Renard

Couldn't have said it better.

mahasamatman

Not strong enough in some cases. How about despise? Detest? Abhor? Loathe?

recreationguru

Obviously the OP was in error and was referring to the Delta/NW merger. Nothing in recent times has indicated interest in, or ability to get approved, a Delta/CO merger.

I fly US Air pretty frequently, since UA N/S options from IAD are so limited and I have been pleasantly surprised by the equipment and service over the past two years. Me thinks a bit of theatrics are going on here!

jackonferry

[Dons flameproof gear] Too bad IMHO. I covet the US service to DCA and the rest of the east coast routing, not to mention the Caribbean network. I'm sure CO is a stronger partner and integration with them would be easier. Still, I don't see gaining as much from a CO lash-up as a US one.

FightingIlliniUAL

Good article today describing why the deal fell apart.

The short story is that US Airways pilots have a provision in their contract that if a "change of control" event occurred at the airline, such as US being purchased by United, their pay would skyrocket to levels pre-2000, much higher than their current compensation levels.

That clearly isn't economically viable, thus, US pitched buying United and that wasn't acceptable to the United board. That provision has been at the forefront of Doug Parker's contention with the pilot union.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10734...collapsed.html

bseller

Really good article! ^ Thanks for posting!!
Dave

jbcarioca

US is doomed!

luv2ctheworld

I find it interesting in the article that US claims that it was not an emotional response to walk away, and in the previous few paragraphs, they stated that they were working with USAPA to get the pilot's provision scaled back to make themselves more favorable in merger situations as that was a major holdup.

So, they could have stayed in the negotiations then and continue to try to get the USAPA provision worked down, for this or any other potential merger situation, yet they chose to end the discussion entirely... but of course according to US, it was not an emotional decision.

Frankly, I don't care if it was well thought out or just a knee jerk response, I'm glad US is not in the running.

asnovici

Oh my God, I am so so so happy! Even a thought o US Airways sends shivers down my spine!

Thunderroad

Yep, good article. Thanks for sharing it!

And very, very, very good news!

Exleftseat

+1

britinva79

Very interesting I enjoyed reading that and extremely pleased to learn that this deal has fallen apart.

sapguy

This is the more relevant piece of info about this topic. Thanks for posting.

UAL awesome

As you're probably well aware of, before the UA/CO merger talks started and ultimately became successful this year, UA and US were in merger talks and this wasn't looked too favorably by many, including the UA Pilots, who said they opposed it because of US' labor relations between the PMUS and HP labor groups.

Now that the UA/CO merger is off the ground, in hindsight, would a US merger have really been that bad? If UA and US had tied the knot, Glenn Tilton would've remained CEO with United being the surviving airline and absorbing US. It seems like the deal would be like DL/NW when DL basically took over and did most everything their way. With the CO merger, since it's a "merger of equals", it seems not everything will go the UA way (especially the livery, yeckk). It seems that if that merger would've taken off (no pun intended) United would be calling all the shots akin to Delta with Northwest.

Of course, there is the issue with labor, but assuming that would be worked out, would a US Airways merger be a death pill for the airline? Your thoughts?

mahasamatman

I would have left the moment a US merger was announced - I wouldn't even have waited.