Another stand alone or merge article

[Hatu]

Airlines and private equity firms are exploring a deal with American Airlines, but its best option is to emerge from bankruptcy as an independent airline with a stronger balance sheet.

FORTUNE -- The sharks have started to circle American Airlines, but don't expect anything to come of it -- at least in the near term. A tie up involving American with either Delta Air Lines or US Airways makes little strategic sense at this point and would end up creating major headaches for all the parties involved. Meanwhile, a cash infusion from either TPG or another private equity firm isn't needed for the airline to work its way through bankruptcy.

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/17/american-airlines-merger/?source=yahoo_quote

 

[etops1]

Good Read. You just never know...

 

[usa1]

http://www.aa.com/i18n/aboutUs/whereWeFly/maps/world.jsp

Take a look at the AA route map link. Put in RIC to JAX. Just one example of MANY, on how bad AA's east-coast routes are .... On AA you have two choices, conn via ORD or DFW. No business traveler in a hurry is bother with either. DL and UA are going to get the business every-time. CLT and PHL are AA's answer to this.

Do I want to go through another merger ....HECK NO, and I HOPE to be out of this biz before long. Does one make scene for AA/US ... unfortunately yes.

 

[jimntx]

http://www.aa.com/i18n/aboutUs/whereWeFly/maps/world.jsp

Take a look at the AA route map link. Put in RIC to JAX. Just one example of MANY, on how bad AA's east-coast routes are .... On AA you have two choices, conn via ORD or DFW. No business traveler in a hurry is bother with either. DL and UA are going to get the business every-time. CLT and PHL are AA's answer to this.

Do I want to go through another merger ....HECK NO, and I HOPE to be out of this biz before long. Does one make scene for AA/US ... unfortunately yes.

Maybe we are not sitting up nights trying to figure out a way to capture the RIC-JAX business. I mean...how much business is there on that route? Particularly, if you still have to change planes in CLT, PHL or ATL (slit my wrists!). Besides we have XNA-LAX locked up. Why do we need RIC-JAX?

 

[Flying low]

how many of these threads do we need? It's getting hard to keep up with them all.

 

[usa1]

Maybe we are not sitting up nights trying to figure out a way to capture the RIC-JAX business. I mean...how much business is there on that route? Particularly, if you still have to change planes in CLT, PHL or ATL (slit my wrists!). Besides we have XNA-LAX locked up. Why do we need RIC-JAX?

Multiply RIC-JAX by a hundred and you have the number of city pairs Delta and United are kicking you ### on, in the east. Business fliers like to keep most of their FF points with one carrier. So eventually it effects the number of business travelers using your XNA-LAX ..... D'AA

 

[FWAAA]

Multiply RIC-JAX by a hundred and you have the number of city pairs Delta and United are kicking you ### on, in the east. Business fliers like to keep most of their FF points with one carrier. So eventually it effects the number of business travelers using your XNA-LAX ..... D'AA

AA is perfectly willing to connect RIC and JAX via MIA. Not the most efficient connection, to be sure, but it's available for the person whose loyalty to frequent flyer program outweighs the value of their time or money.

I realize that DL and UA may now be able to be all things to all people due to their plethora of connecting hubs, but is that justication for AA to try to be all things to all people as well? Maybe so. But how does UA connect its passengers from RIC to JAX? Via CLT on a US codeshare? How does that benefit UA? US and UA aren't sharing revenue and profits on that route, so the benefits to UA are what, exactly?

Even if we accept the proposition that AA really "needs" a southeast connecting hub to compete with DL and UA, must AA be married to US to get that connectivity? The price to get CLT includes the less desirable PHL and PHX hubs. Parker has said (and I haven't seen any rebuttal) that US' hubs are lower-revenue hubs that doom US employees to lower pay than UA and DL. Must AA be tied to three sup-par hubs just to get CLT?

