‘Sully’ Flies High With $35.5 Million Opening

Sully made a much a bigger splash at the box office than was initially expected, touching down at an estimated $35.5 million for the No. 1 spot in its opening weekend.

Playing on 3,525 screens, the Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow drama made $12.2 million on Friday, boosting three-day estimates that were previously set at $24 million for the weekend. The Clint Eastwood-directed film stars Tom Hanks as hero pilot Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger.

With an 84 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, reviews are solid for the movie about Sully's crucial call to glide an imperiled US Airways jet for a water landing on the Hudson River just minutes after it took off from Laguardia Airport, a decision that saved 155 lives on board in 2009.

CinemaScore polling said opening night moviegoers gave it an A grade on average.

The US Airways sign is being taken down and our new American Airlines sign is being mounted. I'm excited to be part of the new American, but I am sad that the US Airways name/logo will be gone.

The INT Training Department (Larry, me, Gloria and Cathy) with the US Airways sign, which will be taken down tomorrow. It's also our Be Pink day, which is why we are all wearing pink!

My New @aa.com Email Address

I’m excited about the US/AA merger, really I am. I mean, to be employed at the world’s largest airline. That’s quite something.

But I have to tell you, I felt a little weird upon reading the below email.

Admittedly my email address will now be easier to type. Previously, whenever I had to type it in I always misspelled airways. I’d usually transpose the “r” and the “i”. It will be hard to misspell aa, you know? It doesn’t matter if I transpose letters. Lol.

Still, I’ve worked for US Airways for a combined total of 20 years. Losing the name is not easy. With just my email address folks knew what company I worked for. Now, it looks like I work for Alcoholics Anonymous!

But really, I am excited about the merger. It might just take me a moment to embrace the new email address.

To: Cheryl Ann
Subject: Your New @aa.com Email Address

Congratulations!Your email has been transitioned to @aa.com!

As part of our efforts to combine systems, your @usairways.com email has transitioned to your new @aa.com email address.

Although your email has changed, you will still be able to receive email at your previous @usairways.com address.

Quote for the Day

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”-  Dr. Seuss

Yesterday's Do Crew Success!

From: Lauren 
To: cinberry 
Sent: Thu, May 30, 2013 3:41 pm
Subject: Thank you for making our Winston-Salem Picnic in the Plaza a HUGE success!

Dear US Airways DO CREW Members,

I hope this note finds you all doing well today.

I wanted to thank you all again for your hard work yesterday at our Winston-Salem Picnic in the Plaza!  It was such a pleasure getting to know you all!  We raised nearly $3,000, which will go towards granting wishes to children in the Triad area – our most successful Picnic of 2013 so far!

We couldn’t have done it without you and truly appreciate all of your enthusiasm and dedication!  We hope to see you all again at our next Winston-Salem Picnic in the Plaza, scheduled for Wednesday, August 21.

On behalf of the children whose wishes we grant and all of us at Make-A-Wish, thank you for your time and your efforts!  If there is anyone else who volunteered yesterday that is not included, please forward this to them, as I don’t have their contact information.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week and a great weekend!

Warmest Wishes,

Lauren

Development Coordinator

Make-A-Wish^® Central & Western North Carolina

It's Official!

The New American Is Arriving

We are pleased to announce that American Airlines and US Airways will combine to create a premier global airline. Our combined airline joins two highly complementary networks with access to the best destinations around the globe – offering you increased choices, improved efficiency and better options to explore the globe with our oneworld® Alliance.

The combined company will retain the iconic American Airlines brand name, and will provide you with more choices and better service throughout the world. The combined company will be headquartered in Dallas-Fort Worth and will maintain a significant corporate, operational and hub presence in Phoenix.

I invite you to learn more about the American Airlines-US Airways merger and its many benefits by exploring this section of our website. For additional information, you can also visit newAmericanarriving.com.

Thank you for your business and your support – we look forward to continuing to serve you on US Airways and on the new American Airlines.

Sincerely,

Doug Parker
Chairman and CEO, US Airways

Because Betsey wouldn't have been caught dead hosting annual SETC conventions in high school/college budget hotels, I got very used to staying in the lap of luxury. My week long stay at the Courtyard by Marriott in Tempe will be no different.

