Delta-Northwest deal could mean fewer cheap seats

[flashl]

Source: CNN-Money

If a big airline combination is approved, frugal fliers could feel the pinch.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- It may be time to wave goodbye to some of those discount fares. If Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines complete a merger to form the largest U.S. airline, travelers can expect fewer deals and higher fares on some remote routes.

A combination has been rumored for weeks and reports Tuesday indicated that a deal was close.

...

With fewer available seats, airlines cut back on the supply of cheapest seats first.

Small and mid-size markets will likely be the first to feel the squeeze, said airline consultant Michael Boyd. For example, Delta (DAL, Fortune 500) or Northwest (NWA, Fortune 500) handle most of the flights for Roanoke, Va. - those fares would likely rise as travelers' options are reduced, Boyd said.

CNN - Money

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/19/news/companies/northwest_delta_merger/index.htm?postversion=2008021909

---

Every time we hear about some business decision, we pay, we lose, we must give up some 'perk', or we must change our 'expectations'.

Why don't the business community just cut to the chase and announce on CNBC or some other show each day what we have left to spend or should expect to have as disposal income for the day?

Surely, we not rewarded for being frugal or a spendthrift.

[Yael]

1. I'm thinking more like "will".

[DS1]

2. Just turn the engines around and fly on the power of SUCK

:puke:

If there's two airlines to avoid in the first place...

[liberal N proud]

3. Duh!

This all goes back to the wonderful raygun years again. Deregulation when the carriers started to gobble up the small carriers just to get the gates they owned.
Then they decided they didn't need the employees or many of the smaller cities they flew to.

Fewer carriers = less competition, eliminates any reason to keep the price reasonable.


BTW: you are not supposed to have any disposable income, they want it ALL!

[farraday]

10. Not exactly...

"This all goes back to the wonderful raygun years again."

Airline deregulation happened in 1978 during the Carter administration.

[SnowCritter]

4. I wonder how many jobs will be lost

in the Twin Cities area. The report on CNN this morning indicated that headquarters of the "new" Delta would be in Atlanta. Additionally, IIRC, all the "C"-level executives were going come from Delta.

This, to me, means that the Northwest headquarters will be closed, the Northwest "C"-level folks will get their "golden parachutes" and the rank and file at corporate will get their walking papers.

I haven't heard anything about what may happen with Northwest's maintenance facilities. I would imagine that they would still be required.

[Stuckinthebush]

5. Count on it

The new Delta will still be in Atlanta. That airport will get even worse.

Minneapolis will still have a small hub because of its strategic location but it won't be anywhere near what it was. MSP is such a better airport than Atlanta.

[DarthDem]

7. Just Ask Larry Craig!

:)

[Stuckinthebush]

8. Ouch!

:hi:

That was funny!

[dysfunctional press]

12. i don't know how eager they'll be to have the maintenance facilities in a snowy city.

not to mention that airline maintenance is one of the big new areas of outsourcing- it's like they've just recently realized that the planes can be flown to where the labor is cheaper.

[spartan61]

6. The cheaper priced seats were on the backs of the airline

employees who had to take massive concessions in pay rates and work rules. (And instead of returning to the employees what was taken away, the CEOs and upper management gave themselves massive bonuses.) My daughter is a flight attendant for one of the large carriers and was hired in 1992. Today she is making roughly what she earned back then, not to mention the terrible work rules they have to endure. Hopefully ALL the carriers will give back to their employees all they gave up to keep their carriers afloat.

[dysfunctional press]

13. another thing the airline employees gave up that they won't be getting back-

load factors low enough to allow for reliable opportunity for use of "employee travel" benefits.

back when i worked at united, the low pay didn't seem so bad when you could fly almost anywhere in the world for (almost)next to nothing.

[damntexdem]

9. And since I won't fly Northwest, I guess now I won't be flying Delta either.

I stopped flying Northwest after an ill-maintained plane I was on almost crashed on takeoff.

[Puglover]

14. Please elaborate.

As a thirty year NWA employee I'm all ears.

[salin]

11. Duh... how else does the new, merged company pay off the debt

taken on in the merger. Where do the consumers benefit from "increased competition?" Oh, that's right, we don't.