 

[jimntx]

Multiply RIC-JAX by a hundred and you have the number of city pairs Delta and United are kicking you ### on, in the east. Business fliers like to keep most of their FF points with one carrier. So eventually it effects the number of business travelers using your XNA-LAX ..... D'AA

AA has never flown those routes; so, "kicking our ###" is somewhat of an overstatement. You can not beat someone at a game they choose not to play. Some of you at LCC seem to think that East Coast routes are critical to the survival of any airline because that is basically all you've got. You are welcome to them. AA stayed out of bankruptcy a lot longer than others who do fly those routes. If there was money to be made flying those routes, lord knows we have had the excess equipment and employees that we could have jumped right in and flown them. Even WN could not make PIT-PHL work; yet several LCC people have been crowing about "beating WN" on the route. When WN gives you a route by choosing to not compete, they have determined, either through calculation or experience, that there is no money to be made on the route.

 

[usa1]

You tried to move in via RDU and BNA both failed against ATL and CLT. You still need it.

 

[AAviator]

You tried to move in via RDU and BNA both failed against ATL and CLT. You still need it.

Hey USA1, how does this look?
http://www.frontierairlines.com/plan-book/routes-schedules/~/media/Images/F9_Images/route-map/route-map-large-20120106.ashx

Why isn't DP all over this? He could have it for free!

How does LCC get someone from Omaha to Boise? Isn't this a big hole in the LCC route map that would fit nicely?

AA might be interested in DCA slots when LCC goes belly up..The shuttle too. I hope you make it out before the implosion. Good luck.

 

[jimntx]

You tried to move in via RDU and BNA both failed against ATL and CLT. You still need it.

Ancient history. So, you have CLT and PHL. Now, refresh my memory...how many times has US Airways been in bankruptcy? Where would you be if Doug Parker hadn't stepped in?

 

[tom barry]

Ancient history. So, you have CLT and PHL. Now, refresh my memory...how many times has US Airways been in bankruptcy? Where would you be if Doug Parker hadn't stepped in?

You have NOT lost a "step" in you're logic ..Jimmy my boy !
(as you know so well), with LCC in CLT, and DL AND WN in Hot lanta,.....who in thier right mind wants to open a hub in the "cosmopolitan" Southeast ??

With NY in the upper right hand corner of the US
MIA in the lower right hand corner
ORD in the upper middle
DFW in the lower middle
(and) LAX in the lower left hand corner,.....the only other spot I wish AA had a hub/focus city in, is SEA.

 

[700UW]

Ancient history. So, you have CLT and PHL. Now, refresh my memory...how many times has US Airways been in bankruptcy? Where would you be if Doug Parker hadn't stepped in?

Here we go again, Doug Parker didnt step in.

Bruce Lakefield CEO of US Airways approached HP with the merger idea, HP had no money to buy or merge with anyone. They were on the brink of filing bankruptcy for the second time.

Bruce Lakefield with the assistance of Seabury and Associates John Luth raised the money for the merger.

How it happened!

How many times do we have to show this?

Six years later and the merger is not completed, no merged workgroups for the Pilots and Flight Attendants, still two airlines within one.

 

[jimntx]

Here we go again, Doug Parker didnt step in.

Bruce Lakefield CEO of US Airways approached HP with the merger idea, HP had no money to buy or merge with anyone. They were on the brink of filing bankruptcy for the second time.

Bruce Lakefield with the assistance of Seabury and Associates John Luth raised the money for the merger.

How it happened!

How many times do we have to show this?

Six years later and the merger is not completed, no merged workgroups for the Pilots and Flight Attendants, still two airlines within one.

I could not care less how your disastrous combination came about. You may call it a merger, a purchase, or a ham and cheese sandwich. It is still a disaster. As you say, 6 years later and you do not have a unitary seniority list for your pilots or your flight attendants. I just find it a little tiresome for LCC employees to lecture us on what will/will not happen in bankruptcy. Every bankruptcy is different. Ours is VERY different from either of yours. We are going into it with $4.5billion in cash. IIRC, US Airways was within days of running out of cash in both of its bankruptcies.

Considering the 6 year old mess you have still, what would possess any of you to believe that merging with AA would solve ANY of your problems? If I'm not badly mistaken, our pilot and flight attendant corps have more members than either of your pilot and flight attendant groups even if you add US-East and US-West groups together. And, considering the way you have treated the US-West people--particularly the pilots--I wouldn't count on them voting with the East in solidarity against the AA masses when it comes to selecting a union for the future.

 

[signals]

how many of these threads do we need? It's getting hard to keep up with them all.

The US merger-wolf cries have produced fruit. Nuf sed