I've been traveling and apologize for the lack of posts recently. And speaking of traveling, today US Airways is pitching their merger bid to Delta's management team and creditors. For those who aren't already aware, US Airways wants to buy Delta for some $8 billion and merge the two airlines. Delta management is trying to avoid this however it appears the decision is going to be out of their hands and up to their creditors and the bankruptcy courts.
I'm totally opposed to this. First of all, I fly both Delta and US Airways - and the only reason I fly either is because they are the only two major airlines offered in my hometown. In my new book, You Call the Shots (Simon & Schuster), I discuss the importance of good customer satisfaction. I also discuss briefly discuss how I fly both airlines however it's not out of choice but rather those are my only two choices. I'm not very fond of either, however recently I've become very loyal to Delta and have been extremely pleased. Despite Delta continuing to lose money and still months away from emerging from bankruptcy, I believe Delta is further ahead on the road to recovery. US Airways' merger with America West has proven to be full of headaches and I can hardly use US Airways' website without being bombarded with error messages. It even took me 14 months to deal with their customer service department and their CEO, Doug Parker, to get a reply to my customer service inquiry. The situation still wasn't resolved properly however I don't have the patience to deal with them any further. Of the nation's top 20 airlines, US Airways received the most complaints filed with the DOT in May. This recent Washington Post article cites US Airways has 6,000 unasnwered customer service emails. They have their own problems. Merging with Delta isn't going to answer those 6,000 emails or fix their financial problems. In fact, I believe it'd do just the reverse and push more people to choose other airlines and quite possibly drown both Delta and US Airways.
A merger between US Airways and Delta would create the world's largest airline. Unfortunately, I think it'll be better for consumers - and both companies - if they focus on their own problems and quit thinking a merger is the fix-all to their problems. I'm glad Delta doesn't see it this way.
