Originally Posted by
FWAAA
That's primarily because while Holly Hegeman and Brett Snyder know the airline industry, they don't know jack about antitrust law. From reading many posts here and elsewhere, very few people understand Section 7 of the Clayton Act.
Speaking of Holly, that dingbat wrote the other day that Horton's stand-alone plan called for 20% annual growth. If she had written it once, I'd let it slide as perhaps a typo. But she repeated it more than once in her column, demonstrating that she doesn't even know enough of Horton's stand-alone plan to even comment on it intelligently. Remember that old saying about opening one's mouth and removing all doubt? Her ignorance is on display for all to read.
And Brett? As interesting as Cranky is to read, he worked for America West as a pricing intern (among other jobs). He's never worked for the Antitrust Division of the Dep't of Justice, and it shows. He's no more competent to comment intelligently about an antitrust complaint (or the odds that the government will win) as he is to perform heart surgery.
Will the complaint hold up in court. Experts say in the airline industry say no.
If the doj could prove that without a doubt their data showed this than yes they could win. But their data has been shown to be flawed.
I don't know what holly was thinking but I'm pretty sure that she knows that AA can't double it's size in 5 years. Either way, hortons stand alone plan would have added excess capacity to the market and any gains in pricing would have been lost. If the merger for some reason doesn't happen I don't think anyone will sign off on an organic growth plan. That suicide for any airline.