Searching For My New Team

US Airways bringing 200 jobs to Winston-Salem center
By Richard Craver

US Airways Group Inc. said it is bringing as many as 200 reservation-center jobs to Winston-Salem, offering promising news for job-seekers struggling through a 10.3 percent Triad unemployment rate.

The new hires include 60 workers brought on in March, and another 60 will come on board if they complete training that began Monday. Starting pay for the jobs is $9.96 an hour.

The jobs are returning to the Hanes Mall Boulevard center — as well as to centers in Phoenix and Reno, Nev. — as part of the airline's collective-bargaining agreement with its unions.

It was required to return all reservation sales and service calls originating in the U.S. to domestic call centers by October. The Winston-Salem center operates around the clock, primarily handling specialty domestic calls.

The jobs are not all new positions, said Vonda Hardy, the president of Communications Workers of America Local 3640, which represents the center's workers. The center has lost some union employees in recent months because of attrition, retirement, health issues and workers being let go.

"Being a reservation agent is a very hard job, and some people left to pursue other employment," Hardy said Wednesday. "It truly is a job where you are accountable for every second you are at work."

In December, the airline approached the Winston-Salem City Council for a one-time incentive of up to $29,250 in return for pledging to add up to 200 jobs.

The council approved the request but has not paid any of the incentive, said Derwick Paige, a deputy city manager.

Mayor Allen Joines said, "The city worked hard on this project and is delighted that US Airways chose Winston-Salem as a site to bring back these jobs."

The airline said in December that it had 757 jobs overall at the center, including union and nonunion employees.

Hardy said the workforce represented by the union has dwindled to 600 — down about 30 from 15 months earlier. Some of those employees have left since December, she said. Some non-union management and administrative employees were hired in recent months, she said.

Joines said the airline remains eligible for at least a portion of the incentives based on a net gain of jobs at the center.

The airline has added 60 employees from training sessions that took place in March. Some of those workers are former American Express employees in Greensboro, Hardy said. American Express said Jan. 19 that it was closing its call center by year's end, with an expected loss of about 1,500 regional jobs.

US Airways expects to get another 60 employees from a second round of training that began Monday. It plans to conduct training in July, August and September.

The starting pay for the new jobs is about $20,717 a year, Hardy said. The $9.96 hourly rate represents a 62-cent increase from the current wage.

She said employees get two weeks of vacation and one week of holiday pay, and they qualify for health insurance from day one. As part of the union contract, new hires will get two weeks of holiday pay beginning in 2012.

Forsyth County officials chose not to offer incentives to US Airways because the proposed salaries for the jobs aren't high enough. The county has a guideline that says companies should pay at least $10 an hour to be considered for economic incentives.

A per-job incentive package was offered to US Airways in 2005 when it was considering consolidating its two main reservation centers in Winston-Salem or Pittsburgh. The company collected a small amount in incentives for those jobs.

The center has been one of the city's larger private employers for more than 10 years, including mechanical and other back-office jobs. However, the airline's local workforce has fluctuated sharply over the past nine years.

Since August 2002, US Airways has been through two bankruptcies. It was bought by America West Holdings Corp. in 2006.

Legit

Ah Yes, I Remember It Well

I flew home from LaGuardia last night. I didn't have a problem using the kiosk to check in. However, there was one flight that had been cancelled and two others were delayed. There was one passenger who was irate and quite a few more who were grumbling to the ticket counter agents. What these passengers should have been doing was counting themselves very lucky that it wasn't Christmas and it didn't snow.

I worked for The Office of Consumer Affairs at US Airways during the Sabre computer cutover in December 1997. At that time US Airways employees were in the midst of a computer system learning curve, further impacted by increased holiday travel and a huge snowstorm in the North.

US Airways Sees More Check-In Problems
Charlotte, Philadelphia, Boston, Las Vegas Expect Delays
AP
PHOENIX (March 5) - US Airways passengers were encouraged to check-in using the company's Web site while the airline continued to work Monday to repair malfunctioning check-in kiosks that created long lines and delayed travelers in some cities over the weekend.
The Tempe-based airline hoped to have the kiosks repaired by the end of the day, said US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant. "We're hoping," he said. "There probably won't be one silver bullet that we can find to fix everything."

Problems with kiosks in Charlotte, Philadelphia, Boston and Las Vegas began Sunday after the airline put a computerized reservation system in place, delaying some passengers for at least an hour and a half in Las Vegas and Charlotte, the airline's largest hub.

