United-Continental merger

[freefade3876]

i've been a loyal United flyer for nearly 20 years now...and while i've always been a fan of their level of service, safety record, et al, really what ices it for me, as with so many others, is having Channel 9 available during flight.

i really REALLY hope they don't abandon Channel 9 once this merger goes through
hmmmmm   

[rekno13]

The one good hint at it continuing is that United is buying Continental, so maybe it will go on all the newly added flights! Stay positive!
Also, I like the United logo better than the Continental one.

[sykocus]

I don't know it's a simple matter of one buying the other. They're calling it a  "MERGER OF EQUALS". In the end UAL stockholders will own 51% of the shares and COA 49%. However Tilton (UAL) will be the non-executive chariman with Smisek (COA) being CEO and eventually becoming the executive chairman. The corporate HQ will be Chicago while IAH well be the main hub. It sounds like they've tried to divide things up evenly. While I'm partial to Continental I don't like the logo they're currently throwing around. "United" spelled out in Continental's font just doesn't look right. Hopefully as they have more time they'll come up with something better.

[cptbrw]

I'm afraid this is yet another step in what will probably be further consolidation in the airline business.  In the end there will be one less choice and thus less flights and competition and, ultimately higher seat prices.  After this merger completes maybe we'll see US Air and American merge and this will pretty much complete a cycle of consolidation of the "legacy" US carriers.

[atcman23]

Nobody will merge with US Airways.  It's a poorly run and poorly managed airline and while they may be doing "OK" right now, they're struggling to keep passengers and improve customer satisfaction.  Not to mention that they usually have higher ticket prices and they charge for a lot for things (bags, food, drinks, etc.).  US Airways tried to merge with United at least twice, getting close in 2000 where they stopped short of announcing the merger and they tried to merge with Delta in January, 2008.  I don't think American is in the merger "mood" (that's a BIG airline, so they buy other ones such as TWA). 

The United-Continental merger will certainly be interesting however I think that they will make some good decisions.  Management at Continental is better than United and both airlines are pretty strong right now.  Obviously having 10 hugs across the US will not last and some will likely lose their hub status and I think Cleveland will likely be one of them at some point.  It will certainly be interesting to see how things play out over the next year or two.