No growth at SW until 2016 now

[livin'thesim]

The term "legacy" might be better used to define an airline's cost structure and it's sclerotic management practices than the length of time it existed, I mean - if we wanted to be honest with ourselves...

 

[livin'thesim]

It's doubled. I wish I'd sunk everything I had into it.

That's a dangerous mindset.

All-in has ruined more than one person. Be glad you did it the smart way. Don't regret not taking unnecessary risks.

 

[PCL_128]

Putting money in airline stock, any airline stock, is suicide.

 

[madjack]

Not in the last two years

 

[waveflyer]

Hasn't been suicide for me bc like livinthesim said, you never go all-in-

Our stock purchase plan is a pretty solid deal and worth putting some % in

 

[PCL_128]

Not in the last two years

An Enron employee would have said the same thing about his shares in his company on September 1, 2000, also. And then all hell broke loose.

Airlines are just bad businesses. And I don't just mean SWA. I think Richard Anderson is a brilliant businessman and he's done amazing work at Delta. But I wouldn't give him a dime of my money for a Delta share, because the airline business is just an awful business that will never make money over time. Never has, never will.

"The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money. Think airlines. Here a durable competitive advantage has proven elusive ever since the days of the Wright Brothers. Indeed, if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down." - Warren Buffett