Airline Merger Mania: Bigger Not Always Better

Nov. 17, 2006 — -- These are the times that try fliers' souls!

First, we had to swallow the concept of code-sharing, the game in which you buy a ticket on a specific carrier but have no idea what airline will actually be waiting for you at the gate.

Then, we were subjected to a perplexing, ever-changing kaleidoscope of frequent flier programs cooperating with other frequent flier programs, some of which honor other airline miles part of the time on certain routes on alternate Thursdays (until they change the plan), and some of which might let you use your credit card miles for a one-way ticket to Paris the three days per year the route isn't "embargoed."

And now, U.S. Airways (which isn't really U.S. Airways any longer since America West bought it) wants to buy bankrupt Delta and turn it into … Delta.

Only, you see, it wouldn't really be Delta anymore, because by then it would be a mixture of America West and U.S. Airways combined with Delta's monster airline fleet in Atlanta, all of which might save imperiled Delta from eventual shutdown and liquidation.

Confused? Hang on.

If this proposed Delta buyout actually happens, it will create the world's largest airline. We're talking huge, and anyone who has ever tried to complain to any aspect of big corporate America about anything knows that bigger is not necessarily better.

Even more worrisome is the prospect that a U.S. Airways-Delta marriage will also trigger a new round of major airline mergers with an overall result that will not be good news for passengers.

But what's wrong with a revitalized Delta plucked from penury by the largess of $8 billion (in stock) from U.S. Airways-America West? Wouldn't it mean more planes, more flights, and more happy, friendly people eager to provide superlative service at every gate?

Not if recent history and human nature is our guide.

First, while any change in the workplace will be automatically resisted by those employees who find change threatening by definition, the serious psychological impact of a megamerger on tens of thousands of airline employees -- including pilots -- has historically created decimated attitudes that in turn can breed the "I'm afraid you've got me confused with someone who gives a damn" school of customer service.