nwa/Delta MERGER: General Discussion
Jun 27, 2008, 11:04 am
#1021
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,663
Flying SWA back in the days of plastic boarding cards was a pretty miserable experience. On-line check-in improved things quite a bit. Since November 2007, the new boarding by number has eliminated all but about 2 minutes of standing in line at the gate.
Southwest now has the best boarding process in the industry. No kidding. If you haven't tried SWA since November 2007, you may not know what you're missing.
OTOH, if you believe that SWA's award redemption is outstanding, that information is also out of date. SWA has capacity controls that have become extremely tight this summer. It's no longer head and shoulders above AA and UA, for example. I'm hoping for improvement this fall.
Southwest now has the best boarding process in the industry. No kidding. If you haven't tried SWA since November 2007, you may not know what you're missing.
OTOH, if you believe that SWA's award redemption is outstanding, that information is also out of date. SWA has capacity controls that have become extremely tight this summer. It's no longer head and shoulders above AA and UA, for example. I'm hoping for improvement this fall.
Jun 29, 2008, 9:04 pm
#1022
Join Date: May 2003
Programs: UA Silver
Posts: 1,932
Thursday's announcement marked the latest in a series of cargo shipping settlements over the last two years. Earlier, British Airways, Korean Air, Qantas and Japan Airlines filed similar agreements as part of the investigation.
In all, airlines have agreed to pay $1.2 billion in fines -- what O'Connor called "the highest total amount of fines ever imposed in a criminal antitrust investigation."
The investigation is continuing.
Who will be next?
Too bad management of Enron, Countryside, Bear Stearns, "no bid, billion dollar fraud" KBR, Blackwater, etc. etc. etc. for the most part won't be nailed for their economy-destroying crimes.
As they say in Spanish:se cree el ladrn que todos son de su condicin
Jun 29, 2008, 9:33 pm
#1023
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Minneapolis
Programs: DELTA
Posts: 1,599
Kewl
Once you start throwing in connections, things get really interesting. By my count, to get to London, you could still choose from (at least) BA, AA, CO, UA, DL/NW, US, LH, AC, SK, some combination with VS, and perhaps even NZ. All would be relatively realistic options. Even if we assume that all of the alliance-level JVs come to pass, you are still looking at something like BA/AA, DL/NW, UA/CO/LH/SK, US, VS, and NZ. Six options still seems pretty healthy to me.
-A
Jul 10, 2008, 8:01 am
#1024
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Programs: NW WP Base Member
Posts: 17
NWA and Delta Merger
Hey everyone I was wondering if the NWA and Delta merger is still happening if it is happening than would anyone know when the merger is completed. I was just wondering too what happens when two arlines merge together.
Jul 10, 2008, 8:08 am
#1025
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Floating around
Programs: UA 1K (1MM), DL Gold (1MM), Marriott LTT
Posts: 10,352
Allow me to be the first to suggest you use the search function of FlyerTalk to find your answer rather than starting a new thread 
There are a ton of NW/DL merger threads on the board already. Short answer is that everything is still on course. Timeframe is not clearly defined.
-RM
There are a ton of NW/DL merger threads on the board already. Short answer is that everything is still on course. Timeframe is not clearly defined.
-RM
Jul 10, 2008, 8:42 am
#1026
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Alexandria, VA, USA NW Platinum Elite Since 1999, United GoldMM, Hyatt Plat, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, Hertz #1 Gold, IC Ambassador, Avis Chairman's
Posts: 7,445
ummmm... you might want to ask "your dad"... he posted last on this in a current merger thread, so I'm moving it there...
thezipper
NWA Moderator
thezipper
NWA Moderator
Jul 12, 2008, 5:49 pm
#1027
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 103
The shareholder approval date has been set for September 25. If cleared by both groups, then what is left to do in the merger?
Jul 12, 2008, 6:20 pm
#1028
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: CLE
Programs: UA Gold, HH Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3,669
It has to have regulatory approval. I have no idea where they are on that. I heard on the radio that they hope the deal is done by year end. That's just the legal side. Once the merger is done from a legal perspective, it has to be done from an operational perspective. So, my guess they will start putting the parts together in 2009. The real question from my perspective is when they will merge the FF programs.
Jul 12, 2008, 7:19 pm
#1029
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Alexandria, VA, USA NW Platinum Elite Since 1999, United GoldMM, Hyatt Plat, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, Hertz #1 Gold, IC Ambassador, Avis Chairman's
Posts: 7,445
Jul 12, 2008, 8:42 pm
#1030
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
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Have all the labor and vendor issues been cleared up? How about the Congressional hearings - I'd think the Reps of Minnesota, Michigan and Tennessee have a vested interest in ensuring a good portion of the NW employee based isn't summarily laid off post-merger, right before the election.
Jul 13, 2008, 4:29 pm
#1031
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Shaker Heights, OH
Posts: 249
Have all the labor and vendor issues been cleared up? How about the Congressional hearings - I'd think the Reps of Minnesota, Michigan and Tennessee have a vested interest in ensuring a good portion of the NW employee based isn't summarily laid off post-merger, right before the election.
I welcome being corrected, though.
Jul 13, 2008, 4:35 pm
#1032
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: SEA
Posts: 12,485
I might be wrong, but the Congressional hearings (which are over, I believe) don't actually have any authority. They can blather all they want and hope that it influences the DOJ decision, but Congress has no role in making sure jobs are kept.
I welcome being corrected, though.
I welcome being corrected, though.
Jul 13, 2008, 5:03 pm
#1033
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I might be wrong, but the Congressional hearings (which are over, I believe) don't actually have any authority. They can blather all they want and hope that it influences the DOJ decision, but Congress has no role in making sure jobs are kept.
I welcome being corrected, though.
I welcome being corrected, though.
Jul 13, 2008, 8:33 pm
#1034
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Shaker Heights, OH
Posts: 249
With enough backing within, Congress could pass legislation and/or use leverage over the budget process to get in the way of this "merger" and/or in "making sure jobs are kept". That said, I don't think Congress is really unified enough on such a matter for it to exercise its powers effectively to such end as blocking the "merger" under the current circumstances.
Jul 13, 2008, 10:23 pm
#1035
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: CHI/MSP
Programs: Delta Platinum, United Prem Exec
Posts: 1,334
If they approve giving the Delta board proxy control (which they almost certainly will do), it will allow Delta to approve the merger within hours (or minutes) of DoJ approval. That's all this vote does. The DoJ decision could still take until Nov/Dec. or later to be delivered.