4.28.07 – (LAA) – 30th Anniversary Issue of Skyword, Airlines’ Earnings

This is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator, with the APFA Hotline for Sunday, April 28, 2007.

The combined State of the Union and 30th Anniversary issue of Skyword will begin to ship next week. This special edition contains picketing photos from every base on April 17th, as well as our April 13th kickoff event in front of AMR Headquarters, and a four-page spread of the representational history of the American Airlines Flight Attendants, among other features. Be on the lookout for this edition next month.

It’s airline earnings season and reporting in so far is US Airways with a $66 million profit, Continental with $22 million profit and Southwest Airlines reporting a $93 million profit in the first quarter of 2007. Airlines reporting losses were Alaska Airlines with a $10.3 million loss, JetBlue with a $20 million loss and United with a 1Q ’07 loss of $152 million.

The good news over at AMR is that we posted a profit of $81 million. The bad news is that more than 20% of that amount was converted to cash by the top five execs in less than a week upon receiving their bonuses. Right after the American Airlines Flight Attendants picketed 874 AA executives for their greed in taking $200 million in bonuses for themselves. Gerard Arpey cashed in $8.1 million worth of stock totaling exactly 10% of our entire 1st quarter’s earnings. Not far behind Arpey was his CFO Tom Horton who jumped to the head of the line upon his return to American in 2006 after leaving for AT&T in ’02. He was given a special package to entice his return and cashed in $4.6 million in stock this past week despite the fact that this year’s bonus plan was designed for the elite executives’ performance between ’04 and ’06. Not far behind is Dan Garton, VP of Marketing and promoter of the “We know why you fly” motto who’s now $3.7 million richer; and Gary Kennedy, AAÇs General Counsel who cashed in $2.3 million in the past week.

On a side note, APFA would like to acknowledge our members while conducting informational picketing on the 17th. Despite AMR’s veiled threats in the event of an illegal job action, the American Airlines Flight Attendants remained as professional as always.

APFA will be taking our position against Executive Bonuses to Capitol Hill next month and ask that you join us in Washington on May 17, 2007, for the Transportation Day of Action. More on this important day in next week’s APFA Hotline.

From the Contract Department: In order to ensure all legality and safety regulations have been met, passenger boarding should only be accomplished by those Flight Attendants assigned to the flight by either Crew Scheduling or Crew Tracking. If you are asked by Passenger Service to assist with boarding due to the late arrival of the outbound crew, you should decline the request. Please email reports of any specific situations you may encounter to [email protected] so that APFA can ensure all workgroups are aware of the proper requirements for boarding.

Bankruptcy Watch: Northwest Airlines and its Flight Attendants reached a Tentative Agreement last week. No details have been released. The Flight Attendants are working under imposed pay, benefits and work rules after turning down two previous Tentative Agreements.

Rumor Control:
Q: I’m hearing that AA is planning to call back some of our furloughs next month. Is this true?

A: APFA continues to push AA to recall its members, however, to date, no recalls have been announced. Stay tuned to the APFA Hotline, as any updates will be formally announced immediately.

Please remember we have 2,345 APFA members on furlough.

That’s it for this week. Thank you for calling the APFA Hotline.