Originally Posted by nsx
One other important point: don't try this strategy with a legacy airline unless you are prepared to lose 100% of your investment when the company goes bankrupt. Besides, how can you hedge your next 10 years of travel with them when you don't know whether they will still exist? For these reasons, if you decide to take a flier, so to speak, you will get greater leverage on your "hedge" with a legacy airline than with a profitable carrier like Southwest.
Another part of it depends on whether you want an entirely US play or a global one. AMR seems to have their house roughly in order, but as time passes, that will increasingly become a more and more international play. That's the only place the legacies can make money. (No, I'm not recommending buying AMR!)
If you've got airlines slotted in as part of your domestic long-term stock portfolio, a non-legacy-carrier is the way to go.
(If you want to daytrade, then maybe one of these Big Six pinksheets is right up your alley!
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