flyer215

SFO is owned by the city & county of San Francisco, despite being located over the border proper in San Mateo county, so it's understandable... plus, non-locals have probably never heard of Burlingame.

jlp187

can you remind me the source of this info/decision? i couldn't find it while searching this thread....though i may missed it, even though you are giving a definite answer to an speculation thread.

FWAAA

Doug Parker told everyone who would listen sometime last April or May that he would retain the name and the headquarters would stay in Fort Worth. Lotsa news stories from last spring covering it.

In other news today, Mike Boyd (aviation consultant) says that merger of AA and US would be great news for DFW at the expense of CLT and PHX.

Here's the Charlotte perspective on Boyd's views:

http://mergerintheair.blogspot.com/2...ould-cost.html

Here is the Dallas Morning News take on Boyd's views:

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/c...fw-airport.ece

hmv

I don't consider Mr. Boyd as an important consultant..its not like Boyd Group is on the same level playing field as a Seabury, Intervistas or a consultant from the big 4..

diver858

Any available "important" consultant should be gainfully employed, advising one of the many players involved, either muzzled by an NDA, or fiduciary obligation. Those currently making public statements are like the rest of us - on the outside looking in, without a clue as to what is really happening.

This thread was entertaining, somewhat informative when rumors started to fly, I now can't wait for a decision to be made, put an end to all of the wild pontification.

frambusch

Not true. I was a NW frequent flyer and my lifetime miles on NW were added to my lifetime miles on DL. In addition, My lifetime Worldclub membership was converted into a lifetime Skyclub membership.

DenverBrian

Same thing with the UA/CO merger - all my lifetime miles from both programs were combined into one account.

LovePrunes

I'm "in the industry" as one would say. Mr. Boyd seeks out venues to have an audience and his trademark is brash and "shocking" predictions. I would agree that enough key consultants are involved and the ones talking are the ones who are not "the cool kids" per se, they are just observers

Dr. HFH

Regardless of the ultimate program, which IMO is likely to be AAdvantage (although the double AA is now meaningless with the new livery), they'd be nuts not to take care of their best customers.

scubadu

One could also choose to stop being a part of the "wild pontification" as an option too, no?

Just a thought...

Regards

hillrider

AA is not headquartered in airport property, but on land within Ft. Worth (4333 Amon Carter Blvd to be more precise).

AAClubGeek

Wasn't Mr. Boyd the same genius consultant who criticized AA for buying the London townhouse? I can't find the quote now, but I'm pretty sure it was the same guy. The best part was that according to him, it was a bad decision because AA didn't have much of a presence in London at the time. Somehow he fails to see that when trying to build a presence there it might be a good idea to have a residence for executives, especially considering how successful they were at building that route. Of course the profit they made on the house wasn't bad either, although both the costs and profit on that house are insignificant compared to building up the LHR routes.

The news likes to hold this clown up as if he's knowledgeable because he's great at making inflammatory quotes, but if the moron can't even tell a great decision when he sees it in hindsight then why should we listen to him when he's offering unsolicited opinions of the best course for the future? If he says a merger is a good idea, then smart investors should run away.

elitetraveler

Not commenting on Boyd, but your comments about the London townhouse: the general trend with airlines has been selling non-core assets such as real estate and investing the capital into the core business.

By any stretch of the imagination, a luxurious town house in London was not a smart business move even if they turned a profit on real estate (a different business). For a low margin, cyclical industry where there is little benefit from being able to entertain clients in a townhouse, AA could have easily leased corporate apartments like the 99 percent much more cost effectively. Airline executives also have the lowest hotel expenses of any industry as they benefit from crew rates when the travel.

AA success in London was that they bought the TW routes at a time they were in a position of strength and leveraged the fact that they were one of the four US/UK airlines allowed to serve LHR at the time. During that period DL, CO, NW, US and then TW (Stl-LGW) were relegated to LGW or STN.

TTnC4me

Certainly no sense to panic, but it's practically a done deal. Flying yesterday, I had a great long conversation with an employee who was shocked that I knew of the merger and in very whispered tone for a couple of hours we discussed the new overall designs, and the new things to come.
Yes, only the execs know of the specific routing changes and flight scheduling details but employees know the merger is coming.

wrp96

Gotta love employee rumors. Anybody who actually knows anything better be keeping their mouth shut or be in a whole load of trouble. Anybody who is currently saying anything probably believes the pipedream Dougie has conned the unions with.