That's funny.
The entire 35+ year existence of the Wright Amendment was to protect other airlines (most notably American Airlines) from competition from Southwest. Southwest has never shied away from direct competition--at Love Field or anywhere else. Until this "compromise agreement," other airlines have always been free to compete with us at Love. Always. Many have tried, some multiple times. They always had free rein to do the same things that Southwest did at Love Field (of course, we were all hobbled by American Airlines political stooge, Rep Jim Wright). They came, tried to compete with us on exactly equal terms, and for the most part, left of their own volition. Until the limiting compromise, there were plenty of open, unused gates; the terminal had 32 gates, with Southwest using 16, American owning two and subleasing them, and I believe Continental with another two. That left 12 more open and available gates, that any other airline was free to use, but none wanted to.
The compromise agreement stipulated a maximum of 20 gates (at American and DFW's insistence, not Southwest's), of which 16 were the ones that we were using. Southwest wanted to keep all the available gates, and then you guys could come and go as you please, just as you did before. So if you want to bitch at somebody for keeping you from competing at Love, then maybe you should bitch at American Airlines or DFW airport, or the city of Ft Worth. They're the one's who insisted on these limitations in the agreement, over Southwest's objections. Do you really think that Southwest is afraid of competition like Flopgut is?
Bubba
