Donkey Duke: I am the first one who would love to see DL, CO, NW, US etc. flying into LHR!
This monopoly situation with only AA UA BA VS is terrible.
But- the price we would have to pay to get these. .other airlines into LHR is WAAAAAYY TOO HIGH (yes - I AM shouting!) To give AA/BA anti-trust immunity is a disaster. The few slots that the others will get, will increase competition a lot less than the loss of competion by letting AA/BA work together.
There must be another way to get these other airlines into LHR, than to let AA/BA conspire regarding flights, fares, commissions, customer service.
Unbelievably - the anti trust laws were supposed to protect small businesses against large, to enhance and ensure competition. But- it's only the BIGGEST companies that are being granted anti-trust immunity, to work together to kill off the small ones. Travel agencies have run against a wall trying to get limited anti-trust immunity to negotiate commissions and other issues with the airlines, but the big companies are allowed to set policies against small mom-and-pap companies together. It's a disgrace!
And don't belive for one minute that this does not hurt the consumer, the traveler. Try to get an upgrade seat or free seat NYC-LON AFTER AA/BA have been granted their anti-trust immunity. That will be even harder than now.
Also - the mega airlines claim that these alliances bring "seamless" (Ha ha ha) service to far away places. Baloney! Your agent at the UA check-in counter in ABQ has no clue about far away LH destinations, neither before the Star alliance, nor after. You could get a "joint-fare" long before these alliances were allowed, and that system worked just fine.
Leo Mullin from DL told congress that they should be granted even more anti-trust immunity, so the real biggies could merge, to better be able to weather crises like Sept. 11.
Unbelievable! It is the smaller airlines, like Southwest, Frontier, Alaska, that could handle the downturn in business, not the big ones. The big dinosaurs are the loudest begging for more money from the taxpayers. And- United is of course one of these behemoths that need to go.
And do you professional pilots think that these "mergers" are an advantage for you? Of course not -you are getting screwed too, while the Stephen Wolff's pocket another merger bonus (even if it kills the company).
No more mergers, no more anti-trust immunity to ANY airline cooperation! Let's lobby the politicians to eventually put an end to already existing pacts, which are all anti-competitive. . .This disastrous trend must be stopped!