Originally Posted by
Jorgen
The main reason I dislike the 757 is that it takes too darn long to board. Though the longer 737 variants aren't much better in this regard.
With the second door boarding of the 757, it usually leaves < 160 people on the right side (assuming 757-200; the 757-300 is a different story), so it's not much different than a longer 737 as you point out.
Originally Posted by
Jorgen
On the matter of "losing leverage", I'm sure that everybody in the negotiation knows perfectly well that even if United isn't (officially) talking to Airbus at the moment that they easily could do so if they don't feel like Boeing's giving them a good deal. In fact, "give us a good deal or we'll start talking to Airbus" is just as good as "give us a good deal because we're currently talking to Airbus", and saves you the trouble of actually talking to Airbus.
Speaking of leverage, they may in fact be messing with Airbus by leaking that they're going to only talk to Boeing, in the hopes that Airbus becomes more aggressive.
Then again, from this one-size-fits-all fleet management team that has never had to leverage competitors against each other, I doubt it.