I'm a little surprised at the poll result showing a majority of ( thus far voting ) FT members saying this merger is not in the public interest. Likewise I really do not get some of the questions raised here as some folks are seeking immediate answers to questions which simply will not/can not be answered just days after the official merger is announced. For example, I am not at all surprised that AA & US are both mum on the FFer programs at this early stage & neither do I expect any guidance in this regard for the forseeable future. Then again, there remain many months to strategize and live within the current DM parameters. Historically, other mergers leave intact FF miles, though one should most definitely assume that changes are in the offing. No reason at this point in time to anticipate otherwise with this merger.
In short, I really do not get the
pessimism expressed by some here. It's got a queasy 'deja vu' from the past when this forum was replete with negativism towards Tempe and US in general by a veneer of folks who lacked the patience to allow management to prove ( or disprove ) their mettle. And those of us who have been with US for a long time know well the "turbulence" we experienced when Tempe first came to town with their heads in the clouds and other anatomical places
. I wish I could link to the ( content exclusive ) articles written thus far by the
Wall Street Journal which walk through the breadth and depth of this merger.
What I myself am vibing at this moment is a sort of "pride" in US Air and Messers Parker/Isom pulling off a big merger in which US management is going to run this new AA. I remember well how just a few years ago folks saying that AA was the "crown jewel" of airline mergers and even more folks saying that a US-AA merger was a daydream ( I too would not have anticipated this occuring
). But here we are, Doug Parker is the new CEO of the merged AA, and this, for me is a cause for anticipation, if not excitement. There's no way at this moment to know with any certitude what's in store for the future as US brings to the table some ideas and practices which did indeed work and transform US into a more reliable airline.
But the one thing I do know is that the staid, vanilla suit and tie management of the old AA, is gonna have an open shirt CEO and some of his team calling the shots. At the very least, this is a reason to hang around and wait and see which US-centric concepts/practices might be introduced at AA, not immediately, but over time as the two separate airline cultures determine what the true character of this merged airline is gonna be. Provided they get the pilot seniority thing correct this time and management has it's eyes wide open on the operational end, this merger transition could be a very interesting thing to experience.
Now I do gotta admit, that my own
biggest fear is the migration & integration of the reservation systems. I don't think that any merger has been able to do this flawlessly and I'm hoping that this systems integration, when it does occur is mostly smooth ( or that I'm not flying during those first few weeks
). But aside from the fact that I gotta wave goodbye to the US Airways name & symbol
, I'm willing to patiently wait and see how things develop for me. PHL where I fly out of is likely to see changes as they determine the roles/relationships of these multiple hubs ( being so close to JFK is a negative for the PHL hub in the larger scheme of AA ).
One area of consternation I do understand amongst some is how their FFer strategy may deteriorate as for some, flying miles on US was driven only by the *A and ability to fly short but fly awards long on those *A partners. This might indeed eviscerate the strategy of some flyers. But I see this entire merger more in terms of an economic/sector inevitability. By some stroke of circumstance/luck, US & AA were the last two partners at the big airline dance. Not exactly a shotgun wedding, nor is the bride ugly. According to the WSJ ( who attributes the airlines ) only 12 of 900 routes overlap. In this regard, a match made in heave in terms of regulators & other operational entanglements.
But hey, I'm also a realist. There's a lot of things which can go wrong and months of hard work both before and after operations are integrated. The only thing I can't say is which specific things will go wrong. I'm gonna hope that the computer integration is not as ugly as the AWA/US merger as that would not be fun at all. I'm gonna be patient and hope for the best. If the WSJ ever unlocks some of their recent content, I'll post links, as these things sometimes do become accessible.
Barry