One More Airline Merger ! Does it mean anything to anyone?

I started writing this post, the day the merger was Announced. Figured, I will complete it and post the blog today, Sept 17,2010, as the merger is formally blessed and the transition will begin.

United is Merging with Continental, Delta Merged with Northwest, US Airways Merged with AmericaWest ... List goes on

So really do these mean anything to anyone?

Let's Start with Me, as a representation of the "The flying Consumer"

Just the week before the deal was announced, I flew from DFW to SFO on American, SFO to Rochester, NY on United and finally Rochester, NY to Dallas on Delta. I pretty much concluded there is NO Difference in experience or service. All of them wanted to charge for bags, Had the same level rules for frequent travellers, treated the passengers same way, the look and feel inside the planes was no different.

So for me the choice boils down to two things

1. Which airline can save me time by given me a direct flight or better connections
2. Which airline can save me some money by offering me a lower fare

This was true before this merger, or the previous Delta/North West Merger and this will be true tomorrow as these airlines these mergers will have very little impact on how these airlines operates.

In my opinion myths that are always raised during these kinds mergers will stay myths. Some of them are

1. There will be less choice : Never turns out to be true, if this airline cuts down routes there will always be an American, Southwest, Jetblue etc eager to add those routes
2. Prices will raise : Never turns out to be true, as there will be someone trying to fill seats or trying to expand to the route if they see prices raising. Even if we assume airliness will not expand, Companies Like CISCO, Microsoft will push more telepresence and conferencing to cut travel costs. So the chances of unreasonable fare hikes is very low.
3. Service will be better as the combined airline will have more resources : Never turns out to be true, as the combined airline is immediately looking for cost savings rather than trying to be better to meet it's merger and wall stree expectation. This will come at cost of service and confusion in the short run

So for now - Just travel safe and and ignore the hype/noise around airline mergers as it probably means nothing to an average traveller.

Thanks

Nagesh

The views represented in this blog are my personal views and are not a reflection of or opinions of any of the institutions I am associated with or have worked for.