American Officials Brief Leaders

Thursday, January 11th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DALLAS (AP) â€” American Airlines might find that negotiating multi-billion-dollar deals to buy parts of other airlines was just a warm-up for selling the transactions to pilots and flight attendants.

While chairman and chief executive Donald J. Carty was in New York to announce American's purchase of Trans World Airlines Inc. and parts of US Airways, company officials briefed union leaders on the deals back at headquarters in Fort Worth.

Leaders of the Allied Pilots Association left their meeting with more questions than they began with, and they scheduled a follow-up meeting Thursday, a spokesman said.

The flight attendants were a tougher audience. Angered by stalled contract talks, the union scheduled a meeting Thursday at which time directors are expected to authorize a strike ballot.

``I expect it will pass,'' said Leslie Mayo, spokeswoman for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants.

It was a different mood in St. Louis, where TWA employees were ecstatic that American had agreed to offer jobs to all TWA's unionized workers.

``Everyone is very happy with the news we have today,'' said Scott Sherrin, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents TWA's 2,300 pilots. ``It definitely gives us an added level of security going to a carrier like American.''

American plans to acquire most of TWA for about $500 milllion.

TWA has been losing money since 1988, and Sherrin said pilots didn't know whether the airline would liquidate or be rescued by a white knight.

``This is the best outcome we were hoping for,'' he said.

Sherrin said the TWA pilots were eager to sit down with their American counterparts â€” who are paid more â€” and discuss where the newcomers will go on American's seniority list. Seniority is critical to pilots, determining which routes they fly and whether they get the captain's chair, which pays more.

``This is an enormously large deal, and our pilots' careers are at stake, so we have questions about several items,'' Jim Philpot, another Allied Pilots Association spokesman, said of the buyouts. ``We're withholding judgment.''

The last time American bought another carrier â€” small Reno Air in 1998 â€” it provoked an uproar among pilots who feared losing assignments to much-lower paid Reno Air pilots.

The issue was settled, but only after a sickout that led to the cancellation of more than 6,000 flights, costing the airline an estimated $225 million. A federal judge levied $45.5 million in damages against the union for defying a back-to-work order.

American's 23,000 flight attendants want a federal mediator to end talks with the airline, which would start a 30-day countdown until the union could legally strike.

``I hope (the strike ballot vote) makes Mr. Carty more eager to settle with us and take care of one problem before he goes on to another,'' said Mayo, the union spokeswoman. ``Maybe it will give him an incentive to settle with us.''

American's pilots will begin contract negotiations this summer, and they want a deal matching the industry-leading contract approved last year for United's pilots.

Hal Rosenbluth, chairman and chief executive of Rosenbluth International, a large travel agency, said he disagreed with predictions that airline consolidation will drive up fares.

``I'm more worried about the wage increases,'' he said.

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On the Net:

TWA: http://www.twa.com

American: http://www.im.aa.com

Association of Flight Attendants: http://www.afanet.org

APA: http://www.alliedpilots.org