SWA goes after RJs again

[waveflyer]

Watching football I see we're going after RJs marketing only flying 737's again.

Is this about California and compass or just a general marketing argument?

 

[Kermit_D_Frog]

In English please, Wave.

 

[Roomwithaview]

In English please, Wave.

SWA add making it clear we don't up sell you on a mainline ticket, only to jam you on a RJ for three hours.

Good call!

 

[LearLove]

SWA add making it clear we don't up sell you on a mainline ticket, only to jam you on a RJ for three hours.

Good call!

You still have the same seat. Whether it is an RJ or 737 your personal space is the same.

 

[waveflyer]

Until your bag gets left bc there's no overhead, or not quite enough room overall for the claustrophobic flyers.
People like to stand up-

And evolve or not, we do have more room than any RJ.

To be fair, on the "consistent service" note, we also need to get rid of our -300's so everyone can have wifi and appropriate air conditioning in the summer- but that pales in comparison.

 

[Roomwithaview]

Uh yeah......

You still have the same seat. Whether it is an RJ or 737 your personal space is the same.

Tell that to the person that wants to know why they're getting bumped for "weight restriction" when they thought they had a guaranteed seat.

Pretty common occurrence for Deltoid and Untidy out of DEN.

:angryfire

 

[HowardBorden]

I saw it today too. I thought it was simply educating the public about discernible differences between SWA and their competition. Bottom line, you will never purchase a ticket at southwest.com and wind up on an RJ when you were expecting a mainline aircraft. Nothing more and nothing less.

 

[FurloughedAgain]

I figured they were targeting the significant portion of the populace that is still scared of flying in general and "small planes" in particular.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather fly on an RJ and not have to figure out what to do with my rollaboard (although the interminable wait in the jetway for it to be delivered can be frustrating) and never be in a middle seat. I imagine most business travelers are similar.

But if you are Ma and Pa Kent from Smallville, and you fly once a year to the family reunion in Omaha, and you have to be sedated to fly... well, there is probably some security in not having to wonder if you are going to be in "one of them puddle jumpers"

No dig at all on the professional RJ and Ejet flight crews. Just marketing folks targeting a relatively specific demographic.

 

[slaquer5]

You still have the same seat. Whether it is an RJ or 737 your personal space is the same.

I hope that was a joke .



Tell it to the passengers that bought a ticket on Continental Airlines .

Remember the crash in BUF. .

 

[Nindiri]

RJ...737...it's all the same. Coach seats are hideous no matter which airplane. Take your pick...lean sideways for two hours in the window seat of an RJ, or enjoy the delights of a middle seat on a 737. It's like arguing over who has the best seat in Hell.

 

[jonjuan]

Until your bag gets left bc there's no overhead, or not quite enough room overall for the claustrophobic flyers.
People like to stand up-

And evolve or not, we do have more room than any RJ.

To be fair, on the "consistent service" note, we also need to get rid of our -300's so everyone can have wifi and appropriate air conditioning in the summer- but that pales in comparison.

Pales in comparison, according to whom....you? Stick to your las day job, sweetie.

 

[maru657]

I saw it today too. I thought it was simply educating the public about discernible differences between SWA and their competition. Bottom line, you will never purchase a ticket at southwest.com and wind up on an RJ when you were expecting a mainline aircraft. Nothing more and nothing less.

Well, sometimes something less. Sometimes, no roof.

 

[Mercyful Fate]

Funny...Coming from an airline that made the term "cattlecar" a household name...

 

[t-bone]

You still have the same seat. Whether it is an RJ or 737 your personal space is the same.

I'm guessing you're less than 6' tall if this is your opinion...I'm 6'1 and couldn't disagree more. (Comparing to CRJs and EMB 145/135s)

 

[General Lee]

I saw it today too. I thought it was simply educating the public about discernible differences between SWA and their competition. Bottom line, you will never purchase a ticket at southwest.com and wind up on an RJ when you were expecting a mainline aircraft. Nothing more and nothing less.

Thanks to you guys, DL is replacing a lot (200+) RJs with 88 comfortable 717s that include first class seating. Thanks Cornies! And you paid DL to take them too, cleaned them up, painted and put wifi on them, and allowed them to be purchased eventually for cheap. Well done!

Oh, you guys saved money too? Who cares? RJs are being replaced.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[HowardBorden]

Thanks to you guys, DL is replacing a lot (200+) RJs with 88 comfortable 717s that include first class seating. Thanks Cornies! And you paid DL to take them too, cleaned them up, painted and put wifi on them, and allowed them to be purchased eventually for cheap. Well done!

Oh, you guys saved money too? Who cares? RJs are being replaced.


Bye Bye---General Lee

I'm all for it. It is upgauging on all fronts. Delta is replacing some of their flying with actual Delta employees flying actual Delta aircraft for a change. That creates an upward flow from regionals to mainline.

Also on the upside SWA is upguauging 88 airframes from 117 seat narrow bodies to either 143 or 175 seat narrow bodies. SWA is gaining near 4000 revenue seats when the 1 for 1 transition is complete all while saving $200 million a year by doing so.

There seem to be very few win/win situations in this industry, but this truly seems to be one of them.

 

[waveflyer]

Pales in comparison, according to whom....you? Stick to your las day job, sweetie.

Yes, I will, in fact stick to the 24/7 job that paid off my house and triples my SWA income.

What's your point boss?

At 6'4", as re poster above said- it's definitely according to me

 

[Flopgut]

I saw a commercial that said SWA flies "the big planes". Hilarious... Between that and the Honda Fit commercial it was a regular pixie fest.

 

[Microclimates]

To me, RJ is a bit of a broad category... jungle jet/ CRJ200 are horrible rides.

E170 and up, on the other hand, are actually really nice rides. And I dare say a better one than a 737: for one thing, there is one less person to climb over if you are window-sitting!

also, the ejets have a normal overhead bin space so unless you are bringing with you a walmart aisle you should be alright

 

[FurloughedAgain]

RJ was a marketing term created by airline managers in 1996 to describe a type of airplane that mainline pilots would find "undesirable" to fly. Forget that they are of similar gauge as the Bac 111 (65 seats), the F28 (65 seats), the F100 (85 seats)... The DC9-10, BAe146/RJ85, 737-200, 717... You get my point.

It is a jet aircraft and should never have been outsourced at any price. You can call something a 777RJ and that doesn't mean it should fly for a penny less than what American pays it's pilots to fly it. I would argue that loosening of scope language to include 50-70+ seat airplanes is the darkest day in ALPA history (a close tie with raising the retirement age to 65 with thousands of pilots on furlough)