AA-BA merger…possible?

Bkonner, I have already said this once, but I’m going to say it again. Welcome to the forum. It’s great to have another American point of view in here, especially if they know what they are talking about, which you definitely do. Everything you say is valid.

I especially agree with the point about all the ethnics flying their “home-country’s” carrier. That is also true of people in Australia. The problem they have down there, however, is that all but 2 Euro (BA and Lauda remain) airlines have pulled out of there 1 by 1 the last 4 years. In the U.S. we still have a plethora of Euro airlines to choose from if we want to go to Europe.

I live in the L.A. area where we have a fair share of Greeks. Olympic has never flown to these parts. My travel agent, who does tickets for quite a few Greeks in the greater L.A. area, has told me if Olympic did a ATH-ORD-LAX service (Chicago has a boatload of Greeks too), it would undoubtedly be full all the time. My old man goes back to Greece 2-3 times per year.

Who is the only U.S. carrier to fly to ATH nowadays (TWA and Pan Am both used to)? Delta, so my dad has been very loyal to them the last 10 years, despite their recent cutback in service (they no longer offer free booze on Intl flights, which I think is absolutely pathetic!). He could very easily fly Skyteam partners Air France and more recently KLM (Alitalia no longer serves LAX), but the real reason my dad flies Delta, is the schedule. They arrive in ATH at 10 a.m. If you fly one of the Euro carriers from LAX and catch the connection from their hub, they typically get into ATH after 3 p.m. He likes getting there early. We used to fly TWA in the 70’s and 80’s, not only because of their schedule, but because every Tuesday, the cabin crew was ATH based so all the non-English speaking Greeks (which included my parents back then, not now) could actually communicate with the crew!

To close out this very long post, like bkonner points out about 99% of Americans will choose the cheapest, and most direct airline. I however, do not fall into that category. I fly to Vegas about 4-6 times per year. I could fly Southwest directly from my neighboring airport, ONT, and pay less than $100US if I get the tickets in a timely fashion. This is a 45 minute flight. With the exception of 3 times the last 8 years, I choose not to do this, however. I will pay double to fly United, which means I have to connect via LAX, and basically triple my travel time, when you factor in the layover. Why do I do this? Frequent Flyer mileage (which includes bonuses, plus upgrades prior to the LAX-LAS route being transfered to TED), elite status points, UA’s Red Carpet Club in LAX, etc. I basically will pay more to fly on Star Alliance carriers if possible. But that’s just me.

I should add…

Americans do not have an emotional feeling towards their carriers. We fly who is ever cheaper. In fact, when it comes to flying to Europe, Americans actually prefer to fly the carrier of their “ethnic background.” Given the option, an Irish-American would always fly AerLingus over Delta. An Italian-American would always fly Alitalia (but only if the ticket was cheaper). We do not have the same emotional feelings that Europeans have towards their flag carriers. We do not have a flag carrier. No US carrier since the 60’s can claim this one (Pan AM). United is strong in the Far East, American is strong in Europe and South America, Northwest is strong in the Far East, but no carrier dominates. US carriers are businesses, no more and no less. There was a time when a carrier could claim “emotional support,” as Delta once could about 20 years ago, but that all changed with deregulation (as it should have).

AA-BA merger, Heathrow slots % US limit on foreign ownership

Howdy,

There are problems with this. A big one is BA’s unwillingness to give up landing slots at London’s Heathrown Airport which prevented the two carriers from setting up an alliance like KLM’s/Northwest’s. Also, a non-American can only own 49 per cent of a US carrier and control only 25 per cent of the carrier itself. It should be interesting to see how Virgin get past this one as it contemplates setting up a low fare carrier in the US (badly needed, particularly here in Boston).

Nevertheless, it is time that the United States and the European Union re-visited the ownership limit. A combination of American, the largest carrier in the world and British Airways would be a potent carrier and a competitive nightmare for other carriers. This would be an incredible combination. American is particularly strong from the US to South America, and British Airway is strong in the Far East and to a lesser extent, Africa from London. The only weakness is American’s routes from the US to the Far East.

One big problem for British Airways would be the financial condition of American Airlines. BA is in much better financial shape. As you all know, the majors in the US are fighting for their financial life with expensive hub operations to support and competition from low fare carriers like Southwest and Jet Blue among others (these are the two best in the US).

The majors in the US need to rethink their strategy. For one, American, which is considered a “full service airline,” needs to put the service back, at least for its bread and butter passengers, the business traveler who pays a substantional fare when booking just a day or so before his trip.

I’ve always felt that the majors need to have a second economy class for full fare passengers, something like EVA Air’s premium economy. There should be a seperate cabin, meal service, and other ammeneties. If American expects to keep the loyality of its business fare passenger, they minimally need to give them something besides their lousy frequent flyer program. Right now there really is no reason to pay their fares when you get better service from Southwest and Jetblue. I realize I diverted from the topic, but until AA figures this one out, they will struggle with the so called low fare carriers, who lets face it, pretty much offer better service or the same service, except a frequent flyer program (not really true now that I think about it), than the majors (with their no service). But this combination would be exciting.

Bkonner

I think it was attempted I remeber Virgin having no way BA/AA titles on a plane.I doubt this is going to happen both nations are too proud of their national carriers and rightly so.The fact that most people can i dentify the 2 airlines by their initial really proves they are household name all over the world.