Empire State Of Mind (Part I)

I had been looking forward to this trip to New York City for months now.  First, after 16 years of trying to gain required experience and status within the airline industry, I was finally invited to join the prestigious Wings Club, thanks to my former boss at Continental Airlines, Gordon Bethune, and former TWA Captain Gordon Beaubien.  My gratitude goes out to both of them for recommending me, and they will not be forgotten.  Second, this was my chance to take my last flights aboard American Airlines Boeing 767-200ER's.  These planes have been plying the skies between Los Angeles and New York/JFK for the last 30 years and AA felt it was time to put them out to pasture and replace them with specially outfitted Airbus A321T's.

I had flown on the 767-200 quite a bit on TWA, Delta Air Lines, United Air Lines, and during my time at Continental.  When I was part of the fleet planning team at Continental, it was my idea to start the Newark-Athens, Greece flight with the 767-200ER, to establish ourselves on the route, which was eventually upgraded to the Boeing 767-400ER, before the merger with United took place.  I  know the 767 as intimately as I know my beloved Airbus A330's.  I had to say goodbye.

Back to the trip at hand.  The day started out fabulous, and it was still dark by the time Mary dropped me off at Salt Lake City International Airport.  Check-in took a while, only because there were two agents on duty, and alas, they were the ones who had our bag tags.  they were professional and friendly about the delays, though.  Once I surrendered my bag to TSA I headed for security, where as i predicted, was pretty busy, what with multiple departures going on from not only American/US Airways, but with Frontier, Alaska, United, and Southwest as well.  The TSA treats SLC like a lab rat, with various adaptations of screening going on at various times.  This time was a good one, and one that I hope will stick. We didn't have to take our shoes or jackets off, as the full body scanners were updated with software that could detect anything from the bottom of the scanning area to the top.  I liked this, and told them so as I left the security area and made my way to the departure gate.

In Salt Lake City, American is one of the most convenient airlines to fly on, as their gates are the absolute closest to the Terminal 1 security area.  they occupy gates A3 and A5, and from time to time will use A1 when there's overflow. The CRJ-200 that would take me to Los Angeles was at A3, and by the time I got there, boarding had begun.  Luckily I paid for the Choice Plus fare (slightly higher than the basic lowest fare), and had been placed in Boarding Group 1.  Off i went to get shoehorned into the tiny Regional jet.  This service wasn't the regular American Eagle service, it was operated by SkyWest, having been contracted to fly smaller routes that American Eagle didn't want to fly.  Nonetheless, it was still a pleasant ride, with no one seated next to me for the 2 hour ride to LAX.

Arrival into LAX was great as usual, it was nice to see the various carriers from around the globe that one doesn't normally see in a place like Salt Lake City.  We parked at the remote Commuter Terminal and were bussed into American's historic Terminal 4.  I had a bit of time to kill before my departure to JFK at 9:00AM, so I beelined for the Admiral's Club to recharge my phone and grab a drink.

The Admiral's Club in LAX is accessed from the West side of the concourse, across form Gate 40.  Once you check-in, you are directed upstairs to the Club, where it occupies a large area on the North and West side, while the Flagship Lounge takes up the East and South sides of the floor (you must be booked in International Business or First Class or Transcontinental Flagship Class to access the Flagship Lounge).  Oh, by the way, departure announcements are not made in the Admiral's Club, so you have to keep an eye out on the time.

Sure enough, by the time I had a little juice on my phone and a few drinks to clear my head, it was time to head down to the gate and off on my 6 hour jaunt to New York courtesy of American flight 2 (One of the few flagship routes still in existence from the original days of flying, AA002 was the original LA originator flight at 9:00AM since 1939).  Luckily, the gate wasn't too far, and my carry-on was light (I only had a couple of books with me).  Boarding went by rather smoothly, and again, as I was in Boarding Group 1, I got on relatively early and in my seat, ready to go.

Boarding took a while, due to it being a completely full flight. But, we were right on time, and departure out of LAX was powerful and fast, hurtling us over the Pacific and then into a turn towards the East.  Looking out the window was almost pointless, due to me being over the wing, but I had a killer view out over the front of the engine.

