Woah! Not used to seeing you guys over here in the HP forum!
I agree completely. The merger should be viewed by HP as a major opportunity, and by US as a saving grace. HP will have the opportunity to substantially expand as a result of the merger (and acquire a name with more international appeal to it, but that is completely my OWN opinion and I don't mean to start another discussion on which airline has the better name!) and consolidate, which is desperately needed. I LOVE the idea of seeing the "America West" brand surviving as a regional carrier flying from LAS, PHX, and even LAX out west, as mentioned by FAN over in another thread. That would at least preserve the company's name- hopefully the regional airline would even fly some of the E170's, which are very nice planes.