And here's one from 10 months before the merger. We both sucked, and we were both being actively managed to this end state for YEARS prior to the announcement just like Boxer6 said. No one has any idea how each individual Legacy would have fared absent this merger, and postulating wildly divergent outcomes is a futile effort.


New York Post

BUSINESS
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UNITED, THEY FALL (INTO DEBT)
By Josh KosmanJune 30, 2009 | 6:27am
United Airlines is having its own version of the trip from hell.
The airline, reeling from a decline in customers and running short on cash, is paying a steep 17 percent interest on $175 million in debt it issued, leading analysts to bet the company is just a few steps from the grave.
Indeed, that interest rate represents a full 6 percentage points above where rival airlines have paid in recent debt raisings, and is more than double what it paid nine years ago when it sold $186.4 million in debt at a yield of slightly more than 8 percent, according to Bloomberg data.
United Airlines parent UAL was planning to sell the debt at a 12.75 percent interest, but was forced to sweeten things due to both a lack of investor interest and management desperation, said analyst Roger King of CreditSights.
Others have noted that the steep interest rate reflects a lack of desirable assets to use as collateral.
UAL is considered the laggard among the big airlines, even as the airlines’ overall passenger demand is off 10 percent compared with last summer. Also, the company has just $2.5 billion of cash on hand, compared with Delta, which has $7 billion.
To be sure, it’s a difficult time for all airlines. However, UAL has some unique challenges.
When it was in bankruptcy from 2002 through 2006, it focused on attracting premium customers — a move that now leaves it vulnerable given there’s less business travel and more consumers are favoring price over luxury when it comes to travel.
Making matters worse, UAL may have near-term liquidity issues, and could begin to get squeezed by credit-card companies that fret they’d have to refund customers who bought tickets out of their own pockets if UAL collapses. King said UAL is now in talks with American Express about reaching a new arrangement to address this threat.
Last week, the airline announced it would lay off another 600 flight attendants in the fall. King said the company has basically already made about all the cuts it can.