It's on.... SFO-MDW, SAN, LAS

[Whataburger]

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[Whataburger]

Let's see 737 or 777 um I'll take the 777.

Lets see. If your not in the first 20 rows of the 777, the only difference is the size of the tube. The bigger the tube, the bigger the price. Oh yea, we dont charge for our peanuts, blankets, or pillows either.

 

[CA Calypso]

"Markets like SFO-MDW, SFO-SAN and SFO-LAS wouldn't even be on SWA's radar screen if SWA's outstanding Marketing Dept's research hadn't revealed a need for those flights"



Huh? I could have told you that SFO to Chicago, San Diego, and Las Vegas probably could use some competition. They sure sound OUTSTANDING......?


Bye Bye---General Lee

General,

About as OUTSTANDING as Deltas' strategic planning and marketing - i.e. Song. I'll put my faith in SWA'a corner.

 

[General Lee]

General,

About as OUTSTANDING as Deltas' strategic planning and marketing - i.e. Song. I'll put my faith in SWA'a corner.

Song won Reader's Digest's poll for best Low Cost carrier, and it was doing well overall, but we figured we shouldn't go after Southwest's normal passenger (the one that has never been on a plane before, but has heard them fly over the trailer park) and instead go after our bread and butter--the businessman who wants a 1st class seat. So, we smartly changed the cabins back and we should be doing great now. We just have to remember who our core customers are---people who use forks when they eat. (we serve more meals now, especially in 1st class to those businessmen, and me---I have had some really good meals with good pasta shells and even a carmel cheese cake that really hit the spot!) Keep the faith, chief.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[n757st]

Better consider me one of those trailer park trash Connecticut dudes that forgot how to use a fork, because when I have a choice of airlines to ride on, the ones I try to hit up are JetBlue and Southwest....

Btw, my parents just booked on Delta JFK to SNN for less then I could send them on my travel benefits... just an observation. I find nothing wrong with the product that Delta offers, I know a lot of stand up people there and I think they will do very well post bankruptcy, but to say that your product in economy is any better then SWA or even close to the product JetBlue offers is delusional. (PS... I know you never mentioned blue in your post, I just thought I would add it in. Of course... this is just my opinion)

 

[ASADFW7]

I love the guy who makes every post about Delta. I am editing my thoughts as I rather not get banned for reflecting back his humor on himself.

 

[samballs]

Southwest thrives on a perception that it offers the lowerst price and the best deal in the industry. However, more and more and it is showing that it isn't always true. I recently had an opportunity to look for a revenue ticket between LAS-LAX. It was shocking to find that a couple legacies were charging less than half of what Southwest was charging, and it was two weeks out.

DL CAK to LAS 89.00 Stop in ATL
SW CLE to LAS 160.00 Stop in MDW

Bought the tickects on DL 1 month ago

 

[Andy]

You probably hit it just right. Lots of business folks fly on SWA. Many of them are small business owners who have to pay for it all out of their own pockets. the backbone of American business. Many like the frequencies...SWA almost never enters a market with just a couple of flights a day.

Sure many companies pay for their employees to fly in First Class, you'll always have that. But take the 2 examples of these 2 businessmen....1 has his ticket paid for on a "legacy" carrier so he can ride in First Class....the other has a ticket on SWA...both bought on 1 day notice.

Both have their meetings end 4 hours early...both rush out to the airport in order to catch the earlier flight home to get there in time to have dinner with the wife and kids.

You guess which carrier will charge the business man extra to get on a different flight than he was originally scheduled on...and which one won't...and the business community knows this.

I'm a 1K on United. My upgrades to biz/F are with either free upgrade certificates given to me by United or I will use some of my miles (I have way too many miles). My tickets are all paid for in coach, but I'm riding in biz/F more than in coach.
I have switched not only flight times with NO PENALTY, I have switched flight dates with NO PENALTY. So you are promulgating a myth; there is the option to pay $25 for a guaranteed seat on a different flight, but as a 1K, I'm always near the top of the list and have never had a problem switching flights - even when they're full.

