A settlement between US and UsAirways and AMR

[WorldTraveler]

and we will see.... remember a few months ago you were all up in arms that DL was the one that had testified against US?

Now we are supposed to believe that the fed is going to allow AA/US to reduce its presence to small and medium sized cities by scores of flights per day while DL is saying that they intend to compete for service to small and medium sized cities that AA will drop as it loses all of these slots?

AA/US can stubbornly try to keep DL out to pretend that they weren't hoodwinked by the slot deal or they will see their DCA operation completely trashed by low fare traffic. Either way DL wins.

You get back to me when the divestitures are finished and DL ends up with nothing, ok? let me know how AA/US feels about its prospects on the east coast at that point when it has to compete with four dozen flights per day by low fare carriers.

 

[nevergiveup]

and we will see.... remember a few months ago you were all up in arms that DL was the one that had testified against US?

Now we are supposed to believe that the fed is going to allow AA/US to reduce its presence to small and medium sized cities by scores of flights per day while DL is saying that they intend to compete for service to small and medium sized cities that AA will drop as it loses all of these slots?

AA/US can stubbornly try to keep DL out to pretend that they weren't hoodwinked by the slot deal or they will see their DCA operation completely trashed by low fare traffic. Either way DL wins.

You get back to me when the divestitures are finished and DL ends up with nothing, ok? let me know how AA/US feels about its prospects on the east coast at that point when it has to compete with four dozen flights per day by low fare carriers.

Smaller airlines like DL could probably use the slots!

 

[robbedagain]

im just simply saying that that article and from the conference that the doj is making clear that dl and ua most likely will not get the slots  in which case dl would not win back some of their slots...    bottom line is  regardless of who serves the south east cities from dca  is goin to be served on either an rj junk jet  or a different commuter plane...   secondly   ill get back to you one way or anther if dl does get  or does not get the slots..  and no i was never up in arms about dl testifying   to me it was just them following court orders..  just like any normal company or human being      you said that the email statements would be a significant factor  that appears not to be the case in the settlement

 

[WorldTraveler]

you wait and see the outrage when AA/US slash service to dozens of cities and that service is not replaced by low fare carriers.... you can bet your bottom dollar that DL knows exactly what it needs to do to make sure some of those slots end up with DL.

you personally may not have been up in arms that DL might have ratted out AA/US but there were plenty of people who were.

Whether they referenced the emails or not, AA/US is divesting more slots and more gates than has ever been required of any US airline merger. If the emails didn't make a difference, I'm not sure what you think did.

Bottom line remains that if all of these gates and slots end up in the hands of low fare carriers, new AA's future is a whole lot grimmer than you and a lot of others would like to believe.

AA and US' CASM is 7% higher than WN's and more than double digit % higher than B6 and that gap will grow.
AA and US are highly susceptible to low fare competition and it will only grow as the Wright Amendment restrictions fall and AA/US' costs go up.

Yes, AA/US have to comply with the law because they agreed to a merger which many of us said from the beginning made no sense and would require some of the largest divestitures and we were right. Having those assets now be used against AA/US is the absolute worst case scenario that AA/US could have imagined but they were too far into the process to turn around and walk away.

 

[robbedagain]

they can try  but to me that statement is pretty darn clear and i do not think dl would go against it but then again since they conquer ny they might as well as the conquer to the dc area  hell they are 2nd behind wn at bwi  may be theyll add 150 more jets and over power bwi iad dca and theyll have pretty much the entire east coast covered!!!     i promise to get back to you IF and ONLY IF DL can win those slots at dca

 

[Phoenix]

you wait and see the outrage when AA/US slash service to dozens of cities and that service is not replaced by low fare carriers.... you can bet your bottom dollar that DL knows exactly what it needs to do to make sure some of those slots end up with DL.

 
 
If you lobby the government to get the slots for Delta as much as you lobby us to love Delta as much as you do.... the government will toss its hands in the air and give you all the slots in exchange for a little peace an quiet.   Just remember, breathing is not a speech impediment.  

 

[LD3]

Let the slots fall where they fall...time to get through this merger and hopefully show some armchair CEO's that this airline can fly strong....

 

[cltrat]

If you lobby the government to get the slots for Delta as much as you lobby us to love Delta as much as you do.... the government will toss its hands in the air and give you all the slots in exchange for a little peace an quiet.   Just remember, breathing is not a speech impediment.

truth

 

[WorldTraveler]

If you lobby the government to get the slots for Delta as much as you lobby us to love Delta as much as you do.... the government will toss its hands in the air and give you all the slots in exchange for a little peace an quiet.   Just remember, breathing is not a speech impediment.

