Southwest "facing headwinds" article

[Andy]

It'll be interesting to see when Southwest raises fares again. Prices at the gas pump have jumped over the last week.
With Southwest's hedges, they control ticket pricing on the routes that they fly. I noticed that the article said that they raised prices on 2/3s of the routes that they fly. Does anyone know which routes didn't get raised? I'd like to see if they kept fares constant on those routes that overlap with certain carriers. An article a while back hinted that LUV would possibly be going after Frontier and America West. Any carrier on Southwest's hit list would be in serious trouble; Southwest has the ability to turn a profit on ticket prices that are losses for other carriers.


Edit: I see the timestamp issue; this post should have been #8, behind firstthird's post.

 

[SWA/FO]

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/49346.html

I found this part interesting (highlighted for effect):

Southwest's increase was matched by American Airlines, a unit of AMR; UAL's United Airlines; Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL); Continental Airlines; Northwest Airlines (Nasdaq: NWAC); and US Airways Group, according to airline officials.
A spokesperson for JetBlue Airways said the carrier had not raised fares.

This was their big chance to get the extra $10.00 they need per ticket (what they said a few weeks ago). Northwest went along with it, but JetBlue = no? I don't get it?

 

[chase]

Actually JB raised their lowest fares from $299 to $349 approximately 4 months ago. I can't find the article where that was referenced but I'm pretty sure that occurred. It didn't get a lot of publicity but I do recall reading it recently.

 

[Rebel]

I heard we're waiting a week or two so we won't be lumped into one big group with everyone else. I guess they're waiting for all the media hype to die down.

 

[PHXFLYR]

........

Phxflyr

 

[densoo]

This says they did match the increase; at least, one of them.

"Continental Airlines (CAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Inc., US Airways Group Inc. (LCC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWACQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) all said they had matched the Delta increase."

http://yahoo.reuters.com/stocks/QuoteCompanyNewsArticle.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060317:MTFH67176_2006-03-17_20-46-51_N17405694&symbol=DALRQ.PK&rpc=44

 

[Bavarian Chef]

Could have been smart to not raise fares right away (and to go on record as not raising them), although you never know what management is thinking. By not announcing a fare increase when most everyone else did, jb was afforded the opportunity to do it on its own (a week later), and with hardly a mention in the press. When SWA and the rest initially raised fares, the news was all over the place -- and that's all the customer remembers.

 

[firstthird]

I would think in the long run it shouldn't really matter when JB or whoever announces their fare raise. In the final analysis, if most people are primarily price driven then the fare is what it is and when it was announced isn't particularly important.

Of course in reality; stuff like frequency, airports served, and customer service are pretty close up there to price. Now if only there was a formula to figure the exact ratio, we'd all be in the money.