Originally Posted by
SOBE ER DOC
Thank you for the personal attack on my intellectual capacity. Much appreciated.
The only objective way one can view the potential behavior of someone in a role is to view their past behavior in a similar role. Parker started with "US is a LCC." The it was "oh, wait, we're a legacy carrier." When oil prices spiked US did everything but start sky writing to drum up revenue with investing in HVCs that drive the profitability for airlines that run a hub and spoke model. Parker walked into the strongest carrier on the east coast and and watched an the competition ate this lunch. US had over 120 flights a day at LGA and could not figure out how to make that work in the most lucrative airline market in the world. That to me would be cause for termination.
Look, I used to a CP with US and watched the rather precipitous decline of that airline post-merger with HP. It was a disaster. I have NO reason to believe Parker will do any better with AA's assets.
It was hardly a personal attack. I specifically outlined the misleading and nonsensical elements of your hype.
US was about to liquidate when HP merged with them - hardly a "strong" carrier --
Parker or anyone isn't going to come in and burn down the house - and dismantle AA's strengths.
Whether the merger happens or not, I expect AA will devalue and loyalty rewards in the future will be more closely linked to $$$ spent.
I'm not a Parker fan - but then again there are risks in Horton's plan - neither is a wonderful option - most folks who aren't PRing it up for one airline or another can see that pretty clearly. The fact that AA JV partners are openly supports a merger calls into question that Horton's stand alone plan - which is based on growing JV revenue - can achieve those objectives. At the same time as I have said before both sides are obviously inflating their revenue projections and costs savings to support their plan. In all likelihood neither plan will achieve what is being sold.
Of course there are some folks who just will ignore anything positive US has done - like TATL Envoy Class - which is essentially what AA is now installing.