great to have you back. nice to be back. see you every day and then on saturday and sunday on your $$$$$ as well. you can join us on saturdays add 1:00 p.m. eastern, sundays 3:00 p.m. eastern on your $$$$$ where we talk endlessly about this stuff, anything to do with money. bringing you up to speed. southwest airline is buying airtran for $1.4 billion. the move allows southwest to compete with delta at delta s home base in atlanta. the world s busiest airport and increases southwest s stake in other big cities like new york and boston. the deal still needs approval from shareholders and government regulators. a 112-year-old levee along the wisconsin river is failing putting as many as 100 homes in danger of flooding. people downsfreem near the city of portage urged to find high are ground. officials say the sand levee began giving way last night under pressure from rising waters. the river is expected to stay above flood stage for several days. and the leader of an atla
tell me a little bit about some of the fees and fares. yeah, i mean, fees are going to be there. if people think that fees are going to go away, forget about it. people are going to have to start getting used to getting around these fees. we re going to see the legacy airlines continue with these fees. we re talking $9 billion projected this year in these fee revenues p. it s not going away. interestingly enough, airtran has a lot of these fees like bag fees and a change fee which probably will go away. so consumers on airtran are fixing to get a little break on pricing for sure out of all of the cities they fly out of. bottom line, fees are not going to go away. thanks very much. we ll follow these dwobmentes closely and see ho they end up affecting our viewers in the airline countries. our sound effect comes from the side of air travel that nobody really wants to think about. delta connection flight 4951 on route from atlanta to white
i think it s likely to happen to some degree, but i think the economy is going to dictate more than southwest. if all things were equal in the economy, they would actually spur on more with lower prices but i m not so sure the next two or three years hold much in for that. the interesting thing about this is that they pick up 100 destinations now. legacy airlines actually go about 200 destinations in domestic u.s. so it s still not quite as big as it might look. and, rick, tell me, we know we ve been you follow this closely. fees and fares have actually been edging up over the last few months. is that trend likely to continue, say, until the end of the year? i think it will. you know, southwest doesn t have any bag or change fees but they have other fees. they picked up $ 00 million in q2 in other fees. you ll see fees continue to go up. that s what the airlines want. southwest will be the lone holdout. i assume airtran won t have a bag fee here in about a year. rick good to
look, want to do away with almost all claim forms? like the sound of no referrals needed to see a specialist? you get all that, too. call now to get your free information kit. and guide to understanding medicare. yep. this is one great card! call this toll-free number now for this. free information kit and medicare guide. martha: here s what s developing in america s newsroom, a merger in the skies, southwest airlines buying airtran for about $1.4 billion. that deal will allow southwest to get into smaller markets, that doesn t already serve, and north korea holding the biggest political meeting in 30 years, reports suggest that relatives of leader kim jong-il will take over key leadership positions, paving the way for a possible handover of power there. and the oil spill in the gulf of mexico is back under the microscope, a federal panel
i m diana oleic. a modest sell off picking up speed toward the close. the dow jones industrial falling 48 points, nasdaq getting ten points. investors re-grouping after gains last week, but a busy monday suggests companies are seeking value in the market. southwest is buying airtran for nearly $1.5 million. multinational firm is buying hair care group for more than $3.5 billion in cash. coca-cola won approval walmart is in talks to buy mass mart for 4 billion.