serfty

Maybe "Horton" was in a good mood, what with the Pilots agreements being ratified and all ...

joejones

The hubs that AA dismantled following previous mergers were pretty dire hubs to begin with. If you had seen SJC in the late eighties, you would quickly realize that it was physically inadequate to compete with the likes of the UA hub at SFO.

CLT doesn't have the same kind of local demand as any of the AA hubs, but it has been a profitable and effective hub for a long time under both Piedmont and US. I grew up in an AA employee family in RDU during the days of the hub there, and all the local AA people back then were somewhat envious of US picking up the CLT hub a few years prior, and couldn't believe that management intended to compete with it with a scrappy RDU operation.

PHL and PHX are tougher calls, but I don't see how AA cuts them out of a post-merger route network without either overloading existing hubs or destroying their ability to compete in a large number of connecting markets (the latter is possible but would negate much of the purpose of the merger).

masonuc

Good thing I'll make CP this year... 14 more months of US Airways upgrade policy, best in the business. Maybe we'll get to hang on until Feb 28, 2015. But I think it will suck after integration. AA technology and consistency may be better... but overall the system is not as generous to elites and much harder to ensure upgrades (or at least know where you stand) as a top level elite.

Link on latest:

http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters...Air_-_sources/

tommyleo

I don't think I'm going to be happy with the merger (which, incidentally, many of us used to think could never happen due to integration problems!). The upgrades and the wildly creative use of miles for *A travel will be missed.

In The 216

I feel like our US Airways breathen are going to feel what us CO/UA people have been and continue to go through on a daily basis. Godspeed.

dcpatti

I am still really torn priority-wise between loving *A and loving nonstops from DCA. This will be one tough decision!

Personally, I'm not thrilled at all with the concept, as I'm no fan of AA and go out of my way to avoid them (based on many incidents over many years, not stomping my feet over the first time something annoyed me), and I like having my little US routines all set. I know how to maximize my earnings, maximize my awards, increase my upgrade chances, and know US' particular warts and when/how they're likely to wart on me. I don't like having to start all over with a new system and new rules, and definitely don't like going from being a big fish in a little pond to being just another 100k flyer in an upgrade queue of 30. But I don't think US or AA will change their plans just to make me happy, and I think, regardless of airline choice, we're all in for some pretty harsh realities over the next few years as airlines translate their smaller number of competitors to a tightening of elite benefits across the board.

On the upside, I do think that, after an initial few years of overall suck factor, the pendulum will swing, as airlines try harder to court loyal customers (after first driving them all away).

Will be interesting to see what the industry looks like in 5-10 years, especially in terms of what you get in return for logging 100k miles.

LAKnight

Should I apply credit card from US Airways to earn easy miles? I got AAdvantage Visa Card already.

Besides, anyone know which alliance the merger is going to be? OneWorld or StarAlliance?

thomwithanh

I predict by 2025 with all the mergers we'll be down to two airlines.

One major international airline: Delta DBA Pan Am.
One major domestic airline: Southwest.

eponymous_coward

IMO, AA oneworld awards > US *A awards in some pretty significant respects (unlimited stopovers). So it's not all downside.

(I am also sanguine because I have a decent balance in AA and US. )

thomwithanh

But with the YQ some of the carriers (ahem BA) charge, it's almost cheaper to just buy the ticket outright.

eponymous_coward

You would have AA/US, AB, AY, and IB to get you to Europe without exorbitant fuel surcharges.

All told, from an award standpoint, given the nonsense on LH/LX F *Net blocking from US, I'll take it. Right now, your realistic options to Europe in premium cabins are UA F (meh), LH/LX/OS/LO/UA/US C. Trading that for AA/US/BA F/C, AB/AY/IB C seems pretty close to a wash, and we'd get QF, JL, EY, CX, MH for TG, (small bits of) SQ, NH, OZ... seems a fair trade to me. BA's F and C availability is pretty good, BTW (in no small part because of their fuel surcharges, I suspect).

LETTERBOY

Depends what you're redeeming for. If you're redeeming for Y, then yes, you probably would be better off just buying the ticket. But if you're redeeming for J or F, that's different.

thomwithanh

As well as upgrades. I've read in the FAQ's at the Executive Club forum that one of the best uses for BA Avios is to UfA from World Traveler Plus to Club World (no increased YQ or UK APD.) Does anyone know offhand if oneworld allows partner upgrade awards like *A does (i.e. could I use AAdvantage Miles to upgrade from WTP to CW or is that limited to BA Avios).

Blackcloud

No.
However the AA/BA/IB alliance might be different.

Tiki

If US is no longer going to allow routings between Australia and the USA via Asia due to MPM, I would prefer the merge. NZ is the only airline that would fit MPMs and they won't release award space at 330 days. AA has more options-QF, HA, FJ and you can ticket one ways, mixed class (Y out, J back) on QF and HA online.