On this valentines day. Their combination means the field of major u. S. Carriers will shrink by one. These jetliners sporting shiny new paint jobs are among the roughly 900 planes in the American Airlines fleet and theyre about to be joined by the 622 planes currently flying for u. S. Airways. The price tag for the deal 11 billion. Creditors of americans bankrupt Parent Company a. M. R. Will own 72 of the combined airline. The merger affects some 187 million passengers who fly the two airlines annually. I grew up on u. S. Airways. Brown as well as more than 100,000 employees. Our best goal Going Forward is to make it the biggest, strongest airline in the country, and i suppose thats about to happen. Brown the combined company will keep the american name and headquarters in fort worth, texas. But it is u. S. Airways c. E. O. Doug parker who will run it. His counterpart tom horton at american will serve as chairman, but bow out after the transition the two are friends who started their careers together at american three decades ago. To run a new airline you need to have one leader and only one leader that the rest of the airline sees. And tom was nice enough to agree to hang around and help me with that transition but then also cared enough about american to know that once that transition happens, the Company Needs to see one leader and was confident enough in me to let me do that which im elated to do. And dont mess it up. Brown American Airlines founded in 1930 has always touted itself as a company of firsts. American had already put stewardesses on the plane, even food and then the radio. And their firsts soon became a tradition in the business. From the first sleeper planes to the first living room size lounge. Brown now, the new american stands to become the Worlds Largest carrier if federal regulators and a. M. R. s bankruptcy judge approve the deal. As little as five years ago, there were six major u. S. Carriers. Then, delta merged with northwest and united with continental. With this latest deal, there will be four major u. S. Airlines left, including southwest. But for many air travelers today, one question was uppermost does this merger mean fares will go up . The c. E. O. Of the combined new company says no. This really is about taking two airlines and putting them together and providing Better Service to customers. It also, i would note creates a nice third competitor to the two larger airlines, so our view is it increases competition doesnt brown the time line has the merger closing in the Third Quarter of the year, but it will take several years before the two airlines are fully integrated. For a closer look at the merger, we turn to holly hegeman, an Airline Industry analyst and founder of Plane Business banter, a weekly Industry News publication. And charlie leocha, director of the Consumer Travel alliance, a passenger advocacy group. Hes also a member of an Advisory Committee on aviation Consumer Protections for the department of transportation. Holly hegeman, let me start with you. Was this an act of survival for American Airlines . Why are these two coming together . Well, i think reason theyre coming sergeant to because it makes financial sense. I think we have seen all you have to do is look at Delta Airlines, for example, and their merger with northwest to see the difference that has made. Delta airlines, now, is one heck of a competitor, is running an excellent financial operation it has changed considerably from what it was just five years ago and that change would not have been possible without the merger with northwest. So essentially whats happening is the same thing thats happened with united and continental. U. S. Airways saw value in American Airlines, they also wanted to try to do this in bankruptcy because it gives a lot of advantages and so its just like the natural order of things in this industry and i think its a positive. Brown charlie leocha, that goes to the analysis ive been reading that this industry, these mergers are needed almost to stabilize the industry. How do you see whats happening . Well, thats been the excuse for a long time and we keep doing the same thing, we keep having airlines go into bankruptcy so its not stabilizing so well. Something isnt quite going right. I think that when you keep cutting down the number of airlines youre eliminating competition. And when you eliminate competition the prices are going to rise. Right now the airlines have the ability to use what they call their own to hold their capacity lower and theyre very, very try dand at doing that. And thats a form of competition because theyre not competing with each other. Theyre not competing in terms of capacity so thats one of the big differences. This airline has no benefits for consumers it only rearrange it is chairs on the deck of the ship. Brown thats not what the c. E. O. Said. Let me ask holly hegeman. Do you see benefits for consumers or impact on consumers. What we heard from the c. E. O. Was theres not a whole lot of overlap between these two companies. I disagree strongly. I think that this is a positive for consumers and, again, i would look at Delta Airlines as a prime example i think if you talk to passengers that fly delta today, if you look at the mundell a has been able to put into infrastructure upgrades, for example, in new york none of that have would have been possible except or unless the airline made money and when he talks about capacity being a form of competition i would say that reducing capacity is a way that the airlines can be financially solvent and the more financially solvent they are that means its better for the consumer, not worse. Brown mr. Leocha . If were speaking