Looks to me like most of us have been to a road show. We're all fired up and pointing fingers at each other again.
Well, here's a thought as I read through the posts. We both have MEC guys with egos. Wow, imagine a guy wanting to run for some kind of elected office with an ego. Shoot, airline pilots have famously big egos and then put one in an elected position of power?
So, here is my point. We both got spun to a certain amount. I'm willing to bet a beer both our briefings included all the reasons the other side is being ____________ (you fill in the blank). To me the bottom line is the deal didn't get done, which is a failure on both sides. Assuming you want the deal in the first place or it's going to happen anyway, like it or not.
I freely admit that this isn't going to go as great for me as I'd like, I'm the smaller carrier and the math won't be on my side (or the name change/paint job). Size wise, I'd have prefered no merger or Contential but thank god it's not AA. For the Delta guys, were 5/7th your size and the PAA/Western models won't work, we're too big. But, isn't that the reason you wanted us? Economy of scale, world wide a$$ kicker or some MBA speak like that.
Someone needs to step up and "get'er done". I trust my merger committee more now than before the road show, but maybe we all need to quit nodding our heads and screaming "right on, those ba$terds" and actually talk to a rep.
Ferd (showing once again, a firm grasp of the obvious)
NWA