United Loses $537M, Plans Job Cuts

WOW! Thats more than what they made of profit for the whole year of 2007. To bad the goverment does not do anything to help the US Carriers to survive becuase of the high fuel costs...things are going to change in the next year drastically. Air Travel will never be the same as before.

When you say the "Goverment" What you Mean is My Tax Money....If you Can't Compete , Go Chapter 7...

timezone wrote:

When you say the "Goverment" What you Mean is My Tax Money....If you Can't Compete , Go Chapter 7...

Noooooo, how about the government stop regulating the airlines out of business! Nearly 1/2 of a ticket price is taxes! I find your statement one of very little thought. Go chap 7. WOW what a cold hearted bastard! And then what, I would suppose you would then deny the laid off employees govt benefits, that ALSO come out of your tax dollars.....

You know back when Continental was having it's big problems I saw United pilots in Denver wearing pins that said,"One less airline can make a difference". Personally I love watching them flail, praying that Continental will come along and,"Make a difference".

UVL can go straight to Hell. The Employees should have all walked out and forced the airline to close the doors after those on the Board of Directors chopped all of the pensions (except, of course, their own). But instead, the employees just took it right up the ass and gave in. Fuck United Airlines.

Like any other business, why not price the produce that meets or slightly exceeds expenses.

The price of oil goes up and oil companies raise the price of their final product to make up the difference to stay in the black. The price of coffee goes up and Starbucks raises their prices to reflect their costs. Having the govt. subsidize your airfare makes as much sense as subsidizing your morning coffee.

If the price of fuel goes up RAISE YOUR FARES to account for the operating expense. Every airline has 80% plus load factors so there isn't much wiggle room for passengers to flee to other low cost airlines and besides, if one airline raised it's fares, most others would follow suit.
Everyone is so worried about keeping their market share regardless of how much they underprice their product...it's idiodic.

JetBlast wrote:

Like any other business, why not price the produce that meets or slightly exceeds expenses.
The price of oil goes up and oil companies raise the price of their final product to make up the difference to stay in the black. The price of coffee goes up and Starbucks raises their prices to reflect their costs. Having the govt. subsidize your airfare makes as much sense as subsidizing your morning coffee.
If the price of fuel goes up RAISE YOUR FARES to account for the operating expense. Every airline has 80% plus load factors so there isn't much wiggle room for passengers to flee to other low cost airlines and besides, if one airline raised it's fares, most others would follow suit.
Everyone is so worried about keeping their market share regardless of how much they underprice their product...it's idiodic.

First you have competition, the airlines try to match the fare of the competition. Second if you raise your fares, NO ONE WILL FLY. Remember, this is what Americans want...the most cheapest air ticket. All the airlines are losing money the 1Q. Every single airline except Southwest has reported negative numbers. The goverment needs to step up and do something about this situation. If not things are going to get worst.

Joe, I'll have to disagree on a few points. People will still fly because there is not enough capacity at the "low fares" to pick up all the slack. The cheapo's will end up raising their fares to some extent if they see more income potential. As long as they're still cheaper than the majors, they retain their low-fare advantage.

Someone has to blink first and charge fares that at least match costs because it sure isn't a government/taxpayer job to subsidize private industry. 9/11 was a unique event that required some help or the entire industry would have collapsed.

I'm out of the country 6 months at a time and each time I come back I see that United has made HUGE improvements in every airport I fly through. They have more flat screens information monitors, Red Carpet Clubs, Customer Service counters etc. every time I revisit. They're spending big money on facilities that will pay off down the road. I'm sure they've had some huge attorney bills regarding the CO/DL merger talks and those are 1-time costs as well.

I didn't see the figures but it'd be interesting to see what their operating loss was versus net loss.

I remember the UA emplys at Denver in the early 80's wearing buttons with a picture of a screw and Continental Airlines written under it. Goes to show what goes around comes around.

Crede wrote:

UVL can go straight to Hell. The Employees should have all walked out and forced the airline to close the doors after those on the Board of Directors chopped all of the pensions (except, of course, their own). But instead, the employees just took it right up the ass and gave in. Fuck United Airlines.

Walked out and then what? Gave in? What were they supposed to do? Employees have no power in any decision, you know?
If they shut down like you wish, then how would the employees bring food on their tables?
Think before posting nonsense crap like this, or maybe try to get in people's shoes before opening your mouth and releasing nonsense!

JJJ wrote:

<quoted text>
Noooooo, how about the government stop regulating the airlines out of business! Nearly 1/2 of a ticket price is taxes! I find your statement one of very little thought. Go chap 7. WOW what a cold hearted bastard! And then what, I would suppose you would then deny the laid off employees govt benefits, that ALSO come out of your tax dollars.....

