To further your point 67, straight from the AUG IAH CP update.
Flying levels between the NB fleets departures for the month of OCT 2013
(My apologies for the impossible to read formatting)
.......737 .. 320.. sUA757.... sCO 757
CLE . 549 .. 106.. 120 ..........7 ....... +226 UA
DEN 1704 ..1122 .. 767 .......113 ......................+1817 CO
EWR 2060.. 1441 .. 364 ....... 995......+1805 UA
IAD.. 665.... 832.... 301 ........269 .....................+934 CO
IAH . 3604 . 1879 ...516 ........226....+2395 UA
LAX 1203 .... 553 ....647 ........425..................... +1628 CO
ORD 2317 ... 2386 .. 622........ 216 .....................+2533 CO
SFO 1924 ... 1369 ....956....... 248 ......................+2172 CO
TOTAL UA flying in CAL HUBS 4426
TOTAL CO flying in UA HUBS 9084
CAL will fly 4,658 more departures out of UA hubs than UA out CO hubs for next month.
TOTAL UA hub departures 20,485
TOTAL CO hub departures 13,050 (GUM not included)
Guys, be intellectually honest. While I would say the combined network has some influence, the UA network is where the vast majority of the departures are. Remember, after they parked the Guppies, express flying increased double digit percentages. The NETWORK remained and the DEMAND remained...there were just fewer seats available. The jobs were always there until the lift was available after the merger...which is, as we see, is EXACTLY what happened.