If you take two sh***y airlines and turn them into one sh***y airline...

does anything really change?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36904325/ns/business-us_business/

I'm surprised that Houston will remain as one of its hubs but Chicago will not. I guess American has too much of a presence there now.

 

Where in the article does it say Chicago will no longer be a hub?

 

I like Continental relative to other airlines.

 

It doesn't. I heard that in a radio report this morning. Houston & Newark would be the primary hubs.

 

The city that will really lose out will be, naturally, Cleveland, where Continental has a hub. Or, had. It was so weak as a hub that Southwest gained entry with little difficulty a long while back.

 

Also, I guess I'm a lucky traveler.

I always hear about how terrible US based airlines are, but I can't think of any flying related horror stories that I could blame on the airline. I was in Las Vegas the day people tried to use hairspray to blow up planes in England. Everyone was delayed and it was a miserable experience at the airport, but there was nothing that could be done about it.

I've never had a flight canceled, I've never had a major delay other than the aforementioned one, I've never had luggage lost, I've never encountered rude employees, and I can't think of any mechanical problems with a plane I've been on.

My biggest travel related pet peeve are the goofy travel security rules, particularly the rules that are a direct fallout from the day I got delayed in Vegas. It's ridiculous that I can't carry on a 4 ounce bottle of face soap. However, I could carry on 10 3 ounce bottles of the same face soap as long as it fits in a quart sized bag. This is a particularly annoying problem for me, because I try to not check luggage if at all possible.

 

I hate United Airlines more than all other airlines combined.

 

I liked Continental and hated United. I'm guessing United will make it one sucky airline.

 

Houston will be their biggest cub, but Chicago will remain a hub.

As a Continental alumnus, I'll be very interested to see how this plays out.

The CEO will come from CO. It's yet to be seen who will make up the rest of the management team.

And while they're taking the UA name, the logo, livery, and branding is basically CO's with the United's name substituted for Continental's.

 

I fly Continental almost exclusively out of Newark and have jhad virtually no problems. United better not fuck up a good airline.

 

That's the fear of many of my friends who still work at CO.

They worked hard to build up CO.

If you remember, CO used to have a VERY bad reputation. The Lorenzo years, the disastrous integration of PeoplesExpress, the bankruptcies, the old and worn fleet, the terrible terminal at EWR, the surly employees. It deserved its bad reputation.

The CO employees very much want to see their management in control of the new airline. They have confidence in them and want to make this work.

They don't want to see all of their hard work go for naught by getting swallowed up in United.

 

United could fuck up a one car funeral. This merger is not a good thing.

United has the surliest employees of any of the major airlines. I think they make them take Asshole 101 as part of their orientation.