Airline Mergers Positive or Negative

[omegaet]

How do you feel about the recent (Delta & Northwest) and soon to take place (United & Continental) (Southwest & AirTran) airline mergers?

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...ontent=Twitter

Do you think these mergers will benefit you in your leisure and/or business travel?

[bonniejoy03]

Just heard about Air Tran and Southwest....It was my husband's dream to have Southwest come into Harrisburg PA and now that might happen! Air Tran was a great regional option for us to Florida. Hopefully Southwest will stay at the airport and not stop flying the local airport!!

[kapper]

How do you feel about the recent (Delta & Northwest) and soon to take place (United & Continental) (Southwest & AirTran) airline mergers?

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...ontent=Twitter

Do you think these mergers will benefit you in your leisure and/or business travel?

I am positive the Southwest/AirTran merger will benefit my travel.

[[email protected]]

I don't think it will benefit me in Philadelphia. Mergers tend to bring higher prices since there is less competition. There are already fewer planes with the same or now more travelers and less sales on the current airlines. I have already seen lots of folks complaining how the merger of Continental & United will affect frequent flyer rewards, etc. I have been checking prices for my trip in March and prices are going up each week!

[Mountie]

How do you feel about the recent (Delta & Northwest) and soon to take place (United & Continental) (Southwest & AirTran) airline mergers?

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...ontent=Twitter

Do you think these mergers will benefit you in your leisure and/or business travel?

I like to see airlines involved in mergers and take-overs. It just seems to create potential for future start-up airlines to enter the markets and offer lower air fares. Go ahead and eat each other.

[travel2fun]

How do you feel about the recent (Delta & Northwest) and soon to take place (United & Continental) (Southwest & AirTran) airline mergers?

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...ontent=Twitter

Do you think these mergers will benefit you in your leisure and/or business travel?

I hate to see mergers and take-overs. Less competition means higher prices.

[jmbklj]

I haven't voted because of my beliefs & experience with airline mergers (Delta/NW) - a "Hate It" for reasons that aren't responses in the poll.

Reason 1: The new combined FF program took the new worst of both airlines.
Reason 2: The prices weren't affected as much as the lack of flights to many cities, and many routing options that I normally used were decreased or eliminated. Fewer flight choices. I'm now always forced to connect in ATL rather than DTW or even CVG.

[betsyv]

I have mixed feelings. With the Delta/NW merger, I can finally fly into Hong Kong with only 2 segments (Fla-DTW, and DTW-HKG). Always before I had to go from ATL to So Korea, Japan or China and then fly a 3rd segment to HKG. But I know that a vote is happening with the flight attendants re Unions and that worries me. If Delta goes union, I think it may be the beginning of the end for the airline. Meanwhile, I am concerned about reducing the number of airlines in the marketplace. If you just take the DL/NW, CO/UA and SW/AT mergers-we have seen 6 airlines go to 3. I don't see lower prices, I see higher ones. Plus when a disliked airline merges with a favorite (UA/CO), it seems like you lose your favorite instead of gaining one.