Looking around in the plane, you could tell she'd been flying a long time, just by the very vintage vibe she oozed.  The overhead bins were of the old fashioned upward-sloping bins that don't really fit much, but somehow people can cram entire Samsonite's up there!  Speaking of the plane, she was Boeing's 168th 767-200 off the line, first flown on March 13, 1987.  I felt at home on her, as the seat was ok for Economy Class, and though some people don't enjoy it, I loved sitting by the mid-cabin galley.  It gave me a chance to talk shop with the crew stationed there for a while before being left to my own devices and started watching the 1974 classic disaster film "Airport 1975" the rest of the way to JFK.  Funny thing about those phones, the juice goes fast when you start watching a movie or listening to music, so about the time we were over Ohio, I flipped it off to conserve the battery until landing.

It finally came time to land, we had arrived in the New York area, the worlds busiest airspace.  After a few turns to get out over the New Jersey shoreline, we sailed right into JFK and landed as light as a feather. i will say this, the 767 has the absolute best designed landing gear that make landings such a smooth experience, much like its slightly younger stablemate, the 777.  It didn't take long at all to get to our gate, and we were ushered of with the typical grace of a classic airline crew with smiles and thank you's all around.

Stepping into the Jetway, i realized it was cold in New York!  So what do i do?  I made my way to the closest Admiral's Club to recharge my phone, get a little bit of liquor of hot coffee in me, and put my coat on to face the weather.  Most people don't even think of recharging themselves before heading to baggage claim, but not me, I know better.  I'd rather stop for a second to get my bearings and be better prepared for the maze of subways I'd have to navigate through to get to my ultimate destination in midtown Manhattan.  Also, why try and do that when you're bone tired and weary after a cross-country leg?  Those private clubs are a haven for road warriors such as I.

After a good half hour or so, I gathered my belongings, paid my tab, and headed down to baggage claim. American has one of the prettiest and biggest terminals at JFK, so you really have to watch the signage if it's your first time so you don't get lost in that shopping mall just before the escalators down to baggage.  I got turned around in there and almost headed back for the concourse I had just left!

When I finally got to the Baggage Claim, AA had already snatched my bag and locked it up in the office.  All i did was show them my baggage claim ticket and they fetched my bag and off I went to find the JFK AirTrain to whisk me to Jamaica Station and onwards to Manhattan.

The walk from the Baggage Claim to the AirTrain stop is completely enclosed, so no worry about getting cold or schlepping your bags in the rain.  Not the same thing at Jamaica Station, once you paid the $5.00 toll, you walked out to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tracks overpass (which is covered, but still exposed), and to the elevators down to the Subway level.

You can tell the masses of humanity use the Subways System in New york simply by taking your first lungful of air in the underground caverns.  I purchased my obligatory MetroCard, vaulted my bags over the turnstile, swiped my card and scooted through, while a huge line was forming behind me.  My apologies for bringing my baggage with me! Lurking through the tunnels I found my way to the Manhattan bound E Train, with its final stop being the World Trade Center.  The E train took me to the 55th Street and Lexington Avenue stop, where i switched to the 6 Train, and down to my final stop at the Grand Central Station, which is under the famed Pan Am Building (now known as the MetLife Building) and across the street from my lodging, the Yale Club.  I have arrived!

My sojourn continues in Part II, out on April 2!

FL310, Speaking on Business (Travel)

I've noticed an uptick in Business Travel as of late, and the "Millennials" (travelers 18 to 30 years of age) are leading the charge. I've taken the liberty of doing a few diggings through several very recent surveys and have come up with several conclusions...

Nearly 40 percent of Travel Leaders Group's (www.travelleadersgroup.com) business-focused travel agents indicated that their clients will be travelling more in 2014 than they did last year and just shy of another 40 percent said client bookings will be about the same as in 2013, according to results of the consortium's top business travel trends survey.  Conducted this past fall, the survey results are based on responses from 424 TLG owners, managers, and front line travel experts throughout he United States who identified tat 50 percent or more of their portfolio consists of business travel clients.  The findings are fairly consistent with the same survey result I had seen the year before in a year-over-year comparison.

