Am I a sinner for beginning to resign myself to a CO/UA merger? UA actually has some positive elements to bring to the table . . . .

No. You are just being rational. If this is coming, it is coming.

And, honestly, who would folks really prefer to be CO's dancing partner? AA? DL? NW? The only thing I know is I don't want AS or US, which bring nothing more than a couple more single-aisle planes connecting me from one domestic destination to another, funneling me through EWR and a 757 to get to Europe. At least UA brings over 100 widebodies (and the destinations those can serve) to the table.

A greatly expanded network. A shot at *A membership. An outside shot at easier upgrades and redemptions. A West Coast presence. The possibility of real legroom in Y. Maybe even PS service for transcons. I honestly don't understand why more folks aren't at least cautiously optimistic.

And not to forget the great trans-pac food and manual seats ;) I think xyzzy would back me up here :D

No, I would actually agree that if there has to be a merger (I would hope not) then I too would preffer UA over Delta or AA. I am big fan of widebodies. Especially if UA ever gets around to actually putting in there new J-product

Actually, I would prefer NW simply because I am of the opinion that integrating CO and NW would be much easier than integrating CO and UA. In addition, I think that more CO-style operational and customer service elements would survive a CO/NW merger.

With respect to upgrades on a merged CO/UA - do you really think they will be easier with the hoardes of UA 1K's out there? I would be surprised if a CO/UA combination did not move to instrument supported upgrades only. With CO/UA, I would expect the worst of both worlds - instrument supported upgrades plus CO level mediocre upgrade percentages for top-tier elites.

Also, do you really think that in the long run, E+ will survive a CO/UA merger?

I was talking about international upgrades, sorry.

Don't know if it will, but the likelihood is higher than the likelihood of CO introducing it. So, I'll take that 1% chance over no chance.

I would be happy if E+ survived a merged CO/UA, but in my (armchair airline executive's) opinion, domestic E+ is not financially viable in the long term. International E+ or Premium Economy is another matter.

Is there any chance that CLE would survive as a hub in a merger?
For some reason I highly doubt it... :(

In a UA/CO merger I think CLE would be reduced to maybe a maintenance/reliever airport and DEN would have a major reduction in international and hub-like traffic.

My (uneducated) guess would be yes.

I believe E+ has been overall profitable for UA (at least in recent years). With E+ buyups, E+ Access sales, and incremental ticket sales on UA because of it, not to mention lower pax handling costs with fewer pax on planes, I think it's a winning proposition even domestically.

The UA kiosks are very aggressive about offering E+ non-Elites for a fee, and I have seen many people buy up to it. Even for short hops like SFO-LAX, people have no problem parting with $29, it's chump change. Given the load factors and the chance those seats would have been sold anyway (had there been no E+ and more seats), they really don't have to sell that many buy-ups to make up for it overall.

Perhaps domestic E+ would be profitable (or more profitable, if it already is profitable for UA) with the cost savings, fleet reduction, and greater economies of scale that would result from a merged CO/UA. Or, perhaps the merged entity could continue domestic E+ but reduce the number of E+ rows if necessary.

I would even rate DEN over CLE.

CLE generates more traffic on its own than many people believe. At worst, it would remain a strong focus city.

I dont see CLE disappearing as a hub. Both EWR and ORD and packed to the gills, so moving some connection traffic over CLE.

As for E+, perhaps the merger will give CO the "oomph" to go ahead and admit that its a good idea.

I don't know about upgrades... in some ways the UA system is better: by making people request upgrades, the people that couldn't care less about their upgrades don't get them and make space for the 2P that would be thrilled for an upgrade SFO-SEA.