[AADFW]

Originally Posted by jimworcs

Customers decide that an airline is no longer meeting their needs and bankruptcy follows.

You've made some interesting and valid points here, most of which I agree with and ardently support. However, American's bankruptcy had nothing to do with load factors or inability to generate comparable top line on a per seat mile basis. It was about having the highest labor costs in the industry because AA was the only major legacy carrier that had not been afforded the opportunity to reduce those unionized costs under Chapter 11 protections. In essence, Chapter 11 had become requisite for this very reason. Arpey tried for years to avoid the "moral hazard" of bankruptcy but in the end economic reality won out. AA unions simply refused to give up as much ground as was necessary to get the job done. Now they will be forced to do so because that's what's already happened throughout the rest of the US airline industry.

Originally Posted by jimworcs

It has nothing to do with improving services for the passenger.

Agreed, but service improvements may result if only as a consequence of attrition; there are still many unhappy legacy AA flight attendants enjoying fat salaries and pensions who will leave as a result of their revised compensation. These are the often worst offenders -- those who couldn't care less about service or the customer experience and have been protected by their overly powerful union for years. There's an excellent chance that their younger replacements could be just as bad, but it's hard to imagine them being much worse.

Originally Posted by jimworcs

you can bet the senior managers will have huge payouts as they emerge and parachute payments if they leave.

Perhaps not; upon retirement Gerard Arpey ended up with a bunch of worthless stock and no severance as per his contract. AMR board members are reasonably sensitive and ethical on this point, as the Don Carty fiasco illustrated.

Originally Posted by jimworcs

Agree bi-lateral agreements to allow foreign airlines to compete. This would allow well funded airlines to come in an compete with the big boys...such as Singaport Airlines or Lufthansa. This can be done on a bi-lateral basis, opening up international markets for US based airlines to compete.

This is a great idea in theory and one I strongly support, but the reality is that Congress considers foreign ownership of domestic carriers a matter of national security. Given the political climate surrounding such issues in Washington these days the prospect of this happening in our lifetimes is extremely unrealistic.