European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 13, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 the stars and stripes thursday March 13, 1986 merger eaves fliers with no Choice by Art Buchwald i have very mixed feelings about permitting Eastern airlines to join up with new York air. The two carry the majority of passengers Between Washington and new York and Boston and have been the Only ones providing Competition in the Northeast corridor. New York air is known As the Bagel airline because on mealtime flights its stewardesses throw paper bags filled with bagels and Cream cheese at the passengers. It also serves drinks Coffee and Beer. This does t sound like much until you be flown the Eastern shuttle. The Only thing they give you is a stale timetable. The reason the Eastern shuttle will not allow food in the air is that it prefers to use its aisles in flight to collect your fare for the trip. Instead of an Eastern stewardess asking if you want Coffee Tea or milk she wants to know if you Are going to pay with Cash Check or Mastercard. To make up for the Lack of refreshments in the air Eastern keeps a hot pot of Coffee in the waiting area with free danish on the Side. As a seasoned shuttle traveler i have always preferred a new York Bagel in the sky to an Eastern danish on the ground. Eastern tries to make up for the no food in flight policy by advertising that it gives away trips to Hawaii instead. And then there Are the seating arrangements on the planes. New York air proudly claims it has Only five seats across while Eastern jams in its passengers with six. Some people prefer the five seat configuration while others would rather sit in the six. Before the recently announced merger actually Texas air which owns new York air bought Eastern we saw competitive merchandising forces at work. While prices were the same the services were different. We the con Sumers benefited from two ruthless competitors each determined to steal customers away from the other. But now we must face the Prospect that new York air and Eastern will be under the same management. What can we expect from the merger i talked to a leading airline passenger consultant. He said the Good news is we have always found that when two airlines merge the service inevitably goes Down As the fares go  what is Good about that the company s Stock goes up and Wall Street is impressed with the  but what about the bagels i asked. Aren t the Loyal passengers who have flown with new York air entitled to their bagels there is no need for new York air to serve bagels if it is no longer competing against Eastern. And if they Don t serve bagels new York air no longer has to provide Cream cheese. Without bagels and Cream cheese you might As Well dump the Coffee out the window. Without Coffee you Don t need a Galley and without the Galley you can add four to six  that s  mergers Aren t made for people they re made for companies. It in t just new York air that will Benefit from the economies it is also Eastern. If new York air does t serve bagels Eastern won t have to serve danish. Both airlines no longer have to worry what the other does because they re not competing  in t there a monopoly Here Why do you say that with two airlines flying the same route we had the Choice of five seats across or six and we could leave on the half hour or the hour and we could opt for a Bagel a danish or a Hershey  nothing will change for the first six months he said. Then naturally the new York air Eastern people will have to tighten their seat  does the merger violate the Law or does t it it depends on How Many friends you have in washing ton he replied. I smell a first class antitrust  that s impossible he said. 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