Hi, this is Patti and welcome to FLT-LINE on Friday, February 14th.

Information road show meetings on the status of United’s plan for transformation began this week. The presentation lays out the steps we need to take to successfully emerge from Chapter 11 and work towards sustained profitability. In developing the plan for transformation, we looked at air travel through the eyes of our customers—what they want, how they want it, and the prices they’re willing to pay.

It’s a reality that United has the highest costs in the industry. For this reason, we need to permanently reduce both labor and non-labor costs so that we can be competitive for the long term. To maintain this competitive advantage, the United brand needs to offer products that support our customers’ changing needs…

I am aware that many of you are concerned about discussions regarding introduction of a low cost carrier, but it’s critical that we do everything we can to compete more effectively. Our mainline product remains the heart of our enterprise and is a solid foundation for making dramatic improvements in our overall business.

This said, we can’t afford to ignore low-cost carriers and the compelling value proposition that they offer for customers. We need to be able to compete head-to-head with these carriers. The plan for transformation helps us to compete more effectively by offering a range of products under the United brand including mainline, United Express, Star Alliance, code share and a low-cost carrier that would be fully integrated into the United network.

I encourage you to stay informed about the plan by attending one of the presentations, which are scheduled into March. Details about these meetings are forthcoming. You will learn first hand about the status of the plan and have an opportunity to ask questions of the senior officer presenters.

For the month of February, we’re running a very solid operation. Our average completion rate is 99.4 percent with 76 percent of our flights departing on time, and an average load factor of 64.8 percent.

I know that despite personal concerns your focus continues to be on our customers and making a lasting positive impression, and I’d ask that you keep this up. I’d ask too, that when a customer request cannot be met, that we not reply "that we’re in bankruptcy and don’t have that." Keep information like this coming in through DIS*123 when that occurs so we can be responsive to feedback, such as reinstating LaCroix water and champagne on Hawaii flights.

As you can imagine, I receive quite a bit of correspondence from customers and employees. And, nothing impresses me more than receiving compliments about our flight attendants from another employee. This happened recently for San Francisco-based flight attendants Julia Stocker, Evelyn Cayetano and Kiersten Libby. The captain of their trip wrote to tell us about the great job the crew did in impressing our customers despite a bumpy ride. At the end of the flight our customers didn’t walk off by just saying goodbye… instead, they commented about how wonderful the flight had been.

I know that you’re out there doing a great job and I experience this during my frequent travels. What’s important in this situation is how the crew demonstrated care for our customers so that even with turbulence, customers deplaned saying our crew was amazing and you know what? I couldn’t agree more.

That’s it for today’s message. Thanks for dialing in and I’ll look forward to talking to you next week.

Let’s keep our heads up and our determination strong. Just keep remembering there is no better airline than United. Take care of our customers and of each other. Talk to you next week.