SWA isn't buying anyone!

[Andy]

the sky is falling.... the sky is falling at Southwest (only). Only our costs are going up.. Our easy ride is over, nobody but SWA will have rising costs. No employee from the other carriers will seek to regain their lost $$$$$. SWA is just like TWA, EAL & PAN AM.....get a clue you HOMOs

Jeez, no surprise here. Mr Thin Skin posts yet another defensive post.
There are two posts out of 30 that even mention the possibility of Southwest going bankrupt. And one of them merely gave Southwest the same odds as Delta. If you really think that nothing bad can happen to Southwest, cool. Just keep thinking those happy thoughts; that's the same attitude that those who got their pensions taken away. "Oh, they'll never take away my pension." Yeah, right.

 

[atafan]

Hal,

I agree.

SWA will be selling International seats real soon but will NOT do the actual flying anytime soon. They will do it the exact way they said they would do it, ATA. The SWA pilots will not be happy at first but I believe ill they will see that this is best for their bottom line and come on board eventually.

 

[mach zero]

Hal,

I agree.

SWA will be selling International seats real soon but will NOT do the actual flying anytime soon. They will do it the exact way they said they would do it, ATA. The SWA pilots will not be happy at first but I believe ill they will see that this is best for their bottom line and come on board eventually.

Short term I can allow it long term no. Lots of us (not me) will want those Int'l layovers. I also don't like the propspect of the whipsaw appearing here. IMHO we should acquire GAL now get it over with and merge all 4 lists.

 

[Dude]

For the record, years ago an ATL city councilman was employed at DAL and there was a unanimous resolution passed that all scheduled airline traffic would be confined to Hartsfield and Hartsfield only. The reason is obvious. Fulton Co. and Dobbins are closer to 90% of the travelers in Atlanta and thus would be a big winner to whomever (SWA) invested the capital to upgrade the terminal enough to serve large amounts of passengers. That law would have to be changed first.

Secondly, like any of you buffoons know what any airline is going to do next. These things can only be speculated as Martha Stewart proved that any premature reveal regarding mergers, consolidation or whatever can send yo a$$ to jail. You'll know when you are or are not flying little 700s across shark infested waters and not before. Everybody knows something and has an idea or knows a guy that went to lunch with Gary Kelly.

As for me, I am content with LBB, MAF, and the occasionally exotic SAN overnight. I got my number here and I am only interested in protecting the job I have. If I was smart enough to make decisions, I would have convinced the feds to allow Coke machines in the galley and flight attendants would be hostesses, and in-flight entertainment. But that hasn't happened and until it does I will only speculate that my check will be on time and my beers will only cost a buck.

My job is a good one and one that I will not take for granted and I DO realize that I may lose this job someday, but for now I am happy. I, for one, do not wish any U. S. pilot misery and hope that we are all lucky enough to be as prolific as lawyers and as wealthy too.

I am going to bed. I just returned from a three-day and am unaware of the nonsense that was just written here.

 

[HalinTexas]

I am going to bed. I just returned from a three-day and am unaware of the nonsense that was just written here.

You must be new to the industry.

 

[Kharma Police]

For the record, years ago an ATL city councilman was employed at DAL and there was a unanimous resolution passed that all scheduled airline traffic would be confined to Hartsfield and Hartsfield only. The reason is obvious. Fulton Co. and Dobbins are closer to 90% of the travelers in Atlanta and thus would be a big winner to whomever (SWA) invested the capital to upgrade the terminal enough to serve large amounts of passengers. That law would have to be changed first.

??? Marietta (Dobbins ARB) is located in Cobb county. Thankfuly Cobb is not subject to any laws or under any jurisdiction from the city of Atlanta which is located in Fulton County.

 

[Dude]

I am well aware of the geography around Atlanta and where Dobbins and County are. That same argument didn't do much for us with regard to Love Field and the Wright Amendment either. I do not know all of the details of the deal that prohibits scheduled traffic from anywhere other than Hartsfield, I just know that it exists or has existed and it was rather clever considering the proximity of Dobbins and County to the majority of the air travelers in and around Atlanta. I would like for us and a few others to be able to go into those places around Atlanta, but I understand the politics involved in Atlanta and that Satan would likely be selling snow cones in Hell before anyone is allowed to operate out of Dobbins or Charlie Brown.

