Originally Posted by BearX220

Actually I think Larry put the mediocrity ball in play and now Smisek is rushing it downfield. It was Kellner who experimented with 50% EQM, cryptic black box logic behind UDUs, and positioning service and benefit cuts as "enhancements" -- the kind of doubletalk that would get you thrown out of Gordon's office. Now Smisek is gutting the proposition via "alignment to industry norms," e.g. making everything suck.

I do, however, think Smisek is going to get hit with UA labor issues like a kitten gets hit by a Kenworth. He has no idea what he's in for. On my flights the last few months I don't know which workforce is more resigned, unmotivated and bitter... the CO people who are losing their whole brand and identity, or the UA people who resent CO management (and to be fair came to the merger unmotivated and bitter to start with).

So when the dust settles I think there will be zero great airlines in this space, just a big minimum-quality mess beset by infighting and miseries. As someone upthread said, welding two crummy operations together never results in one great one.