Originally Posted by
kcnwgold
This truly sucks and again the consumer gets screwed. If you honestly believe that this is in the best interest of consumers.......NOT! Less choice and competition is never a good thing.
Originally Posted by
UA Fan
Must admit, the reduced competition is a concern.
I wouldn't be so concerned. With WN, UA, CO, US, AA, B6, and scattered others (either already there or waiting to come onto the scene), there remains sufficient competition to keep everyone on their toes. Even if we view CO/UA as a de-facto merger, we are still looking at 5 major domestic players, plus a handful of smaller lines. I don't see much difference in pricing pressure going from 7 to 5.
I would be more concerned with the proliferation of JVs for TATL service. There, we are going from perhaps 12 players to maybe 3 major players. But the JVs were coming, with or without this merger.