crazyMRer

I don't consider TLV part of Europe; do you?

AA's list of international flights to other places than Europe makes US look pretty bad in comparison.

UVU Wolverine

They should take a note from Lufthansa. Their CEO has been working with Lufthansa since 1970! He started as an engineer and basically worked his way up through various management positions. Someone like this obviously has airline knowledge and skills that can be attributed to such a position.

More on Mayrhuber
http://www.staralliance.com/en/about...ang-mayrhuber/

elitetraveler

AA hasn't had a lot of CEOs over the past 40 years. Al Casey was CEO for about a dozen years before Crandall took over. He was not from the airline industry but he and Crandall who served as CFO and SVP Marketing set AA up for success post-deregulation. Crandall then had a very successful run, followed by Don Carty who was a longtime airline executive. After Carty was pushed out circa - 2002 Arpey came in and was also a lifelong airline guy.

Pueo1

Not quite - we need to address the full space-time continuum. How about "US Airways is the worst airline in all dimensions of spacetime."

Jacobin777

Arpey was with AA for decades.

fly747first

Crandall was pretty decent, as he was the one responsible for inventing revenue management and helping AA defeat low-cost carriers such as PeoplExpress after deregulation. However, after him, AA hasn't had a good CEO.

Exhibit A
Wasn't Carty the one who told the flight attendants union that if they didn't accept wage concessions AA would file for bankruptcy only to then try to give all the senior execs a huge bonus?

Exhibit B
As for Arpy, under his leadership (or lack of), AA took forever to introduce lie flat beds in J and when it did, the seats were already subpar compared to what other airlines were already offering. Arpy also made really stupid mistakes such as not allowing AA to file for CH 11 and thereby preventing the carrier from reducing its horrible labor costs. Oh and let's not forget the interview where he stated that he wouldn't open up saver mileage inventory for his friends... I was 19 at the time and I kept thinking, wow, this 19-year old has always managed to find award availability at the lowest mileage levels and here you are essentially telling the world that you are willing to screw your friends every time... imagine the things you would do to your customers and employees.

p.s. Let me clarify what I said earlier: just because you work a long time for an airline does not mean that you actually have a strong understand of it.

fly747first

Untrue. Before 911, US Airways won many awards for having the best transatlantic business class and was a very innovative carrier. Though of course things quickly changed after Doggie Poop took over.

gegarrenton

That's ridiculous. I was stuck on USScare in the 90's, and it was an abomination then.

Tolarian Wind

Mohawk - Slowhawk
Allegheny - Agony
USAir - USScare
USAirways - USELessAirways



Instead of changing their name from Allegheny to escape the reputation for poor service, they should have just spent the money on..... better service

TW

pdquick

I've been singing "Off to Alaska" in my head as I read this thread. Dreaming? Yes, I know.

KtownTraveler

"Off to Alaska?" Perhaps you mean "NORTH to Alaska."

fly747first

That's just your opinion, doesn't change the fact that US won many awards for its long-haul J in the late 90s and early 00s.

NorthCentralDC3

That's an interesting scenario - Alaska acquiring AA. That has not been in any of the scenarios that I've seen in the financial news. As I've read it analysts seem to rank the likely end games as:

1). AA emerging as an independent carrier
2). TPG or some other venture capital firm buying AA
3). USAirways buying AA
4). DL with a ton of divestitures buying AA
5). An Eastern Airlines style sell off of the pieces to DL and US

None of the analysts have mentioned Alaska acquirers AA as a scenario, so it is quite possible that Alaska has no interest in this. Alaska, unlike US and DL has not sought out advisors on acquiring AA. That said, what a great opportunity for Alaska. If they can get past the labor issues (big IF) this is an opportunity for a well run carrier to move into the big leagues.

I am necessarily objective from an AAdvantage flyer standpoint (I'm Diamond on DL and Platinum on AA), but since the bancruptcy filing I have been flying more AA than DL for the first time in many years because I would be sad to see AA dissapear from my home airport - STL. DL has a very tight relationship with Alaska and I have made good use of and am very impressed with the Alaska Boardrooms - I think they are, on average, better than most Admirals and SkyClubs. There is zero doubt that the combined carrier would have bare aluminum planes with red, white, and blue stripes and the FF program would be AAvantage. It is probably fantasy, but I believe this combination unlike DL/AA, US/AA or worse yet TPG/AA would be staged for success for the company and for the passengers. I think a combination in the opposite direction (AA acquires Alaska after exiting chapter 11) is unlikely since both Alaska and DL employees have told me that if AA attempted to acquire Alaska, a gentleman's agreement that DL would then launch a takeover attempt endorsed by Alaska management would kick in.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

It seems to me that AS is very happy being a very profitable niche airline. If anything, I would think AS would look at a small carrier, someone like Frontier (although there has been no indication AS has an interest in that carrier.)

Dr. HFH

Since I know that rumors are a staple at FT.... Some of my friends are AA FAs. I heard from them this morning that some unspecified type of deal (Takeover? Buyout? Merger?) with US is rapidly approaching signing.