Very true during the runup to BK and the initial year or so into it. Even while on the way out of BK though, DL started to fight back hard and bloodies AT's nose in ATL pretty badly. AT was forced to scramble into markets DL didn't care as much about as well as into direct competition with SWA instead. I think AT pulled back 20% or so from their ATL peak during the hey days you mentioned. They do advertise in certain markets quite well. So does SWA, JB, NK and others. We need to learn sometimes you have to spend money to make money. Keep Climbing is cool, but we need to get way more agressive with our marketing everywhere the way we're finally starting to in NYC.

Despite the previous reductions, post merger (AT/SW) they've already gone from 250ish to 175ish flights a day in ATL. This round of fare wars is not a signal of their over all strength particularly in that market. They are trying to maintain an even lower level of relevancy in the major market they just bought their way into. The only remaining variable that needs to be sovled for is DL's ongoing resolve to win long term versus bowing down to the short term quarterly result monger crackberry day traders analcysts. We can win this battle easilly, but we'll have to pay today to win tomorrow. Do the ones we have at the helm have that mentality or are they quarterly results by any means necessary B school reactionaries? Time will tell.

The canaries in the coal mine to see if we ever decide to get serious about investing in long term success (at least domestically) are LA/SEA (which would be taken care of by default in an AS merger) and more difinitively BOS. The way DL rolled over and handed one of the best and well traveled O&D revenue markets for its size anywhere and flat out gave it to start up to rule without question (notwithstanding one brief last hurrah with 50 seat RJ's and small turboprops just prior to the massive marketshare cull and giveaway) remains a textbook case of bad airline management. The excuse then was emergency survival at any cost, but today sitting on a massive, radically underutilized terminal while an ULCC sleeps with your hot ex girlfriend with the shades open because they know you are watching is inexcusable and symptomatic of the unsustainability of perpetually shrinking to profitability.

At some point we will hit the breaking point and it will either be "fight's on!" or we'll watch the roaring fireplace go dark while we huddle on the bare floor in an empty house.