The survey also revealed that delayed flights are the top concern for business travelers, and found that there is an ever-growing demand for Wi-Fi in-flight and virtually everywhere else.  Well over half (59.7 percent) of agents surveyed indicate in-flight Wi-Fi as either "very important" or "an absolute must have" for their business travel clients.  Only 1.2 percent indicate it is "not at all important" for their clients when flying.  When asked, "How vital is it for our business travel clients to have access to Wi-Fi in their hotel room?"  more than nine out of 10 agents (95.1 percent) state it is either an "absolute necessity"  or "very vital".

Expedia.com and Egencia's Future of Travel Study, one I have been perusing for a few years now, showed the vast difference in travel habits between younger and older businesspeople.  The study encompasses a wide range of participants including 8,535 travelers in 24 countries (most of whom I book travel for at Egencia).

An observation I've made from this study is that Millennials (18 to 30 year olds) have a great fondness for mixing business with pleasure.  Better than 6 out of 10 are likely to extend a business trip into a vacation, compared to about half of 31-year olds to 45 year-olds and just over a third of older travelers.

While the general consensus across all age groups is "a hotel's location is the most important factor", Millennials take it a bit further.  More often than not, a vibrant downtown space is where young professionals seek to be.  They seek to engage the environment around them and look for more than just the office or a cramped hotel room.  They want to be where life happens.

One group whose overall business travel numbers are trending slightly downwards is the LGBT community.  According to Egencia's Annual LGBT Travel Survey, released this past November, 27 percent of gay men reported an increase in this category, compared to 29 percent the previous year, while the decrease went up from 30 to 36 percent.  Among lesbians, however, reports of an increase rose from 25 to 26 percent while decreases dropped from 33 to 32 percent.

and that's FL310's take on Business Travel.

We don't need no stinkin' miles!

Apparently hot on the heels of my last entry regarding Elite Status, I get an email from Delta Air Lines regarding changes to their award winning SkyMiles program taking effect in 2015.  Needless to say, I flipped my lid over the changes, and from what I keep hearing from my Delta loyal clients, they did too.  Let me explain, these updates change the very fundamental core of the SkyMiles program, to the point where miles don't matter anymore, at least, no where near the importance they once had, although Delta claim the accrual for Elite members does not change.

As I said above, miles for all Delta flights will now be earned based on ticket price versus actual flown mileage as well as your current SkyMiles status.  So, if you end up paying more for your ticket, you shall be rewarded as such, with up to 75,000 per ticket.  Also, any existing miles, as well as new miles, will not expire.  What irks me is, folks who have the Delta SkyMiles American Express ea more miles per dollar through this,but at least now it only applies to SkyTeam purchases with the card.

Delta says all this came about because of feedback from their most frequent fliers. Upon reading further through the changes, I can believe this claim, what with no blackout dates, supposedly more award seats available, new one-way award possibilities, as well as something borrowed from the likes of Virgin America and jetBlue, the ability to pay with miles AND cash, and comparison shop the three options of payment, like you can with United or Alaska.

After goofing around with the new system for a while and sampling various city pairs, fares, and options, one neat feature is the new award calendar, which will bring up fares and mileage options in a matrix of dates.

As far as earning Medallion Elite status, the requirements stay the same.  So you still need 25,000 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM's) and $2,500 Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD's) to hit Silver Medallion status, 50,000 EQM's and $5,000 for Gold Medallion, and so on and so forth.  For flights purchased in foreign currencies, the currency will be converted to U.S. Dollars based on IATA's 5-day currency exchange rate at time of ticketing.  Then, the same mileage earn rates per USD will occur.

What's not known is how travel on SkyTeam and partner airlines will be accrued.  More details are supposed to come out later on this year.

That is about all I have for now, more news on this as Delta releases it.  But as far as I'm concerned, the days of a cheap mileage run to hit the next level of Status is over.  I myself have already jumped ship and am now giving my loyalty in the sky to American and Virgin America.

Is Elite Status really worth it?