Have You ever heard of Taking Personal Responsibility for Ones Self? Maby Saving for a Rainy Day...Not Over extending your Self? How Long has the Airline Industry been in Turmoil? Don't you think People Had Some Idea this was going to happen..Did they Not Prepare for this?

YES TO UAL JUST LOOK BACK THEY HIRED 10 VICE LAST YEAR ALONG PRESDENTS TO RUN JUST ABOUT ANY THING. THEY HAVE 250 VICE PRESDENTS. THEY GOING CUT 1100 EMPLOYEE WHERE DO YOU THINK THEY GOING TO CUT. HOW ABOUT THE LEAN PROJECT. I GUESS MORE LATE BAGS MORE LATE TRIPS AND MORE TOP PAY FOR ALL THE TOP MANGERMENT. The goverment is involved you all paying for all the pensions they dumped on 125,000 employees and to top this Judge WeLdoff IS NOW ON BOARD OF PBGC. HE WAS THE JUDGE ON UAL CHAPTER 11 CASE FOR UAL.GUARNTEE PENSION PLAN BY THE US GOVERMENT. AND WHO DO YOU THINK WANTED DEREGULATION IN INSDUSTRY YOU GUESS UAL.THEY MADE THERE OWN BED. LET THEM FIX IT. becuause they will destroy another airline most of there mangerment is from eastern airlines. UH!

yeah this a great story after 9/11 offer 1.8 billion dollars but they knew UAL WOULD BE BACK FOR SOME MORE AND ITS WOULD BE NOW. LET THIS COMPANY GO. IF THEY CAN NOT FIGURE IT OUT BY NOW. LIKE OUTSOURCING MAINTENANCE TO OVERSEAS CHINA. WELL HOW ABOUT THOSE 52 B777 GROUND FOR 48 HOURS THAT COST THE AIRLINE 2.8 BILLIONS. THEY COULD HAVE 3.000 MORE MECHANICS ON PAYROLL WHO WOULD HAVE CAUGHT THAT. INSTEAD THEY WOULD HAVE SAVED 3,000 EMPLOYEES 25 YEARS AND MORE FOR THAT. DO HEAR ANYONE AT UAL LET GO, I SEE IADMM Q A AUDITS FAILED 5 YEARS IN A ROW, MAYBE THIS WAS SYSTEM WIDE. OVER LOOKING MAINTENANCE RECORDS.

Joe wrote:

<quoted text>
First you have competition, the airlines try to match the fare of the competition. Second if you raise your fares, NO ONE WILL FLY. Remember, this is what Americans want...the most cheapest air ticket. All the airlines are losing money the 1Q. Every single airline except Southwest has reported negative numbers. The goverment needs to step up and do something about this situation. If not things are going to get worst.

people will still fly for the fast way of getting from point a to point b. the ones who dont want to pay the higer fares have several chioces stay home, drive to where they want to go in the usa except hiawaii . take grey hound. if you drive say newyork to lax with the price of gas your looking at spending a lot of money just for gas round trip. if you take grey hound there going to raise there fares to cover the cost of gas. you have a lot of stops a long the way. i thank people will still fly. buisness people will most defently still fly. people have got used to flyin

timezone wrote:

When you say the "Goverment" What you Mean is My Tax Money....If you Can't Compete , Go Chapter 7...

there is no competition, its on survival, pal

trav wrote:

<quoted text>there is no competition, its on survival, pal

Why chose survival when you can chose profit?

Manuel wrote:

<quoted text>Have You ever heard of Taking Personal Responsibility for Ones Self? Maby Saving for a Rainy Day...Not Over extending your Self? How Long has the Airline Industry been in Turmoil? Don't you think People Had Some Idea this was going to happen..Did they Not Prepare for this?

Don't you think that applies to any job out there? The whole economy is in turmoil, so should we all prepare for the inevitable? I work for the airlines, and I guarantee you that the last thought in my mind is to quit because of what's "coming" ! It's not fair to shoot on the red cross now that's convenient.
All it takes it's a new government and new regulations, and then you'll see how the trend will quickly reverse!

crede is right I am an ex united employee who chose to quit, because I wanted to walk out and show them that we do make a difference. I found a better paying job in the bay area. Good luck to all my homies still working for that garbage airline.

I DID"NT DO IT !!!!

I'm a strong beleiver in carma, what goes around, comes right back and bites you in your ass. The grass is greener on the other side