Do business people hate Southwest now?

[General Lee]

US Airways No. 3 for business travel, Southwest last

Business Journal by Erin Kennedy

Date: Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 11:52am MST

USAir improved its ranking from last place in 2010 to third place for 2011 for business travel, according to the Business Travel News Annual Airline Survey.


The survey from Business Travel News ranked five airlines on their business travel experience. Data came from 400 travel managers’ and buyers’ assessments.

For the first time, Delta Air Lines took first place in the business travel experience survey, followed by United Airlines. American Airlines ranked fourth and Southwest Airlines took last place.


Within the past year, Tempe-based US Airways (NYSE:LCC) increased corporate sales efforts by creating more than 100 new accounts for North America, according to the report. After merging with America West Airlines in 2005, US Airways set itself as a “low-cost carrier,” gathered corporate accounts, and cut back on sales staff. However, since 2009, the airline has moved its focus to the corporate market, said Business Travel News.

US Airways ranked first for overall price value and value of relationships with account managers and sales reps. The overall average score consisted of scores from those categories in addition to others.






With the Southwest culture taking a NASTY hit due to the merger problems with Airtran, you just have to wonder if this is going to continue, the last place finishes???


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Taco Rocket]

"You don't understand our business model"
"Why don't you worry about yourself?"
"Gary will take care of it!"

 

[General Lee]

"You don't understand our business model"
"Why don't you worry about yourself?"
"Gary will take care of it!"

Bring back Herb and Colleen, they'll convince ANYONE to follow them....



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Captain Morgan]

Ive flown on southwest and had a business woman seated next to me in the very back. She kept reiterating how she doesn't usually fly southwest. It was a very akward flight as it was painfully obvious that she was embarrassed. I think business travel departments clamped down on travel expenditures in the recent years and some are forced against their will. If times get better or if in fact it is true that SWA isnt the cheapest, they'll be dropped pretty quick.

 

[General Lee]

Ive flown on southwest and had a business woman seated next to me in the very back. She kept reiterating how she doesn't usually fly southwest. It was a very akward flight as it was painfully obvious that she was embarrassed. I think business travel departments clamped down on travel expenditures in the recent years and some are forced against their will. If times get better or if in fact it is true that SWA isnt the cheapest, they'll be dropped pretty quick.

What are the perks for Business people to travel on Southwest? The travel department might be able to get a free ticket now and then, but what do the business people who fly on the plane get? Extra peanuts? They get to sit in a cramped flight from Providence to Vegas for 5 hours? They want perks, like bigger seats, more room, an edible snack or meal on longer flights, maybe a movie, free tickets to nice places like Hawaii or St Thomas. Oh well. Higher ticket prices won't help them. But, at least they are saving money by NOT paying Airtran 717 pilots better pay because they turned down the first bad deal......



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Andy]

GL, my brother owns a small business. He has employees travel on occasion but he's not big enough for any airline to be interested in a corporate travel arrangement. He uses Southwest quite a bit because they have the lowest fully refundable tickets. He also books the cheapest hotels, usually something like Best Western.

 

[General Lee]

GL, my brother owns a small business. He has employees travel on occasion but he's not big enough for any airline to be interested in a corporate travel arrangement. He uses Southwest quite a bit because they have the lowest fully refundable tickets. He also books the cheapest hotels, usually something like Best Western.

This survey tends to disagree with your brother's point of view.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Fox-Tree]

GL, my brother owns a small business. He has employees travel on occasion but he's not big enough for any airline to be interested in a corporate travel arrangement. He uses Southwest quite a bit because they have the lowest fully refundable tickets. He also books the cheapest hotels, usually something like Best Western.

So......... your brother's a cheap @ss. If his employees weren't just happy to have a job in this economy, they'd probably walk or revolt. What's your point? At least they only travel "on occasion".


You're making GL's point for him. Employers with folks on the road weekly with multiple flights and overnights know better than to do that to their people. They won't get people to stay in the job very long or be productive sitting them in a corn-dog next to Bubba on their way to a Best Western.

 

[Flying the Line]

I've never heard of business travel news. But I am guessing it is large corporate travel departments that read it. I sure the readership is huge. Anyway, Delta is the greatest airline ever.

 

[humveedriver]

I've never heard of business travel news. But I am guessing it is large corporate travel departments that read it. I sure the readership is huge. Anyway, Delta is the greatest airline ever.

According to BTN's website they have 46,759 subscribers that spend 239 Billion dollars a year annually. My Dad is a subscriber. What ever the highest level of frequent flier status you can have with Continental is, he has it. I think that's the sorta person who reads and cares about that stuff. I think there is a difference between traveling on business and a business traveller. The business traveller spends money on travel as a cost of doing business. Traveling on business implies you just need to get from point a to b to get the job done. It really isn't realistic to compare the level of service offered by a legacy carrier to any of the LCC's. The LCC's will get a portion of business transports who are attempting to curb costs. But the airport clubs, first/business class and global reach puts the legacies in a different class of service.

