Longboater

Coffee answer made laugh out loud. However, good to hear they will begin implementing changes such as the free booze for 1K and GS in Y.

luckypierre

For all the DL following behavior, UA is making a large bet in another direction on capacity growth in the immediate future. Be interesting to see a year from now who has a better handle on economic outlooks.

sing-along

At the end of the call it was mentioned that a new boarding process is being tested at ORD at gate B8 during select times. However UA would not say what that change is.

If anyone is in or around B8 next week ... let us know if you see anything different.

Cheers

LukasVIE

New boarding process being tested at ORD Gate B8? Will be interesting to see what they do about it

dcsnowwake

I flew out of B8 this morning...didn't see anything new or different yet.

ibuyyoufly

Did I hear Hunter correctly? Was he suggesting they bring in "new" Senior Management to "help" with CapEx expenditures, or was he really saying, did you have to fire my good buddy Smisek in order to change the CapEx strategy?
He didn't gain any friends on that call if either of those were his intent. I'll want to read the transcript to fully understand his words.

Then, was he also asking for a commitment of additional funds for stock repurchase or just an accelerated schedule on the $3B committed? Isn't $3B enough?

cerealmarketer

Post the call, stock continues to trade in lock step with Delta.

The numbers or plans didn't surprise investors either way.

gene2632

As a traveler I don't trust them and I know look for other options. As an investor I shy away waiting to see what happens with the federal investigation, Oscar's health and Brett's mustasche..

halls120

I'm optimistic, but cautiously so. It's good they made a profit, it's good they are looking at real coffee instead of swill, and a new boarding process. That said, I'd like to see real progress at reaching a true unified workforce, and better operational performance before dropping my caution.

BearX220

I'm happy to see an in-line profit because it suggests the company has some wherewithal to improve performance. Investment in the basics, and some tangible medium-term payoff in the performance stats, would help rehabilitate UA.

WineCountryUA

Conference call webcast recording

and from Seeking Alpha (audio only)

cerealmarketer

Comparing to AA...pretty lackluster revenue performance for AA in 3Q...

Yield -9%
RASM -7%
Capacity +3%

Stock down 2% vs UA up 3% and Delta flat today.

Saving grace is AA's margin is already high.

The cuts there have gone too far - and UA is well positioned to take share from disgruntled AA fliers.

And Delta feels like it has peaked in terms of performance.

fly18725

While customer preference certainly impacts revenue metrics, competition and geographic exposure are much bigger drivers.

Latin America is performing exceptionally poorly and AA and United have much bigger exposure in the weaker markets, particularly Brazil, than Delta. Latin America is a huge part of AA's business, making up about 40% of international capacity, it's less than 1/2 that at United and even less for Delta. In addition, AA is facing pretty stiff competition from Southwest and Spirit in Dallas, which is depressing domestic yields.

All together, it was a not-so-great quarter for AA, while Delta and United did pretty well.

Domestic / % of Passenger Revenue / Change in Yield
AA / 63.5% / (9.6%)
DL / 65.8% / (2.5%)
UA / 49.8% / (2.2%)

Latin America / % of Passenger Revenue / Change in Yield
AA / 14.1% / (13.8%)
UA / 8.9% / (10.6%)
DL / 6.1% / (6.3%)

Atlantic / % of Passenger Revenue / Change in Yield
DL / 18.9% / (7.8%)
AA / 18.2% / (7.6%)
UA / 24.7% / (5.8%)

Pacific / % of Passenger Revenue / Change in Yield
AA / 4.1% / (16.2%)
DL / 9.2% / (13.1%)
UA / 16.5% / (10.8%)

Consolidated change in yield (includes regional, which is not captured above)
DL (5.4%)
UA (5.6%)
AA (9.2%)

LarkSFO

I found this statistic, from the AA earnings call transcript, fascinating...

Scott Kirby: "A statistic that, when I have told people, they find somewhat amazing, is that 87% of the people that have flown American Airlines in the last year flew us only one time. 87% of our unique customers fly us one time per year or less, and they represent over 50% of our revenue."

The corollary, of course, is that people who fly AA greater than 1 time per year - 13% of customers - make up the other 50% of revenue.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/13336...ranscript.html

"We match Delta. We match United. We match Air France. We match every carrier that we compete with around the globe. But if we're going to fly head to head, and compete non-stop to non-stop with any carrier around the globe, we are going to be competitive and match their prices."