This gives the vibe of spitballing during cocktail hour more so than a serious consideration to pursue such a merger. Many articles have been published on this specifically, all of them equally bare on details, sourced from "insiders."

I feel like it's all a nothingburger

Actually makes more sense than JetBlue if you think about it. Gives United JFK back plus dominates ORD and we'd be the largest by far in LAX since we are #2 barely behind Delta right now. Also gives us some more decent hubs. If you're going to buy an airline, buy a big one with widebody planes and not an east coast or west coast niche airline.

I never considered that this would happen for obvious reasons, but I like the idea more than buying any other airline. My only concern is they have a lot of debt, so we'd become a deep junk bond airline like Spirit and JetBlue.

If mergers are indeed messy then might as well make it worth the while and go right for the kill.

yah no sh*t dude… Mine as well combine two companies to control 40% of the US airline industry! Because that’s not anti competitive at all.

would love to see someone tell me how that works out.

this is all a ploy for United to buy JetBlue and make it look less radical.

Or a clever ploy to get AA to make a move on JetBlue so UA can grab some assets from both when they are forced to divest, and it would tie them up with merging so they'd be less focused on competing.

Guess you Never met Connie Continental from IAH?, basically the same character

DFW Debbie is a sweetheart compared to PHL Phylis.

Other than some JFK slots, what does JetBlue have that United even wants? A bunch of 220’s and CEO’s that would be parked, a handful of 321Neos’ that would have to go through expensive and time consuming conversions, a bigger presence in a historically low yielding FLL market, a mountain of debt? I just don’t see the reality of a JB merger when all Kirby really wants is some slots at JFK. The expense, time, and mess that a merger would bring isn’t remotely worth it.

As to a potential merger with AA, I’d love to be a fly on the wall if that was ever seriously pitched to the feds. Their reaction would be entertaining.

if you look what Duffy said, and what Ed said during the earnings call. It’s clear the industry is going to structurally change and consolidate again.

how many airlines will be left after it’s done? I don’t know, but I believe it’s going to change quite a lot just like it did in the last round.

Not saying that consolidation won’t happen, I’m just saying that the juice isn’t worth the squeeze when it comes to JB and UA. The big merger talks on this website are by people who want it to happen for personal reasons, not what the Willis Tower crowd wants. Personally, I see any potential consolidation happening at the regional and LCC level but not at the big 4. Either way, we’re just along for the ride.

I think this is all to make sure the flight attendants accept their TA.

“if you vote this down, there is risk it will be years and a messy SLI until there is a joint CBA…”