The system is a consolidation of the reservation systems of US Airways Group Inc. and America West Airlines, which combined in 2005.

Elise Eberwein, an airline spokeswoman, said passengers should check in for their flights online so they can avoid possible lines. The online check-in option was shut down for part of the weekend because of the system consolidation.

"One of the problems contributing to the problems yesterday was the Web check-in was unavailable," added Durrant. "Folks who are accustomed to doing that can do that again."

Durrant said there were flight delays Sunday but that US Airways flights were "running fairly on time" Monday. There were no cancellations, he said.

At Boston's Logan International Airport, lines were unusually long at US Airways' check-in counter on Sunday, but no flights departing Logan were canceled because of the malfunction, airport spokesman Phil Orlandella said.

Lines were somewhat shorter Monday as all US Airways passengers checked in with staff at the counter, rather than using the kiosks, Orlandella said.

"There have been no major problems - it's just an inconvenience," he said.

Michelle Mohr, another US Airways spokeswoman, said the airline's Pittsburgh kiosks have not been working since Sunday morning, but that additional local staff had been assigned to help passengers and disruptions were minimal.

"We're putting some fixes into place," she said. "We're working night and day and have a team dedicated to bringing those kiosks back online."

US Airways is advising travelers to arrive at the airport two hours early for domestic flights, Mohr said.

Even though many passengers were affected by this past weekend's Sabre to Shares cutover, it was nothing compared to 1997.

Barf Bags

Was I really feeling sad last week about not working for US Airways? I came across this acticle today, and giggled like a 6 year old....

US Airways to Place Ads on Air Sickness Bags

PHOENIX (AP) — US Airways wants to make the most out of a nauseating situation. The airline plans to sell advertisements on its air-sickness bags — those pint-sized expandable envelopes tucked between the in-flight magazines and safety cards.

"They're in every back seat pocket," said US Airways Group Inc. spokesman Phil Gee. "We figure while it's there, why don't we make it multipurpose?"

Passengers should see the new, commercialized sickness bags in September, he said.

The ads are just the latest initiative the company has used to squeeze out a bigger profit. America West, which combined with US Airways last year, had the first advertisements in the industry on tray tables, the first airline gift cards and the first in-flight meals for sale.

"Little things like that work," said Michael Boyd, president of the Boyd Group, an aviation consulting group in Evergreen, Colo. "Barf bags have a lot of shelf life — people aren't barfing as much in planes as they used to."

The new bags drew a few chuckles among US Airways passengers at the company's hub at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

"I would honestly pay no attention to an ad if I got sick," said Nathan Vierra, 19, a
student. "But hey, if skateboarders can sell ad space on their T-shirts, I guess why can't an airline sell ads on barf bags?"

US Airways has not decided how much it will charge for the ads, and has only begun negotiating with companies that could be interested, Gee said. The ads could be for anti-motion sickness medications or other products immediately on the mind of someone who reaches for one of the bags. But Gee said US Airways will look for a wide range of product advertisements to put on its bags.

Boyd said the trick for US Airways is to find ads that will make them a little cash without turning off customers.

"Some people don't want the inside of their cabins to look like subway cars," he said. "And the jury isn't in on advertising on tray tables as a decent way to boost revenue.

"But having an advertisement for a barf bag, especially if it's for something like Dramamine, now that's brilliant."

I can't stop laughing enough to even comment.....

US Airways and Bill

I took Mallorie to the Charlotte airport today, for her flight on US Airways to New York. (She's spending two weeks with Geoff and Karla.) This was the first time I've been on "US Airways" property since being displaced...er, layed off.

Walking through the CLT airport, this time, was very different from all the other times I've been there. I never recognized the "superior attitude" I held previously, until I realized that I was just Jody Average Customer this time.
US Airways is no longer "my" airline and I'm no longer "their" employee. It was a very sobering day.

I did have a chance to chat with Bill Carey. For many years Bill and I worked together in Customer Relations. In an effort to remain with the company, he applied for and was promoted to a shift manager position. He left Customer Relations a week before the office closed. I hadn't seen him since. When he first walked up I didn't even recognize him! While he has lost a few pounds, what was most different about him was the lack of "confidence" you achieve when you've been at your job for several years. The whole "fish out of water" feeling was written all over his face, though he tried his best to cover it up. Bill and I have known each other for, well, a whole lot of years, and I know that he will get back that level of "confidence" he had in Customer Relations. It will just take him some time. Still, he looked great, albeit a bit tired. We talked about his job, my lack of a job, former co-workers and US Airways as a whole.

