Agreed. Plus, the EU will no doubt weigh in with its view of the anticompetitive nature of a merger. My view is that as long as three viable alliances remain, the EU would probably approve. The potential wrinkle is that US currently competes with its Star Alliance partners (since it is not in the immunized joint venture) and thus a merger with AA reduces transatlantic competition from four large US competitors (Star, Skyteam, Oneworld and US) to just three (the three alliances). It goes without saying that AA-US might have to relinquish some LHR slots - probably equal to US' currrent LHR portfolio.