The Delta-Northwest Merger

By Lee | April 16th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Not to get too much into the financial viability of this merger agreement but focusing on what this could mean to travelers, I believe this is a bad sign for the airline industry and for the choices that we as paying customers have with the airlines. It started several years ago when American swooped up TWA and American became the worlds largest airline. Recently the Merger between USAir and United was blocked and now rumor has it that United and Continental are close to some type of agreement as well. These types of deals may be economically viable but in the end they will end up hurting the little guy, aka the us-the passengers because it could create a few mega airlines as opposed to several that we have to choose from.

I understand that most people fly only one or two airlines anyway because they have their frequent flyer miles with whoever but at least we still have options. If all the biggest airlines merge then the customer loses his options and in fact loses his voice. If an airline wrongs the customer-he doesn’t really have the option to switch and take his business elsewhere because the airlines will completely have the upper hand.

Recently we have seen several airlines file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and it wouldn’t surprise me if it happened to more airlines with fuel costs at all time highs, customer complaints at all time highs, tickets at all time highs and this recent American disaster with the FAA still fresh in peoples minds.

If all these mergers go through then airlines will have no one to really stop them from raising fares even more. Airline spokesmen I am sure will argue that people could take Southwest or Jetblue and that their lower fares will stop the majors from raising too much.

Have you looked at fares flying with either of these airlines lately? They aren’t that much cheaper if any cheaper than the majors. Additionally, they only fly to certain destinations and often times from non-convenient airports. Unless it happens to fit into my plans, I will not and have not gone out of my way to save a few bucks which is all it is to fly from Westchester Airport or the airport in Long Island. The same would be the same for someone from LA who won’t travel all the way to Long Beach, Orange County or Burbank to fly JetBlue or whatever when LAX is usually more convenient.

The state of the US Airline Industry is in shambles and these mergers aren’t going to help the passenger-I’ll tell you that much. It may be good for Wall Street and the stock of the airlines when all is said and done but it won’t help your wallet.