I'm not lobbying for anything... I'm simply saying what I have said before that AA/US would be far better off handing over a dozen or so slots to DL for markets that will not directly compete with AA/US instead of having a low fare carrier add an equal number of flights as DL will add but with twice as many seats in markets that will directly compete against AA/US.

If you don't understand that basic concept and if AA/US chooses low fare carriers over DL as competitors, then the financial results will become obvious - and your paycheck will reflect it.

 

[silverbird007]

WT just take a Xanax or two before you have a panic attack! LOL

 

[Phoenix]

I'm not lobbying for anything...
 

Well, maybe you should consider employing verbosity with a purpose.  

 

[ChockJockey]

I'm not lobbying for anything... I'm simply saying what I have said before that AA/US would be far better off handing over a dozen or so slots to DL for markets that will not directly compete with AA/US instead of having a low fare carrier add an equal number of flights as DL will add but with twice as many seats in markets that will directly compete against AA/US.

 
Eager to see the new airline oligopoly off and running are we?

 

[ContUNITEus]

OFF TOPIC: BTW.... I just told my (Non-Airline) friends to hurry and apply for both the US Airways and AA credit cards....   I think you can wind up with like 80000 miles in one shot, since they are still separate.  Once they merge the FF programs, you will have just about that much amount of miles.
 
 
You can create a new thread if you want, but it's already posted here.

 

[mike33]

im just simply saying that that article and from the conference that the doj is making clear that dl and ua most likely will not get the slots  in which case dl would not win back some of their slots...    bottom line is  regardless of who serves the south east cities from dca  is goin to be served on either an rj junk jet  or a different commuter plane...   secondly   ill get back to you one way or anther if dl does get  or does not get the slots..  and no i was never up in arms about dl testifying   to me it was just them following court orders..  just like any normal company or human being      you said that the email statements would be a significant factor  that appears not to be the case in the settlement

Sometimes i don't know whether you are asking a question or giving an answer?......." Most likely " ?   Parker would rather give those slots to DL or UA than to create a pricing war with the Jet Blues or Airtrans of the world. I don't see where anyone said they wouldn't. Even Baer. US was out smarted by DL for sure.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Sometimes i don't know whether you are asking a question or giving an answer?......." Most likely " ?   Parker would rather give those slots to DL or UA than to create a pricing war with the Jet Blues or Airtrans of the world. I don't see where anyone said they wouldn't. Even Baer. US was out smarted by DL for sure.

someone gets it.

As much as the AA/US fanclub would like to believe otherwise, the DL-US slot deal gave DL a huge win over US... even before yesterday. DL gained 3X more slots at LGA than US gained at DCA and DL patiently waited and helped push the deal thru the DOJ knowing that US would never be able to become larger at DCA after the slot deal. That is exactly what happened.

IIRC, DL traded away 42 slot pairs at DCA and AA/US will now have to divest 44 actual flights (above the leased slots) which could be used by low fare carriers.
Perhaps there will be people who will realize that service to small and medium sized cities will be sacrificed in order to provide LFC access to DCA. Maybe it will happen but too late... only weakens AA/US' position on the east coast since DL serves many of those same cities not only from LGA but also from its other eastern US hubs. AA/US will be reducing the number of hubs it serves from some small cities which will weaken its overall east coast presence in those east coast cities.

Despite their bravado, AA/US execs are either scared to death or deeply in denial about the effect that allowing low fare carriers to control 15% of AA/US flights (and even more seats) in a market where the LFCs have little incentive to deeply discount because there is no carrier to push their fares down. All they need to do is price lower than AA/US which shouldn't be hard to do since they have costs 10% or more lower than AA/US.

Yes, DL outsmarted US with the slot deal and now AA-US is trying to put the best face forward as the government pushes thru a plan that is seeing the biggest wealth transfer to low fare carriers from network carriers the industry has ever seen. With AA/US costs mid-tier even among network carriers, AA/US is very poorly prepared to withstand the onslaught.

But we don't have to worry about any of that today, right? This is the day and week and month to celebrate getting the deal done and savor the promises that have been made regarding pay raises whether they will ever materialize or not. The reality of the future will take care of itself - in the future.