 

[spitfire1500]

GL, my brother owns a small business. He has employees travel on occasion but he's not big enough for any airline to be interested in a corporate travel arrangement. He uses Southwest quite a bit because they have the lowest fully refundable tickets. He also books the cheapest hotels, usually something like Best Western.

Our travel dept is concerned with one thing and one thing only price....if a three stop trip home is $20 less than a direct they get you that...I never get put on Southwest. Flavors of the month lately have been Delta and USAir..seems they are the cheapest for now (our tickest are refundable..and I am a silver of gold member of pretty much everyones mileage programs). Next month it will prob change to United and American......or maybe Southwest....

 

[Flopgut]

This might have a great deal to do with what SWA did to Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program. I used to be a member of Rapid Rewards, and many others. SWA screwed 90% of RR members. If you're a frequent flyer you are throwing good money away flying SWA...

 

[skypine69]

I travel on a paid ticket 2-4 times a month. Always last minute fares. If I had to fly on WN I would go insane. They are great for nonrevs and bubbas, but for a person who travels enough to be a elite member of a FF program, they suck. I made silver on DL recently and have been upgraded 3 of my last 4 flights. The 3 were trans-cons...the one i missed was a 1 hour flight on an RJ. What a difference it makes to be able to pick your seat and have a good chance at getting upgraded!

 

[pilotyip]

So......... your brother's a cheap @ss. If his employees weren't just happy to have a job in this economy, they'd probably walk or revolt. What's your point? At least they only travel "on occasion".


You're making GL's point for him. Employers with folks on the road weekly with multiple flights and overnights know better than to do that to their people. They won't get people to stay in the job very long or be productive sitting them in a corn-dog next to Bubba on their way to a Best Western.

I am sure that is one way to look at it, but we don't have the rest of the picture. Could it be this company has dedicated employees, who work to keep costs down and the company has a high level of productivity and profitibility At year the boss shares a $150K bonus with his employees. Small businesses are a different world and they have a different set of employees, normally very loyal committment both ways.

 

[SWA/FO]

Good thing there is plenty of folks to go around.

 

[Aerosurfer]

What are the perks for Business people to travel on Southwest?



Bye Bye---General Lee

Don't forget you can get water in a can! It kinda looks like Labat blue..... thats a perk

 

[Flying the Line]

According to BTN's website they have 46,759 subscribers that spend 239 Billion dollars a year annually. My Dad is a subscriber. What ever the highest level of frequent flier status you can have with Continental is, he has it. I think that's the sorta person who reads and cares about that stuff. I think there is a difference between traveling on business and a business traveller. The business traveller spends money on travel as a cost of doing business. Traveling on business implies you just need to get from point a to b to get the job done. It really isn't realistic to compare the level of service offered by a legacy carrier to any of the LCC's. The LCC's will get a portion of business transports who are attempting to curb costs. But the airport clubs, first/business class and global reach puts the legacies in a different class of service.

And I'm sure that your dad voted for continental. Delta ff probably has the largest subscribership. The second place finisher probably has the second highest number of subscribers and southwest rapid rewards members proably has the least number of subscribers. So what. Miami dolphin fans think their tram is the best, it doesn't make it true.

 

[redflyer65]

I love the look on the business man's face when Delta pulls into the gate and everyone is standing up for 15 minutes waiting for the door to open. No jetbridge driver, pilots apologizing out the @ss. It's become common place at DL, funny stuff.

 

[SWA/FO]

I love the look on the business man's face when Delta pulls into the gate and everyone is standing up for 15 minutes waiting for the door to open. No jetbridge driver, pilots apologizing out the @ss. It's become common place at DL, funny stuff.

So true.

 

[Flopgut]

Good thing there is plenty of folks to go around.

Yes, that's a good thing indeed. And we're not trying to take all of SWA's customers. Only the ones with money....

 

[Andy]

According to BTN's website they have 46,759 subscribers that spend 239 Billion dollars a year annually. My Dad is a subscriber. What ever the highest level of frequent flier status you can have with Continental is, he has it. I think that's the sorta person who reads and cares about that stuff. I think there is a difference between traveling on business and a business traveller. The business traveller spends money on travel as a cost of doing business. Traveling on business implies you just need to get from point a to b to get the job done. It really isn't realistic to compare the level of service offered by a legacy carrier to any of the LCC's. The LCC's will get a portion of business transports who are attempting to curb costs. But the airport clubs, first/business class and global reach puts the legacies in a different class of service.

I got to 1K status at UAL on business travel. But that was in a DoD position where the DoD negotiated bulk fares with the airlines. Since I was in DC and most city pairs had a UAL choice, I aimed almost all of my flying to UAL with AMR being my second choice.
That kind of model works fine for a large company with a lot of employees who travel.