This year, in anticipation of this new combined American Airlines, I decided to give up my goal of hitting Elite Status with Delta Air Lines, and instead am trying to hit Platinum Elite status with American's Aadvantage program.  Granted, I have a long climb ahead of me, on either airline.  I only had 7,000 Elite Qualifying Miles on Delta, and 5,000 Elite Qualiying Miles on American.  Gold Status on American is 25,000 EQM's.  Silver Medallion is 25,000 EQM's plus a Qualifying Revenue Threshold of $2,500.  Whoa, hold on a sec, Revenue Threshold?!  What is that, you ask?  Let me tell you.

Lately, airlines are getting more and more creative to find ways to give passengers less service for more money.  Delta and United have implemented these Revenue Thresholds ON TOP of the Qualifying Mile Minimums.  They almost guarantee you have to fly more than the minimum qualifying miles on those deep discount airfares, or you can fly the minimums, at a higher fare (usually a mid-range fare, still below the full "Y" fare will do the trick, but check the fare rules and terms to make sure) and hit the Status level of your choice.

American still hasn't implemented this, but in any case, when I buy a Coach ticket on American, I always go for the slightly higher priced "Choice Plus" fare, which give you a 1 free checked bag allowance, bonus miles, Group 1 Boarding (which helps in hubs like Los Angeles, New York/JFK or American's fortress at Dallas/Ft. Worth), no change fee for any changes made to your reservation, Same-day flight change as well as same-day flight standby, and another little perk I like, the free premium beverages.  Usually this only costs anywhere between $70-$150 more than the lowest fare, but it is still a great pick, especially on those longer flights or the business-heavy transcontinental flights.

Now back to the thresholds.  As I stated above, Delta's beginning Elite level is Silver Medallion, at 25,000 Elite Qualifying Miles plus the $2,500 Qualifying Revenue Threshold.  It's not that unattainable, but is it worth it?  Depends on who you ask.  Those folks looking to rack up miles at the lowest possible fare, Elite status would never be worth anything to them as they are not loyal to any particular airline.  To the folks who fly a bit more, mixing both pleasure and business trips, they might be more inclined, as they hit the first status and get a taste of the upgrades, priority baggage, higher service levels, etc, it might be worth it, if they are loyal to that carrier or alliance.  The high-end traveler, the folks who fly on business week in and week out, they hit elite status often, and usually, with multiple carriers or alliances.  I regularly deal with clients who have Platinum or higher status on multiple airlines.  Their loyalty lies with whichever airline gets them where they need to go as conveniently as possible, and those 2 or 3 airlines are very happy to have them and take care of their every need from check-in to picking up their luggage.  For them, Elite Status is not only worth it, it's a way of life (I tend to fall in this category, BUT not with multiple carriers at once).

 Also, you have to realize the airlines are replacing older, less efficient airplanes with, in most cases, smaller and more efficient aircraft, thus, evaporating a lot of capacity on a lot of routes.  American, for instance has been using their Boeing 767-200 as the mainstay workhorse for their Transcontinental flights out of New York/JFK and Boston since the mid-1980's.  These big planes held north of 220 seats and were widebody aircraft.  They are being replaced by narrowbody (one-aisle) Airbus A321 aircraft in a special 3 1/2 class layout of 102 seats.  That doesnt leave a whole lot of room for upgrades to Business or First Classes.  but then again, American has been in the Transcon game since 1938, and has decades of experience and records showing what types of loads are on what flights and thus has decided the A321 is best suited for these negotiated corporate contract-heavy flights.  That is, after all, where their bread and butter is.

So, is Elite Status really worth the trouble of racking up all the points and revenue thresholds?  It depends on who you ask...for me, it is worth it.

 

The need for a few more new entrant Airlines

If you had asked me a decade ago if the US needed or could support more new startup carriers, you would have heard a resounding "Yes!".  Now, after about 15 years of watching the upheaval and shake out of my most beloved industry, I'm more cautious and trepidatious about new carriers and their chances of survival.  There are very few reasons for new entrants to join the rat race in flying passengers from point A to point B.

