One Airline Merger, 1000 Questions

Monday, 27 June 2011 | by Pat's Picks

Should the carpets be blue or red? In terms of soda, should it be full can service or plastic cup only? It’s been 18 months since United and Continental announced their merger. The airlines have worked out the major bumps associated with combining their two businesses but thousands of little questions remain. Like, says the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, which way should pets face as they go up the conveyer belt. Apparently, United policy was to load them backwards, Continental’s forward. It looks like United’s policy was more popular—backwards loading will continue on the merged airline. 

Some of the other minutiae that’s keeping executives up at night: what uniform will flight attendants wear?; what design will go on cocktail napkins?; how many firearms can a passenger check?; how many slices should a lime be cut into? Oh, and as for the one pour, two pour question, it’s still up in the air. Says an airline executive: “We have meetings about exactly that. People say, ‘I can’t believe that they haven’t figured this out yet.’”