Northwest/Delta merger, Helpful or harmful to TC

With the impending merger coming up, do you think it will help or hurt the Twin Cities and airfares?

~JS

Northwest/Delta merger, Helpful or harmful to TC

it will hurt the TC and airfare. Less competition means less customer service and higher prices. Also, the HQ is going to be in atlanta which sounds like lost jobs in the TC.

Northwest/Delta merger, Helpful or harmful to TC

I think the number of gates they will have at the airport will probably go down by 1/3 to 1/2. Maybe Southwest and Jet Blue will want to come in. Also why would you want to make the busiest airport in the country, busier. Talk about future gridlock.

~JS

Why would the number of gates go down? Not that I%26#39;m complaining, I%26#39;d love to get southwest or another low cost airline into MSP! (Although, Id prefer that they follow FAA maintenance regulations)

It%26#39;s a bad thing, as I look at it this early. MSP loses its position as headquarters of a major airline (moving to Delta%26#39;s HG), and instability in the industry likely will prevent any other airline from taking its place -- at least now.

So, yes, I think we%26#39;ll see NWA%26#39;s presence decrease at MSP, which will hurt. We won%26#39;t enjoy the reach NWA had at their prices without connecting.

What I%26#39;m really wondering about is my frequent flier/WorldPerks account. I read that it will be ';folded into Delta%26#39;s program,'; whatever that means.

They%26#39;re all part of skyteam, so I think they%26#39;ll transfer over.

~JS

I don%26#39;t see how it will be good. There will be less competition, and, even though the big shots are saying they aren%26#39;t planning on cutting flights, I just don%26#39;t see how they can keep the same number of flights and cut costs, which is really why this whole merger is taking place. And, with the economy the way it is, especially in the airline industry, I can%26#39;t envision a new airline (JetBlue, Southwest) jumping into this market.

Finally, if history is any predictor, the customer service will drop off for quite a while. I remember how bad things got at Northwest after the merger with Republic back in 1986. We will just have to wait and see.

Allegiant is already in Duluth. Maybe we could get that in the cities too.

It will be interesting to see if they get ';diverse'; customer service reps like United has.

I also think it%26#39;s a bad thing - 2 mediocre at best companies merge and create less competition in an already suffering market. Until the greedy executives start making their own sacrifices to help the bottom line, I don%26#39;t see the industry changing for the better.

We%26#39;re actually traveling more by car and flying less. However, we do try to book Sun Country, or a smaller airline. Their overhead seems less so they%26#39;re not as annoying to deal with yet.

Get used to it, the industry is going downhill and could end up like Amtrak with the cost of oil. We Americans have had it too good for too long.

Northwest charters a decent number of flights to Mexico and the Caribbean and will be doing even more now that they are pulling the plug on Champion. It will be interesting to see what happens with the charters after the merge.

I just hope this just gives the low-fare companies like Sun Country a fair chance at competition. The more the fares with NW/Delta go up, the more people will be looking to book Sun Country (which also charters a good number of flights) or another alternative. If we can get another decent airline in here like Midwest, Frontier or Southwest, it might not be that bad.... As long as they can stay afloat until then.

day cream