(NOTE  The following letter comes from a personal friend of mine, a retired EXO high level management team leader, who came up from the ranks of the original airline people.  His comments are offered for your review.    He tells me that up to the mid 80’s United employees pension was put into annuities which are held by Met Life.  He will get part of his pension from those and part from the PBGC.  Does anyone know if pilots were included in this system as well.? If we were then we will get more than just with PBGC.     ED)

Dear Ed,

As I mentioned on the phone, the future of UA is just as cloudy as ever.  Here is a company that has lost billions since bankruptcy and did it without paying one cent into any of the pension plans over the last two years. 

Many employees and pilots aren't aware that UA hired 3 new vice president right after ALPA agreed to dump the pilot pensions. 

So, now that UA management has extracted its "pound of flesh" from employees and retirees, where do they go from here?  Certainly the only ones pleased with Tiltons performance is the board of directors. 

I haven't heard of any lending institutions who are willing to belly up to the bar with funds for UA either.  Who are they?  Maybe the lenders are waiting for United's marketing plan which is now over a year late. 

 I think Wendorf gave UA until the Fall to get a plan together.  UA still retains around 48 vice presidents, I wonder if any know how to write a marketing plan that will convince lenders to pour serious dollars into UA. 

If I were a lender I would have to be concerned about the current senior management who obviously are not well liked by United employees after the beating they have taken.  So, a lender would have to think about a replacement senior management team and therein lies another problem.  Where do you find qualified talent willing to come on board a sinking ship and try to right it. 

If you recall, UA had one hell of a time finding a CEO until Tilton came along. 

As I said on the phone, UA is like trying to turn a 975ft cruise ship in a 1000 ft channel.  We may be looking at another Pan Am here.