>>Business Week mag is apparently reporting that United has hidden several billion dollars in debt off the books. Their accounting firm is Arthur Anderson.<<
From the "Oy Vay!" department:
"...United Airlines Inc. parent UAL Corp.'s (UAL ) published balance sheet for 2000 shows $5 billion of long-term debt. But only a footnote describes the bulk of its lease payments, which Baggaley estimates have a present value of $12.7 billion, due over 26 years on 233 airplanes..."
<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_04/b3767704.htm" target="_blank">http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_04/b3767704.htm</a>