View Poll Results: My opinion of the announced AA - US merger is:
This is the best of all possible worlds; great idea!
33
3.93%
This portends a stronger airline, with some changes for all
192
22.88%
I am neutral - pros and cons for all
199
23.72%
I think this is a somewhat bad idea with some real challenges
226
26.94%
I am completely opposed to this merger; terrible idea!
189
22.53%
Voters: 839. You may not vote on this poll
AA - US Merger Agreement / Announcement / DOJ Action Discussion (consolidated)
Feb 15, 2013, 4:57 pm
#691
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,468
Just a few points for those who are sad about losing their place in *A for an entrance to 1W follow below.
1. *A has a great network in theory, but trying to redeem J or F on SQ isn't child's play. Air New Zealand is a fine airline, and the food on ANA is excellent, and the coverage for Europe from the LH group is outstanding, but the UA/CO mess isn't solved by a longshot, and the repercussions not yet fully understood. Plus, SAS!
2. 1W has fewer airline partners, but the quality of said partners is rather more consistent. CX service on the ground and in the air is excellent, and BA, Finnair, JL, LAN, IB, and Qantas all have generally positive outcomes (with some exceptions that prove the rule that we expect them to do well by their passengers). 50% of the 1W airlines are 5-star airlines per SkyTraxx, if that has any value to you, far superior to the other alliances. I also have good expectations for Malaysia and Air Berlin for the future. In addition, you have a slightly better set of Alaska Airlines and WestJet perks than before.
3. Just think - at least you aren't going to deal with SkyTeam, the grab bag of the air leftovers! Alitalia! Areoflot! The rump of Northworst! China Eastern! Garuda! Hooray!
1. *A has a great network in theory, but trying to redeem J or F on SQ isn't child's play. Air New Zealand is a fine airline, and the food on ANA is excellent, and the coverage for Europe from the LH group is outstanding, but the UA/CO mess isn't solved by a longshot, and the repercussions not yet fully understood. Plus, SAS!
2. 1W has fewer airline partners, but the quality of said partners is rather more consistent. CX service on the ground and in the air is excellent, and BA, Finnair, JL, LAN, IB, and Qantas all have generally positive outcomes (with some exceptions that prove the rule that we expect them to do well by their passengers). 50% of the 1W airlines are 5-star airlines per SkyTraxx, if that has any value to you, far superior to the other alliances. I also have good expectations for Malaysia and Air Berlin for the future. In addition, you have a slightly better set of Alaska Airlines and WestJet perks than before.
3. Just think - at least you aren't going to deal with SkyTeam, the grab bag of the air leftovers! Alitalia! Areoflot! The rump of Northworst! China Eastern! Garuda! Hooray!
For those like me who look for decent service the quality of 1W is not as important as the quantity of Star. With BA charging YQ it is a huge loss in terms of partners and IMO you cannot really beat LH in terms of award availability.
Last edited by UA Fan; Feb 15, 2013 at 5:35 pm
Feb 15, 2013, 5:12 pm
#692
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: US-CP, UA, Marriott Rewards, HHonors, Avis,
Posts: 4,549
Just a few points for those who are sad about losing their place in *A for an entrance to 1W follow below.
1. *A has a great network in theory, but trying to redeem J or F on SQ isn't child's play. Air New Zealand is a fine airline, and the food on ANA is excellent, and the coverage for Europe from the LH group is outstanding, but the UA/CO mess isn't solved by a longshot, and the repercussions not yet fully understood. Plus, SAS!
2. 1W has fewer airline partners, but the quality of said partners is rather more consistent. CX service on the ground and in the air is excellent, and BA, Finnair, JL, LAN, IB, and Qantas all have generally positive outcomes (with some exceptions that prove the rule that we expect them to do well by their passengers). 50% of the 1W airlines are 5-star airlines per SkyTraxx, if that has any value to you, far superior to the other alliances. I also have good expectations for Malaysia and Air Berlin for the future. In addition, you have a slightly better set of Alaska Airlines and WestJet perks than before.
3. Just think - at least you aren't going to deal with SkyTeam, the grab bag of the air leftovers! Alitalia! Areoflot! The rump of Northworst! China Eastern! Garuda! Hooray!
1. *A has a great network in theory, but trying to redeem J or F on SQ isn't child's play. Air New Zealand is a fine airline, and the food on ANA is excellent, and the coverage for Europe from the LH group is outstanding, but the UA/CO mess isn't solved by a longshot, and the repercussions not yet fully understood. Plus, SAS!
2. 1W has fewer airline partners, but the quality of said partners is rather more consistent. CX service on the ground and in the air is excellent, and BA, Finnair, JL, LAN, IB, and Qantas all have generally positive outcomes (with some exceptions that prove the rule that we expect them to do well by their passengers). 50% of the 1W airlines are 5-star airlines per SkyTraxx, if that has any value to you, far superior to the other alliances. I also have good expectations for Malaysia and Air Berlin for the future. In addition, you have a slightly better set of Alaska Airlines and WestJet perks than before.
3. Just think - at least you aren't going to deal with SkyTeam, the grab bag of the air leftovers! Alitalia! Areoflot! The rump of Northworst! China Eastern! Garuda! Hooray!
Feb 15, 2013, 5:37 pm
#693
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: los angeles, calif.
