Originally Posted by
qball
Pan Am, Twa, Eastern and others were victims of deregulation (and the introduction of LCCs) At the time they were dying AA was going to a 500 plane fleet (heavily domestic) and hiring 120 pilots/month. AA was there then...they adapted and survived where some didn’t. I suspect they have as good a chance of being around in the future as UAL, DAL.
You're making my point for me. None of those guys saw deregulation and the following carnage coming. Maybe the next 50 years will be nothing but roses but more than likely something will happen to make all the know-it-alls scratch their heads and say WTF was THAT?