Went out Monday and came back tonight. On the way out at the Club I heard rumors of another round of AA cuts in STL. Tonight while I was waiting 40 minutes for my luggage and talking to the luggage guy, he told me that Delta is adding more flights and taking over most of the A concourse. He also said they are expecting even more AA cuts in STL. He seems to think it will be ORD and DFW and that's about it.
Two weeks ago, I was doing a mileage run and spoke with a bartender at the Admiral's Club who I had never seen before (I know the two regulars quite well). She said "Pilots had been talking that STL would be cut down to 16 flights a day".
I don't buy it. First of all, pilots are not in the know ahead of any other employee group. Secondly, contract personnel in the AC's are clearly not in the know ahead of any other group.
Yes, DL is adding LGA/BOS/DCA/RDU flights. I have some concern for the AA LGA/DCA flights out of STL.
Is DL taking over most of A? No. Where are Continental, United and USAirways going to go? Is DL going to pay for them to move somewhere else? Don't think so.
I don't see ORD and DFW going anywhere. They are always full. MIA is getting a 3rd daily this winter. LAX seems to do fairly well.
*IF* there are further cuts outside of ORD/DFW, I'd have to think frequency to those cities would have to increase at the same time.
Greg