Hello everyone. It’s that time again. Yes, the magical mystery publishing date of PlaneBusiness Banter hit the “Monday” box this week.

This week we have a great issue — for one main reason.

We have a new PBB Lounge Lizard Transcript Interview! Yay! This week we sit down and chat with Laura Glading, President of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. Let me put it this way. Laura has a lot to say. And I had a lot of time.

Unfortunately because the American Airlines/US Airways merger is still not completed, and American is still in bankruptcy, I have to admit — there were some entertaining stories that, well, will just have to stay off the record for now. But someday….

We talk a lot this week about why airline stocks fell flat on their face last week. We also get some expert opinion on the situation from Jamie Baker and Mark Streeter with JP Morgan; Hunter Keay with Wolfe Trahan; and Glenn Engel with Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. 

I wonder when Bank of America will finally drop the “Merrill Lynch” moniker?

We update you on the Boeing 787 saga, we show you a picture of a happy CEO and his large mouth bass, we talk about the new 47 page opus the FAA just sent out to airlines — the particulars on the new schedule/duty hours changes the  airlines are supposed to make before Jan. 4, and we also have a couple of interesting letters to digest and consider.

All this, and much, much more in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.