Programs: Alaska Airlines Gold MVP
Posts: 7,170
Interesting how the entire northwest region is almost entirely untouched. Hardly anything north of LAX. As an SFO based flyer, this merger creates an airline that is as irrelevant as AA or US were alone. Would be great for them to invest in SFO and start aggressively taking share from UA in this market.
Feb 15, 2013, 5:46 pm
#694
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
Interesting to see that, since VX is much flashier at T2 about their presence and, more notably, serves more destinations (including all of the ones AA serves if you count FLL and MIA as being pretty much the same general area, though of course without the frequencies that AA has to the destinations it serves).
Feb 15, 2013, 6:12 pm
#695
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Francisco
Programs: Amex MR, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, AS MVP
Posts: 518
Interesting to see that, since VX is much flashier at T2 about their presence and, more notably, serves more destinations (including all of the ones AA serves if you count FLL and MIA as being pretty much the same general area, though of course without the frequencies that AA has to the destinations it serves).
Feb 15, 2013, 6:16 pm
#696
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: stl
Programs: AA LT Plat/8.1mm now with 1350 miles left in my account and proud of it.. SPG LT Titanium.
Posts: 3,079
I was in c and d at dfw and if you didn't know there had been a merger announcement you'd be clueless.
Feb 15, 2013, 6:34 pm
#697
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Dallas, TX
Programs: AA GLD, Marriott PLT, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,900
Feb 15, 2013, 6:57 pm
#698
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Dallas, TX
Programs: AA GLD, Marriott PLT, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,900
When HP and US were merged to the one AOC, they kept the US IATA code (US) and the HP ICAO code (AWE) and callsign (Cactus).
AA/US, AAL/AWE, American/Cactus. Who knows at this stage which one of each they'll use. They are keeping the American name/brand, so they will likely use the AA IATA code. As for the ICAO code and callsign...
AA/US, AAL/AWE, American/Cactus. Who knows at this stage which one of each they'll use. They are keeping the American name/brand, so they will likely use the AA IATA code. As for the ICAO code and callsign...
If they keep saying "CACTUS" over the ATC freqs, it might push me over to UA.
What about the certificate? They gonna use American's or will they keep using America Wests?
Feb 15, 2013, 7:00 pm
#699
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Mountain View, CA
Programs: 0.4MM
Posts: 367
It raises an interesting question. Presumably AA will want to consolidate in T2, but will there be enough room? Right now AA really only use about five gates and VX have the rest, which is fine when they're only flying ORD, DFW, MIA, and JFK. But now they would be adding PHX, PHL, CLT, and DCA in that same space. I don't know if that's feasible.
Edit: apparently they're renovating T3 first?
Feb 15, 2013, 7:41 pm
#700
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: stl
Programs: AA LT Plat/8.1mm now with 1350 miles left in my account and proud of it.. SPG LT Titanium.
Posts: 3,079
Feb 15, 2013, 8:26 pm
#701
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Dallas, TX
Programs: AA GLD, Marriott PLT, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,900
Even pre-merger announcement, you might not notice that AA had a new logo. I was at DFW last Thursday and apart from checkin kiosks, you would have never known.
It would be interesting to see reports from US hubs. Are there AA signs going up? I can't imagine there would be quite yet.
Out of curiosity, what did you expect to see at DFW? US signs and logos?
It would be interesting to see reports from US hubs. Are there AA signs going up? I can't imagine there would be quite yet.
Out of curiosity, what did you expect to see at DFW? US signs and logos?
Feb 15, 2013, 8:26 pm
#702
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
The original plan was to move AA to T2 to free up space in T3 for the CO flights, and aggregate the *A flights/lounges at the G end of the intl terminal; then once T1 got renovated, AA would move there, and all the 1W flights/lounges would be aggregated at the A end of the intl terminal; then all the non-intl flights in the intl terminal (which were only there because there wasn't enough domestic space before T2 reopened) would move to 2. I don't think this changes that plan.
Edit: apparently they're renovating T3 first?
Edit: apparently they're renovating T3 first?
Feb 15, 2013, 8:51 pm
#703
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 819
IST?
Thought I'd try and get some input here (I am US but I guess we are all together now!), I fly PHL-IST, normally through FRA or MUC on LH or TK. Now, with OW it looks like I can only take BA through LHR. I looked on BA's site, looks like a charge for reserved seats (is this NK or what?). My quetion is, how is the service/connection (I've never been to LHR), etc. from some of you seasoned AA folks for service from PHL-IST? I appreciate any feedback, with this merger my biggest complaint (and to this day Doug never called for my opinion) is the move to OW from *A, thanks....
Feb 15, 2013, 8:51 pm
#704
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: stl
Programs: AA LT Plat/8.1mm now with 1350 miles left in my account and proud of it.. SPG LT Titanium.
Posts: 3,079
[QUOTE=jsmeeker;20256985
Out of curiosity, what did you expect to see at DFW? US signs and logos?[/QUOTE]
I don't really know other than something that would let you know there was change in the air. As an aside I think the USair logo would look better on the tail of the new AA planes than what they have.
Out of curiosity, what did you expect to see at DFW? US signs and logos?[/QUOTE]
I don't really know other than something that would let you know there was change in the air. As an aside I think the USair logo would look better on the tail of the new AA planes than what they have.
Feb 15, 2013, 8:54 pm
#705
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,468
