treznor

I've noticed monitors going up on a couple US gates in MSP, maybe a trial? They aren't operational yet, but they're on gates that aren't shared to the best of my knowledge (the low E gates), so figured it had to be something US was doing.

RMINIONE

Good article on merger
http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/04/14...pect.html?_r=0

phllyflyboy

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/04/14...agewanted=all&

phllyflyboy

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfr...bined-airline/

redtop43

My guess - and it is only a guess - is that by late 2013 they will say something like "Here is how status will be determined in 2015." They will not want people to say "Well, if you had told me xxx then I would have done something different."

I assume they have a timetable for operational integration, but it seems like 1/1/2015 is way too soon to expect it.

It would make sense to allow AA and US flights to be credited to each other at least, but I wonder if the *A/OW agreements would prohibit that.

I feel pretty confident that they see elites as a key constituency in the merger. I have one route I fly, 15 times a year, and if they hose me over I'll status match to DL quicker than you can say "Low Mileage Award - ROFL!"

flyinstyle

I suppose to book the award ticket of Star alliance for traveling in Nov.. May I occur any problem like BD and LH? Is it good to issue the ticket or should I wait?

Thanks

BoeingBoy

Odds are good that you'll be fine. It'll be fall before AA leaves bankruptcy and the merger becomes official. There will almost certainly be some time period after that before US leaves *A plus there will (should?) be a grace period that covers award tickets issued before, but for travel after, any notification that US won't issue *A award tickets after a specific date.

In addition, when confirmed as issued the operating carrier would be paid for providing the transportation (technically in the next clearing house cycle). So I would make sure that seat assignments were made on *A segments and that the alliance partners had a record of your booking.

Personally, I suspect it will be sometime in 2014 before an alliance award ticket would have to be booked on OW.

Jim

jsieds

A DL thread on non-hub flights made me wonder, what non-hub cities currently have the most combined US/AA flights. Info is from NewAmericaArriving website. I was not exhaustive in my searching.

City - daily flights
LGA - 177
BOS - 128
RDU-64
PIT - 60
BNA - 51
MCO - 51
ATL - 50
CMH - 48
STL - 48
SFO - 48
LAS - 47
DTW - 45
SJU - 43
YYZ - 43
IND - 38
SAN - 38
TPA - 37
DEN - 36
IAH - 35
MSP - 35
CVG - 34
BDL - 32
AUS - 31
SEA - 30
CLE - 29
MCI - 29
YUL - 28
FLL - 27
RIC - 27
SAT - 26
ORF - 25
JAX - 24
MSY - 24
SDF - 24
GSO - 22
BUF - 22
DAY - 21
TYS - 21
XNA - 21
ABQ - 20
CHS - 20
LHR - 20
SNA - 20
SYR - 20

Thunderroad

As someone who is a top tier (Executive Platinum) on AA, I am viewing the merger with some trepidation. In skimming this thread, though, and in just getting back from visiting my US loyalist brother in Philadelphia, I certainly respect that the concerns go both ways. So I am not posting this to say that one airline is better than another, or to deny that there may be benefits accruing from the merger (including more destinations served by the combined airline).

Bear with me, then, while I air a few of my concerns, in hopes that folks might alleviate, confirm or otherwise address them. Sorry if these are addressed somewhere else in this thread. I've skimmed and searched it, but certainly could have missed some on-point posts.

And for that matter, if I can address any of your concerns, feel free to ask.

So...My own concerns are that the merger will result in the deterioration of AA's relatively good: 1) FF program, 2) domestic upgrade frequency and d) customer service.

More specifically:

1. Re the FF program, that for example Parker will take away the eight upgrades that Executive Platinums (the highest AA elites) get per year for travel on just about any fare code, for both international and domestic trips.
2. Re upgrades, that for example while US is not bad in this regard, its smaller F cabins mean that the merged AA flyers on pre-merger US planes will have fewer complimentary upgrades.
3. Re customer service, that for example the relatively good AA on-board meals and FA service (at least compared to some or what I've read and heard about US FAs) will deteriorate and that for example AA's relatively good IRROPS handling and phone CSRs (especially but not exclusively for Executive Platinums) will deteriorate.

