....You are right, CO is alienating its FFr's big time...myself included. They are dumping partner airlines (HP I have mixed emotions about), and the other non-US partners don't offer too many options. I would rather fly and have my points with NW now (more upgrades, better service) than CO....... Bryant Petitt Cumming, GA --- Steven Catron <stepan-ilych@multipro.com> wrote: > Bethune might want to pay less attention to JetBlue > and more attention to > the extreme disaffection among his best customers. > CO Platinum elites > over at www.flyertalk.com are so fed up they're > either leaving CO > altogether, or booking on NW and other partners. > That way the partners > get the revenue, CO gets the FF expenses. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <lafrance@verizon.net> > To: <AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> > Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 15:40 > Subject: Continental CEO sees dim prospects for > JetBlue > > > > Continental CEO sees dim prospects for JetBlue > > > > > > Wednesday April 17, 4:05 PM EDT > > > > HOUSTON, April 17 (Reuters) - Continental Airlines > (CAL) Chief Executive > Gordon Bethune said on Wednesday he was skeptical > that upstart rival > JetBlue Airways (JBLU) would succeed and said its > soaring stock price was > proving P.T. Barnum correct. > > > > Barnum, who founded the Barnum & Bailey Circus, > was famous for > supposedly saying "There's a sucker born every > minute." > > > > Bethune made his comments at Continental's annual > shareholder meeting in > response to a question about his thoughts on > JetBlue's stock price rising > 70 percent since an initial public offering on > Friday. It opened at $27, > soared to $45 the same day and has stayed at that > level. > > > > "It just says that P.T. Barnum was right," the > outspoken Bethune said, > drawing laughter from the audience. > > > > > > "Since 1978 the record pretty well shows that no > start-up airline...has > really been successful, so the odds of JetBlue > having long-term success > are remote," he said. > > > > "I'm not going to say it can't happen because > stranger things have > happened, but I personally believe P.T. Barnum was, > in that respect, > correct." > > > > Officials at two-year-old JetBlue, a discount > airline based in New York, > were not immediately available for comment. > > > > Continental would love to see similar success in > an IPO for its regional > airline unit, ExpressJet Holdings Inc. (XJT), which > was in the process of > being completed on Wednesday. It was expected to be > priced between $14 and > $16 per share when it hits the market on Thursday. > > > > "We've had a lot of very, very favorable responses > from institutions and > retail sales and we expect them to go complete that > transaction sometime > today," Bethune said. > > > > Bethune also said that Continental, still > recovering from the effects of > the Sept. 11 attacks, hoped to boost its cash > reserves from the current > level of about $1.1 billion to $1.5 billion by > year's end as a cushion > against future shocks. > > > > He said the airline, which is the nation's fifth > largest, had 55,000 > employees when the attacks occurred, but laid off > 8,000 afterwards in > cost-cutting measures. The lost work force is slowly > being brought back, > he said. > > > > "Today I'm pleased to report we are back above > 48,000 and we continue to > rehire our colleagues as demand returns," Bethune > said. > > > > > > Roger La France > > EWR > > CO767 or ewrgateman on IAM __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/