The cost for business flying on a legacy versus Southwest is negligible; on many flights, the legacy is cheaper.

I talk to a lot of fellow frequent flyers; I can say with absolute certitude that a very small percentage of them choose Southwest as their airline of choice.

I don't know where you got your information from, but it didn't come from the many business travelers that can easily be found in any airport. Just for yucks, talk to some of them. Make sure that you talk to ones that ride on a variety of airlines and make sure that you do this is multiple different cities. Having a bunch of conversations with Southwest frequent flyers in MDW or BWI will skew your results.

 

[Whataburger]

DL CAK to LAS 89.00 Stop in ATL
SW CLE to LAS 160.00 Stop in MDW

Bought the tickects on DL 1 month ago

DL = Just exited Bankruptcy
SW = Hasn't lost money in a quarter since before the Cowboys even had a football team.

 

[The Victors]

you people are clueless. first of all I dont think that swa is having a hard time finding passengers. second, and most important, did it even cross your mind about the corrupt management at these airlines that screwed everyone over (including you, the pilots) through bankrupcty so that they can line their pockets and charge these lower fares. Try paying your bills for a few years like swa does and then come talk to me.

 

[Whataburger]

Song won Reader's Digest's poll for best Low Cost carrier, .......

Bye Bye--General Lee

The magazine with the half naked African ladies on the front? I bet they really know their airlines.:smash:

 

[skiandsurf]

you people are clueless. first of all I dont think that swa is having a hard time finding passengers.

I thought SWA just posted a drop in load factors. I fly on SWA a couple of times a month and for the most part, it is only the "A" boarding group (whats that 30 pax). I like flying SWA as I can go toward the back and get the last 7 rows to myself.

 

[The Victors]

swa has carried the hightest number of domestic passengers the last 3 years running

 

[skiandsurf]

swa has carried the hightest number of domestic passengers the last 3 years running

I am not saying that they dont carry a lot of people, and I am not saying that SWA isnt a good airline, but the pax loads arent keeping up with the growth.

Reference this article.......toward the end, there is a short write-up about SWA.

http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/064/airlines.html

 

[firstthird]

load factor is just one metric. traditionally we like to keep ours lower than the majors and lower than it was last year. that doesn't mean we wanted it to go down, but the only people that really know are the big brains doing the load management at the headquarters.

that being said, Gary Kelly wasn't too happy with the results from the first quarter and has given guidance of a soft domestic market, so it sorta sounds like the drop in load factor wasn't planned, or at least not that much.

 

[skiandsurf]

load factor is just one metric. traditionally we like to keep ours lower than the majors and lower than it was last year.

The major airlines used to plan for a 70% load factor. Anything more than that was a disservice to the pax. Then SWA came into the picture with low fares, and the major airlines had to drop the fares to compete, and then the load factors went too high. Now the fares are too low, the planes are too full (except SWA), and the pax are upset (lost bags, full planes, meals for sale, etc).

 

[RJAA]

What makes Southwest so special now after the fuel hedges are running out and when the legacies cost structures have dropped significantly.

I will say it again, Southwest stands for cheap tickets and the best deals in the country. However, Southwest has realized that it can no longer offer that and make record profits. Therefore, they are forced to look at other business models like code-sharing and upping their service which are never part of their traditional way of doing their business. They have also started flying to crappy airports like PHL and SFO.

So what makes Southwest so different compared to others now except they don't offer first class? Why would someone take a flight from Houston to Baltimore/Washington D.C on them. I'd bet you money Continental fares are at least competive or might be even cheaper, with plenty of non-stop options to 3 airports in DC area. Southwest may even make a stop or two along the way. Now, Continental may operate those flights at a loss with that kind of fares, but it has some ability to make it up with international revenue. What could Southwest do with the loss at that point? Also, a large portion of the consumers will continue to run to Orbitz, Priceline and Travelocity for better deals where Southwest does not participate, a part of harsh industry wide reality of not being able to charge the consumers more to fly.

