Continental and United Airlines approve merger

by Grant Martin on

Two of the nation’s largest airlines, United and Continental have taken one step closer to joining forces to becoming the world’s largest carrier. Early last week, news in underground was that the two airlines were in high level talks to discuss merging operations. Things became more official with the announcement late last week that their respective boards had approved the undertaking.

The new airline, which would be called United Airlines, would have Continental’s CEO Jeff Smisek as the man in charge and would be based in Chicago. Continental’s livery would absorb United’s.

Despite the positive steps last week, several major milestones still need to be addressed before the merger gathers steam. Primarily, the airlines need to obtain regulatory approval from the government before joining forces, and in this political climate, that permission may be difficult to find.

Issues with unions, operations and finances will also take time and patience to address; as a result, even if an official announcement comes on Monday there are months left of negotiation and heartache. Get ready for a long ride.

Iraqi Airways begins, ends service from Baghdad to London

by Grant Martin on

One of the biggest milestones for a developing country is to have regular commercial traffic in and out of its main airports. It’s even better if part of that traffic is on the nation’s flagship, state-owned carrier — a matter of pride, so to speak. So there’s little doubt that the managers running Iraqi Airways were under a serious amount of pressure to get the airline rolling.

In hindsight, they may have moved too fast. Iraqi Airway’s first flight into London, England ended in disaster this past week when their chartered airplane and their leading man’s papers were detained upon arrival. Behind the seizure? An outstanding suit from Kuwait Airways claiming that the Iraqi government plundered several of their aircraft during the original gulf war. With the Iraqi Airways equipment outside of the middle east, Kuwaiti officials had the authority to seize collateral.

Now, both aircraft and bigwig are stuck in the UK until the entire issue gets sorted out — and Iraqi Airways’ service between Baghdad and London is indefinitely on hold. Perhaps next time they’ll pay their bills.

BREAKING: United and Continental airlines to merge?

by Grant Martin on

We hear rumblings of airline mergers every day here at Gadling headquarters, but this one is starting to pick up traction. Chicago-based United Airlines and Houston-based Continental Airlines are reported to be in merger talks, with each respective board meeting to discuss possibilities and logistics this week.

What would a merger this mean for the average world traveler? The combined airline would overtake Delta Airlines as the largest carrier in the world, and with fewer players in the market, prices will undoubtedly go up. As of this year, both Continental and United are in the same Star Alliance, so those saving miles won’t be seriously affected by the merger.

The main concern that travelers will need to mull is the change in customer service. Larger ubiquitous airlines tend to cover the spectrum of destinations well but fall short on loyalty programs and public relations (see: Delta,) so those looking for a more boutique experience may shirk away to JetBlue or Virgin America.

Conversely, if the mega-airline can emulate the current outstanding service that Continental hosts then they’ll earn some serious passenger loyalty and subsequent cash. Let’s hope that’s the route they take.

An announcement on the merger could come as early as next Monday.

Spend five minutes talking to your seatmate – Airplane tip

by Gadling Staff on

We’re accustomed to two extremes: the gregarious seatmate who talks through the whole flight, and the one who has his eyes closed from the start. Most of us prefer the latter, but we may be cheating ourselves out of a business contact or an interesting story.

In my opinion, here’s the best greeting to use to help find that middle ground:

Hi. Nice sitting with you. Would you mind giving me five minutes about you, then we can each read/work/listen to music/sleep, having had our lives enriched by knowing another interesting person.

You never know, you may wish you had a longer flight.

Spirit Airlines to abolish reclining seats

by Grant Martin on

It looks like the “recline or don’t recline” issue can finally be put to bed. Spirit Airlines, the budget carrier famous for charging for overhead bin space, racy ad campaigns and general disdain for all passenger comforts has just started rolling out aircraft bereft of reclining seats.

Citing extra space and lower weight, the airline claims that this will help passengers save money by keeping prices low. But in reality, it’s just another stunt to cram as many passengers as possible into the already crowded, fee-riddled aircraft. The Sun Sentinel has more details on the upcoming plan below.