strictly about financial solvency this merger has no reason to even happen. U. S. Airways just finished raking in the most profits in their history in this last year. American airlines has justni goe through a bankruptcy process. They finally have gotten control of their labor issues and they have more new planes on order than any other airline. Theyve got literally billions of dollars in the bank. They could come out of bankruptcy with no problem. But they decided they want to get together with u. S. Air. And this is u. S. Air pushing this whole merger idea and i just dont see what the benefits are to consumers other than saying oh, its better to have a big airline and have more financial stability. Theres no new routes, theres no new frequent flier benefits. Theres no increased competition anywhere. Brown well, the argument is theres a stronger airline, i guess. Right . Is that what it is, ms. Hegeman . And also while you respond to that, what about the impact on employees . Are you expecting to see anything there . Well, first of all, i have to disagree with the comment about the union situation. If anything, this merger was a land narc this industry. We have never before seen the major unions at an airline align themselves with the management of another airline and basically say we dont want to work for the current management anymore. This merger was a lot more complicated than weve just described and, in fact, it was the employees of american who pushed for the merger and kept pushing for theni merger. They did not want american to come out as a standalone and they did not want to continue working with the current management team. So thats a little different. As far as the advantages, there will be a lot of advantages. For one thing, the american folks that fly american now will have access to a lot more destinations internationally. People dont understand that u. S. Airways does fly internationally and theycwill add to the options that american flyers currently have. For u. S. Airways customers, its the same thing. Currently on the east coast, for example, american has little feed, as we call it, in the business on the east coast. This merger with u. S. Airways will give them that much needed feed and will make the airline that much bigger. Brown let me stay with you informationly. What does happen to frequent flier programs that are so important to so many people . Nothing. I mean, for right now of course, were talking about a time frame thats going to be stretched out. Nothing is going tonini change tomorrow. The deal willni probably not cle until the Third Quarter of this year and until then both airlines will continue to operate separately. As far as frequent flier miles are concerned, nobody is going to lose their frequent flier miles. Theyre not going to go away. There will be a new program that will combine both programs and everybody will have their miles intact. Brown mr. Leocha, it does have to go through a bankruptcy judge, it does have to go through certain regulatory is there any possibility they will hear your argument and block it . Well, i dont know if theyre going to hear my argument but lets step back to the benefits to the passengers every benefit that was mentioned is for American Airlines and u. S. Airways passengers is a benefit taken away from American Airlines with united airlines. They used to have cochairs, they still do. They have joint frequent flier benefits and so on. So theyre giving with one hand and taking away with the other. And i do expect this merger to go through but im hoping that congress and the d. O. T. Will allow us to get some things like airline fees disclosed so that consumers can actually compare prices across airlines and have more competition there. Brown all right, charlie loka, holly hegeman, thank you both very much. Thank you. Woodruff still to come on the newshour the hold up on the hagel nomination; four freshmen on capitol hill an olympic star charged with murder. And a president s love story. But first, the other news of the day. Heres hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan Senate Democrats moved today to find a way to prevent the sequester across theboard spending cuts, set to take effect march first. They called for smaller reductions in farm subsidies and the pentagon budget, plus a minimum 30 tax on Million Dollar incomes. Republicans are expected to oppose the measure because of the tax increase. House Speaker John Boehner said the burden is on president obama to break the deadlock. The sequester, i dont like it and no one should like it, but the sequester is there because the president insisted that it be there. Where is the president s plan to replace the sequester that he insisted upon . Sreenivasan white house officials warned that letting the acrosstheboard cuts take effect would be disastrous. For his part, the president traveled to decatur, georgia, selling his plan to make pre school available to all four yearolds. Standing before a group of teachers, he joked that what works with preschoolers might work with congress. Maybe we need to bring the teachers up. laughter you know, every once in a while have some quiet time. Time out. laughter sreenivasan if the sequester takes effect, it will mean 85 billion in spending reductions over the next seven months shared equally between defense and domestic programs. New jersey senator Frank Lautenberg announced today he will not run again. The veteran democrat is 89, and the oldest member of the senate. He faced a likely primary challenge from newark mayor cory booker. Lautenberg said hell spend the final two years of his term trying to pass new gun safety laws, among other things. U. N. Inspectors