Actually that's a very good question, and I'm not clear on the intent of the thread. There is probably a need for a speculation thread and a thread to contain and discuss confirmed impacts and "stuff" as it comes along.

Well, I think regardless of when the programs actually merge, your 2014 flying activity will, in all likelihood, be combined for the purposes of 2015 elite status. I guess it still matters at what point that combination occurs, because a non-elite with, say, 20k on each airline wouldn't be able to enjoy any status until the accounts are actually combined.

But for people whose flying patterns aren't changing, and are just looking to re-qualify for status, it shouldn't matter much.

No, AA "forces" everyone in AUS to connect in either DFW, ORD, LAX, or JFK, with nonstops to all those locations. But I agree that PHX and CLT will be welcome additions.

In the past AA has run nonstops from AUS to SJC, SNA, SEA, BOS, and MIA. We'll see if the new management eventually becomes more flexible and brings some of those back. Unfortunately WN jumped into the breach when AA pulled out so it may to tough for AA to make the business case to dive back in on some of those routes.

Thanks for the link. A fine presentation by AA. My impression is, they have learned from the DL and UA examples of what not to do.

TLV, VCE, LIS, MUC, GLA, ATH, plus 3 cities each in Canada and Mexico, all not served yet by AA. Question is, PHL? Really?

I agree.

For the forseeable future, THERE ARE NO IMPLICATIONS for AA flyers. Business as usual.

Anything beyond is pure speculation. But I guess pure speculation constitutes 90% of the content on this board anyway.

I am sure there will be lots of problems, but they will have no effect on me since I do not fly AA or US! They deserve each other. :D

Advantage Rent-a-Car currently owns the advantage.com name, which would likely put the breaks on AAdvantage dropping the extra A.

As an MCI based flier, one of the positives from this merger are that I should be able to get direct flights to places other than DFW or ORD.

Finally!!

For those other MCI AA'ers, I spoke with some airport insiders who indicated that US/AA will be moving to the end of the C terminal (opposite end that United resides) and that ultimately Frontier will be taking over their current gates (76-79)

I am optimistic that this new space will be much larger to accommodate the newly merged airline.

If/when the combined airline gets really bad, everyone will just start calling it AAnUS.

I've been using that term to describe the theoretical entity for a long time, hopefully it won't come true but I'm not holding my breath with Parker at the helm.

I'm hoping they can quickly set up code-shares, so you can book US routes under AA (similar to how you can now book Airtran routes via Southwest)

I need to do DCA-ATL in early Feb, and AA doesn't have good options (connect through MIA or ORD) ... US doesn't seem to do this direct anymore, can do it via short layover in CLT, would be willing to take that to stay within program, vs booking on Delta or Airtran

One of my largest concerns is what happens to some of the smaller markets served by AA and US. At some point there will likely be consolidation of service to better reflect demand and travel patterns. This gets particularly interesting in the midwest and southeast.

In terms of a spend requirement for elites, if this happens it's independent of the merger and more a reflection of industry trend. Personally, I'm okay with it as the herd is getting too big anyway. I am concerned that US will carry the buy elite status option over to the new AA. Buying your way in diminishes the value of the program.

I'm quite excited to get CLT back as a hub (I used to be US CP). Super easy airport with little travel disruption.

Before the DOJ lawsuit, they were already prepping for quick implementation of codesharing. Flights have already been renumbered to allow blocks of numbers for codeshares, so I expect this to implemented quickly (possibly as early as January, though we'll have to wait and see). I expect this is one of the first things that will happen.

I don't mind the buy elite option as long as the price is equal to the minimum spend for that tier. If the EXP requirements are 100k EQMs/EQPs and $10k I have no problem with AA selling EXP for $10k and letting people who fall short on EQMs or EQPs buy what they need at $.10/point... but I'm against any price below that.

My only real concern is that the new AAdvantage Program adopts 4 elite levels, lifetime platinums get the second tier from the bottom and this tier does not come with Oneworld Saphire status.

i've flown US about 5 times in the past 3 years mix of Shuttle and regional props and although it was nothing special and not up to what AA is like, it was perfectly fine and the employees i encountered were fine.