Halin',
You are right, I am new. The people dept. and the pilot interviewers were easily fooled in the interview and with that whole logbook thing. Thank God they didn't see through me.

 

[Andy]

SWA won't be able to move all that quickly. Any Int'l market they desire to move into will probably already have at least one carrier in it. The competition will be alerted well in advance. The history with SWA is to go into a city with many flights to many destinations. Use the re-entry into SFO or even RSW as a model.

SWA will have to change their system to accomodate assigned seating, countering their recent decision to stick with a modified cattle-call. This is a governement/immigration requirement. Personnel will have to be trained. And if you think you can turn an airplane in 30 minutes with ICE, you got another thing coming.

ETOPS is even harder to acquire than int'l ops. Look at Alaska. They've been working on it for a year and a half or more for limited ops. to HI. 180 minute ETOPS for the B737 is stupid. (Why hasn't Boeing put a RAT/HMG on these things?) Flying to HI with a -700 is insane. To get any kind of yield you need a larger airplane. The real money is hauling freight to HI from the mainland. Aloha has pretty much showed the limitations of the airplane. If GK pushes for HI/ETOPS with the -700 he should be fired.

The above limitations are not necessarily that difficult to learn for crews, but they can be screwed up readily by them. It'll take about a year to train the crews as they pass through recurrent. The difficulty lies in maintenance, dispatch, reservations, and operations, not to mention government sign-off of all the procedures.

SWA needs to develope new, high yield revenue streams. Their non-fuel costs are rather under control, so their's not much savings there. So the alternative is revenue enhancement. Domestic expansion vis merger/acquisition isn't the best path to that end.

Hal, I've got to disagree with you. While you've presented valid hurdles to overcome in int'l ops, I have no doubt that Southwest will be able to operate a highly successful int'l operation with their own aircraft and crews.
They're still operating out of PHL and making it work, so I don't see int'l ops as presenting any insurmountable obstacles for Southwest.

 

[HalinTexas]

Dude, you missed it. You whined about your three day trip. I was making fun of you. If you think your domestic trip was making you tired, try spending 7+ days, and 7+ time zones away from home.

The real question that many of you fail to grasp is, "Where is the best place to allocate resources?" SWA just announced no real change to bording. No assigned seats, no int'l ops.

Yes, SWA can do it, eventually. How much is it going to cost them in the mean time?

Is SWA ready to abandon 37 years of doing business to pursue this? I mean, SWA has been so resistant to change that they've totally dumbed down a pretty nice airplane because it's too different. TJ LUV fears change.

How much time, effort, money has been spent on just PHL "to make it work?"

I have no doubt that SWA could make it work. The reality is it won't be easy or quick.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

The chance of oil staying at, or going down to and then staying at $75 is less than zero (I loved that movie!). $120/barrel by the end of 2008???

I do have to admit that I was wrong and the price for oil is going up much slowly and more gradually than I thought it would.

Oil will, in the long run, go up and up until the demand for it is decreased by the use of alternative energy sources, which will take quite a while.

China and India's demand for oil continues on a relentless march upward. The only good thing about this fact, is that they may experience so much pressure for energy that they may actually beat the US, the former world leader in alternative energy, in the quest to get off our oil habit.

We already got massacred by the Japanese in the auto industry, and we're getting ready to be passed by China on energy, if we're not careful.

cliff
YIP

 

[Whataburger]

If you think your domestic trip was making you tired, try spending 7+ days, and 7+ time zones away from home.

YUCK!!!!!!!! Gimme LBB or give me death!!!!

 

[roughneck]

I was mistaken about today's announcement. I thought the announcement was going to include alaska.

I brought this tread back up to illustrate my original point. At the time we were talking about $75 oil causing consolidation. Now we are at $100 and United said today that it might ground 100 aircraft if things don't improve. Other mentioned today that consolidation is likely.

So General, are you going to argue with me this time? I think Delta said something about consolidation today too.