Originally Posted by
kcnwgold
Also, I think I have read that the rights NW has to fly into China would be lost if the company is purchased. Is that true? Not sure on this but I remember hearing something to that affect.
You may have read that, but it's not true.
A purchase/merger/combination with UA might find the US government demanding a divestiture of some China authorities and NRT fifth freedoms (due to NW and UA being the dominant China players and the only airlines with Japan fifth freedoms), but a combination with any other US-based airline would not cause a loss of those valuable routes.