I don't understand this post. Industry consolidation does not create competition, nor is it good for the consumer. There is no "free market" where you have a few big players. When elephants contend, the grass gets trampled underfoot.

I see the airline industry going the way of the casino industry. It's taking a while but it seems that we no longer have any will to resist these large monopolies. Once there only a few major players who own "everything," most of the goodies will go away for everyone except the very few.

Southwest is harping on bag fees because their prices aren't that great, at least from New Orleans they're not. They hook the naive, who don't think to shop around because they automatically assume that because it's a miserable traveling experience with no elite lines, no first class etc. that it's somehow cheaper. If I was an AirTran elite, I would be pretty concerned right about now...

I lost good and valuable things in the NW/DL merger, and I think a lot of people did. Most irritating, the inability now to reserve seats on the very first row in coach. On many aircraft, row 5 is the best seat on the plane. So DL blocks it off, apparently to hand out to their buddies or whoever slips the GA a twenty at the gate. If I wasn't getting a LOT of upgrades, this situation alone would be enough to make me start shopping solely on price and to forget about loyalty.

If people think a merger is about a free market or creating a free market, all I can say is, What planet is that again???