Skyflyin,

Its brutally competitive out there.

With DAL now the size they are they are attracting many business accounts with good revenue. The network size sells. While both CAL and UAL are relatively healthy without a comparable network size it is more difficult to attract the desirable revenue traffic. I actually believe CAL would a bit more vulnerable because EUR is more competitive (CAL-lesser yields) while UAL's has dominance in the pacific where yields are greater. Plus UAL domestic hub network has been repeatedly stated by analysts as one of the best. Well, more so before they started their right sizing some years back.

From a business standpoint it is an excellent merger. You sure as heck didn't want to be the odd man out after NW/DL. AA and USAIR are not in an enviable position to compete domestically much less globally with the new up and coming (think Emirates, et al.) air carriers.

Additionally, and this is directed to the CAL 2005 and later hires. There a thread here on the retirements. Take a look. You want this merger. Your CAL retirements (lower numbers =relative expected stagnation) pale in comparison the to UA retirements. I think I read somewhere that over 72% of you are around 30 yrs old in the bottom third of CAL's list. Even if you do get placed behind UAL furloughees (the older twice burned variety) you will own the whole airline to yourselves the rest of the 15-20 (or even more if your born in the 80's) years of your career. Nearly all the UAL pilots will be gone by then. All the widebodies in whatever domicile and great schedules you could dream of. While you think it might be painful now you are really in an enviable position to have the place to your senior selves for so long in your career. Not many in this business ever have that opportunity.