Originally Posted by av8or

I think you are conflating concern with hubris.

When Alaska bought Jet America they paid $14 mill ($33 mill in today’s dollars) and other than pulling out of Long Beach they kept and expanded the Jet America/Cali footprint. That was an offensive move for Alaska.

But, nobody believes that the purchase of Virgin was primarily a move to grow in California. Everybody knows that was a defensive move. Everybody knows that in early 2018 when management was asked “Hey, ummm, y’all concerned at all about Delta?” the response was, “No way man…. We got this… no problem. They can’t beat us in Seattle!” which quietly a year later turned into “OMG protect Seattle…. Run everything through Seattle!” Everybody knows that our current push on Hawaii is in direct response to Southwest gunning for us in the islands…. yet another defensive move. Fall of 2019…. Breaking off ties with American…. Spring 2020…. We’re absolutely code-sharing with American and joining OneWorld. Defense.

And what you’re hearing,(most likely from folks who’ve watched and been a part of great airlines that eventually either got swallowed or ceased to exist altogether) is concern that this management team either lacks the skills, or forethought to navigate the fierce competition on more than one front.

Nobody is telling management what routes to fly. If you’re decently senior here….. you’re probably fine either way. The rest of us are just scratching our heads and sayin, “Hey Gen Custer, ya sure ya want us to all gather in one spot at the top of the hill? It appears as though they have Winchester repeating rifles and we’re still using single shot Springfields.”

And the response by some seems to be … “Listen here…. We’ve always won at Little Bighorn and the Springfield has served us well….. don’t you worry son.”

I HOPE there’s a bigger picture cause my wagon is hitched to it. But, if there’s one other than Defense, defense, defense…. I’m still waitin to see it.