Also, by the way, whoever came out and said Swan Song was doing well overrall and Delta smartly pulled out is clearly delusional. Song was one of the dummest things Delta has done in it's history.

 

[SaabStory]

Song won Reader's Digest's poll for best Low Cost carrier,

milk just shot outta my nose...

 

[The Victors]

What makes Southwest so special now after the fuel hedges are running out and when the legacies cost structures have dropped significantly.

I will say it again, Southwest stands for cheap tickets and the best deals in the country. However, Southwest has realized that it can no longer offer that and make record profits. Therefore, they are forced to look at other business models like code-sharing and upping their service which are never part of their traditional way of doing their business. They have also started flying to crappy airports like PHL and SFO.

So what makes Southwest so different compared to others now except they don't offer first class? Why would someone take a flight from Houston to Baltimore/Washington D.C on them. I'd bet you money Continental fares are at least competive or might be even cheaper, with plenty of non-stop options to 3 airports in DC area. Southwest may even make a stop or two along the way. Now, Continental may operate those flights at a loss with that kind of fares, but it has some ability to make it up with international revenue. What could Southwest do with the loss at that point? Also, a large portion of the consumers will continue to run to Orbitz, Priceline and Travelocity for better deals where Southwest does not participate, a part of harsh industry wide reality of not being able to charge the consumers more to fly.

Also, by the way, whoever came out and said Swan Song was doing well overrall and Delta smartly pulled out is clearly delusional. Song was one of the dummest things Delta has done in it's history.

I guess you're making the ASSumption that CAL pilots and the other employees are going to continue to accept walmart wages and screw over the junior guys with no medical bennies. All you legacie pilots make it sound like your management came up with some brilliant plan and then lowered the cost structure. When in reality they took it right out of your, and everyone else, paycheck.

 

[General Lee]

What makes Southwest so special now after the fuel hedges are running out and when the legacies cost structures have dropped significantly.

I will say it again, Southwest stands for cheap tickets and the best deals in the country. However, Southwest has realized that it can no longer offer that and make record profits. Therefore, they are forced to look at other business models like code-sharing and upping their service which are never part of their traditional way of doing their business. They have also started flying to crappy airports like PHL and SFO.

So what makes Southwest so different compared to others now except they don't offer first class? Why would someone take a flight from Houston to Baltimore/Washington D.C on them. I'd bet you money Continental fares are at least competive or might be even cheaper, with plenty of non-stop options to 3 airports in DC area. Southwest may even make a stop or two along the way. Now, Continental may operate those flights at a loss with that kind of fares, but it has some ability to make it up with international revenue. What could Southwest do with the loss at that point? Also, a large portion of the consumers will continue to run to Orbitz, Priceline and Travelocity for better deals where Southwest does not participate, a part of harsh industry wide reality of not being able to charge the consumers more to fly.

Also, by the way, whoever came out and said Swan Song was doing well overrall and Delta smartly pulled out is clearly delusional. Song was one of the dummest things Delta has done in it's history.

Delusional, eh? WRONG. We had to compete against Jetblue on the East Coast, since they did have a better product at the time, and we were using 737-200s at Delta Express. We were the second airline to use a live TV (we use Dish Network), and we were doing well overall, with critical acclaim from several magazines (Reader's Digest being one of them). But, after some thought and seeing that our core market liked the Song idea but wanted the first class seats and experience along with the Dish Network TVs, we SMARTLY decided to change Song back into Mainline and offer the TVs on mainline, which will eventually include TVs on 738s as well, and anything over 1700 nms. It was an experiment that showed us what everyone wanted, the option for a first class seat along with TVs too. It may have accelerated our BK, but in BK we shed $13 billion in debt and we are stronger now for it. You have a great day.


Bye Bye--General Lee