That being said, there's a few markets out there that still could use a few new entrants.  I'm not talking about the new fad in new airlines, the ULCC (Ultra Low Cost Carrier) concept, where everything down to your carry-on is an extra charge before you get on board.  That concept, to a LOT of travelers, sucks.  It's good for those once-a-year leisure travelers just looking for a cheap(ish) way to get to Disney World, but hardly efficient for the everyday business travel road-warrior.  Airlines like jetBlue Airways and Virgin America are great concepts, and I would LOVE to see this concept expanded in the US, especially in the Midwest and Southern states.

Cities that used to be hubs in the 1980's and 1990's could be great places to start.  Especially places like St. Louis, Nashville, Raleigh/Durham, New Orleans, Milwaukee, hell, even San Antonio, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City could all benefit from a new hometown airline in this niche of higher service levels and moderately priced routes with brand-new equipment.

Speaking of St. Louis, there have been rumors of a new carrier out of there with either Boeing or Airbus narrowbodies serving the major business centers in the US, ala the old Air1 concept of the 1980's.  What killed that carrier off was intense competition from TWA, now gone, leaving St. Louis' Lambert Field almost a ghost town of what it once was. I could most definitely see the need for a fleet of 10-15 A320's or 737's hitting places like New York LaGuardia or JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Denver, Seattle, Boston, and Washington D.C., along with a smattering of regional routes and a few leisure routes to keep the planes flying on weekends.  Do it right, with enough funding and a helluva PR team and you'll have the Midwest's version of Virgin America.

Las Vegas could also do with an all leisure airline along the likes of jetBlue.  Yes, Allegiant Air is based out of there, and they are definitely a build-your-own package type of airline, BUT, there's also a LOT of conventions and other events going on in Las Vegas that draw the business crowd.  Several airlines have tried to startup in Vegas and have failed or have never even gotten off the ground due to various reasons such as, lack of funding, the wrong equipment used (National Airlines and their hodgepodge fleet of Boeing 757's come to mind), to just being the wrong time to start have all contributed to these failures.

That being said, I also love the consolidation that's happening with existing carriers.  Y'all know I'm a huge fan of the US Airways/American Airlines merger.  Same with the now completed Delta/Northwest merger.  Southwest/AirTran destroyed a very good airline for the sake of a worse airline, as did the almost botched Continental/United mashup.  Will we see any more mergers with these megacarriers?  Probably not.  Will we see more regional niche carriers (i.e. Hawaiian, Alaska) tie up in code-shares with the megacarriers?  More than likely.  With the soap opera that's going on in Seattle between Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines, I can most definitely see Alaska team up with their other code-share partner, American, and possibly even join the OneWorld Alliance.

Time will tell, and we will see.

Travel Shows on the web and radio

Every weekend I'm at work I tend to listen to travel shows on the radio, both from my home state of Utah, and others.  Every single one sounds exactly the same.  They are ALL shameless, ego-stroking, carnival barker-esque rants on how Agent so-and-so has the best deal for you!  Every last one of them sound exactly the same, where the agent is on the air hawking his cannon fodder lowest deals to places no one really gives a damn about, just to bring them in the door, or to garner a phone call from in order to pitch a more commisionable trip.  I thought Travel Agents were supposed to be as close to their clients as their lawyers, accountants, doctors, and car mechanics.  We not only sell you vacations, we also assist our clients in obtaining passports, visas, arranging vacation holds and sitter services for our clients while on trip (especially for our luxury and corporate clients), as well as finding them the lowest fare to Las Vegas.

What I try to listen for are shows that have knowledgeable agents on the air, ones who share their experiences in the finer minutiae of travel, such as whats the best way to fly in/out of LAX, which alliances get you where you need to go in a shorter amount of time, what current visa statuses are, what countries are up and coming, what are some good spots to eat in Cleveland, what shows are playing in London's West End...etc. etc.  Travel Agents need to know this stuff, or have access to this stuff to give the traveler a peace of mind when they go out of the country, or for the less traveled of us, out of the county.  I've heard several horror stories from friends outside the industry who've bought their plane tickets online, reserved their hotel rooms online and then went to their destination and didn't have a transfer, or the hotel was not where they need to be, among other issues.  I keep telling them to go to a REPUTABLE Independent Travel Agent, not one of the huge chains that still lurk around.  They moan about not wanting to pay the Agent's commission.  I'd say, I'd rather pay the extra $30 bucks or however much it is and know I'm being taken care of.

