valueable - DCA and LGA.

With an HP pilot at ORD...


As I was making my way to the airport Hilton, I figured it best to follow the two pilots we had just seen leaving the terminal.

On the escalator, I overheard one of the guys on his cell say something about "yeah, I dunno...and the most junior guy they've got is at 17.5yrs!" I was dying to hear their take on things, so I hurried up to the one that wasn't on the phone and started a conversation. All I asked was "Excuse me, do you fly for America West" yes... "so, whaddy think??" And I quote " :td: bllhh!" He says they have enough things to figure out without adding US's problems to the mix, and is concerned that they may have just grabbed on to an anchor instead of a lifeboat...

He asked my opinion, and I told him that as a Chairman's on US, I really like the idea. I loved HP's service as well, think the two could be trully complementary programs, that I hear Doug Parker is great and he will be able to steer things right...he didn't seem convinced. Anyway, as we were parting I wished him the best of luck, he dittoed it...

guess we'll see...

The FAs on my flight back to PHX today weren't too thrilled either. Said morale was down over it from what they saw.

Lance

Sat next to a A320 pilot in FC on the flight from IAH to PHX. Not a good word. I've been in transport for 24 years and he knew his stuff about the operations.

BTW, my former employer: TNT and its Ansett Worldwide Air Services division took a several hundred million dollar hit from AWA back in '91-'92 so I am not looking forward to this merger for all of the same government/bankruptcy intervention issues that killed a great airline and many jobs before.

I truly hope that I am wrong!

Just my two cents (wow...we have a lot of cents in this thread :) )...

I have been a US-Silver for 4 years now. Despite the many problems they have had I have generally had EXCELLENT front line service. The problem with US is their overall management team...the employees I have interaction with have consistently been great. The flight attendants - great. The gate staff-great. With few exceptions I have had no problems.

It sounds like AW has great management & excellent employees. If the combined entity has AW management and a merged staff then its a win-win.

I am looking forward to the merger...if it is done well I think the combined entity will be a force in the business to reckon with.

Good luck to all!!!

All I have to say is that I hope to see most of the US employees go buh-bye, the employees and management have made that airline what it is today. I hope Mr Parker realizes that and gets rid of them, I would not want to see HP get drug into all of US's crap.

All I have to say is that I hope to see most of the US employees go buh-bye, the employees and management have made that airline what it is today. I hope Mr Parker realizes that and gets rid of them, I would not want to see HP get drug into all of US's crap.
That's a lovely sentiment. I'm sure the 28,000 employees of US Airways wish you all the best, too.