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My Case For Alan Mulally as UAL CEO

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Old May 17, 2014, 10:13 pm
  #46  
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Originally Posted by 787Driver
The problem with United right now is that they're running it like United. If they want to succeed they need to run it like CONTINENTAL !
Originally Posted by mike1968
last I checked it's Continental with the word "United" on the plane. United was a great airline. Continetal has always been craptaculur. This abomination is nothing like United, which is why the United flyers that had no problem spending money on airfares and premium service have left.
May be its best to agree that today's airline bears little resemblance to the Continental of the the 2000's or the vector PMUA was on prior to the merger.

Last edited by WineCountryUA; May 17, 2014 at 10:22 pm Reason: typo
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Old May 17, 2014, 10:17 pm
  #47  
 
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I was speaking to a PMUA FA yesterday who told me that Smisek needs to go. She blamed all of the PMCO management for the problems at the airline. She also said the airline says UA it is still PMCO & PMUA underneath the covers and they run 2 different operation and the fact that the FAs are on 2 separate contracts is pathetic. There is a lot of tension and friction internally and employee morale is at an all-time low. She said that in her "20+years" she has never seen it this bad.
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Old May 18, 2014, 2:56 am
  #48  
 
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Sad thing is that the UA board is famous for bringing in incompetent CEOs--and then keeping them WAYYYYYY beyond all the signs they need to be shown the door
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Old May 18, 2014, 6:20 am
  #49  
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Originally Posted by FlyerTom111
I was speaking to a PMUA FA yesterday who told me that Smisek needs to go. She blamed all of the PMCO management for the problems at the airline. She also said the airline says UA it is still PMCO & PMUA underneath the covers and they run 2 different operation and the fact that the FAs are on 2 separate contracts is pathetic. There is a lot of tension and friction internally and employee morale is at an all-time low. She said that in her "20+years" she has never seen it this bad.
Riding the Dulles Moon Buggy a few months ago, I listened to two groups of FAs talk, and the tension and friction was readily apparent with them as well. Amazing how fast this management team squandered the good will they had when the merger closed.
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Old May 18, 2014, 12:20 pm
  #50  
 
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Originally Posted by mike1968
last I checked it's Continental with the word "United" on the plane. United was a great airline. Continetal has always been craptaculur. This abomination is nothing like United, which is why the United flyers that had no problem spending money on airfares and premium service have left.
Well you didn't check very good. Before the merger CAL had enormously higher ratings than UAL. Post merger Smisek decided not to pay a couple key marketing individuals what Delta was and they were lost to Delta.
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Old May 18, 2014, 12:26 pm
  #51  
 
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Originally Posted by FlyerTom111
I was speaking to a PMUA FA yesterday who told me that Smisek needs to go. She blamed all of the PMCO management for the problems at the airline. She also said the airline says UA it is still PMCO & PMUA underneath the covers and they run 2 different operation and the fact that the FAs are on 2 separate contracts is pathetic. There is a lot of tension and friction internally and employee morale is at an all-time low. She said that in her "20+years" she has never seen it this bad.
The most accurate way I can depict the CAL UAL merger is to say imagine that the New York Yankees were on their way to oblivion due to poor management and the only way to save the team was to merge with the Boston Red Sox in order to get their management group. The result being quite far from synergistic as you can well imagine.
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Old May 18, 2014, 12:32 pm
  #52  
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Originally Posted by 787Driver
Well you didn't check very good. Before the merger CAL had enormously higher ratings than UAL. Post merger Smisek decided not to pay a couple key marketing individuals what Delta was and they were lost to Delta.
We're talking about Bethune, Brenneman, Kellner - once the board fired Kellner, it was all downhill from there even before the merger. What we need to do is figure out how to fire the entire Board - the future of this airline depends on it.

One major key difference - Kellner (and prior) era management *listened* to customers. They appreciated our loyalty and our business. There was little to no hubris, we were not taken for granted. They also listened to their own employees - some pretty bad changes to OP were thwarted not by customers, but management within the company telling Larry K the changes would drive customers away, so those changes did not happen, while other changes were reversed based on customer feedback.
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Old May 18, 2014, 12:38 pm
  #53  
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Originally Posted by 787Driver
The most accurate way I can depict the CAL UAL merger is to say imagine that the New York Yankees were on their way to oblivion due to poor management and the only way to save the team was to merge with the Boston Red Sox in order to get their management group. The result being quite far from synergistic as you can well imagine.
PMUA was doing just fine pre-merger actually.

Getting the "arch-rival's management group" as you say was probably the worst free-agent signing of the decade.
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Old May 18, 2014, 12:48 pm
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If any of you hold UA paper - be sure and vote 'against' for all the BOD candidates - be sure your voices are heard. I got my proxy a couple of weeks ago. If you don't vote your proxy, I believe (but am not sure) it defaults to the BOD recommendation - which would be a 'for' all BOD candidates.
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Old May 18, 2014, 1:25 pm
  #55  
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Originally Posted by n198ua
If any of you hold UA paper - be sure and vote 'against' for all the BOD candidates - be sure your voices are heard. I got my proxy a couple of weeks ago. ....
UA is 97+% institutional owned. Individual owners have no voice in UA. Every single individual owner could abstain and it would not be noticed.


Originally Posted by n198ua
.... If you don't vote your proxy, I believe (but am not sure) it defaults to the BOD recommendation - which would be a 'for' all BOD candidates.
No it does not work that way/ A unreturned proxy / vote is an abstention which is similar in effect to a no vote. A certain number of responses (usually a majority) is required to have a valid vote -- but given the institutional ownership level that will not be a problem.
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Old May 18, 2014, 3:30 pm
  #56  
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Originally Posted by 787Driver
Well you didn't check very good. Before the merger CAL had enormously higher ratings than UAL. Post merger Smisek decided not to pay a couple key marketing individuals what Delta was and they were lost to Delta.
I was getting ready to give a thumbs up, because I thought you were saying Smisek forgot to pay off a key few marketing firms that had historically then given CO "awards", which they then shamelessly bragged about, thereby artificially boosting their perception/rankings.
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Old Jun 6, 2014, 6:22 pm
  #57  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
What is the purpose of this thread?

I understand the internet forum desire to debate the number angels on a pinhead but this seems like an even less useful exercise.

This will be nothing more than a combination of Simsek bashing (don't have anything against that per se but we seem to have plenty of threats for doing that) and a rehashing of all that is wrong with post merger UA. It is delusional to think anything discussed here will result in a change of the situation. But I guess that critic applies to many threads.

So have at it but don't know why........
The purpose of this thread is to have an interesting discussion about a great American leader and an airline in decline. All posts were interesting so far, your post was the first one that did not add any value.
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Old Jun 6, 2014, 6:34 pm
  #58  
 
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Alan Mulally would be great, but he is too old. It will take at least 10 years to fully turn around the airline and he would not be able to see it through.
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Old Jun 6, 2014, 6:44 pm
  #59  
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Originally Posted by points_maniac
Alan Mulally would be great, but he is too old. It will take at least 10 years to fully turn around the airline and he would not be able to see it through.
I actually don't think it would take that long. Many changes advocated are extremely low hanging fruit.
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Old Jun 6, 2014, 6:46 pm
  #60  
 
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Originally Posted by points_maniac
Alan Mulally would be great, but he is too old. It will take at least 10 years to fully turn around the airline and he would not be able to see it through.
He would turn the airline around in less than 12 months.
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