The future of Southwest Airlines

[EngineThunder]

Check with DAL, they have the blueprint

 

[FlyinGuy]

All we have to do is let our costs get out of control and lose money for a decade or so, then we can file for BK and undercut the other guys. This industry is cyclical. Enjoy the ride.

 

[Kharma Police]

They should start allowing regional feed.

They already do, it's called AirTran.

 

[BR715]

If they started regional feed the IT department would take 3 years to come up with a program that would allow inter-twined ops. Then GK would be on the news line saying that the real benefits of the operation won't be realized for some time. SWA just moves to slow.

 

[Lear70]

They already do, it's called AirTran.

You mean the Caribbean region?

 

[ATRCAPT]

I think we're simply in a little over our heads right now. We bit off more than we could chew, and we're having to dig our way out. That's going to take some time.

I fly with a lot of guys who are pissed that we've strayed from our proven model. That's valid to a point. To paraphrase Herb: you either adapt or die. While it's a mess right now, I think the acquisition will pay benefits in the long run. As for Gary Kelly, I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt. Let's face it, this is the single toughest time in airline history. As great as Herb was/is, he never had to run the company in this sort of environment. As far fortune 500 CEO's go, Gary doesn't make much. I think he was number 480 or something like that. The point is, he could make more money somewhere else yet he chooses to stay. I think this says a lot. I certainly don't agree with a lot of things he's doing right now, but I still support him. Personally I'd rather rid ourselves of CM and/or MVdV.

We totally blew the Hawaii gig. We sat on the sideline with our collective thumbs up our butts and now Alaska owns it. I think we should kiss the Aloha state goodbye and focus our efforts elsewhere.

I was initially a big proponent of the bags fly free thing, but it's now apparent it doesn't work. We held out as long as we could, but we simply can't afford to let that revenue go.

I am concerned at the amount of flights that are being cut. One of the big reasons we have been so popular with people is our frequency. People are willing to forgo the assigned seats and entertainment systems to be able to go when they want to. That is changing, and I think it's a mistake.

On the plus side, we do have a boatload of cash which allows us time to sort these growing pains out. But we need to make sure we do it.

I'm just a right seat biotch, albeit a fairly senior biotch, and this aint my first rodeo so take this for what it is.

Later.

 

[Ty Webb]

Excellent post. My assessment is pretty much the same.

 

[jonjuan]

The unintended consequence, however, of adding bag fees is losing marketshare.

 

[GIZMONC]

GK should have never signed the check to purchase FL until a complete reservations system was in place. Going on two years and still there is no codeshare inplace. The current CS2, (Old Braniff cowboy system) does not do the job. Flights to near international is not possible until a system is in place. Like of like buying a car with no ability to purchase gas.

 

[humveedriver]

GK should have never signed the check to purchase FL until a complete reservations system was in place. Going on two years and still there is no codeshare inplace. The current CS2, (Old Braniff cowboy system) does not do the job. Flights to near international is not possible until a system is in place. Like of like buying a car with no ability to purchase gas.

I asked Gary Kelley why they didn't opt for a new reservation system prior to SOC, at one of those pilot/management dinners. His response was "it wasn't a priority". Cop out answer IMO and one that he has used often with the Wall Street analysts. It really does fall in the epic fail category, obviously they were trying to saves money by adding more patches to the old system. They went through 3 IT directors by last count. They also could have negotiated the FA and pilot side letters for international too by SOC. Again not a priority. Which is fine by me, but we were never told what was the priority? And it was after the dinner that I pretty much stopped caring, because I left that room completely uninspired.