In my brother's case, he does not have a large travel budget. He does not have the power to negotiate good rates with any airline because his employees don't travel very often - perhaps an annual product training event or conference for the employee. He also has very little turnover in spite of his stingy travel budget. Funny, his employees understand that if my brother pays a bunch of money for airfare and a hotel room, they won't get paid as much money. They prefer pay over preassigned seating and a nice hotel.

I find a comparison between Southwest and Major carriers to be apples to oranges. Frankly, I'm surprised that Southwest is even mentioned in the publication. I suspect that Southwest making the list is a recent phenomenom and instead of being dismissed, this should cause great concern among pilots at legacy carriers.

 

[Sacha]

Funny....those airlines that cater to the Elites rather than the "scum" that fly on SWA rarely are profitable. Some, like Flopguts airline Continental, have gone Bankrupt....
Not once....But twice and was barely able to avoid bankruptcy a third and final time....

Funny how SWA manages to be profitable year in and year out for almost 40 years.....

If you add up all the losses over the last 30 years of these First Rate Airlines, you might have the equivalent to the outstanding student loans of all the trust-fund babies protesting down on Wall Street...

As a matter of fact, there is a remarkable similarity to the intelligence and logic of the Einstein's down there and the posters on this thread......

 

[madjack]

I am sure that our position on the list (dead last) is a big concern for our mgmt...we would love to have the corporate FF business...tough business

 

[gobyebye]

I find a comparison between Southwest and Major carriers to be apples to oranges. Frankly, I'm surprised that Southwest is even mentioned in the publication. I suspect that Southwest making the list is a recent phenomenom and instead of being dismissed, this should cause great concern among pilots at legacy carriers.

I agree, it seems like they have really only pushed hard for business travelers in the last 5 yrs or so. To make the list at number five is actually pretty impressive for swa.

 

[KNOTS]

If you add up all the losses over the last 30 years of these First Rate Airlines, you might have the equivalent to the outstanding student loans of all the trust-fund babies protesting down on Wall Street...

Huhhh?

 

[humveedriver]

Some people travel internationally on a frequent basis. Some people live close to a airport that is served by a certain carrier. Domestic low fare flying has everything to do with SWA. Long haul international, not so much. Maybe one day the legacies will stop providing the club rooms and two/three class service. There is nothing wrong with SWA's business model. Like Andy said it's apples to oranges.

 

[Flopgut]

Funny....those airlines that cater to the Elites rather than the "scum" that fly on SWA rarely are profitable. Some, like Flopguts airline Continental, have gone Bankrupt....
Not once....But twice and was barely able to avoid bankruptcy a third and final time....

Funny how SWA manages to be profitable year in and year out for almost 40 years.....

If you add up all the losses over the last 30 years of these First Rate Airlines, you might have the equivalent to the outstanding student loans of all the trust-fund babies protesting down on Wall Street...

As a matter of fact, there is a remarkable similarity to the intelligence and logic of the Einstein's down there and the posters on this thread......

You've got a hard-on for CAL because you got shot down by them in the late 70's and ended up at EAL? Right? That and the obvious stuff too, I'm sure. Except I have my doubts as to whether or not you're fully comfortable with the scab question...

 

[Flopgut]

A product/service that sustains a drastic and emotionally charged change (9-11 and the great recession) will see customers gravitate in two directions: cheap and premium. Thats the major reasons both SWA and bizjet stuff have grown so much. Legacies have been stuck in the middle, but are set to earn back customers from all areas.

 

[Sacha]

Huhhh?

There you go....an OWS genius on FI......I rest my case.....

 

[Sacha]

You've got a hard-on for CAL because you got shot down by them in the late 70's and ended up at EAL? Right? That and the obvious stuff too, I'm sure. Except I have my doubts as to whether or not you're fully comfortable with the scab question...

Nice deflection Floppy....I was still in the Military in the late 70's and Continental wasn't hiring anyway....

You are not too comfortable with the dismal financial and service history of Continental over the last 35 years which is why you have an obsession with SWA accomplishing everything CO could not...

I'll take Herb over Frank Lorenzo any day.....

Now how about a little Reality Check.......I would invite those of you who are employed by Elite Global Airlines to read the WSJ today. In particular, focus on the lead story on the front page. After that, flip over to page A8 and read the articles relating to World finances.....

Now tell me how strong worldwide business travel is going to be for the next 5 years or so. In particular, how does this reality affect those airlines like Continental/United who are struggling to merge their operations in the middle of this?

Flopgut, in your case, get your Dad to explain this to you since you most likely don't know what the WSJ is.....

Flopgut....better hope you have between 10% and 20% of the seniority list below you......

P.S. I do like your Avatar picture....I just can't decide if those two guys represent your ALPA MEC Chairmen....or your respective CEO's....

Either way it is spot on!!!......