Southwest 'Small Plane' Commercials

[Whataburger]

Southwest and ASA's 70 seater share a lot of destinations; Airtran does also.

Not to mention head-to-head with Express Jet in most their cities which is probably a main contender in who the commercials are aimed at.

 

[Airline RC]

Yeah, tell me how big that "big jet" feels when you're stuck in the middle seat, next to a 400lbs guy eating a sandwich.....while he sweats.

Your are zachry right ! I rode in the back of a Skywest CRJ900 from ATL on a 3 hour flight just a few weeks ago. At first, I thought Oh Hell...this plane sux. It was actually MORE COMFORTABLE than the back of an 88 / 75 or 73. Not a bad ride at all!

 

[Jbitzer]

Seat 1A on a Beech 1900. Screw the window, lots of leg room. It only sux after that 3rd cup of coffee and you are still 30 min away from landing in PIT.

 

[Turtlesfly]

oh there's no doubt that SWA ads are anti-XJT.

 

[BigShotXJTdrvr]

In a number of cities I have seen people holding SWA tickets IN THEIR HAND come up to our gate and ask 2 questions: 1) Is this flight going to _____ non-stop? 2) Can I buy a ticket right now?

I guess they're grasping to find reasons why their passengers should volunteer to make stops to get where they're going. Small plane? That's the best they can do?

I think they need to use the fear angle-- tell them the pilots may not have the ink dry on their license, you'll get fat(ter) eating all our food, and drinking $1 beer. Maybe show a picture of some 12 year old at the controls. That might work better.

Kinda cool we've been in business 6 months and we're already a target. I guess they don't think we're another IndyAir flop.

When SWA started undercutting the other majors on costs, everyone was operating basically the same equipment, and if you could drive your costs lower on your ops and sell cheaper fares, you won. Our 50 seater may suck on CASMs but just the fact that it IS a 50 seater makes figuring out how to compete with it much more difficult. In the old days when gas was cheap maybe you could try to destroy your competetion with predatory fares for a few months, then they give up and you win. Much harder to use that strategy with today's fuel prices. The small plane and current high (yes high) fuel prices are our 2 protective moats. High fuel prices may actually be helping us avoid predatory fare sales. In the old days they would not be pointing out how small the other guy's plane is, they would have just sold thousands of cheaper tickets on 1/2 empty planes and run you out of town.

 

[Whataburger]

Kinda cool we've been in business 6 months and we're already a target. I guess they don't think we're another IndyAir flop.

.

Virgin America wasn't in business for more than 3weeks before we "targeted" them. Good clean competition.

 

[Whataburger]

In a number of cities I have seen people holding SWA tickets IN THEIR HAND come up to our gate and ask 2 questions: 1) Is this flight going to _____ non-stop? 2) Can I buy a ticket right now?

I guess they're grasping to find reasons why their passengers should volunteer to make stops to get where they're going. Small plane? That's the best they can do?

.

If ya get bored visit southwest.com and click on "Where we fly." Click on "nonstop flights" Then put your mouse over a city. You will soon realize we fly to most our destations nonstop city to city at more competitive fares. If you wanna get coast-to-coast for $59, it's gonna cost ya a couple stops. Granted this opens your trip up to delays and posibly mechanical problems, but usually the stops "Direct Flights" only take an hour or so longer.

 

[BigShotXJTdrvr]

If ya get bored visit southwest.com and click on "Where we fly." Click on "nonstop flights" Then put your mouse over a city. You will soon realize we fly to most our destations nonstop city to city at more competitive fares. If you wanna get coast-to-coast for $59, it's gonna cost ya a couple stops. Granted this opens your trip up to delays and posibly mechanical problems, but usually the stops "Direct Flights" only take an hour or so longer.

I'm not a SWA basher. I was really impressed with your legroom the other day, and the nicest crews anywhere. I just hope we can all find a way to get along.

We're looking for about 35 people 2-3x a day in most markets. I really don't think you guys have all that much to worry about with us for a long, long time.

 

[SWA GUY]

I'm not a SWA basher. I was really impressed with your legroom the other day, and the nicest crews anywhere. I just hope we can all find a way to get along.

We're looking for about 35 people 2-3x a day in most markets. I really don't think you guys have all that much to worry about with us for a long, long time.

Many of us used to be Contintental Expressions and X-Jetters. Why do you think we jumped ship? It wasn't because we wanted to be Co-Pilots again....

 

[DAL737FO]

I haven't seen the commercial and SWA does the best of marketing out there. I think the other airlines should do a counter commercial showing a passenger getting up at 3:00 am for a 3:00 pm flight on SWA so they can get the coveted boarding zone A only to be aced out by a hundred people that slept in the terminal or show a guy at his desk with a GPS clock waiting for the 24 hours prior to sign in online only to have his power go out and get a boarding card C a minute after the window opens.

I guess everyone can find something to pick on with each airline.

 

[siucavflight]

I haven't seen the commercial and SWA does the best of marketing out there. I think the other airlines should do a counter commercial showing a passenger getting up at 3:00 am for a 3:00 pm flight on SWA so they can get the coveted boarding zone A only to be aced out by a hundred people that slept in the terminal or show a guy at his desk with a GPS clock waiting for the 24 hours prior to sign in online only to have his power go out and get a boarding card C a minute after the window opens.

I guess everyone can find something to pick on with each airline.

Now that would be funny.

 

[climbhappy]

two points...

one..the commercial just tries to draw a humorous distinction between their product and the rj. they used to say their comp was the automobile. why wouldn't they target their head to head comp?...the entire industry. they're at the top and everybody loves to unseat #1. actually , they're cheesy commercials and i'd fire the ad agency.

two.. SWA said they had recently evaluated their boarding practices. said their customers love the open seating...will try to make it better somehow.
you do feel like a lamb going to the slaughter though.

 

[Whataburger]

one..The RJ is everyone's competition. From 37-100ish seats. They're everywhere and lots of them.

two..August- #1 in Customer complaints.

 

[climbhappy]

one: i agree, but there are plenty of SW flights with stops.. i rode a crj900 from dtw to clt yesterday and it wasn't that bad.. but i do give the producer credit for playing on the big and small thing. it is a simple message. i might attack the ultra casual nature of the fas uniforms, i might play on the stops on many of their flights, i might attack the fact the pricing is pretty much equal ou there on many segments. i'd really play up the zone thing with the herds standing there. they do have a good product. only pushback i ever saw where N2 was turning the very nanosecod the tug moved

two: the only thing wrong with the seating policy is i'd rather sit on my butt and wait for my zone as opposed to standing up.too much work.

 

[Batman Fan]

I would attack their inability to stay on the runway after landing.