What do you think about the proposed sale of AirTran to Southwest?

If you are frequent flier of Southwest, you will finally have access into Atlanta. Southwest even concedes that Atlanta is the largest city it does not fly into. Also the merger with AirTran gets Southwest valuable slots in New York City, Boston and Washington D.C. As for competition, there will be 1 less airline competing which is never good for the flying public as there is less competition. However AirTran's strength is in the eastern side of the U.S. and Southwest is pretty strong in the west and southwest part of the U.S. so there is not that much overlap and the routes of AirTran will complement that of Southwest. Also you will have a bigger airline that does not charge for the first 2 bags.

As for getting rid of business class, that might happen as Southwest does not have business class on their flights. Also if you are used to having an assigned seat, that may be gone as well as Southwest usually boards by zone and you are assigned a number when you check-in.

It may hinder competition a bit, but airtran really had an entirely different route system than Southwest, so their routes really never competed to begin with. Southwest, over time, will probably implement many of their current ideas, such as no assigned seating, no business class, etc. Eventually, the legacy of Airtran will be gone completely...

Of course it will hinder competition--2 airlines into 2. Assuming both AirTran and Southwest fly the same route, once they merge, there will be only 1 airline on that route, leading to higher fares. Yes, Southwest has already stated they are getting rid of business class on all of AirTran's planes.

I think this will be good for the airline business.

Yeah it will hinder competition.

And yup, they will turn into more cattle cars, even though they will probably say they won't.

SW is trying to be the MickeyDee's of the skies.

Most people choose quick and cheap, even if it is not good in the long run.

i love the idea - we'll finally have SouthWest flights directly into Atlanta... I won't have to drive to Birmingham any more.

yea now southwest fly into charlotte nc!

maybe from Louisville -only direct nonstop is us airexpress