SWA, question/comment

[lookup]

So I hear that SWA is either the only, or one of the few, airlines that are making money.. So we have to all agree, that in their market, they are doing something right....

Given that, I am curious what you folks think would be the effect if they made a few changes.

1) gave in and linked with saber so all travel agents could easily book them
2) set aside some seats as "reserved" seats and charged a small premium for them (maybe $30 per leg or so).
3) increased the number of non-stop trips on busy business routes... (ie. AUS-SJC often stops 1 or 2 times in route)

For me, a business traveler, I can't play the cattle car show up 2 hours early game. If I could pay a small premium to get a reserved seat, and my travel agent would book it, I would seriously consider flying them. They don't serve meals, but guess what, neither does AA on my flights....

Personally I think that SWA could easily deal a nasty blow to the already hurting majors. I don't want them to, but it is something that I hope the majors are thinking about. If they keep cutting services (meals, free booze, etc), then the only real difference between them might end up being cattle car vs reserved seats and international flights.

Thoughts?

M

 

[350DRIVER]

As the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke ya don't fix it." - SWA has made money every year from the start for a "reason". Why in the world would they "want" to make those kind of changes to an already working and more importantly very profitable business platform?. Sometimes change is good however SWA has gotten this down to a science and I just can't see them making any drastic or even minor changes for that matter. ( I have been known to be wrong once or twice in my life though)

I am in no way a fan of Southwest and try to avoid flying on them however one must give them credit and respect what they have been able to do since day 1.

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[enigma]

SWA is successful because they are the most efficient utilizers of people and equipment. Everything you suggest would decrease their efficiency.

Now a quick one at a time response.

1. I think it costs money to belong to Sabre, and they don't need sabre; they're doing quite well without it.

2. Reserved seats would cause a delay in boarding. Also, part of their quick turn secret is that the pax HAVE to hurry; changing the boarding process could possibly upset that applecart.

3. They fly as many non-stops as the ticket buyers will support.

Unfortunately, your suggestions would only turn SWA into another failing major airline. All of the services you desire are currently available at AA, DL, etc. The problem with the whole industry is that you and other businessmen are no longer willing to pay the cost to provide those services. I'm afraid that those services would cost much more than $30 per flight.

regards,
8N
PS, I'm not blaming businessmen for the industries woes, I actually blame managment for expoiting you in the first place. They had to see that it would eventually catch up with them. The world was changing and they never saw it coming. Now the responsible ones sit in their golden parachute paid for mansions while those of us who keept the business going are sucking wind.

 

[toneal]

I agree...why fix it if it aint broke?

 

[NEDude]

I think a lot of what Southwest does to save money is not seen by the traveling public.

I used to work on the ramp and fueled SWA a lot. Their paperwork for fueling aircraft is far more simple than all of the other airlines we fueled. Many of the airlines require not only meter readings and start and finish readings from the aircraft, they also want calculations based of fuel density to make sure that the truck meter readings and airplane readings are within a certain standard. In all the time I fueled I never once saw readings outside of that standard based on the calculations. But some of these airlines are paying a whole fleet of accountants and auditors to review all of this paperwork to make sure they are not getting cheated anywhere. My guess is they spend more on the accountants than they save in fuel. A case of spending a buck to save a penny.

One St. Louis based out of business airline used to soak its 727s in type 4 fluid EVERY night that the temperature was forecast to go below freezing (at least in the airport I worked at) regardless if there was precip or not. No wonder they are no longer in business.

I could go on about some other things I have seen. But I think the not assigning seats and staying out of SABRE are only a few of the things SWA does to save money. There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that they keep very simple and thus reduces costs as well. And as someone else alluded to, they are making money and filling their planes, why change what they are doing to become more like the airlines that aren't making money.

PS- Did you know that one major airline currently in Chapter 11 actually pays people to be "uniform police" at its hubs? They check and make sure the pilots and FAs are wearing the proper uniforms right down to the types of shoes and belt buckles. Talk about a waste of money.