Goodbye Virgin America

Derg said:
No it's hilarious because we rebuffed Parker and he clearly never got over it.

It's an honor to be hated but cash that sweet sweet profit sharing check in return.
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Ahh, the Keep Delta my Delta from the ol US Air debacle? Well that's a fair point. I'm not a fan of DP. But you have to admit given that timeframe, he tried to do what he thought was best at the time (eg, Delta + US). The ball for mergers was already rolling. One way or another it was going to happen, it just ended up DL/NW, UA/CO, and AA/US.

Lets talk about Delta trying to "KAA" which then forced AS to buy us, so really Delta is the mean one that's forcing an airline to lose its Virginity. I feel so violated. :aghast:
 
I don't think anyone forced Alaska to buy you. Delta grew in SEA and LAX to the point that the codeshare was irrelevant.

This is what I was told at "Charm School".

Alaska was our girlfriend. Then Alaska starts seeing a lot of other boys and we figure out that instead of pouting in the corner, we could do a lot of the things our girlfriend "Alaska" did and derive more pleasure (read: profit) out of it. So, at some point, we didn't need her any more.

But then she got pissed because she felt jilted and started stalking Delta on social media and revving up for a fight that wasn't there.

But Delta didn't care.

You were probably purchased in a panic at HQ. There is literally nothing on the backchannels even mentioning the new Alaska. Do yo' thang and eat some chicken wings! :)

Alaska is cute like Anna Kendrick, but Hawaiian is like Scarlett Johannson. Milana Vayntrub and Jennifer Lawrence had a love child with delicious HND slots.
 
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Derg said:
You used ta call me on da cell phone...
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:D

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Cptnchia said:
Yeah, nope. Derg said it better, but you guys got bought by AS because JetBlue was sniffing around and the Eskimos panicked and overpaid. So at least you didn't sell your virginity cheap!
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According to the SEC filing, Alaska approached first. JetBlue and "one large major carrier" didn't get involved until later. The two then ended up in a bidding competition but to distinguish the point, Alaska approached first before anyone else. IIRC they approached Sept 2015 and JetBlue and others didn't put their interest in until about December. The "large major carrier" backed out of entering the bidding process because they didn't think the DOJ would approve the merger. Hawaiian or Delta? You decide :)
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
According to the SEC filing, Alaska approached first. JetBlue and "one large major carrier" didn't get involved until later. The two then ended up in a bidding competition but to distinguish the point, Alaska approached first before anyone else. IIRC they approached Sept 2015 and JetBlue and others didn't put their interest in until about December. The "large major carrier" backed out of entering the bidding process because they didn't think the DOJ would approve the merger. Hawaiian or Delta? You decide :)
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Wasn't Delta. When AS decided to date other airlines, Delta decided to drive a stake through them, much like what happened to AirTran.
Come to think of it, it was GH who decided to crush AirTran, much like his campaign to crush Continental. I guess they shouldn't have passed him over for CEO.
 
I doubt it was Delta. Aren't most of your assets leased and, well, you can lease a fleet of Airbii in a hot minute and not deal with the drama of an acquisition.

But, I think Virgin hit the jackpot and Alaska looks like it was playing musical chairs with itself. "I got the last seat! Wooo!" and everyone else be like "Umm, what? LOL"
 
There are also Sun Country pilots who are convinced that Delta is going to buy them. So if they stay put, they'll be better off during the seniority list integration.

My friend was asked, "How many are you hiring for the next X years? Because I might be better off staying at Sun Country and waiting for integration rather than being a new hire".

Le WOT?!
 
I'll have to find the link to that SEC filing. I doubt any pilot (ya'll included) would know for sure if it was Delta. These were classified talks, and they can't disclose that info. They can lie though, like when the now ex-CEO came into our ground school last year in March and I personally asked about a potential merger/acquisition involving us and he flat out said no, there's no merger/acquisition and we're continuing on our own. That was in March. April 4th we were bought out.

We weren't bought for our leased Buses. We were bought out for the SFO and LAX presence, gates, space, and slots in NYC and DCA, to prevent a takeover of Alaska by another airline, it was the only way to prevent the Alaska name from disappearing, and finally to take out a west coast competitor.

And SY and DL? Why not? Take out a competitor in MSP, gain 737s, easy and cheap labor that won't/can't complain much on integration, and perhaps prevent SWA from buying them. IMO, SY is gonna be sold eventually and either DL or SW will just mosey on over to that sale ;)

The merger/acquisition mania isn't over. There are still 6 yet-to-merge airlines: Hawaiian, JetBlue, Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant, and Sun Country. Anything goes. Can you really say someone is deluded? One might say that in 1994 if you said oh I'll just hang out at Valujet and one day retire a super senior Southwest captain....
 
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Derg said:
I doubt it was Delta. Aren't most of your assets leased and, well, you can lease a fleet of Airbii in a hot minute and not deal with the drama of an acquisition.

But, I think Virgin hit the jackpot and Alaska looks like it was playing musical chairs with itself. "I got the last seat! Wooo!" and everyone else be like "Umm, what? LOL"
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Jetblue desperately wanted Virgin too. It was their one chance at west coast expansion. As it is, the city council has locked them out of any meaningful expansion in LGB and now SWA just got two gates there as well.

Throughout history, every successful or good California airline has been acquired/merged/bought. Air Cal, Jet America, PSA, etc
 
Derg said:
I don't think anyone forced Alaska to buy you. Delta grew in SEA and LAX to the point that the codeshare was irrelevant.

This is what I was told at "Charm School".

Alaska was our girlfriend. Then Alaska starts seeing a lot of other boys and we figure out that instead of pouting in the corner, we could do a lot of the things our girlfriend "Alaska" did and derive more pleasure (read: profit) out of it. So, at some point, we didn't need her any more.

But then she got pissed because she felt jilted and started stalking Delta on social media and revving up for a fight that wasn't there.

But Delta didn't care.

You were probably purchased in a panic at HQ. There is literally nothing on the backchannels even mentioning the new Alaska. Do yo' thang and eat some chicken wings! :)

Alaska is cute like Anna Kendrick, but Hawaiian is like Scarlett Johannson. Milana Vayntrub and Jennifer Lawrence had a love child with delicious HND slots.
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From a totally neutral 3rd party point of view (well, until you mentioned HND anyway), that is one of the most revisionist versions of the story I've heard.

And if SJI would just get off their ass (which you can TOTALLY say here!) and figure out a code share or JV with one of the Japan carriers (that wasn't about to go out of business), they wouldn't need any HND slots.
 
That's kind of the way Courtelyou delivered it to the In Command class. I don't know, seemed plausible to me and the checks keep clearing! :)
 
Derg said:
Alaska was our girlfriend. Then Alaska starts seeing a lot of other boys and we figure out that instead of pouting in the corner, we could do a lot of the things our girlfriend "Alaska" did and derive more pleasure (read: profit) out of it. So, at some point, we didn't need her any more.

But then she got pissed because she felt jilted and started stalking Delta on social media and revving up for a fight that wasn't there.

But Delta didn't care.

.
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Are you saying that Delta got sick of her and decided staying home and watching porn by himself was easier??:D
 
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