After ensuring Mallorie's flight had departed I said goodbye to Bill and left the airport. I was a bit sad on my drive home. I guess I hadn't realized how much I do miss US Airways. Say what you want about the company and it's problems, but I really did enjoy working for the airline. And I really miss Bill. Our lives seem so very different now.

Man, it sucks being displaced...er, layed off.

US Airways and the Postal Service

I just got my severance check today. According to the yellow stickers (yes, plural stickers) my check has been bouncing back and forth between Washington, DC and Lewisville since July 7!! Four yellow stickers indicate my check was "returned to sender" each time.

Now, the address on the check is, in fact, my correct address. I am absolutely at a loss as to why the local post office sent it back in the first place. I've received other pieces of mail (mostly junk and bills) at my address. Why someone slapped on the first yellow sticker I'll probably never know. I can only guess at the initial excuses, "We had a new employee." "We got your name confused with someone else."

Upon return receipt, US Airways did exactly what they were supposed to do: check employee records. Yep, the address on the check is the same one we have on file. Maybe it was just a new employee or name confusion. We'll just drop the check into the nearest mailbox, yellow sticker and all.

Now the post office is holding my severance check for the second time, and, noticing the yellow sticker....what do they do? Check their computer for a correct address? Remove the original sticker and deliver the check to the correctly printed address? Seek a supervisor for additional assistance? Heck no! We'll just assume we were correct the first time and that Cheryl isn't at that address. Slap goes another sticker. Shuffle off to Washington.

My check is, again, in the hands of US Airways. Have you read the papers about the airline lately? They are overworked and morale is so low since too many employees have been layed off due to the merger. (Hello? I totally understand. It is my severance check after all!) Everything is moving to corporate headquarters in Tempe, AZ and since Washington, DC is not in Tempe...well, we'll just re-re-mail the check to the exact same address. And because they are overworked and losing their jobs they don't care enough to remove both yellow stickers.

Now the post office is admiring my check for the third time. Did the price of stamps go up recently? We've no money to pay (good) employees since too many people are emailing these days and snail mail is becoming obsolete. So are postal (no pun here) employees. With an attitude similar to US Airways' the third yellow sticker gets slapped on my check. Shuffle ball change back to Washington.

Are there US Airways employees still in Washington? No human being could have possibly layed eyes on my severance check. There are three neon yellow stickers pasted on my check. No one investigates employee records to find a telephone number. Nope, instead we'll make an assumption. She is obviously not at the listed address, so any telephone number located would most likely be incorrect as well. Third time may just be the charm....re-re-re-mail to Lewisville.

Now the post office is really getting ticked. Three yellow stickers? Is US Airways that dense? Does US Airways not understand what "return to sender" means? Well this should teach that airline....whack goes the fourth yellow sticker. Drop kick back to Washington.

We were guaranteed to receive severance checks within 45 days. Most of my co-workers received them within 4 weeks. Two days ago I send an email to my HR representative who, incidentally, is in Tempe, AZ. I receive a voicemail from US Airways who, incidentally, is located in Washington, DC advising that I should be receiving my check by Friday. "Please call back if you do not receive it."

A package was hand-delivered this afternoon to my door compliments of FedEx. My severance check, with four yellow stickers attached, was inside.

Tempe, AZ and FedEx....I thank you. To the rest of you, well, enough said.

Still Saying Goodbye

Three more departed Customer Relations yesterday. When I agreed to remain until June 16, I thought the toughest part of the job would be handling the phones. In reality, the actual handling of customer contacts, even phones, is okay. It's the Friday departures that are getting harder to take.

Someone asked me if I thought it would have been better if the West had stuck to a single "everyone has to leave now" date. I think the answer is yes, and no. On the one hand, we'd have only needed to say our goodbyes during that one, single day. Saying goodbye every week can be draining, not to mention the emotional impact of seeing more and more boxes packed and cubes deconstructed. But on the other hand, many of us remain in touch with those that left on the 28th. In that, we do update each other on "so-and-so" during elevator rides or smoke breaks. (Though you guys are gone, you certainly haven't been forgotten.)

Still I'm already gearing up for this Friday....