Originally Posted by TripleCrank

Not writing this to directly discredit your post, instead to give a different perspective.

Over the last decade the airline industry in general has faced the worst of times followed by the best of times and we are now starting to even out. Fuel is returning to a sustainable price per barrel and casual/business travel is also returning to its normal, per-economic crash, levels (in general, not quoting any direct studies here).

Did the Air Group overpay for VX? Honestly, we will never know because we cannot see what the long term affect would have been if Jetblue had gained a West Coast foothold. On paper, yes it looks like AAG overpaid, in reality, only time (more than a few years) will tell.

If we are losing passengers to competitors then we are gaining new ones to replace them as our load capacity numbers are in line with previous years, quarters and months.

Look at any of the major airline mergers in the past decade, they are EXPENSIVE, tough on labor moral and often take longer than anticipated to complete. Before we judge the success or failure of the AS/VX merger we have to give it time to complete. How can you judge a cake if all you have done is mix the ingredients but have not let it bake?

The main point of the original post is 100% correct, do your research before going anywhere (do not let that research come 100% from APC). It is great to see a healthy pilot job market again, go to the flight operation that will make you the happiest.

For my own personal reasons that operation for me was Alaska Airlines and I am very happy to hang my hat here (though I hope that hat becomes optional in the near future). My reasons are not your reasons so again, do your due diligence, pick your companies, take the first class date you get and enjoy your time off.