Inevitability....

SeanD said:
I would think it would be a long time before an integration between the pilots and aircraft would happen. Plus UAL still has a lot of folks on furlough. I just think CAL has their crap together a little more than UAL. United might be too big of a mess to clean up in a merger. Another con against UAL is the age of their airplanes.
Click to expand...
As far as my job (ramp), DL got rid of their Comair rampers at my home airport mighty quick. Rampers are a lot easier for them to get rid of than pilots.
 
ILS37R said:
Gah. I still (largely unsuccessfully) try to avoid flying USAir because of the total mess they made of the merger from the customer side. While things seem to have finally smoothed out a little on the booking and check-in sides, my bad luck with their flights never, ever being on-time (and often requiring rebooking/unplanned overnights) hasn't abated. I dread looking at the itinerary the company coordinator has put together and seeing US on there.
Click to expand...


They were the most on time carrier, either last year or the year before, with around 80% of flights on time.
 
It's difficult to put a price tag or cost on poor morale, but I hope that's taken into account on CAL's side when dealing with Yo-Nited. I know CAL is not shangri-la, but Yo-Nited undeniably has internal problems that are ingrained at this point.

Who knows what a CAL/LCC merger would bring...What valuable things does LCC have?
 
wheelsup said:
They were the most on time carrier, either last year or the year before, with around 80% of flights on time.
Click to expand...

I'd say that none of their hubs are particularly delay-prone. PHX? Not really much going on there.....CLT? Minor stuff usually......PHL gets a bit dicey but none seem to get the hammering of a NYC/ORD/SFO etc.

It's great to have an on-time airline but the cost is having hubs in locations with low O/D traffic.
 
BobDDuck said:
No. Because the seniority lists haven't been merged, you can't have east/west crews. The flight attendants *may* be at that point but I don't think so. Also, I don't think east crews can fly former west airplanes or the other way around.
Click to expand...


From what I've seen from my little spot on the ramp here in PHX is that FA's are still seperated too.
 
Baronman said:
I'd say that none of their hubs are particularly delay-prone. PHX? Not really much going on there.....CLT? Minor stuff usually......PHL gets a bit dicey but none seem to get the hammering of a NYC/ORD/SFO etc.

It's great to have an on-time airline but the cost is having hubs in locations with low O/D traffic.
Click to expand...

Seriously? PHL is delayed when there isn't a cloud in the sky. CLT has 30+ mile finals, and shuts down for hours when t-storms roll in, in the summer time. US Air has some of the most delay prone hubs there are...PHL/CLT/LGA. DCA is pretty good though, unless you have to deice, then 2+ hour delays.

Even so I'm refuting what the poster I quoted said, they are in fact on time quite a bit.
 
Baronman said:
...What valuable things does LCC have?
Click to expand...

There is the biggest point made so far! What does LCC have that is valuable to another airline? Besides LGA and to a lessor extent DCA, not much.

The only thing CAL would want is to use CLT as relief for the EWR international flights. That's about it. I was in on a management briefing back in 2003-04ish where they said that they would be interested in that.

As far as UAL, I think once again CLT is what they would like because of the almost non-existent southern presence. Or, to tie up the DC market.

Now CAL/UAL on the other hand, CAL has always wanted to get back into DEN and LAX big time. At that meeting I was at they said so much. At the time though, they thought UAL would be out of business in six months and they would be along to pick up the pieces.

My predictions: CAL/UAL tie it up. LCC gets slowly parted out. DAL, CAL and AMR become the Big Three.
 
meyers9163 said:
Unfortunately places like SWA/Jetblue/Airtran and others continue to throw their fare wars and thus hurt the ability to do so. It appears Parkers mindset, along with Tilton, is that to return the industry to a profitable industry in tough times you must reduce the total seats on various routes.....
Click to expand...

That makes no sense.

Why is it the fault of SWA/jetBlue/AirTran and others to sell their product at a lower price than LCC, yet have those airlines have the ability to make a profit at that price?

If you think Parker and Tilton have the industry's "best interests" in mind, you need to get your grape checked. They care about getting themselves paid.

Sounds like you're getting the LCC brainwash. It used to be "Ah, SWA they're no threat we OWN the east coast".
 
JoelT said:
My predictions: CAL/UAL tie it up. LCC gets slowly parted out. DAL, CAL and AMR become the Big Three.
Click to expand...

Interesting.... Guess we all shall see... CLT is pretty damn good place to be and many would love it.... DCA is a large market as well and others would love those slots. LGA I would say not so much wanted by either UAL/CAL... DAL obviously but not the other two. Then you go onto PHX as well. UAL does have Denver and CAL IAH, however both I am sure would not object to having PHX as part of their plan... Also PHL seems to work out pretty damn well too.... Right now those are all assets to USairways, thus the reason BOS/LGA/Vegas are all being closed and moved out of as crew bases and "focus" cities... But keep in mind, UAL/USairways were pretty darn close to having a deal back in 2008... I have a feeling that road might be seeing more travel on it here over the next year... Guess we all shall see.... Perhaps we just need to start a pool on the side and make it a lottery of sorts :)?

