Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Pleasant Prairie, WI USA DL FO (until 2/04), NW silver '03, NW gold '04+'05 Plat '06+ (thanks, Leo!), DL SkyClub
Programs: DL Plat/ Million Miler, AS, Hilton, Marriott Bonvoy, Piggly Wiggly Pig Points
Posts: 2,265
I think there's way too much emotion here.
YX is more than chocolate chip cookies or wide seats. They had an expansion plan which was viable pre-9/11. They weathered the storm -- in fact several post-9/11 storms. One of those was an attempt by NW to, in essence, attempt to bury YX and keep LCC out of MKE. It didn't work.
The reality is that YX and AirTran are distinct products. The cultures of the two airlines are not sufficiently similar to make this a good match. Any route expansion with a takeover would be offset by contraction of other services.
These two airlines would be better off staying apart. Nothing keeps AirTran from adding service at MKE and, when they get more metal, they should.
As I said before, I think an interesting partnership would be YX, Frontier and Alaska.