Originally Posted by
destere
I'm fully aware of the arrangement...
This is generally sums up my point. Complacency isn't good for business. AA is making the investment. If BA sits around saying we get 60% of the revenue regardless and then a large amount of the traffic shifts over to AA, AA might begin question the terms of the agreement.
Furthermore, jointly marketing two airline's products where one is notably better than the other would in my opinion look worse than comparing two competitors - especially when the price tags are the same.
You'll have companies that lead and those that follow. Leading has held BA in good stead in the past. JVs allow an for a good opportunity to lead together.
When i price out trips I often find the AA flights are discounted compared to BA CW. I end up paying a premium to fly on BA as I can sleep well in CW and they provide a better airport experience. If AA suddenly had a superior seat product it would be harder to justify the other attributes of BA as being worth the premium. After all, with a good sleeping seat and privacy i don't have to interact with AA FAs who vary from good to horrible and i can survive without my special meals. It should be around 2 years until AA really has their new J seats in a significant part of the fleet so perhaps in that time we will see an new BA CW product.