Thoughts on a Sunday Morning

Since I'm planning to work in the airline industry, I really need to watch what I say. But sometimes I need to call out bats**t crazy. US Airways wants to swallow up an American icon, that being American Airlines. As much as I'm not entirely crazy about either airline, I must admit that

In fact, the only time I ever had a meal on a domestic airline flight that I can remember was in 2001 on an American Airline flight heading from La Guardia Airport to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, on the way to Denver. I had cold chicken fingers and salad. Needless to say, I enjoyed that meal, and it brings back happy memories, despite being in the rear of an MD-80 with no window seat.

But before US Airways goes swallowing up more airlines, it should attend to the one that American West started with it. In fact, as of THIS November, pre-merger US Airways and America West cabin crews are working under separate contracts. Kudos go out to Roger Holmin and Deborah Volpe, who are the presidents of the pre-merger US Airways and America West cabin crews, respectfully, for coming together as one, even if their contract doesn't mention any union between the two groups. Traditionally, cabin crew in merged airlines are at war with each others groups for a period of time. The flight attendant groups seem like two step-siblings trying to get their respective biological parent and respective stepparent to recognize that the two siblings want to lead a normal, happy family life. And United and Continental employees are still unhappy about their merger. Quoting David C. Forward from the January 2013 issue of Airways Magazine, the feature "Coach Flyer" on a trip from Newark to London and back:

The flight was only one-third full, and the flight attendants delivered excellent service. Two of them explained that CO crews must continue to work on "Continental metal," and it was evident from their comments that insofar as many former CO employees are concerned, this is not yet one happy family.

Not to sound like a jerk or anything, but what are the people at the Justice Department smoking? They've allowed for two super-mergers and seem to not give any concern to airline employees and passengers. If you want an inside into "class warfare", look no further than the airline industry. Exceptions exist, but they're mostly contained to regionals like SkyWest and the low cost carriers like jetBlue and Southwest, who pride themselves on happy employees that above all love their job and do it with pride, safety and with a smile. I've spoken to cabin crews on TATL (trans-Atlantic) flights, some of the older female FA (flight attendants), some of who were of Pan Am stock, said they missed the old days. And I'd have to agree with them.

Now back to the business side of things: I believe that just because you have a master's of business administration doesn't mean you're qualified to run an airline. You need to have a certain level of common sense, and one that is aviation-business oriented. Business grad program can't teach that in my opinion. You need to work in the industry first. There are airline execs who make me smile, but I won't give names. And if the need for all these airline mergers are because of discontent investors, well, maybe employees should start buying stock like they do at carriers like SkyWest and jetBlue. I believe employees work harder when they actually own stake in the company, even if it is a meaningless number of shares: it's the symbolism behind it. But who is this so-called airline butcher?

Everyone knows how I feel about W. Douglas Parker. He's the airline industry's snake oil salesman. Under his steed, he bought out the remains of a couple local airlines (that combined were the pre-2005 US Airways, since the companies were formed from local service carriers) and tried to throw Delta in the ring. A salute goes out to the Delta employees who kept US Airways from going the way of fallen flags (a rail industry term which I think goes well with the airlines too). And let's not forget about Parker's DUI. I would expect that someone like Parker would know better. He's in an industry where safety comes first.

At the same time, three major US carriers would have an advantage, and that advantage is the number of airlines itself. THREE. The inequalities of scale if for instance US Airways/American hooked up with United (Continental). It would create a mess. It would be twice the size of Delta.

I fear an American-US Airways merger as a genuine low cost carrier would lose. jetBlue would see itself lose it's interline with American, since I have a feeling Parker would be more than happy to axe that. I applaud jetBlue for a smart business model, great employees (but I think that goes for most of the industry) and not merging with airlines that are totally incompatible. It's a shame Southwest bought AirTran, but at the same time, Southwest I believe has that magic of being able to make mergers work. I need to applaud Southwest for that. And jetBlue gets the most credit for expanding without needing to buy airlines. (Just stay out of airline alliances)

The industry has gotten to the point where no one wants anymore competition. It makes it near impossible for anyone to enter into the industry. There are plenty of under-served airports in the United States that are calling for more service. The Mid-Hudson Valley doesn't have flights to Atlanta or Chicago. Mergers threaten this already unstable equilibrium. Truth be told, I'll be the first to admit that.

Anyways, it's off to bed for me. If I'm up any later I'll stop making sense.