Will Delta and United Merge?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Delta Air Lines said Wednesday it is open to a combination with another airline and was looking at deals even before one of its major shareholders wrote to push it to make a bid for United Airlines.

Full story HERE.

I really really really really hope not. All this creates is havoc and chaos for employees, and makes huge paychecks for stockholders and execs. Soon we're going only one or two mega airlines here in the US.

saxman66 said:

I really really really really hope not. All this creates is havoc and chaos for employees, and makes huge paychecks for stockholders and execs. Soon we're going only one or two mega airlines here in the US.

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Its inevitable. The short/medium distance flight is quickly becoming an anachronism with the price of fuel. Airlines need to serve fewer people as time goes on, and so they consolidate.

There was a similar article in the L.A. Times last Friday:

More mergers may be on industry's radar

One comment really stood out:

"Customers will lose because they always lose in a merger," said Joe Brancatelli, who runs a website for business travelers, joesentme.com. "I don't care what they say; mergers have been bad for customers."

This is not a merger thing, but I'm flying to D.C. in March, using Alaska Air miles. It's one of those partnership/codeshare deals, so I'll actually be on American. With American jacking up its fuel surcharge (noted in the Times article), I'm wondering if I'll get hit with it after the fact. "They can't do that," you might say. But the Times Sunday travel section has already printed 3 letters from readers who got nailed for fuel surcharges even though they had booked months earlier, before any surcharge was in effect. Of course they all paid, but were not happy about it, and I wouldn't be either. And if the Times printed 3 letters about this practice, you just KNOW it has happened to many others.

My r/t travel was booked last Rocktober - almost 6 months in advance. There was in fact a fuel surcharge at the time of booking, but I don't wanna get hit with double. Not my fault that American, unlike Southwest, didn't lock in a lower priced, long term contract before jet fuel skyrocketed. I mean, why should we, the customers, have to pay for such shortsightedness?

What other choice do you have if you want to fly?

They can get away with this stuff because people complain and argue about it, but don't vote with their feet. Airlines are all pretty bad, and the only vote is some other form of transportation. And people have become convinced they want to be there yesterday.

Well it looks like Northwest and Delta will merge. Just waiting for the pilot groups to work out how to combine the seniority lists and other deals. Maybe something US Airways and America West should have worked out. Their pilot groups are STILL on separate lists.