Originally Posted by
Thunderroad
Late to the latest round of this discussion, so let me just vent and rant for a moment...
The DOJ caved! I haven't read through all of the post-settlement posts, but is there any other way of seeing what the DOJ did? It seems that it had lots of cards to play, not least Parker's own statements about the effects of the merger. Yet it agreed to a merger that reduces competition and that hurts consumers in myriad ways. Is there any other way of seeing this?
I was rooting for the merger to fail, but one thing that can't be ignored is that blocking the merger would mean that WN, B6, VX, etc. would get no slots at LGA or DCA. Only by permitting the merger does the government get to force new AA to transfer (sell) slots to low-fare carriers. In some ways, the Department of Justice faced a Hobson's Choice. By settling the action, fares should come down at DCA and LGA, benefitting lots of consumers.
Originally Posted by
Thunderroad
Did the judge signal the two sides that she was inclined to rule in favor of US? Is that why the DOJ caved?
Notta chance. Federal judges keep the cards a lot closer to the vest than that. She hadn't heard any evidence and thus wasn't going to signal anything to the parties.
Why did the DoJ cave? They'll deny it forever, but when nearly 100 members of Congress, mostly Democrats, plead with the President to call off the dogs and let two companies merge, and when the unions representing almost 90,000 employees at the combined airline lobby and plead for the merger, it was bound to happen.