They have been talking about 757's to Hawaii for awhile now. I think at some point we will see this.

They have also been talking about HNL to mainland China for some time as well. If they hit "Go" on those flights a hub of some sort would be the next logical step.

I will go as far to say that if Hawaiian gets a HND slot, it is probably worth the acquisition.

Satchip;

I agree that it "appears" that AMR is the most favored son given their ORD focus, but the fat lady has not sung. If they actually make us divest slots in the LCC slot swap, then they will have to make them do so as well. If they even try to ramrod that through without a slot divestiture, many will cry foul!

What are all of those people doing in the C141 cockpit? :D

Whereas I see a mess of an SLI for any LCC tie up, for JB to tie up with AMR even with a mostly stapled SLI that could still be a big win for JB pilots, if there are fences, given how many pilots will retire at AMR. Insane, AMR may go 20 years without hiring.

Crying foul won't change a thing...

Rehash: mid January 08 NWA and DAL begin merger talks. April 08 we announce we will merge. August 08 the EU signs off. end of October 08 the DOJ approves it. Jan 1, 2010 we finally begin operating on SOC.

All that to say, that was an extremely fast merger with basically 6 months from announcement to DOJ approval and we were the only operation seeking such DOJ approval.

I think what ACL mentioned about RA saying it was good to be the first out of the gate is really going to hold true given when we merged there were 6 legacy carriers and now just 5, to merge again takes it to 4. For AMR to merge with JB means they own JFK almost outright not to mention AMR just got their JA with BA. I don’t think one of those mergers or two will occur at the speed we did it. This government might want to be in the business of picking winners but it is also populist and may push all of this to the side until post election because none of it will be viewed as consumer friendly.

Post election you will, according to most, see some type of split government which may calm anxiety about what the CBO called yesterday an unsustainable US fiscal policy. That might lift the markets somewhat in 2011 and we’ll be in position to win while others are wrestling.

I'm not sure it would be a win for the JB pilots. I think many over at JetBlue at there because they want to "make a difference" or work for a company that does things differently than other airlines. If they got bought by AMR, the first thing that would go would be that kind of attitude.

Maybe if it was just DAL doing so, but it would be a lot more than just us lining up with objections.

Also remember that DAL is ALPA-AFL-CIO and AMR is APA, and Jet Blue is nada. Labor has leverage and they will use it.

Like the dot connecting there Sir FtB!

The law is called ERISA, the Employee Retiree Income Security Act. Delta can end the pension outside of bankruptcy if they do a Standard termination. That means the plans have to be funded to pay all earned benefits...which would require billions in funding, a far cry from where they currently are. The PBGC can also do an involuntary termination, but wouldn't happen where a company is actively funding the plan in compliance with the law.

It's not mandatory that a company has a defined benefit pension plan. It is mandatory, with minor and rare exceptions, that once a company has a plan it must be funded in accordance with the law, and that earned qualified benefits cannot be reduced as long as the plan is in existence.