Bingo! You are correct!!! AS has survived for 80+ years by doing whatever was necessary to ensure its viability.

They were a big fish in a small pond for a long time....... until a few big whales decided to seriously make that pond their pond too.

AS's pond started drying up, and you do know what happens to a fish when the pond becomes dry, don't you?

Credit to AS's management, they saw the danger and did what they needed to do.

The VX acquisition gives them a fighting chance of ensuring that the pond will always be deep enough to swim in.

That is what VX boys and girls bring to the table my friend.....The very survival of your....... our... airline!

So yeah, we can thump our chest as much as anyone from the AS side because this "lottery" that some of y'all talk about goes both ways..

The VX aquisition gives them a chance to be bought by an even bigger fish, nothing more!
I pray for sooner rather than later, the incompetence at this place is staggering😳

Never left.. Perhaps your life revolves around this forum. Mine doesn't. Lol

Doesn't take much to be a keyboard warrior and be all nasty, petty and insulting my friend, but I as well as many others choose not to do that because let's face it, we do need to have a few adults in the room.

I got some time to kill so I'll entertain you, my little friend.
For the life of me, I can't really follow your logic since you too seem to speak out of your sphincter. If the big fish you are speaking of is Delta, then your comment above is a complete waste of key strokes. I won't waste my time explaining why because it should be trivial knowledge for you as well. If the big fish you are referring to is B6, then you lack complete logic. You see, AS didn't need VX to survive. The ideal scenario would have been for VX to just go away and die. VX was like that pest gopher in the movie, Caddyshack. The only reason why AS acquired VX at such an outrageous price was to out bid B6 to keep them out of the west coast. VX didn't bring anything to the table. It was rather put on the table to be rid of, like a sore thumb or a pest. Bringing something to the table means that you have something valuable to offer. What value is a unprofitable airline with very little to show in the way of assets? What AS needed was a midwest hub and not another failing west coast airline. Instead, AS was forced to put out this fire and paid dearly for it. To Branson and his board's credit, they out smarted AS and the rest of the industry. In conclusion, VX was a liability to AS and had to be dealt with at all cost. Bring to the table? Give me a break!

And I wonder why they wanted to keep JB out of the West Coast at all costs? Hmmmm

And Delta is not a threat to AS? Not to mention SW and United?

Go ahead, keep fooling yourself that Alaska isn't facing and isn't going to face even more serious competitive pressures. I can assure you that your....... our... management is not as shortsighted as you.

Your points underscore your lack of understanding of strategic business decision making and, your inability to draw sound inferences from a given collection of information.

If what you write allows you the peace of mind to justify having your false sense of superiority, then have at it my friend. Lol!

Wow dude, you just don't get it. I now see why VX hired folks with no degrees and pilots in general who can't be hired elsewhere.
It's really simple. VX needed to go away. It was a leach taking away from the market without even doing themselves any good. VX investors weren't happy with VX so they bailed. AS didn't need VX to grow on the west coast. So genius, do you see AS growing any of your original routes? VX was a liability for AS and B6 had to be stopped because B6 was going to use it as a buffer to the west. VX was to B6 what N. Korea is to China. If N. Korea went away tomorrow, they'll be doing the world a favor. You talk about strategic business decision and obviously you weren't very successful since you parked at VX.
I just call it like it is and if that comes across as a sense of superiority, it appears that you may have a bad case of inferiority complex. I find it comical that the worst sticks are the biggest jerks in the cockpit and the ignorant fools are the loudest of the bunch.

You are a child, and not worth engaging further. I will say you have no clue about financials. Yes, a large truck load as in Billion( over a billion) with a B, but you are some airline business savant so you must already know that.

Legal experts arguing a seniority list. Not a slanted view point at all( eye roll). The numbers are out there for anyone that knows where to look.

Alaska no longer requires a degree. Why don’t you talk down to half of the new guys too.

Alaska needed VX more than VX needed Alaska at the time, that is a fact. Our precious management let Delta take over the PNW and needed to buy someone, anyone, to prevent their demise. Look around, no one is threatened by AS because they know mgmt has no clue. Spirit, frontier, and even f-ing sun country is expanding in SEA. Traffic is up in Sonoma county but AS traffic is down there. We cancel a bunch of routes while B6 increases on the same routes. Now we are letting southwest whip our butts in the west.

I agree. Work4life is a child and is not worth engaging any further. Ignore the troll. Lol

Actually sad to say I think this movie can be used as an analogy for how this whole thing is going down on the forums at least. Really embarrassed by all this public laundry. Nobody is doing any credit to their respective groups.

http://https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CewglxElBK0