Every merger is different--in this case there are some pretty large differences in the two brands. In the earning call today, Gary made it clear that each side would run by it's own rules rather that trying to mix the streams and wind up with a confusing customer experience. (Business class/no business class, assigned seating/no assigned seating, bag fees/no bag fees, etc) Let's face it--some current AirTran customers will hate flying Southwest and a short-term "Southwestification" of the AirTran experience might only hasten their exit to other airlines. It seems the plan is to keep people happy with what flavor they like rather than mixing the two and winding up with a flavor that even less people like.

Will it work? Gary Kelly has spent his whole career at SWA and was a CFO before becoming the CEO. He has a staff of bean counters at his disposal to look at data points from 4,000 flights a day. At most I see the world from the soda straw of 6 flight a day. I'll put my money on the tall guy from UT to figure this thing out.