- Am I the only one who doesn’t think American Airlines needs to merge with anyone? If American does merge with another airline, it won’t be before they file for bankruptcy.
- After Southwest merges with Air Tran, will they be big enough to drive the rest of the industry more towards their customer policies? Think bag fees (or lack thereof), and maybe lower change fees.
- I predict the industry gravitates toward 1 bag being included in the fare, like JetBlue. That seems like the right policy. Let’s see if I’m right.
Three Random Musings on Travel – October 9, 2010
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I agree to a point, but American isn’t exactly a tiny airline. I think AA would be better off luring US into oneworld, if US can get their employees on the same seniority list and finally become one real airline. I don’t think I’m incorrect when I say that AA has long had an interest in Alaska, but they’ve been rebuffed by Alaska management. And truth told, I don’t know what AS would do for them that they don’t already get through a partnership.
Let’s just imagine for the sake of imagining that either AS or US were great candidates for merger…. and AA was in great shape to do the buying. That doesn’t change the fact that imposing AA’s higher cost structure, bureaucracy, etc on either of these 2 airlines probably ensures that a deal won’t work.
Personally, I think AA is pursuing the best strategy it can for right now given the hand its been dealt….some of it self dealt. 🙂 I do believe that a US-AA deal is still possible down the road…..if US gets its act together, and AA restructures itself either out of court or in it….the later being more likely. And I don’t think its a given that AA will be the acquiring airline.
The problem with American is because of scale, they need to merge just to be competitive with corporate contracts. I know a lot of multinational corporations find the larger airlines attractive. Unfortunately, there is nobody worth merging with, as US is such a mess that their next merger will bring the airline down, and JetBlue is too small to really bring any benefits.