bpat777 From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 330 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 1802 times:
With CO and FL disappearing in the near future, I for one hope these two will be it for a while to come. BWI will be even more boring soon for spotting with Canyon Blue plane after plane after plane. I only flew FL 3x and although they had the most uncomfortable seats I will miss seeing them at airports and in the skies. I guess I just always felt the more variety the better. Oh well time will tell. Comments or thoughts??
DesertAir From Mexico, joined Jan 2006, 1392 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 1723 times:
I hope so also. I miss the many colorful carrier of the past: PSA, America West, Western to name a few. When I was a young man I loved to go counter to counter taking airline schedule from the various carriers. Maybe some new small carriers will find some space...smaller communities looking for inexpensive, reliable service .
AlnessW From United States of America, joined Jun 2010, 618 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1720 times:
Quoting bpat777 (Thread starter): With CO and FL disappearing in the near future, I for one hope these two will be it for a while to come.
I hear the UA/CO merger is not good news for passengers. All in all, these mergers really need to stop.
Quoting bpat777 (Thread starter): BWI will be even more boring soon for spotting with Canyon Blue plane after plane after plane.
So Southwest is swallowing up AirTran, eh? I agree, WN is pretty boring, but I've never flown FL before...
Quoting bpat777 (Thread starter): I guess I just always felt the more variety the better.
It frustrates me when I see UA turning into CO day by day. Variety is without a doubt very important.
Tango-Bravo From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 3726 posts, RR: 31 Reply 3, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1714 times:
Quoting AlnessW (Reply 2): I hear the UA/CO merger is not good news for passengers. All in all, these mergers really need to stop.
In what way(s) is the UA/CO merger alleged to not be good news for pax?
Quoting AlnessW (Reply 2): I see UA turning into CO day by day.
How so? Sounds odd inasmuch as UA is, at least purportedly, the 'surviving' carrier...even if they decided to go with CO's livery except for "United" in place of "Continental" for the fuselage titles.
InnocuousFox From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2805 posts, RR: 16 Reply 4, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 1710 times:
Quoting AlnessW (Reply 2): All in all, these mergers really need to stop.
So do all the airline bankruptcies.
Quoting AlnessW (Reply 2): Variety is without a doubt very important.
So is financial solvency.
While I agree that it is nice to see some variety and, at some point, there is a "proper amount" of competition, wanting the mergers to stop "just cuz we like our variety" is very narrow-minded.
That being said, I think we are done for a while. We took 7 majors and one minor down to 4 majors. Add in a number of bit players (e.g. F9), and we have a decent balance at the moment.
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PHLBOS From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 7264 posts, RR: 24 Reply 5, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1670 times:
Quoting Tango-Bravo (Reply 3): In what way(s) is the UA/CO merger alleged to not be good news for pax?
Less competition = higher fares.
Granted, competition between only legacy/network carriers is a bit of a farce; at least in the U.S. domestic market.
Quoting InnocuousFox (Reply 4): I think we are done for a while. We took 7 majors and one minor down to 4 majors.
Could somebody please tell that to US' CEO Doug Parker?
[Edited 2011-05-11 07:14:09]
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sw733 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 6103 posts, RR: 10 Reply 6, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 1665 times:
Business wins out over nostalgia. The business world really doesn't care that a few nerdy airplane folks like us won't see as much variety when we watch planes move around at airports; they will care when their company makes money. I wouldn't mind one or two more good mergers, as long as we don't get to a monopolistic point in the US.
DesertAir From Mexico, joined Jan 2006, 1392 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (2 years 1 month 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 1550 times:
It seems to me that mergers have matched a change in consciousness. We have moved from a local-regional consciousness to a global consciousness. Airlines in their early days provided service to local areas, like Western Airlines or Alaska. Little by little they expanded into national carriers, as new planes made this possible. Then they moved beyond national to global expansion. Most of the majors are offering basically the same product to the same destinations. Mergers create international travel empires. Maybe as people tire of these bland carriers, some local ones will be created to provide personalized service, kind of like Virgin America.
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