Everybody deserves a chance to be heard....

Hello All - thank you for your kind responses to the last posting - "United 685."  I hope some of you found it helpful and worth the read.  

It seems the games still want to be played by United management and make you all think that the United AFA is not playing fair.  I have not seen the whole document, but I did hear about Mr. McKeen's letter to Greg Davidovitch.  From the information I received, Mr. McKeen feels that sUA Flight Attendants have had every opportunity to keep their job with United.  Its just that you are expected to "cross-over" to sCO and work under the agreement negotiated with the former Continental Flight Attendants.  Mr. McKeen does not mention in his memo that the "cross-over" comes with a significant cost - the loss of seniority for bidding.  Most of the "685" Flight Attendants have worked with the Company for 6 and 7 years, some more.  That is a decent amount of time to build up some seniority, and those 685 were faced with a very difficult decision.  It was all very convenient for management to decide to focus on retiring older planes on the sUA side.  It opened a way for them to begin funneling Flight Attendants into working under an agreement that management favors.  That way they can avoid the messy talks still to come about integrating the three flight attendant groups, in particular, the tough issue of how to handle seniority.  For my non UA readers, I will write more later about how important seniority is in this business.

What I wanted for this post was to focus on the upcoming opportunity for you all to have your voices heard by management.  In about a month, UAL will be putting out its Proxy Notice for the 2014 Annual Shareholders' Meeting to be held in June.  This Proxy Notice is going to have Proposals that allow shareholders to vote "For" or Against any member of the Board of Directors, and to vote "For" or "Against" the "Executive Compensation Program."  

This is the time for Shareholders who do not like what is happening at United to express their "lack of confidence" in its leadership.  It does not take a majority of "Against" votes to drive change.  Back in the 80's, when Disney shareholders were asked to approve Michael Eisner to remain Chairman of the Board, that vote received 40% "Against;" not enough to pass, but it was enough to get the attention of the Board of Directors and he was asked to resign.  

A lot of you may still be holding shares in UAL, probably in your 401-K accounts.  When you get the Proxy Notice next month, don't just set it aside.  Take the time to cast your vote whether it is "For" or "Against."  What some of you may not realize is that if you do not vote, you automatically turn your proxy over to management to vote for you.  That is why you see so many Proposals passing in favor of management.  

For those of you that do not have any shares in UAL, consider buying some.  It is not a bad investment now, but more importantly, it gives you a right to stand up to management without reprisal.  Even if it is only one share, that one share can get you admittance the Shareholders meeting, and that one share gives you the right to question management decisions.  Don't waste this opportunity to be heard.  

To be able to vote on the Proposals on the agenda for the Annual Meeting, you must own your shares as of the date the Proxy notice comes out.  I expect it to come out between April 7 and April 18.  Act now or you will miss this chance to be heard.

What may not be on the Proxy notice you receive in April is a Shareholder Proposal that I submitted that was delivered to Brett Hart at World Headquarters today.  If the Proposal is accepted, it will be on the agenda for the Annual Meeting and you will be able to vote on it.  There are ways that management can have the Proposal excluded, but I do intend on challenging any requests they make to the SEC for such exclusion.  I have thought through this Proposal very carefully.    Assuming it does make it on the agenda, I will be able to have my voice heard at the Annual Meeting.  I will update you when I have confirmation that the Proposal is on the agenda.  The text of the Proposal is added below.  If you like what you read, then please share this with as many of your friends and associates that you can.  My thanks to you for reading it, and my sincere gratitude for making the effort to cast your vote.   Your feedback is always welcome.   Keep scrolling down to read the full Proposal --

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James T. Anderson, 17738 Superior Street #20, Northridge, California, owner of 500 shares of United Continental Holdings, Inc. common stock, proposes the following:

Proposal

That the shareholders of United Continental Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) be allowed to enter into the Company records a vote “For” or “Against” the continued leadership by Jeffery A. Smisek as President and CEO of the Company and all related subsidiaries.  Results of this vote  are only intended to communicate to the Board of Directors any lack of confidence that the shareholders may have in Mr. Smisek, and in his ability to be an effective leader for the long-term benefit of the Company, its shareholders, employees and customers.

Supporting Statement

            December 31, 2013 marked three full years for the combined operations of the Company; all of them under Mr. Smisek’s leadership.  A summary of the results from that period are provided herein:

Merger Costs - As of December 31, 2013, “Merger and Integration-Related Costs” have reached $2.025 billion.  For comparison, with the Delta-Northwest combination, reported “Merger-Related” costs totaled just under $1.5 billion. 

Operational Performance – When looking at four key operational performance measures - Yield, PRASM, CASM, and On-Time performance, and comparing them to results published for Delta Air Lines, United lags well behind in all of them.  For the Company, the percentage increase in unit costs (CASM) exceeds that for unit Revenue measures (Yield and PRASM).   On-time performance at United is off over five percentage points from 2010 to 2013.

Stock Performance – From January of 2011 to March of 2014, the market value for UAL shares has increased nearly 81%; however, that increase is fueled only by momentum behind Delta stock which has gone up 169% for the same period.  Delta, the smaller carrier in terms of traffic, has a market capitalization that is 170% more than that for UAL.

Market Share and Customer Satisfaction - Comparing 2011 to 2013, RPM’s (Revenue Passenger Miles) flown at Delta have increased while capacity (ASM’s) decreased.  Conversely, at United, capacity cuts have led to a decline in RPM’s, and those cuts, as a percentage, have exceeded any proportional increase in load factors.  This signals a loss in market share, and that loss translates into an estimated $375 million in annual passenger revenue going to other carriers.  Customer satisfaction at United, as measured by the DOT, J.D. Power, and other third-party surveys is the lowest among U.S. carriers. 

Labor Agreements – After three years, there are still some employee groups that remain divided among three named working divisions – United (sUA), Continental (sCO) and Continental Micronesia (sCM).  Notable among them are the Flight Attendants where talks to negotiate a combined contract have been stalled.  Management has used this segregation to “urge” sUA Flight Attendants to either “cross-over” to sCO; thereby losing their seniority for bidding, or be furloughed.

Conclusion – The Company needs a leader that the customers and employees can support; a leader with a vision for unity, innovation and expansion; a leader that truly understands the value behind the brand that is United Airlines.