have failed again to gain greater access to Irans Nuclear sites. A team from the International AtomicEnergy Agency returned home emptyhanded today, after talks in tehran. Meanwhile, iran announced its installing a new generation of centrifuges to enrich uranium. And, the Washington Post reported iran tried a year ago to buy 100,000 specialized magnets for centrifuges. The u. S. And other nations say iran means to build nuclear weapons. The iranians say their program is for power generation. Around the world today, people rallied to raise awareness of violence against women. The one billion Rising Campaign staged rallies, dances and vigils in dozens of major cities. The events were held to coincide with valentines day. The United Nations has estimated that one of every three women worldwide, is raped or beaten in the course of a lifetime. A longtime leader in american a new implantable device that restores some vision in the blind won approval today in the United States. The food and Drug Administration agreed to allow use of the argus 2 retinal prosthesis. It uses electrodes in the retina that receives signals from a wireless camera on a pair of glasses. Initially the device will help small numbers, but it may ultimately treat vision disorders in millions. A longtime leader in american foods heinz is being sold to a group that includes Warren Buffett. The 23. 3 billion deal announced today will make heinz a privately held company. On wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average lost nine points to close at 13,973. The nasdaq rose a point to close at 3,198. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to jeff. Brown there were more hurdles today for president obamas secretary of defense nominee. Late this afternoon, Senate Consideration of his appointment was delayed on a procedural vote of 58 to 40. At this point, the Senate Wont Vote on him again until february 26 at the earliest. Margaret warner has the story. There has never in the history of the country been a filibuster of a defense secretary nominee, never. Warner Senate Majority leader harry reid went to the senate floor this morning and blasted republicans for blocking a vote on chuck hagel, for the pentagons top job. This isnt high School Getting ready for a Football Game or some play thats being produced in high school. This is, were trying to confirm somebody to run the defenses of our country. Warner democrats hold a 55 to 45 edge in the senate, but it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster so five republicans would have had to break ranks to make that happen. But partisan divisions were on display tuesday, as the Armed ServicesCommittee Approved the hagel nomination on a straight partyline vote 14 to 11. That followed a contentious hearing in january, as hagels former republican colleagues attacked him on several fronts, including his criticism of the u. S. Troop surge in iraq. Were you correct or incorrect when you said that the surge would be the most dangerous Foreign Policy blunder in this country since vietnam . Were you correct or incorrect, yes or no . Well, im not going to give you a yes or no answer on a lot warner on sunday, republican senator Lindsey Graham said he would put a hold on hagel and on John Brennans nomination as c. I. A. Director, until he gets more answers from the white house about the september attack in benghazi, libya. In a statement today, white house spokesman josh earnest reaffirmed president obamas support for hagel. And said late today, reid forced a vote on breaking the fillibuster. The current defense secretary leon panetta whod been due to leave his post today has said he will stay on until his successor is confirmed. And, at a ceremony honoring for and late today the president said it was unfortunate to have politics intrude while hes still presiding over a war in afghanistan. To help us understand the implications, the politics and whats next, we turn to pentagon reporter Mark Thompson of time magazine. And Todd Zwillich of public radio internationals the takeaway. Welcome back, gentlemen, todd, begin with you. Decode for us what happened today. I mean, the republicans told harry reid they had the votes to block the nomination block consideration of the nomination, yet he forced it to a vote in the amp anyway. Why . He did. Well, there are different imperatives floating around all cornerings of this vote, as there often are in the senate. Opposition to senator hagel has mounted before he was even named and almost all of that opposition except for token opposition came from within his own party. Building up todaytotoday it was a question of would republicans require 60 votes to move forward with this nomination . Not unprecedented for a cabinet nominee but harry reid was right it is unprecedented for a secretary of defense, for any National Security nominee at the top level for that matter. As it got closer to the vote, then, the question became would democrats be able to peel five republicans to get to 60 and if not are republicans going to stick by their guns and make this a real filibuster . Meaning were going to withhold 60 votes, were not going to let five of our people go and well try to make sure that chuck hagel goes down. As the morning into the afternoon progressed, more and more republicans including john mccain and Lindsey Graham were coming out of a meeting with republicans saying were satisfied in the case of john mccain and graham, request the answers we got about benghazi from the white house. Were satisfied now. But we dont think other senators have had enough time. Theyre not on the Arms Services commit tee so well vote to hold this up now, when we come b