I have been reading stuff for couple of months now but it looks serious. BA is willing to give up transatlantic slots just so a "mild" merger can take place.

It will be interesting to see what shakes out of this deal.

Free wine on AA for Wally? or 25% miles for the cheapest tickets on AA?

In FFP terms, the problem is that for Aadvantage the only way is down, while for BAEC the only way is up.

However as a resident of a city served by BA TATL but not AA, this would be a great personal boon.

The devil will be in the details, and there are still a couple of formidable regulatory barriers to overcome.

Now if my eVIPs would be good on BA metal... ooh.

<i>while for BAEC the only way is up.</i>

Nonsense. BAEC could/will surely find a way to degrade their program even further.

This free wine is getting serious now. A little bottle on AA was $6 and yesterday, a little bottle of wine on Delta was $7.00. When it comes to the airlines, the sky is the limit.

Pretty soon now Jet A will be cheaper than wine.

BTW, try booking a shorthaul flight on Aer Lingus. Not just BOB food and hooch, but &euro;3 to pick your seat.

<i>Pretty soon now Jet A will be <s>cheaper</s> than wine.</i>

Doh. More expensive.

I an ideal world we would get the best of the of BA's &amp; AA's benefits after their &quot;merger-cooperation&quot;.
Alas, we don't live in an ideal world (far from it) and likely will get the worst of both...
I wish I could be an optimist.