August 2013 Summer/Fall issue US Airways Retirees LAS Chapter Newsletter

What’s up at our meeting?

Datebook details

Who: Don Honeycutt and Tony Priebe, na-

tional leaders of the US Airways and Ameri-

can Airlines retiree associations.

What: They’re talking about important

things that matter to you.

Where: Enterprise Library, 25 E. Shel-

bourne Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89123

When: Monday, Oct. 7, from 11 a.m. to 1

p.m.

Why: Because things are changing rapidly

and you need to stay on top of the merger as

it happens — if it happens. It will affect your

hard-won retiree flight benefits. You really

need to be there to find out what’s going on.

Airlines vow to fight

Washington action

SIGNS OF THE TIMES: A US Airways jet leaves as an American Airlines plane

readies for takeoff. The photograph is a metaphor for the impending merger.

Leaders at US Airways

and American Airlines had expected to spend the second half of Sep-tember putting the finish-

ing touches on their pro-jected merger. But the 11th-hour objec-tion by the U.S. Depart-ment of Justice threatens to upset the merger, or at least delay it. The DOJ, joining attor-

neys general for six states and the District of Columbia, sued to halt the merger, arguing it would stifle competition, drive up airfares and reduce services. US Airways and AA imme-diately vowed to fight the DOJ action. Legal teams swooped into action. “We are extremely disap-pointed in this action and believe the DOJ is wrong in its assessment. We will

fight them,” US Airways chairman Doug Parker said in a letter to employ-ees. “I am certain that our

proposed merger is the best path forward for both airlines and all of our stakeholders.” The betting was that the merger would become a reality in the third quarter of 2013 — that’s now — but both airlines now

expect the DOJ move to delay it until the end of the year. Until this matter is re-solved, US Airways Retir-ees Assn. and our friends at the American Airlines retirees organization, the AA Vanguards, will oper-ate under the assump-tion that the merger will happen Accordingly, we are continuing our plan to merge our two groups.

Continued on Page 2

THE WAY THINGS USED TO BE? Passengers at a US Air-

ways counter — soon, perhaps, to be a thing of the past.

That handsome fellow in

the middle of this story is

Tony Priebe, national

president of AA Van-

guards, the retiree or-

ganization of American

Airlines.

You’ll meet him at our

next general meeting —

an event you must not

miss.

Please note the day has

been changed to Mon-

day, Oct. 7 from the pre-

viously announced Sep-

tember date.

Just as US Airways be-

comes part of the new

American Airlines, (we

hope) our retiree associa-

tion is merging with the

Vanguards.

Both Tony and Don

Honeycutt, national chair-

man of US Airways Retir-

ees, will be on hand at

our fall meeting to ex-

plain developments.

Don and Tony will be

available to answer any

questions you may have

about the merger .

Continued on Page 3

Tony Priebe

Merger edition

Merger hits turbulence

P a g e 2

THE WAY THINGS ARE: Treasurer Georgia Latimer listens intently as AA Vanguards chief Tony Priebe explains a few things that might be

helpful in merging with our US Airways Retirees Assn. Georgia attended the Vanguards bimonthly meeting recently.

Airlines vow to fight …

Continued from Page 1

Both US and AA have mergers under their

belt. So we hope they have learned from ex-

perience and can blend the best practices of

both carriers seamlessly into one protocol for

the new American Airlines.

The merger experiences of both were rife with

learning opportunities:

US Airways suffered through years of

debate and dispute about pilots seniority

after the merger with America West;

American Airlines still feels rancor from

some former TWA retirees who felt they

were shafted when AA took over their

employer more than 20 years ago.

Our members, then, must pay close attention

to merger developments .

The merger will not now be closed by the time

of our Oct. 7 meeting, and airline representa-

tives must be close-mouthed for legal rea-

sons.

So the only way we are likely to learn much of

anything about what is happening is through

out own representatives.

Don Honeycutt is national chairman of the US

Airways Retirees Assn. He’ll be on hand at our

meeting. Also there will be Tony Priebe, na-

tional president of the AA Vanguards, the

airline’s retiree organization.

Both of them, along with our chapter leaders,

have taken part in preliminary talks about

how and when we blend our two groups. We’ll

continue discussions on our merger at the

October meeting.

The American Airlines National Vanguard

Assn. was founded in 1975 by James F. Bo-

gardus, Jr., who worked for the western divi-

sion of the airline. It had 28 members.

The name Vanguard, which means a group in

the forefront of an action or movement, was

chosen by member Capt. Captain Cecil

Hefner. The Vanguards claim almost 25,000

members today.

While we wil become part of the Vanguards,

your LAS board believes we also should retain

an independent group of US Airways/America

West retirees to organize and plan strictly

social activities.

There is precedent for this within the Van-

guards.

While it is the formal retirement group for AA,

different, smaller organizations also exist,

such as the Three Diamonds group for AA

retirees who served more than 30 years for

the airline.

P a g e 3 S u m m e r / F a l l i s s u e U S A i r w a y s R e t i r e e s L A S C h a p t e r

Continued from Page 1

And in view of the Department of Justice anti-trust objections to the merger, there’s bound to be a bit of speculation This well may be the last meeting of the LAS chapter of the US Retirees Assn. as presently constituted. So we’ll have some housekeeping items on our agenda to wind up the group. Members who attended the sum-mer lunch the other week at Hen-derson airport voted overwhelmingly for a proposal for our group to con-tinue a social-activities only program as AAVanguards takes over the busi-ness end of things. The full meeting will be asked to endorse this. Also on the agenda: Discussion of our second outing to the Super Summer Theatre in Spring Moun-tains State Park, scheduled for late September.

