Pinnacle 1113 Term Sheet to the Pilots

WestIndian425 said:
Didn't SouthernJets invest in them to keep them running?
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Yes they did. Delta gave $79 million in DIP financing to keep Pinnacle going. $40 million of that money went right back to Delta to pay back the money Pinnacle borrowed to purchase Mesaba. The remaining $39 million was supposed to keep Pinnacle operating until we exited bankruptcy.
 
kellwolf said:
. I don't think there's a pilot here that hasn't seen some way to improve efficiency without cutting costs. Yesterday, we had to wait on a plane in IAD that was coming in AFTER we were scheduled to leave. There was a Pinnacle plane sitting at another gate for over an hour we could have taken, and BOTH flights would have been on time. Sadly, it's the "No! This plane HAS to be XXXX" mentality that's killing our performance record. The company would like to think sending a memo to the pilots telling us the performance is in the tank and to try harder will fix the problem. They're unwilling to re-examine things like aircraft scheduling. It's too much for them to comprehend.
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This has been the biggest problem I have seen in terms of our performance numbers. I don't know if there is a giant disconnect because of the barriers created by that blasted high rise building in Memphis or if people are just that stupid/lazy in management. Then again if heads don't roll for some of this shiite in management and there jobs are never on the line why you change your mentality? Maybe if they constructed more "boring" pairings that kept you from changing planes every leg the overall success of the company would be higher.

Either way the company isn't looking to fix its own problems and I seriously would rather be on the street and see it liquidated than deal with the terms of that 1113 sheet. A slight pay decrease might not be the end of the world as long as there is a plan to restore the money once the hard times are over, but being sentenced to hard time for managements pitfalls is not something im interested in. Even if I get a job else where in the next 6 months Im not interested in seeing qualified people being subject to these terms.
 
PropDriver said:
Yes they did. Delta gave $79 million in DIP financing to keep Pinnacle going. $40 million of that money went right back to Delta to pay back the money Pinnacle borrowed to purchase Mesaba. The remaining $39 million was supposed to keep Pinnacle operating until we exited bankruptcy.
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I thought Delta held back money from a contract that essentially force them into BK?
 
Maurus said:
I thought Delta held back money from a contract that essentially force them into BK?
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That's the rumor but, unless someone can access the accounting books, we'll never know for sure. The $79 million loan was done after Pinnacle declared bankruptcy.
 
Maurus said:
I thought Delta held back money from a contract that essentially force them into BK?
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This was exactly the case...

Menke told Delta- hey we are drowning in costs from this new JCBA and bringing Mesaba under 9E certificate. You owe us $18 million in integration costs (which were the terms of the Mesaba purchase) and we are due a "rate-reset" on our -200 flying (from the 2007 NWA Air Service Agreement).

Delta told Menke- we believe we can reset the regional market rates by you going into bankruptcy. Menke got upset and stopped talking to Delta.

So yes- Delta forced PNCL into bankruptcy by witholding monies due. Notice that part of the DIP Financing was the removal of the integration reimbursement costs and the 2011 rate reset. Make no mistake about it, Delta forced Menkes hand. They are the reason there are no Q400's come Sept 5.
 
Let's not forget that when we tried to re-negotiate contracts, Delta's response was not to talk to us outside of bankruptcy hearings. Make no mistake, we're in this position because that's where Delta WANTS us to be. It's the only way they can park more 50 seaters. If they had to re-negotiate the ASA with us, it would have cost them money. This way, they can send us through bankruptcy, re-do the ASA with us and come out squeaky clean on the other side. The fact that we lost our United flying in the process and are now back to being solely a DCI carrier is just a bonus.

It's management decisions like this that are the reason I'd rather leave aviation completely than fly for Delta now. A few years ago, I might have actually gone to work for them. Now? I've been beaten down by the Delta machine so much, it makes me ill thinking I'd be associated with them for the next 30+ years.
 
Just imagine if they infiltrated a national union...


Sent from my TRS-80
 
SmitteyB said:
This was exactly the case...

Menke told Delta- hey we are drowning in costs from this new JCBA and bringing Mesaba under 9E certificate. You owe us $18 million in integration costs (which were the terms of the Mesaba purchase) and we are due a "rate-reset" on our -200 flying (from the 2007 NWA Air Service Agreement).

Delta told Menke- we believe we can reset the regional market rates by you going into bankruptcy. Menke got upset and stopped talking to Delta.