Back to the topic at hand.  Radio Shows.  One here in Salt Lake City is 3 hours long and EVERY SINGLE SEGMENT is either a hot deal for a weekend in Cabo San Lucas or a Mormon Temple Tour while you wait for your connecting flight at the Salt Lake Airport.  Not a single segment has ever been aired that had any worthwhile information on what's new in travel, what hot spots are booming, or what baggage allowances are.  This has to change.

Not that I'm against a good deal, but filling an entire 3-hour radio show on doorbusters to Mexico?  I think not.  Here is how I would fill those 3 hours:

Hour 1:  What's new in Travel, what's going on in particular destinations, discussions with callers

Hour 2:  Hot deals, good deals, getting to and from and around your destination, caller discussions

Hour 3:  On-air interviews with Travel Agents, Industry professionals, and experts.

That would be my ideal travel show.  Make it more well-rounded, include not just your own Agent pretending to be an expert, but have actual experts and industry professionals on the air.  Make the show accessible to everyone with an interest in it, not just some last minute weekend jaunt flyaways.  Are there any takers?

The "new" American Airlines is taking off!

By now, anyone who follows me on Facebook knows I'm a fan of the new combined carrier.  I have been a supporter of Doug Parker and Scott Kirby since the days of them pulling America West Airlines out of the post-9/11 morass and an almost certain 2nd bankruptcy that the little airline could never have gotten out of.  In fact, under Paker and Kirby's tutelage, America West was the very first airline to pay back the government backed "stability" loans that were issued to US carriers in the wake of the terrorist attacks that grounded an entire industry.

Fast forward to 2005,  and Parker & Co. have taken America West off of life support, enacted a series of policy and staffing changes systemwide that made it so much stronger in such a short period of time that they went looking for a bigger partner to dance with.

Enter US Airways. 

After a tumultouous decade of mergers and growth in the 1980's that made USAir into a large competitor on the East Coast (especially once they acquired the Trump Shuttle), the 1990's ended up being the airline's decade of hell.  First, there was the period of time when Stephen Wolf (late of United) and Rakesh Gangwal ran the airline down to its knees with massive orders from Airbus, then a badly executed code-share with British Airways, and a rash of well-publicized accidents and crashes that put the East Coast juggernaut on the ropes.  Once Wolf and Gangwal left, a revolving door was left spinning and a host of airline and travel industry cheiftains took over the reigns for small amounts of time trying to keep the airline flying.  Needless to say, the dot-com bubble burst and 9/11 almost killed USAir.  They entered bankruptcy for the first time in 2002, after a failed merger attempt with United Air Lines.  Their average costs were still sky high after exiting bankruptcy in 2003, and the Board of Directors looked for a savior to buy the carrier, but not after another year and a half of staggering losses on top of a government-backed stability loan.  US Airways entered bankruptcy for a second time in 2004, and it was likely it would not exit bankruptcy on its own.  America West came to the rescue and brought US Airways out of bankruptcy in 2005, the first merger I was an active part of, acting as operational consultant.

Now it's 2013, and American Airlines is in bankruptcy, and US Airways is looking to merge with someone to gain size in order to compete better with the newly combined United Continental Holdings Corp. and the recently enlarged Delta Air Lines (by way of their merger with Northwest Airlines).  Doug Parker struck a deal with the American unions first, then the Board of Directors of both carriers, solidifying the chances of the merger going through.  After a prolonged court battle against the Dept. of Justice, the combined airline was given the all clear sign for merger on November 12, and the first signs of the combined carrier were announced yesterday, December 9, with the legal close of the merger and combining of both carriers under the new American Airlines group moniker.

I've recieved a LOT of questions and concerns with the new merger and here's the timeline of events on what will happen during the merger process and what it all means.

A Gradual Transition: For the foreseeable future, especially with the upcoming holiday season, the airlines will operate separately and system-wide changes will roll out gradually. It’s expected to take 18-24 months for the merger to be completed.

