It will indeed, the ATA codeshare is peforming above expectations by all accounts and should give the additional service a fighting chance.
I have to assume PHL is cannabilizing some of BWI in effect taking back Customers in the PHL area who were driving to BWI. That being the case, there could still be room for expansion on routes that don't have PHL exposure.
I don't have access to the official "short list" however, I think there are still a couple of cherries that have yet to be picked. As long as the markets are chosen carefully and CASM does not begin to intefere with BELF, the 737 will remain viable.
There overall numbers are up, and yours are down. This tells me that there are defections.
Without route by route data it's tough to do an objective analysis...but like I said, defections would not surprise me....RapidReward gravy train has moved on and the frequent flyers are none too pleased.
Reinstatement of the program is the best idea.
Best for the Frequent Flyer but, not necessarily best for Southwest Airlines in the long term. The purpose of the online bonus was to push Customers to Southwest.com The best deals on SWA flights are internet only fares...so what happened was a situation was set up where you had Customers racking up free tickets flying in large measure on Southwest cheapest fares. Obviously, this was not a sustainable situation. A compromise may be to allow Customers to accrue credits over a 2 year period rather than only giving them a single year.
lowecur said:
Regardless of how it plays out the merger of strong west coast competitor and a major albeit ailing east coast player would require Southwest to adjust. That is a given.
As tempting as it seems to suggest that GK et al make significant changes to keep SWA viable. We all know it isn't that easy. A speedboat can make a course change much faster than an aircraft carrier. Overhauling ops at a 420+ airframe carrier is no small undertaking. If there were a downright refusal to even consider changing the way we do business...that would indeed be cause for concern. What we are seeing though is the SWA product evolving in well thought out increments as the industry changes. The funny thing about evolution is that the evolved is constantly a work in progress.
Have you read the book "Nuts"?: 
