United CFO Rainey Implies Certain Elites were "Over Entitled".
Jul 16, 2012, 5:22 am
#1576
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Regulators rule against mergers when competition will suffer, not because the merger is not executed smoothly. With all the existing choices, the federal government would be hard pressed to deny AA the right to merge. Especially after letting the DL/NW and UA/CO mergers go through.
Jul 16, 2012, 5:27 am
#1577
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Parker's a smart guy - I bet he learns from the COdbaUA mess and doesn't force every aspect of US on AA
Jul 16, 2012, 5:49 am
#1579
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Dave
Jul 16, 2012, 6:12 am
#1580
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Regulators rule against mergers when competition will suffer, not because the merger is not executed smoothly. With all the existing choices, the federal government would be hard pressed to deny AA the right to merge. Especially after letting the DL/NW and UA/CO mergers go through.
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If a merger were approved for AA and US, it would mean that formerly six legacy U.S. air carriers are reduced to three. That has to be a reduction in competition.
In the cited example of AT&T and T-Mobile, the Justice Department used only two companies to claim that competition would be impaired.
When you wrote "with all the existing choices" do you include non U.S. air carriers as among the choices?
Thanks
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Jul 16, 2012, 6:30 am
#1581
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AA will be allowed to merge.
Jul 16, 2012, 8:40 am
#1582
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UA, DL, WN, AS, HA, B6, VX, F9, SY, YX, NK, and G4 will all still be around and flying. How is that not competition? And despite your longing to include the organizational aspects of the DL vs. UA merger, that is irrelevant to the issue at hand.
AA will be allowed to merge.
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I continue to believe that competition will be impaired if AA and US are allowed to merge. These two carriers are world-wide carriers unlike most of the other carriers you named.
I guess the only thing to do at this point is to wait for the outcome. Thanks again for responding.
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Jul 16, 2012, 9:09 am
#1583
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It is not my intent to beat a dead horse, however, the carriers you mentioned are not major legacy carriers like UA/CO, DL/NW. They are, for the most part, feeder type carriers or carriers that travel to limited destinations.
I continue to believe that competition will be impaired if AA and US are allowed to merge. These two carriers are world-wide carriers unlike most of the other carriers you named.
I continue to believe that competition will be impaired if AA and US are allowed to merge. These two carriers are world-wide carriers unlike most of the other carriers you named.
Part of the reason DOJ approved the DL/NW and UA/CO mergers is because their respective route systems were complimentary. DL was strong to Europe, and NW strong to Asia. Likewise, UA was strong to Asia, and CO strong to South America and Europe.
Jul 16, 2012, 9:23 am
#1584
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So what you are saying is that to go from 4 to 3 international carriers will lessen competition, correct? Since AA and US don't have a lot of overlapping international routes, how would a merger of those two carriers eliminate competition?
Part of the reason DOJ approved the DL/NW and UA/CO mergers is because their respective route systems were complimentary. DL was strong to Europe, and NW strong to Asia. Likewise, UA was strong to Asia, and CO strong to South America and Europe.
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For purposes of nostalgia (PanAm, TWA, Eastern, Western et al) I hope AA sticks around and doesn't disappear in a merger.
I would not like to see AA involved in a merger that includes telling passengers that there will be demotions ahead and that the management thinks the passenger will like the demotions, like what happened with UA.
After all, US could have another Rainey waiting in the ranks alleging that AA customers are over-entitled.
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Jul 16, 2012, 9:52 am
#1585
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And believe it or not, there are some good things US does that could be implemented successfully with AA. A330 Envoy style for starters.
Last edited by iluv2fly; Jul 16, 2012 at 10:56 am Reason: merge
Jul 16, 2012, 10:36 am
#1586
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I'm well aware that US is making strides - observed it on a pair of flights a couple weeks ago. If not for the awful LGA-PHL flight that would start my trip, would love to try out Envoy at some point.
Jul 16, 2012, 11:37 am
#1587
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Just a few months ago the feds blocked a merger between T-Mobile and AT&T giving the excuse that the merger would reduce competition.
I don't see this decision any different than if it applied to two major airlines such as AA and US.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technolo...hone-networks/
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I don't see this decision any different than if it applied to two major airlines such as AA and US.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technolo...hone-networks/
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7th generation anyone?
Jul 16, 2012, 8:43 pm
#1588
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Jul 16, 2012, 8:59 pm
#1589
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I must say I don't see your logic here. As halls120 pointed out, there are plenty of domestic choices. So what you're concerned about is the number of US carriers with international service? Possibly for mileage redemption? I think if anything, by narrowing it down to only three "global" US carriers, they might actually be forced to improve their product to compete on the same level as the foreign carriers...even though it still probably wouldn't happen,
Last edited by iluv2fly; Jul 16, 2012 at 9:22 pm Reason: merge
Jul 16, 2012, 9:46 pm
#1590
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