UAL/USAir 737s

[PlaneDrvr]

Brilliant! Or maybe TED? or JetBlue? ....

Don't forget to throw in "Delta Express" or maybe "Song" then I think there was once a "Continental Lite" among others, but we could go on and on.

"Been there Done that"

 

[General Lee]

No wait - This idea might have some merit!!

They could call it Shuttle by United or maybe Metro jet. What a great idea!

We used to call Metrojet "Menstral Jet" because it looked like a tampon......


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[skiandsurf]

Don't forget to throw in "Delta Express" or maybe "Song" then I think there was once a "Continental Lite" among others, but we could go on and on.

"Been there Done that"

Its been a few years since Cal Lite, MetroJet, or Shuttle by United, but I dont remember those having the point to point route structure that SWA has. It seems to me that these other attempts pretty much flew the same hub and spoke routes, just without offering no frills and no first class seats.

And, if the option is to park 100 planes and furlough 1500 pilots, it cant hurt to try what has worked for SWA.

Instead of fighting SWA in your backyard (DEN), take the fight to their backyard (AUS).

Instead of SWA being your competition, why not you be there competition.

You going to sit in your corner and let them kick your a**, or you gonna stand up and meet them in the middle of the ring?

 

[Bringupthebird]

SWA doesn't really do point to point per se. They take a city and find the best 5 or 10 destinations from there and flood the market with flights. At each of those cities they find the best 5 or 10 destinations and so on. That's why you don't see them in Charleston, WV or Garden City KS.

 

[ReverseSensing]

Instead of SWA being your competition, why not you be there competition.

You going to sit in your corner and let them kick your a**, or you gonna stand up and meet them in the middle of the ring?

Airline managements only want to copy the failed business models available to them, not the successful ones. It's like some sort of bizarre suicide pact.

Besides, if they tried to emulate SWA, they might have to admit that rank and file line employees make airlines successful, not MBAs.

 

[BigMeat]

CalLite is what we call our new FOs because the cant afford to eat and are suffering from tape worm because of the lack of med insurance.

 

[vetrider]

Shoot, I bet Southwest could take all the 37s a combined UAL/LCC would dump, and put em to use straight away, and make money to boot. Just to show the rest of the industry how incompetent they are.

 

[jtf]

Most of the time that I price flights out I get a better deal on the legacies than SouthWest since I have to connect somewhere on SouthWest and they are smart enough to charge more when they fly you more. Their direct flights are usually very great prices while the legacies rape you on those. I fly for NJA and almost never get SouthWest since they charge more to and from where I live than the legacies (though I will be hopping on them to MDW today on a direct flight that is very reasonable). I'm very curious to see how the legacies capacity cuts play out. All the consultants say they must cut capacity big time so that they can charge more, but what happens when they cut capacity and the LCCs just step in and increase their capacity? SouthWest may not grow as fast as originally planned, but they will still grow. And I'm sure they could revise their growth plans pretty quickly if the right opportunities present themselves. I do believe it would be the expressway to liquidation if a combined United/ USAirways tries to start a new company like SouthWest.

 

[Carl S.]

Southwest's growth is limited to the extent of their hedges in fuel. They do not have unlimited fuel hedges. As long as they can price below the rest of the industry, they retain the upper hand in market pricing and can dominate any market at will.

 

[ultrarunner]

We used to call Metrojet "Menstral Jet" because it looked like a tampon......


Bye Bye--General Lee

I thought it was Ghetto Jet...since all those 73's looked like a dump..still do as a matter of fact....

...but I like your nickname too...

nice