IDK. UAL flies 153- 70 seaters today, a fraction of the 76 seaters over at DAL, even though there was no restricion on 70 seaters other than total block hours of the entire UAX fleet. We have 550 UAX aircraft flying today. THAT is more the problem than 70/76 seat RJs. Chop that number down significantly, and you can do some real damage, even if it means allowing 6 more seats.

Oh, I know the arguments..."they are 90 seat airframes! and they will be flying 90 seats...it's just a matter of time." Well, DAL has went through 2 contract cycles with those "90 seat airframes", and they still held to 76 seats.

More significant, IMO is code share. How many flights do we fly DEN-PHL? LAX-PHL? CLT-SFO? The answer is little to none. WHY? Us Airways code share. If we can cut some of that sheet, it would go a long way towards increasing block hours here at mainline. An AMR/AAA merger would REALLY help, as AAA would be headed out of DeathStar and into OneWorld. Poor ol' UCH would have to do more of their own PHL/CLT/DCA flying.

JMHO
Sled