Originally Posted by
no1cub17
Your last sentence so perfectly sums up why this merger has sucked for both sides; LAA folks wanted to keep our superior FFP and reasonably good onboard product - we were willing to live with rolling hubs and maybe subpar punctuality because we were used to a good (decent) product. We wanted AA to expand to HKG and SYD (among many others). LUS flyers obviously could care less about any of these things. Too bad it's LUS management that's in charge and now has no idea how to do either.
To be clear, I was both an LUS and LAA flyer, the two serving different needs out of my home base of DCA. I do not think that it is necessarily fair to say that LUS management "has no idea how to do either" - they ran US quite well, well enough, in fact, to be able to afford bankrupt AA.
The question in my mind is whether the continued push on the LAA priorities - fancy new shiny things and faraway destinations - did distract a significant amount of resources from the nuts and bolts of merger ops. I don't have the scoop, but I certainly do not think it could have helped.
Oh, and as to that comment about LAA having the better FFP, well, you are right in most regards, but that LUS combination of cheap mileage sales, Star Alliance, and nonexistent routing rules was pretty tough to beat!
