CO is already being turned into a second class citizen in Skyteam.
Last I heard they were looking at some kind of looser hookup with AA & BA.
Things could get very favorable for DLNW if everyone else were to spend the rest of the year fumbling around the dance floor while DLNW strive to create the nation's strongest airline...
Bad news for the Remedy's - Mrs is CO, Mr is NW. We have a trip to ZRH in August/Sept on CO. Hope things do not change - at least until after that!
Would CO actually leave SkyTeam, or are we talking about yet another one-off alliance? CO already has mileage deals with OneWorld airlines. Would an AA deal really be all that ground breaking? NW is going after similar deals that CO already has (i.e. Virgin).
Would CO actually leave SkyTeam, or are we talking about yet another one-off alliance? CO already has mileage deals with OneWorld airlines. Would an AA deal really be all that ground breaking? NW is going after similar deals that CO already has (i.e. Virgin).
My perception is that joining (and perhaps also leaving) the worldwide alliances is an intensive process that will take some time. I'd see the formation of a relationship (and perhaps TATL ATI) between CO/AA/BA, and the concurrent disentanglement of the CO/NW relationship, taking a matter of months. A move from Skyteam to Oneworld may begin at the same time, but could take several years to complete.
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If CO keeps solid footing, then perhaps it can scoop up some assets at the UA bankruptcy sale! I just wish that NW will do the same and bail from the DL deal. They have their golden share back, so are in good shape, I think.
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Here's the text of the snail mail I'm going to send to Pelosi and Schumer in Congress. If anyone can think of other Congress people that should be written, let me know. Everyone who cares about the merger should be writing letters.
Quote:
I wanted to write a quick note to you to urge you to work on rejecting any merger between Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines.
My occupation is as a software programmer, and I'm just a consumer and a mildly frequent passenger (so I don't pretend to be an expert in the industry), but I can't imagine there is any easy way for lobbyists to sugarcoat the fact that recent airline mergers have been uniformly bad for everyone (e.g. TWA and Reno Air being acquired by American Airlines, where St. Louis airport has been decimated; USAirways swallowing America West and the organizational chaos that's resulted). There's no indication that the combined Delta/Northwest airlines would be any different. The executive teams have made many nice promises, but as soon as the merger goes through they're likely to forget those promises and close hubs, offshore & outsource work and lay off thousands of domestic employees, and of course raise prices. This certainly goes against the intent of Congress when airline deregulation was passed years ago: just like AT&T has acquired all the "Baby Bells" to strengthen their pricing positions and reduce competition, these airline mergers also reduce competition.
I do realize that rising fuel costs mean higher fares, and that's very reasonable. But the airlines are playing games with consumers (advertising "each way" fares before adding on a pile of taxes and arbitrary fees), and this merger proposal serves as a reward and permission for them to continue their bad behavior.
This is a transaction designed primarily to line the pockets of "current" stakeholders (executives, investment companies) while continuing to hurt consumers and "former" stakeholders (long term & loyal employees & unions who held shares of the companies before bankruptcy, now worthless).
Please consider the impact to consumers and employees and I hope you'll work for healthy competition and against any further consolidation of the airline industry.
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I had to re-read that to... I think what Jaimito Cartero meant "They (CO) have their golden share back..."
Quote:
Originally Posted by james318
What do you mean? I was under the impression that deal or no deal with DL, NW didn't get the golden share back.
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I'd see the formation of a relationship (and perhaps TATL ATI) between CO/AA/BA, and the concurrent disentanglement of the CO/NW relationship, taking a matter of months.
It's hard to envision how the CO/AA/BA alliance would work, given how unintegrated AA and BA are today -- for example, no miles for TATL flights for the other airline's elites. Either CO would need to have a similar loose relationship (and maybe stay in ST?) or AA/BA would need to work more closely together, too.
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Well Put!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DJMeatBall
Here's the text of the snail mail I'm going to send to Pelosi and Schumer in Congress. If anyone can think of other Congress people that should be written, let me know. Everyone who cares about the merger should be writing letters.
I like it! I like it A LOT!!! As an added refinement, have you thought about providing more details around the impacts of the American Airlines and US Air acquisitions? Thanks for sharing this, btw!
I like it! I like it A LOT!!! As an added refinement, have you thought about providing more details around the impacts of the American Airlines and US Air acquisitions? Thanks for sharing this, btw!
Thanks for the compliments. Who else should I send my merger snail mail letter to? The head of the Federal Trade Commission?
It's hard to envision how the CO/AA/BA alliance would work, given how unintegrated AA and BA are today -- for example, no miles for TATL flights for the other airline's elites. Either CO would need to have a similar loose relationship (and maybe stay in ST?) or AA/BA would need to work more closely together, too.
I can tell you that the BA/AA "alliance" is a royal pain. I couldn't earn AA miles on all of my DTW-LHR flights, but preferred AA to BA status, so had to split the miles, LHR-(non-US) to AA and LHR-US to BA.
It was my understanding it was related to antitrust issues. I don't know if they still have antitrust problems- frankly, both NW/DL and AF/KLM are larger than BA and AA, yet they are permitted to not only give miles, but actually revenue share on transatlantic flights (so BA and AA should at least be permitted to share miles). I don't think the restrictions on their partnership have been by choice- they would love to be better integrated.
I can tell you that the BA/AA "alliance" is a royal pain. I couldn't earn AA miles on all of my DTW-LHR flights, but preferred AA to BA status, so had to split the miles, LHR-(non-US) to AA and LHR-US to BA.
It was my understanding it was related to antitrust issues. I don't know if they still have antitrust problems- frankly, both NW/DL and AF/KLM are larger than BA and AA, yet they are permitted to not only give miles, but actually revenue share on transatlantic flights (so BA and AA should at least be permitted to share miles). I don't think the restrictions on their partnership have been by choice- they would love to be better integrated.
The Antitrust issues that AA/BA have are the sheer number of flights they have combined from the US to LHR. Between the two of them they controlled a large percentage of the flights and the Justice Department in Washington did not like that so they put controls on how they are able to cooperate within the OW alliance.
That might soon change with the Open Skies agreement but time will tell.
Why send the letter to Congressional reps? As you know, Congress doesn't actually have a say in approving or disapproving mergers. Oberstar would like everyone to think he does, but in reality, all he has to offer on mergers is hot air. Hearings and bombast, but no actual power.
Here's the text of the snail mail I'm going to send to Pelosi and Schumer in Congress. If anyone can think of other Congress people that should be written, let me know. Everyone who cares about the merger should be writing letters.
I agree 100%. We also need to express out opposition to the regulators and stress the monopolisitic, anti-competitive nature of the takeovers/mergers.
There are a number of things Congress could do in response to these takeover / mergers which all smack of a ''do something even if it is wrong'' mentality by airline execs along with greed for golden parachutes.
One would be some new consumer protection legislation which will be much more sorely needed with the resulting oligopoly, to either expressly allow state consumer protection law jurisdiction over restraint of trade issues in air travel or to create new federal legislation on the subject. Perhaps that could include a ''use as earned'' provision requiring any airline taking over another to honor all ff balances according to the terms in force when they were earned.
Last edited by thezipper; Apr 30, 08 at 7:53 am.
Reason: Consecutive posts by the OP
I just wish that NW will do the same and bail from the DL deal. They have their golden share back, so are in good shape, I think.
Well Put!
I like it A LOT!!! 
As an added refinement, have you thought about providing more details around the impacts of the American Airlines and US Air acquisitions? Thanks for sharing this, btw! 
