Grist for the rumor mill; or gristle for the SPAM mill? Either way June 9 announcement?

Was sitting (and sitting and sitting) on AA451 ORD-SFO yesterday as part of a "simple" ORD-SFO-ORD MR and during part of the 156 minute delay decided to knock off one of the two remaining birds on my list of cockpits to be photographed in. Beautiful cockpit the new 737-800! Even those weird seat covers the pilots all use weren't so ratty and skanky looking! Anyway, in the course of conversation the pilot said "There's some big announcement to be made June 9th". There. I said it. Shoot me for passing it along. His rank speculation was either AA is buying a competitor or is buying a bunch of new birds.

I think they guy was a little crazy because about an hour and a half into our delay he announced over the PA that they were going to open the doors and pax could leave and go wander around the terminal! After about 20 minutes and with literally 80% of Y having left the plane the GA came running down the ramp with a very unhappy look on her face. I asked the guy myself - the whole plane is empty, how in the heck are we gonna make it outta here if a hole in the weather opnes up? He said "we make one announcement. Anybody not back gets left behind". I think the GA put a stop to it because everyone was back on board pretty quickly, and the skies did open and allow us to sneak out at 1:42pm rather than our scheduled 10:45am (tho original boarding didn't actually start 'til around 11:30 since plane was late arriving to ORD).

 

I did not want to say anything at first, but I will say that this is the third time I have heard word of an "announcement" coming the first week of June. Via the grapevine, the date I was given was June 1st.

I doubt that AA would buy anyone out (who would it be?), but speculation I have heard was an enhanced relationship w/ JetBlue.

 

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/sto...rican.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

US Airways to take over AA, that would be a interesting rumor...

 

I can't think of an appropriate adjective to describe the speed with which I'd switch to UA if this was true.

 

Generally speaking such merger announcements are not scheduled far in advance. If the papers are signed you announce then. If they aren't you say nothing. Or there is a leak about discussions. But there is no real value in signing everything and then waiting 10 days to announce it.

Possibly new aircraft, though a major order would be a bit surprising. Route announcements can be major if they want to be, though that also seems unlikely.

 

I'd like to see orders for the 747-8 or the A380, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

Well AA dumped the old 747s and they're pretty much strictly a Boeing company, so the A380 doesn't look promising.

If a pilot's talking about it, I bet it's operational in nature. So maybe they settled the contract dispute and will be announcing new routes? Or maybe increased partnership benefits with JetBlue, which have been rumored for awhile?

 

That would definitely encourage me to keep 100% to DL/SkyTeam!

 

maybe sponsoring JetBlue for OneWorld membership?

 

What about dumping Eagle?

 

I would love to see that. It would probably only make sense for non-competing routes. If I could earn EQM, and the like, on a route served by both airlines... I would choose JetBlue every time if I didn't think I'd get upgraded.

 

Given JetBlue's current pattern of partnering with everyone rather than just one alliance that would be something of a surprise. Certainly not impossible, but definitely very surprising. Then again, the existing B6 partnerships are just for interline and have nothing to do with points earnings so maybe it isn't that huge a deal. I'd still bet somewhere between 10:1 and 20:1 against B6 moving into an alliance these days.

 

I do not know the details of the relationship, but I think the B6/LH partnership might deter OW entry...

 

LH holds roughly 19% (I think, just under whatever it takes to stay legal)of the voting stock and a seat on the BoD. If they thought having B6 in OneWorld made financial sense for B6 I'm sure they'd lobby for it.

I just doubt they'd see that as the smart option given that JetBlue is actually doing pretty well right now even in the face of high fuel prices and general slowing of leisure travel in particular. They seem to be weathering the storm OK.

 

I don't think entering an alliance is in the cards, but perhaps an arrangement similar to the AS EQM arrangement would be a good thing for both parties.....

 

The new interiors look great -- extra baggage room a plus, but do you think this is really the announcement? Pilots would surely care more about this than about Aadvantage, so it does pass that "sniff" test.

 

AA already had a big PR push on Twitter and Facebook about this, and issued a press release. If there really is something, it's not this.

 

Had really hoped MP would not fuel nor be fueled by this kind of guessing/speculation/rumor.....

 

Anytime you get a group of people in a room (or forum) with a similar interest, they're going to talk about things. This isn't a negative or detriment to MP as long as it's marked as a rumor. People talk and they always will, it doesn't make them bad nor does it make MP bad. It just makes this thread a coffee table chat where people are having fun.

That's just my 2 cents.

What is it about people talking about ideas/thoughts/theories that gets everyone so in a tizzy?

Genuinely curious.....

 

Me too. What's the big deal? I had a relatively lengthy conversation with an AA pilot in which he said what he said. Why the heck not share it? I don't see it as any different as numerous reportings of events that occurred during a flight or at the airport. Even those events that have no bearing or effect on anyone else (most of them) may be of general interest.

 

I think he/she has more of a problem with everyone afterwards coming up with their version of what they think or would like to see, not with your initial post. But again, when someone makes a post like yours, what can one expect but to see people express their thoughts/opinions/hopes/dreams/fears? It's a community, and that's what happens.

Even with that in mind, with proper labels about speculation/rumors and a light hearted attitude, I don't see the big deal.

 

Which is somewhat the whole idea behind a community forum, besides sheer fact-providing. There is another forum that prides itself on a 'just the facts only' attitude, to the point of being unnecessarily rudely exclusionary. In my opinion.

 

So you would rather this place be more like FTalk = just completely wild speculation and general silliness, every time, all time, right? If so this place has limited shelf life.. the aforementioned site has it down to an art form.

 

I disagree with your interpretation of FT, and your estimate of shelf life. I haven't seen anything on this thread detrimental to the site's future IMO.

On an unrelated note, the head honcho at Travelling Better has reported he's starting to believe a major announcement is coming this month, adding at least a little weight to this, the latest and greatest rumor some have enjoyed speculating on. Wonder what it could be?