Also keep in mind, the USairways Domestic Travel is doing well... Its the lack of an international market, and then the very few we do, that seem to be causing a larger money loss.... Again, as reported to us by the company.....
 
Polar742 said:
That makes no sense.

Why is it the fault of SWA/jetBlue/AirTran and others to sell their product at a lower price than LCC, yet have those airlines have the ability to make a profit at that price?

If you think Parker and Tilton have the industry's "best interests" in mind, you need to get your grape checked. They care about getting themselves paid.

Sounds like you're getting the LCC brainwash. It used to be "Ah, SWA they're no threat we OWN the east coast".
Click to expand...

Just reporting what Parker has been saying to our crews.... You can take whatever side of the Jetblue/Airtran/Swa train you wish. However I do not think you can argue there are entirely TOO many seats in the market... I mean google the number of ways you can get from IND-JAX.... Thus driving the seat cost down and preventing such profits needed to return most of the big five back into profitability..... I dont know how you can really argue that.
 
meyers9163 said:
Just reporting what Parker has been saying to our crews.... You can take whatever side of the Jetblue/Airtran/Swa train you wish. However I do not think you can argue there are entirely TOO many seats in the market... I mean google the number of ways you can get from IND-JAX.... Thus driving the seat cost down and preventing such profits needed to return most of the big five back into profitability..... I dont know how you can really argue that.
Click to expand...

Of course Parker says that to crews. Wolf said it. Segal (sp) said it.

I'm not taking the side of jetBlue/Airtran/SWA. I made the observation that they are making a profit at the current pricing structure. Who's fault is it that they can make a profit at that price and LCC has trouble doing so.

Either the industry needs to be re-regulated, or it needs to be left alone.

Google the number of ways to get from IND-JAX? What does that prove? Both cities offer a number of ways to connect to each other?

Obviously some of the carriers that fly that route make money (SWA), some don't (LCC). If NO carriers made money on that route, then the argument can be made that there is too much inventory.

Then again, you can fly a full airplane. If you still don't have pricing power, you can have a 100% load factor and lose money (look at Florida, historically).
 
Polar742 said:
I'm not taking the side of jetBlue/Airtran/SWA. I made the observation that they are making a profit at the current pricing structure. Who's fault is it that they can make a profit at that price and LCC has trouble doing so.
Click to expand...

I'm not really a big fan of that argument just because there are so many reasons for that. Just because a few airlines are making money, doesn't mean their isn't too much competition.

Either the industry needs to be re-regulated, or it needs to be left alone.
Click to expand...
What do you mean left alone? From the government or from mergers?

Google the number of ways to get from IND-JAX? What does that prove? Both cities offer a number of ways to connect to each other?
Click to expand...
That there is too much competition. Sure, mergers would keep the same amount of connecting cities you can go through, but would airlines would have more leeway in pricing, capacity, costs, you name it.

If NO carriers made money on that route, then the argument can be made that there is too much inventory.
Click to expand...
I disagree. When the vast majority of seats are losing money, there is an inventory problem.

Then again, you can fly a full airplane. If you still don't have pricing power, you can have a 100% load factor and lose money (look at Florida, historically).
Click to expand...
Word.
 
There have been rumors around the AMR community that USAir is looking to sell some CLT and NE Shuttle stuff...

.. and that AMR has an interest in it.

It all reminds me of the days of Eastern before Continental swallowed it.

One must wonder- given historical precedent of airlines in trouble selling off major chunks of their operation before they're sold outright, how much would that change who merges with who, if any?

Would the surviving airlines be better off (or just prefer) to let a competitor implode so they can pick the carcass? Or would that be too slow an action for some?

After watching AA scrap with DAL for the JAL codeshare partnership, it would seem that the majors are positioning themselves for the next ten to twenty years.

This will be turbulent, I think.
 
Firebird2XC said:
There have been rumors around the AMR community that USAir is looking to sell some CLT and NE Shuttle stuff...

.. and that AMR has an interest in it.
.
Click to expand...

That is a brand new one from the Airways side... CLT is where they are going to expand even more. They are looking for ways to go even more on the international side out of CLT. Let alone serving more routes out of CLT in general. So it is funny in a way that the AMR folks are saying these new "rumors". Even our CFO in his Crewnews stated our hope of letting LGA/BOS/Vegas close are to focus on our powerful flying. Those are PHL/DCA/CLT/PHX where we have the ability to our price, our fly, and out service others... And thus why LGA/BOS/LasVegas are going bye bye.... It was to refocus the strong points in the system. So why would they then go and try to give up some of that??? Just does not make sense.

I do know AMR was spreading the rumor of the East being sold to them, and the West to another carrier. However that is not possible since it is one airline also set aside by Parker.... Not saying I believe everything out of his mouth, but to think otherwise does not make much sense.....
 
BobDDuck said:
Last I knew Charlotte wasn't slot controlled so I don't know what exactly they'd be selling.
Click to expand...

:) Way to point out the obvious!!! It kind of blows that whole rumor.... I was hoping for more details on the AMR side of this rumor.... Wondering whom the idiot was who started it...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top