^\;O^Jc 1p^-0<^2 

Adams, Kevin (OST) ' "rARTMFNT OF 

From: Marcia Milner-Brage [marcia@milner-brage.com] ' T , .pi.p;,'f|(v^;; 

Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 8:59 PM 

To: Adams, Kevin (OST) . , -

Cc: bhagen@FlyALO.com IHOcC- ^ A ^- l i 

Subject: EAS Bid for Waterloo Airport 

Dear Mr. Adams, 

We strongly recommend that Delta Airlines be maintained as the sole carrier to serve the Waterloo Regional 

Airport. Choosing American Airlines over Delta would relegate our community to lower quality air service. 

My husband and I are longtime residents of Cedar Falls, Iowa. As leisure travelers, we fly 6 -10 times annually. 

We have always used the Waterloo Airport as the airport to begin our national and international trips. We urge 

relatives and friends, who visit us from both coasts, to fly into ALO. Since Waterloo has been a one airline 

airport, Delta Airlines and its predecessor Northwest have served us exceedingly well. We assume ease of 

travel will be greatly diminished if American takes over. This is based on the following: 

• Minneapolis International Airport deals with inclement weather far better than Chicago's O'Hare. MSP 

knows how to keep their runways operational through snow, ice and wind better then ORD. Only once 

in 26 years has flying through Minneapolis resulted in failure to get us to our destination as scheduled. 

(Delta paid to put us up in a hotel overnight). Friends who chose to drive to or from Chicago to Cedar 

Falls have repeatedly faced delayed and/or cancelled flights at ORD, causing hardship and increased 

costs. About a decade ago, our son, when he was a college student on the East coast, was stranded at 

O'Hare three times in 2-1/2 years, due to weather shutting down the airport. 

• American Airlines, in a recent New York Times article, was sited as one of the worst airlines in our 

country for passengers traveling with children. This is corroborated by our son who lives on the East 

coast with his wife and child. Delta was listed as one of the best. When the possibility of American 

Airlines replacing Delta as the sole carrier into Waterloo came up around our Thanksgiving table, the 

consensus was that they would be unable to visit us as often if they had to put up with the usual 

degrading circumstances dished out by American. 

• Because we now fly only from ALO and therefor only use Delta, we reap the generous rewards of 

Delta's Silver and Gold Sky Miles and the accrual of many miles. My husband and I are both healthy 

and vibrant retirees in our 60s who are hoping to travel even more. Access to preferred seating, early 

boarding, waived luggage fees, upgrades with our miles are perks that encourage us to continue 

traveling. If American replaces Delta, we will likely lose some or all of this Delta status to fly out of 

Waterloo. We will probably be looking for other options, like flying Delta out of CID. 

• If American is chosen over Delta, we will travel less. It will no longer be a given that flying out of ALO 

is the only way for us. Replacing the 10 minute drive from our house to the Waterloo Airport with a 75 

minute drive to CID, 3-1/2 hour drive to MSP, 2-1/3 hour drive to DSM, or 2 hour drive to DBQ to start 

a trip would bring stressful and discouraging hardship. 

• We came to Cedar Falls/ Waterloo 26 years ago because of work. We raised our family here. Now 

retired, we have chosen to stay in Cedar Falls even though our family lives on the Coasts. We love the 

stress-free, high quality life in this community. Even so, we have entertained moving elsewhere. On the 

top of the list of why we stay is Cedar Falls/Waterloo is a great place to travel from. If American takes 

over, ALO will not be such a great place to travel from (or to). 

The quality of service supplied by Delta out of the Waterloo Regional Airport through Miimeapolis contributes 

to the high standard of living here. Brad Hagen, manager of the Waterloo Regional Airport, told me that 
American's bid was lower than Delta's. Less is not always better. Dedicated travelers like us will pay dearly if 

American is chosen over Delta. 

Sincerely, 

Marcia and John Milner-Brage 

marcia @ milner-brage. com