With the US Airways/American Airlines merge almost a done deal, there still remains a few things left to smooth out before the reported $11B deal, according to USA Today can be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
"Both United and Delta have become global giants following their mergers with Continental and Northwest, respectively and American is struggling to compete with them," US Airways' CEO Doug Parker said to USA Today in one-on-one interview.
He also points out how "by putting (American's and US Airways') two networks together, you create a third airline that can compete with United and Delta and give competition to those two global airlines."
Parker assures USA Today and current and future passengers that this merge will make things better.
"It will be better for customers, certainly better for the employees of the two airlines and better for the communities we serve."
As for the effects to the passengers, Parker wants them (passengers of both airlines) to be assured that their frequent flier miles will be transferable and interchangeable between both airlines.
However, he said nothing about partner airlines. Since US Airways is part of the Star Alliance(the second-largest air alliance network) and through the alliance can offer different flight packages, the merge will directly effect the Star Alliance in terms of destinations they can travel to and how much of the globe they can claim to control over rival Sky Team, which is anchored by Air France-KLM and Oneworld (the largest air alliance in the world and is the alliance American Airlines is part of now).
Why is this important?
Well, in case it has been forgotten, when Continental (a Sky Team member) merged (got bought out) with United/Delta (a Star Alliance partner), they had to change from being a Sky Team member to Star Alliance. Meaning, all of those passengers gaining miles through Sky Team, booking with a Sky Team member airline, which they could use to fly Air France-KLM or Alitalia, were unable to claim them towards Sky Team flights, as Continental was no longer part of Sky Team, even though they booked the flight when Continental was a member.
What is going to happen about this?
On the flip side, the merger will not change passenger service fees, which are not going down, but going up(not a shocker to anyone used to traveling or business).
Instead of having a choice between US Airways and American (both of whom charge different service fees), it will now be one and same with US Airways' policy and procedures assumed to be taking control of the operations.
These are only a few issues that need to solved and run by, not only the FAA, but the Star Alliance as well, before 100 percent approval can be given by all parties concerned.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
