The bottom line is that the TWA buyout was a catastrophe for all concerned. Carty should have listened to Crandall when he said he would have sold TWA for a buck after 911. No one knows if the airline would have made it post 911 but I lay odds that it would have. TWA guys would still have their jobs, AA would have furloughed a fraction and yours truly would be a captain. Things are the way they are. In addition if 911 had not occurred things may have worked out ok in the merger.
The bottom line is that AA merger history is a complete and unmitigated no holds barred catastrophe. The current management team, as idiotic as they seem, know this. I think they will bid on another carrier only as a last resort. Picking up the pieces is a more likely result but the Tokyo hub is not as valuable as it once was with the new long range airplanes coming on line.