I feel bad for the 28,000 employees of US Air, Joni's cousin Jason being one of them.  When ever possible I try to support companies my family is employed by in an attempt to keep money in my family.  We don't particularly fly alot, but we've made at least 5 or 6 in the past two years.  I saw on the news and heard from Jason last night that US Air filed for bankruptcy for the second time in as many years.  The first time I felt bad for them and did what I could to help them by ensuring that all our flights were booked on US Air.  This time around I am not so sympathetic, at least not for the company.  I've seen Jason bend over backwards taking paycut after paycut, going from full time to part time, giving up all kinds of benifits; all the while the company continues to waste money like it's growing on trees.  The person they selected to lead them out of their financial troubles got a severence package worth roughly $8+ million (1/10th of what they claim they need from the employees) and he gets that weather or not he saves the company.  Additionally, I have witnessed them flying planes with unfilled seats because they refuse to discount the seats at the last minute in an effort to fill them.  Not to mention their asinine rules that require a certified mechanic ($30/hour base, most working on overtime) to push back planes. 

Naturally management has been in attempting to work with the unions to save money.  In the most recent negotiations the pilots union told the managers to go to hell after they requested some ridiculous amount of like 40% paycuts.  Jason was asked to take almost a 45% paycut to which his union replied emphatically NO, and I don't blame them. Through all the tough times and repeated cuts guess how much the managers gave back to the company they love and claim to want to save.  Not a red cent!  Nearly every union has given back almost 50% already, yet the managers haven't given up anything.  The general feeling among the employees, I agree with them, is close the doors and sell it all.  The management of US Air really could use a lesson in leading by example!