Continental/United Merger - Death of a Houston Company

**** Continental. My gf and I just went through a nightmare experience with them last week/weekend. I won't ever fly with them again anyway.

 

RIP Continental. Very sad day for me. I left 6 years ago on my own terms and have done very well since then. I lot of my friends who still work at Smith may not be as fortunate.

 

The thread is an interesting read. Thanks, everyone. I'm seeing this at a bit of a remove, having lived in Austin now for 30 years, but definitely some changes are going on in Houston.

 

Don't worry guys, I've found the solution!

 

When I moved to Chicago in August 2007, I was paying $950/month for a 1 bedroom - 1 bathroom, central heat and A/C, dishwasher, and an in-unit washer and dryer. It was located at Wood & Julian in Wicker Park:

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Do you think this will bring down the average price of flights between Houston and Chicago going forward? That would be excellent for me if it did.

 

I would think so. I do hope iot cheapens flights into Houston in general. I usually fly United and this makes it more convenient for me.

 

don't count on it. when has any merger ever made prices cheaper anywhere?

phones? nope
electicity? nope
airlines? nope

 

The exact opposite. There are currently 3 airlines that compete between Intercontinental and O'Hare: UA, AA & CO. After the merger, there will be only two. People who fly between these two airports will eventually pay MORE.

You can always try flying Southwest from Hobby to Midway if that works for you.

Airlines mergers NEVER result in lower fares.

 

So how bad is this merger for Houston? How many jobs will we really lose?

 

Wait ....does this mean IAH will now be BUSIER then O'Hare?!?!

This can't be. From bad to worse. If this is true, we ALL here in Houston will suffer anytime we have to travel through IAH.

 

Feel bad for the folks at continental. Corporate greed FTW

 

Not at all. IAH will never be as busy as O'Hare (in our lifetimes). It said the combined carrier will have more flights from IAH than ORD. AA also has a large hub at ORD while CO completely dominates IAH. Other carriers also have a lot more flights to/from ORD than IAH.

 

Several thousand, mostly from corporate. To reduce the need for layoffs, I'm assuming employees with the most seniority will be encouraged to retire and take "early out" packages. Others will leave because they see the handwriting on the wall. Others will move to Chicago. Others will stay on and be cut at the end when the merger is completed. This will take a while.

People at the IAH hub shouldn't be affected much.

 

Give me a break...they all stink, but at least Continental was from Houston. Sucks to see people loose their jobs.

 

Its not over yet. The merger still has to go through antitrust review. This deal has created the biggest airline in the country. The Obama administration has said it will clamp down harder on antitrust.

 

The job market is going to suck bad in Houston. A bunch of qualified people are about to flood the market.

 

It may as well be over. Obama's administration will not stop this merger nor impose conditions that make it unattractive for the carriers.

It won't be easy but it will happen. Times have changed. After letting DL & NW merge, the government can't plausibly block this one. Plus, the route networks of CO and UA don't overlap much at all. Houston to/from Chicago and Chicago to/from New York is about it.

Lastly, UA wants this to happen in the worst way. They are based in Obama's home state.

 

Something tells me Mr. Obama won't touch this deal . . . better for his home state/city.