We’ll also begin planning for our intended Why Don’t You Go Away? retiree trip to the exciting city of London, England in the spring. We hear some of our new AA friends would like to come along with us. We’ll also have our usual 50/50 drawing and a raffle for a door prize of a roundtrip SA1P pass. That’s a jam-packed and important meeting. You need to be there. For the Homer Simpsons among you, yes, there might be donuts.

What’s up …..

Scene of the crime

Back in business at our usual place.

The Enterprise Library, 25 E. Shel-

bourne Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89123 is

the venue for our Oct. 7 meeting. Be

there at 11 a.m.

Everything you ever wanted to know

The American Airlines National Vanguard Assn

First things first: What is a

vanguard and why does the

retiree association of Ameri-

can Airlines call itself Van-

guards?

Here’s what Merriam Webster

dictionary has to say: Van-

guard, noun: 1. The troops

moving at the head of an

army; 2. The forefront of an

action or movement. By ex-

tension, then, a vanguard in

modern usage is any group

leading the way, or a position

in the forefront of new devel-

opments or ideas.

The word comes into modern

English from the middle Eng-

lish term vauntguard and,

earlier, from Anglo-French

vangarde or avant-garde, with

roots in the Latin abante +

garde. (So now you know.)

The term thus, is even older

than some of our members.

The AA vanguards were so

named in 1975 by AA Capt.

Cecil Hefner who thought the

term was apt for a forward-

looking group of retirees. The

association was founded

earlier that year by James F.

Bogardus, a personnel man-

ager for AA’s western division,

with the encouragement of

Ray Unangst, western division

vice president.

The Vanguards have many

chapters all over the country,

claiming a total membership

of more than 25,000 AA retir-

ees. In fairness, though, we

should note that some of the

chapters — at least according

to the Vanguard website —

need organization.

National president is Tony

Priebe. He lives in Hender-

son, so he also heads the Las

Vegas chapter. Tony’s email: nighthawk33120@centurylink.net

Click on the Vanguards web-

site for more information and

help. You’ll find a lot there.

The address is:

www.aavanguardscities.com

Photograph by LYNDA CARLSON

BEST OF FRIENDS: A large contingent of US Airways retirees attended the Aug. 14 meeting of AA

Vanguards to hear remarks by Charles Telles, general manager of American Airlines Las Vegas sta-

tion. Vanguards president Tony Priebe, left, and Bernard Hunt, right, thank Telles, who said all he

could say about merger developments in the wake of the last-minute Department of Justice chal-

lenge. He remains optimistic about the merger and agrees it should be a reality by the end of 2013.

President:

Bernard Hunt

Email: las@usairwaysretirees.com

Tel: (702) 363-3139

Vice president

Lou Magne

Email: lomag@aol.com

This is the newsletter of the Las Vegas chapter of the US Airways

Retirees Association. We are a group of active retirees who helped

build US Airways and its associated companies into one of the largest

airlines in North America. Find out more about us by visiting our web-

site: www.usairwaysretirees.com

C H A P T E R O F F I C E R S

WWW.USAIRWAYSRETIREES.COM

All hands on deck …

Do we know who you are? Do we know where you live? Do we have

your email address and telephone number?

We need this information to aid us as we merge our retiree group into

the American Airlines National Vanguard Assn. Help us to strengthen

this organization as a tough lobbying group for retirees to make sure

we keep the hard-won retirement benefits we earned.

You can notify us by sending a note to las@usairwaysretirees.com.

Please include your name, address, telephone number, email ad-

dress, job at U.S. Airways/America West and the date you retired.

Better yet, come to the chapter meeting at the Enterprise Library on

Mon., Oct 7 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and tell us all about it there and

then. We look forward to seeing you.

Treasurer:

Georgia Latimer

Email: lat2445ann@yahoo.com

Secretary:

Gloria Schelhase

Email: august5@gmail.com

Board member:

Jim Alegre

Email: Jaime_alegre@yahoo.com

This and that ...

You can’t get there from here anymore:

In the scheme of things, what with US

Airways merging with American Airlines

and all, it probably doesn’t matter

much. But US Airways finally — after

months of teasing —- finally has moved

to D departure gates at McCarran. The

ticket counter remains in the same old

spot, but passengers now must take the

tram to the D gates to catch the plane.

But keep a close eye on the ticket

counter. It is likely to expand with an

influx of AA staff when the merger is

closed.

▄

This could well be the last quarterly

newsletter of the LAS chapter of the US

Airways Retirees Assn. as presently

constituted. (Editor’s comment: Phew,

that’s a relief. Filling this thing every

couple of months is akin to planting a

garden without seeds, fertilizer or water.

Only one member, other than the editor

himself, ever has supplied information

for the newsletter. And you can’t run a

publication without content — or plant a

garden for that matter, either. )

▄

Curtain up, once again. Our last outing

to the Super Summer Theatre at Spring

Mountains State Park was a rousing

success. So we’re having an encore. On

Friday, Sept. 20, we’re going to see the

hysterically funny production “The Pro-

ducers.” Be there or be square. If you

want to go, send a quick email to

las@usairwaysretirees.com.

▄

If winter comes, said Shelley, displaying

his prosaic side, can spring be far be-

hind? It may not yet be autumn/fall, but

the time is ripe for thoughts about

where we might want to go when spring

pops its head above the horizon. Why

don’t you go away? As the LAS chapter

merges with the Vanguards, we turn our

attention to forming a residue social

group of former America West and US

Airways employees. One of our plans is

a spring outing to London — not the little

one in Canada, the big one in England.

As befits retirees budgets, we’re hoping

to do this as economically as possible.

We’re hoping to recruit a fairly largish

group to non-rev to England, stay in hos-

tels and walk all over one of the world’s

most fascinating cities. Time to start

thinking about planning the jaunt. It’s

on the agenda for discussion at the Oct.

7 general meeting.