Retired Delta Pilot Has Advice For Tulsa Area American Airline Workers

One man knows what exactly American Airlines workers are going through. Tuesday, the company announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Employees and retirees say they are on shaky ground, unsure of what will happen next. A retired Delta pilot says they can't sit and wait. He says they have to look after themselves, because the company won't.

Jim Freeman worked as a pilot for Delta for ten years. He says they saw the airline's bankruptcy coming and rallied before the company could take everything from them.

"They need to get organized post haste. Start raising funds," Freeman said.

Freeman warned his retired American Airlines friends that the company had been circling the drain and would eventually file for bankruptcy.

A year and a half later, American's parent company, AMR, did just that. Leaving employees and retirees uncertain for their financial future.

"I'm not going to spend any money for a while I'll tell you that. Because you don't know what's coming," American Airlines retiree David Wilhelm, said Tuesday.

Freeman was already retired when Delta filed for bankruptcy in 2005.

"If you look back at the financials of the airline at that point and time, it's amazing that any of them survived at that point and time. Because they were all so badly under water," Freeman said.

He says rumors began swirling about Delta's demise. But they were ready. Ten-thousand employees organized into the Delta Airline Retirement committee, a non-profit organization, not a union.

"I don't know if we did it on the spot, but we managed to be Johnny on the spot. We had the company's attention and we had an organization," Jim Freeman said.

The group raised money and sought legal counsel. Ready to battle when bankruptcy came knocking.

"Delta knew at that point that we were an organization to be reckoned with," Freeman said.

Freeman believes the Transport Workers union has its own agenda. He says employees have to watch their own backs.

"It's going to be every man for himself. To hell with the women and children deal," he said.

Freeman says Delta didn't hold their hand and didn't have the employee's best interest at heart. He sees American following down Delta's runway.

"They need to ignore the company spin because the company is no longer the company. They are going to have to get over the fact that American Airlines that they've known," Freeman said.

There will be multiple court hearings on the bankruptcy. The first court date is December, 22 2011.