So yes- Delta forced PNCL into bankruptcy by witholding monies due. Notice that part of the DIP Financing was the removal of the integration reimbursement costs and the 2011 rate reset. Make no mistake about it, Delta forced Menkes hand. They are the reason there are no Q400's come Sept 5.
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So is Menke actually a good guy thrown into a an ambush?
 
block30 said:
So is Menke actually a good guy thrown into a an ambush?
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I'm not really certain, honestly. The "good person" in me would like to think so, but his actions pretty much make him seem like just another CEO. We were headed for bankruptcy. Unless you were in extreme denial, anyone could have seen that one. He still took a massive pay bump because the board of directors offered it to him (Spanjers, too), and his reasoning was that it was a stressful time for his family, and the pay would help ease their pain. My response was "Yeah, like YOU'RE the only one that's going to stressed over this." I understand it was likely a "retention" issue for the board. Doesn't look good for the creditors and trying to get financing if the captain of the ship bails on you.....which is what he did anyway. I don't know if there were strings in his contract that triggered a "golden parachute" or not, but fact of the matter is all Menke really did was get people to wake up to the reality of where Trenary got us. I guess that's better than still floating on thinking things are awesome in financial land, but I don't think it was worth the money the company paid him.

I wanted to like the guy, I really did. But the way things turned out, I just don't see him in a positive light.
 
kellwolf said:
I'm not really certain, honestly. The "good person" in me would like to think so, but his actions pretty much make him seem like just another CEO. We were headed for bankruptcy. Unless you were in extreme denial, anyone could have seen that one. He still took a massive pay bump because the board of directors offered it to him (Spanjers, too), and his reasoning was that it was a stressful time for his family, and the pay would help ease their pain. My response was "Yeah, like YOU'RE the only one that's going to stressed over this." I understand it was likely a "retention" issue for the board. Doesn't look good for the creditors and trying to get financing if the captain of the ship bails on you.....which is what he did anyway. I don't know if there were strings in his contract that triggered a "golden parachute" or not, but fact of the matter is all Menke really did was get people to wake up to the reality of where Trenary got us. I guess that's better than still floating on thinking things are awesome in financial land, but I don't think it was worth the money the company paid him.

I wanted to like the guy, I really did. But the way things turned out, I just don't see him in a positive light.
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Thanks for the respsonse. I think your last two sentences sum up the feelings of a lot of people.
 
Just checked CrewTrac. I've been gone since last Sunday (and don't go back until this coming Sunday). Seriously? An IROP and canceled flights because they can't keep the internet services running? Well, they probably went with the lowest bidder for their servers and computers, so I shouldn't be surprised. But, hey. It's the pilots and FAs that need to give back because of all the flight cancelations and poor performance, right?
 
kellwolf said:
Just checked CrewTrac. I've been gone since last Sunday (and don't go back until this coming Sunday). Seriously? An IROP and canceled flights because they can't keep the internet services running? Well, they probably went with the lowest bidder for their servers and computers, so I shouldn't be surprised. But, hey. It's the pilots and FAs that need to give back because of all the flight cancelations and poor performance, right?
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The real concern is that you're checking crewtrac on your days off.

But yes, it is the 3rd self induced IROP within 5 weeks. Pretty awesome.
 
kellwolf said:
Seriously? An IROP and canceled flights because they can't keep the internet services running?
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That's ok. Over here we canceled a bunch of flight yesterday (and today too I think) because a construction crew working on the road in front of our OCC severed half of a phone cable. Apparently they could make calls out, but couldn't receive any.
 
BobDDuck said:
That's ok. Over here we canceled a bunch of flight yesterday (and today too I think) because a construction crew working on the road in front of our OCC severed half of a phone cable. Apparently they could make calls out, but couldn't receive any.
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Bizarre. No one does separate inbound/outbound trunk groups anymore. Just knowing that, I'm pretty sure I could save you guys a boatload of money starting in month 1.
 
At what point does IROP just become ROP........? I would say that these are pretty Regular Operations for pinnacle.

Our management can't run computers so we need to screw pilots and call IROP right? We don't have adequate staffing, yet we are down grading and will be furloughing, once again pilots fault right? We signed unfavorable leases with Airlines, Buildings, ETC....... once again pilots fault..... You need to take a pay cut! Is any one accountable in management anywhere? Seriously?
 
WalterSobchak said:
At what point does IROP just become ROP........? I would say that these are pretty Regular Operations for pinnacle.

Our management can't run computers so we need to screw pilots and call IROP right? We don't have adequate staffing, yet we are down grading and will be furloughing, once again pilots fault right? We signed unfavorable leases with Airlines, Buildings, ETC....... once again pilots fault..... You need to take a pay cut! Is any one accountable in management anywhere? Seriously?
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Haven't been in the past 6+ years at least, why start now? Sorry we drug Mesaba and Colgan down with us....
 
Well time to get ready for slavery boys. Company to file motion to reject current JCBA and impose whatever work rules they deem necessary.

If the exodus didn't already start wait until what we see now!
 
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