I have to confess that I'm speaking from a fair amount of ignorance here. I'd love to be told that my concerns are unfounded or compensated for by respects in which US is better than AA. Thanks for any insights.

apeortdz

It is like your brother said ... there are concerns both ways. I am a diehard US fan and I have my concerns as well. Bottom line is that we just don't know all of the details yet so we will have to wait and hope for the best.

bkafrick

Customer service varies even within the two airlines internally. Customer services is a mindset, not a command. You cannot *make* someone have customer service skills. Even within *superior* customer service organizations you'll have crappy service, and vice versa in *awful* customer service organizations, you'll have incredible service. Bottom line, its the individual employee that controls the service you get - not necessarily the organization.

treznor

1) I'm betting on a lot of items like this the AA policy is going to end up winning out, possibly with some shrinkage. It might be down to 6 or something, but I doubt they get cut altogether and there's a good chance they stay intact. A number of other posters have pointed out Parker's experience at AA may lead him act differently now that he'll be the CEO of a large airline as opposed to US which is the smallest of the majors. I don't know how much that'll weigh in his decisions, but its an interesting point.
2) I think this is a legitimate issue. The US planes aren't going to go away and even if they want to retrofit all of the US planes to AA standards for First its going to take a while. I haven't compared cabins between US and AA extensively but it does seem like AA's First tends to be larger.
3) Don't know what the service is like at AA as I don't fly them that often, but yeah, US FAs can be good or they can be bad. I'm sure its the same elsewhere. Don't know if AA has a higher good to bad ratio than US or not. For irrops, etc I've had a pretty good track record with US. When something happens I've always been able to call in and get it fixed pretty quickly (as a Platinum/Chairman at least).

Thunderroad

Thanks, folks, for the thoughtful, useful responses. I realize that all of our speculation is only that, but it's nevertheless good to get your perspectives.

FWIW, part of my perspective flows from the lousy experience as a post-merger UA FF (1K, which is nominally the top mileage-based elite status, but really second to UA's revenue-based Global Services [GS] members). We had high hopes for the CO team coming in. But we've experienced both a lousy, antiquated IT system that remains very problematic more than a year after the initial integration bugs were smoothed away and, more fundamentally, a lousy leadership that has intentionally adopted policies and practices (including but not limited to that lousy system) that undercut good customer service, handling IRROPS, etc.

I suspect and hope that Parker will try to avoid the IT integration errors that CO/UA chief Jeff Smisek has tolerated and perpetuated. (Though it's worth noting that from a very short-term, bottom line perspective linked to how UA's books could be juggled to benefit top management's compensation, Smisek's decision made sense. But it's driven lots of UA FFs away, especially to AA, and has incurred longer-term financial and customer service costs.) What I'm less sure about is whether he'll join Smisek's race to the bottom in terms of overall management philosophy. I'd hope that Parker has a team looking at and learning from the merger experiences of DL/NW and CO/UA, and that the combined US/AA's top management compensation hinges on more than the very short-term calculations guiding those at UA.

It wouldn't surprise me if Parker initiates an FF system that is at least partly revenue-based, as UA and DL have done to partial extents. Of course, the devil will be in the details of how it affects various US/AA customers.

The personal irony is that for years I urged my relatively infrequent-flyer (compared to me) brother to switch from US to UA, since he wasn't delighted with the former and I was relatively satisfied with the latter. He's singing a more positive tune over the past couple of years, and I (as you can tell) a much more negative one. So he was wise to take my perspective with a big grain of salt...as you might be.

austin_res

1) I'm betting that the US policy will prevail on many FF program items, possibly with some tweaks. As for the SWU's, US also offers them so I don't see them going away. It could end up 5 or 6 being offered but it's likely the SWU's will continue.
2) I agree this is an issue. If Parker decides to standardize all aircraft, it would be quicker to convert US aircraft to match AA than vice-versa since there would be fewer US aircraft to convert. But, only time will tell what will happen here.
3) Don't know about US FA's, but on AA the FA's can be good, mediocre, or bad. It's hit or miss. I'm sure it's the same on all airlines. That said, I usually have good experiences with AA FA's.

Another thing I'm wondering about is Main Cabin Extra. So far, Parker has not announced any plans to add extra legroom coach seats on US aircraft.

austin_res

In previous airline mergers (specifically US Airways/America West, United/Continental, Southwest/AirTran. I don't know much about pre-merger Delta and Northwest), the CEO ran the combined airline as if it is a bigger version of his pre-merger airline. I wouldn't be surprised if Parker continues that trend by running the new AA as a bigger US, since the US model has proved to be successful.