in the studio, douglas kidd director of the national association of airline passengers, and from minneapol minneapolis, terry trip letter, analyst who runs a consumer website called "the plain rules." rick ceni let me start with you. this was not looking good, and then suddenly the clouds parted, the inpediments disappeared and they were back in business. what did the two carriers have to do to get attorney general holder's blessing? >> well, i think they started picking at it at the state level. they went after some of the state legislators, the attorney generals got them to flip some of their positions on things, based on things they wanted to handle with them and then slowly but surely you could tell pretty much last week when southwest filed a friend of the court free they were really talking turkey on the kind of settle they would have. i didn't think it would be this soon. i thought it would go up to the wire, into novembe into the end. >> why would they be happy right now? >> well, in the case of american, i live in dallas where american is based, there has been acrimony between lab

we have rick seany with fair coe compare, and douglas kidd, and terry trip letter, an aviation analyst who runs a consumer website called "the plane rules." you heard terry trip letter laying out the ways that this could be good for all the stake hold efforts involved, but we have lived through an era of mega mergers. have they done any of the things that terry suggests? >> i'm not sure that they have. the primary benefit that all these mergers have provided is that they've kept carriers in business while they have consolidated. while the carriers are in business, we want them to make money and provide good service there has been to my mind especially among the u.s. carriers a focus more on making money rather than pleasing the passenger. in this with regard we know going to the airport is like going to a carnival where you pay your fees, and then you're hit by fee after fee after fee, airport security, which is a whole other story, then you get to your gate, you're going to be shoehorned into a space that is really too small for the average individual. that's not much fun for passenge

. >> douglas kidd, what about the flying public? what is their view? >> well, the flying public has one interest, and that's being able to fly and of course flying on an airplanes that is not facing bankruptcy. and that it is hopefully will be making money and will be in a position to treat the incumbent and the passenger correctly. when an airline is facing financial difficulties there's a tendency to pink pennys and it's one thing to go from peanuts to pretzels it is quite another when with american airlines has receive add number of proposed fines from the faa for neglecting maintenance. and that's really important. so to the extent that this merger can resolve those issue that flying will remain safe and comfortable. then of course the passenger is for it. >> if you want to fly from anywhere to anywhere, has been fewer seats, somewhat higher fairs, lower level of service. and more fees will any of that change with this new american bigger american airlines? now threamines to be seen. as you say, there are fewer seats. the planes are more and more f

douglas kidd, thank you for being with us here. >> thank you.e you tell us you're not happy about, other than the fact that it will ruin it for all of us passengers out there? >> i'm not sure it would necessarily ruin anything. our main concern is in any merger that, things that such as safety, aircraft maintenance, and customer service, are not lost in the shuffle. it's important for an airline or airlines to make money. that's very important component of their business. and we want them to stay in business. we want them to be profitable. we want them to take good care of a passenger but sometimes the emphasis on profits and profitability alone, tends to leave the passenger, cramped in a seat that's tool small and being nickeled and dimed by fees that, you know, are becoming more and more unreasonable. ashley: douglas, part of this deal the two big airlines will give up some of their slots at laguardia and reagan national. that is hoped that the smaller budget carriers can come in and get a foothold in an area where they haven't been able to be

joining us now to discuss all of this is douglas kidd, the executive director of the national association of airline passengers. he's also a member of that committee that advised the f.a.a. about the changes. he's in washington, d.c. this morning. they have studied this issue for years, so why now and what are the challenges that the industry still faces? >> as you said, they have been studying this for years and because of mounting public pressure, the f.a.a. decided to look into matters and convened this committee. the committee was all in favor of allowing expanded use of p.e.d.'s, but the question was how to do it, and that's what the committee came up with, was methods, procedures and techniques for the airlines to use, so they could expand the use of these devices onboard airplanes. >> airline passengers will be able to use electronic devices such as e readers and games throughout the flight. will the cell phone be next and what's the hold up on that? >> remember that cell phones are under the jurisdiction of the s.e.c., not the f.a.a. since they don't have any jurisdiction, they ca