Expanded Service: The airline will offer 6,700 daily flights that cover more than 330 destinations in more than 50 countries, at least for the first 3 years.

Limited Choices for U.S. Travelers: Following the American Airlines merger, four airlines will now control more than 80 percent of U.S. flights.  But that's not necessarily a bad thing as most people think.  This will allow the network carriers (American, United, Delta) to better compete with the Low Cost and Ultra-Low Cost Carriers in the United States, while upgrading and improving service to better compete with Foreign Carriers on International flights from the major gateway hubs.

The New American Hubs: Though the airline had to give up high-competition slots in New York LaGuardia and Washington Reagan, it will still have a substantial footprint. The airline will have hubs in Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago’s O’Hare, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Charlotte and New York’s Kennedy International for the next three years at current service levels. Here's the thing about those slots...the majority of them were already leased out to the other airlines that are purchasing them, so there's no real major loss of service from the new airline, save for maybe a handful of flights to better align the schedules of higher yielding flights.

How Mileage & Loyalty Programs Will Change: The airline has yet to announce its complete plans for frequent flyer programs. Combination efforts are underway. By January 7, travelers can earn/redeem miles reciprocally for with American Airlines or US Airways program. Flyers will keep their existing miles in their respective accounts, and full integration into the AAdvantage brand has not been set yet.

A New Alliance: As the merger is structured, US Airways will no longer be in the Star Alliance as of March 30, 2014. Instead, it will join American and the airlines in the oneworld alliance whose partners include British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways, to name a few.  This is a much better deal for US Airways, which was an almost useless 3rd wheel in North America for Star Alliance, constantly in the shadows of much larger rival United.

The inclusion in oneworld is a godsend, as it allows US Airways (while it is still a seperate operating entity) access to the lucrative American-British Airways-Iberia trans-Atlantic joint venture.

Unions Support Merger: The merged airline currently employs more than 100,000 workers and that’s anticipated to change. Currently, the merged airline has the support of  the Association of Professional Flight Attendants for American Airlines. It doesn’t not have the support of mechanics and machinists for US Airways, represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, who have held out support until its contract is finalized, even though originally they were on board.  But then again, the IAM has never been one to go along with management for ANY airline during a merger process.

Technological Foresight: Following the still ongoing technology, service, and reliability bumps that preceded the United/Continental merger, CEO Doug Parker has hopes of a smoother transition. Initially, the airlines will operate with separate websites and separate reservations systems. Eventually, the merged airline will be using the Sabre reservation system, which American invented back in the late 1960's and has turned it into a powereful weapon against competitors throughout the years.

The Most Valued Travelers: CEO Parker has set a goal for $1 billion in new revenue and savings. Business travelers are a big part of this new plan. With the merged airline, the airline will reach more destinations and will have, “more ability to compete for corporate customers” according to new American President Scott Kirby.  This is not an unatainable goal, considering the massive amounts of corporate travel contracts American has out of its cornerstones of New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston.

A Stock to Watch? One Bloomberg News report had analysts estimating that the AAL stock will be worth close to $40 a share by 2015. Yesterday,  the stock rose more than 4 percent to trade at $25.18 a share as of 3:30 pm.  My Travel Investment Firm is a strong proponent of the new company's future and invested heavily in both companies, and will continue to invest in the new company.

Rising Airfares? While the common rule of mergers is diminished capacity, CEO Parker swears that is not his intention. According to his statement to the press: ”We’re keeping all the airplanes, keeping all the people,” he said of the merger. “So supply should be unchanged. As long as demand stays the same, nothing should happen to prices.”  I expect this to stay true for the duration of the merger process, expected to take at least three years.  After that, we will see how the new airline adjusts to those current levels.  Fares, naturally, will rise according to supply and demand, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

There are two additional key dates later in the year, according to people familiar with the matter.  On April 1, US Airways will adopt American’s meal windows and catering, and on September 1, the US Airways soft product (i.e. in-flight service) will mirror American’s.  Also by that date, new aircraft being delivered to US Airways will have the new AA interiors.

All in all, not a bad start to this merger, and I see the new carrier being a successful and profitable venture in the near to mid-term future.  Congrats and kudos to both sides.