Nice Commercial!

[Busdrvr]

I don't exactly live in SWA country, so the only time I see an SWA commercial is usually during a football game. This may be a very old add, but Kudo's on the "big jet sweepstakes" commercial. I support SWA's attempts to expose the lie that passengers prefer little crappy RJ's over a Boeing if it saves them 10 minutes.

 

[AdAstraPerAspera]

What commerical is this?

 

[KCFlyer]

What commerical is this?

I think I saw the same ad...a guy is at the airport, and it's like a gameshow where he spins a big wheel to determine if he gets a big plane or a little plane. The ad goes on to say that on Southwest, you won't get an RJ.

 

[AdAstraPerAspera]

What exactly is so crappy about an RJ? :huh:

 

[KCFlyer]

What exactly is so crappy about an RJ? :huh:

Speaking as a 6'4" person, they are not the most comfortable jets on the market.

 

[magsau]

What exactly is so crappy about an RJ? :huh:

What is wrong with RJ'S? EVERYTHING!

I do give SWA credit for not having the bane of the travel world, RJ's in their plan. The first US legacy carrier that cancels all of the "express" and "connection" agreements, puts either mainline jets on the routes or transitions back to the days before the codeshares and uses interline agreements the better it would be for everyone. Let these companies like SKYW and MESA stand on their own two feet and not rely on the trough of money given to them by the legacy carriers.

It pains me to see these carriers stand behind the veil of paint from the legacy carrier while providing terrible customer service and reliability. Make it so they to have to earn their passengers versus them being handed to them. You only care for what you work for and these guys could care less.

 

[QA4Jet-A]

What exactly is so crappy about an RJ? :huh:

Have you ever flown on one?

 

[AdAstraPerAspera]

Have you ever flown on one?

I love never having to worry about getting stuck in a middle seat! And they're leather, and either an aisle or a window.
Just as fast as any other jet and not as bumpy as a prop.

Hell, my favorite flights right now are on ExpressJet: MCI-RDU on ERJ-145's.

Free snacks and $1 beers? Bring it ON mofos.

perhaps you didn't hear me. THE BEERS ARE ONE BUCK.

So yeah. I'll fly on an RJ any day of the week.

 

[AdAstraPerAspera]

Plus it has the benefit of offering more point-to-point nonstop service between less-dense, further flung city pairs, whereas I would certainly have to connect on a bigger jet.

Oh, and did I mention the beers are a dollar?

 

[KCFlyer]

Plus it has the benefit of offering more point-to-point nonstop service between less-dense, further flung city pairs, whereas I would certainly have to connect on a bigger jet.

Oh, and did I mention the beers are a dollar?

Yes, you mentioned beers are a buck. But more and more "real" airlines are putting more and more RJ's on routes that used to use "full size" equipment. RJ's are fine for an hour flight, but much more than that, and even $1 beers won't make it pleasant. In fact, if the rent on the beer runs out, then taller menfolk get to practice pissing with an arched back because the lavs aren't terribly roomy either.

 

[magsau]

Plus it has the benefit of offering more point-to-point nonstop service between less-dense, further flung city pairs, whereas I would certainly have to connect on a bigger jet.

Oh, and did I mention the beers are a dollar?

Overall RJ's do not provide hub bypass flying. In fact, like KC said they have replaced full sized airliners with the 50 seaters. If you are a fun of long ATC delays then you must love RJ's. A majority of our problem with the ATC delays results from many of these airplanes clogging the scopes of ATC. In many markets the mainline carriers have had to add 4 to 5 RJ's to cover what used to be flown with 3 737's or 319/320 airplanes. The airlines tout this as giving the consumer a choice in departure times but when it comes at the expense of an ontime operation because the system can not absorb all those flights, then you are really doing them a disservice. DL,UA,AA,CO,NW and US need to scrap the RJ plan, put a reduced number of mainline flights into the markets and crap can those stinking RJ's. Also, the RJ's are often weight restricted on an average 1 hour segment. This is UFB! These airplanes are doing nothing to increase the passenger enjoyment. If you really need a dollar beer then go to a happy hour. If you want reliable transportation then look for something other than an RJ.

Also the CASM to fly a 50 seat jet is astronomical. Just look at the cluster duck of an operation that was Independence Air. Charging $49 buck to fly the RJ when it was about 4 times that in cost to themselves. They blew threw 250million in about 9 months. Your friends at Expressjet are doing the same. While still clinging to the CAL dollars they are losing their collective arses in the point to point "we have a grand plan to go it alone" operation.

 

[KCFlyer]

Overall RJ's do not provide hub bypass flying. In fact, like KC said they have replaced full sized airliners with the 50 seaters. If you are a fun of long ATC delays then you must love RJ's. A majority of our problem with the ATC delays results from many of these airplanes clogging the scopes of ATC. In many markets the mainline carriers have had to add 4 to 5 RJ's to cover what used to be flown with 3 737's or 319/320 airplanes. The airlines tout this as giving the consumer a choice in departure times but when it comes at the expense of an ontime operation because the system can not absorb all those flights, then you are really doing them a disservice. DL,UA,AA,CO,NW and US need to scrap the RJ plan, put a reduced number of mainline flights into the markets and crap can those stinking RJ's. Also, the RJ's are often weight restricted on an average 1 hour segment. This is UFB! These airplanes are doing nothing to increase the passenger enjoyment. If you really need a dollar beer then go to a happy hour. If you want reliable transportation then look for something other than an RJ.

Also the CASM to fly a 50 seat jet is astronomical. Just look at the cluster duck of an operation that was Independence Air. Charging $49 buck to fly the RJ when it was about 4 times that in cost to themselves. They blew threw 250million in about 9 months. Your friends at Expressjet are doing the same. While still clinging to the CAL dollars they are losing their collective arses in the point to point "we have a grand plan to go it alone" operation.

Mags - here in KC, Expressjet is marketing themselves as "point to point". By the same token, MCI-SLC, MCI-CLE, and MCI-EWR for example has been replaced with RJ flying.

I'm curious though...when an RJ is operated under a "major" banner - do the "lost/delayed bags" stats go against the regional partner or the mainline airline? Because I do recall reading several articles that substantiate your comment "Also, the RJ's are often weight restricted on an average 1 hour segment", which indicated that often times, baggage was not loaded to keep the RJ within it's weight restriction.

 

[magsau]

Mags - here in KC, Expressjet is marketing themselves as "point to point". By the same token, MCI-SLC, MCI-CLE, and MCI-EWR for example has been replaced with RJ flying.

I'm curious though...when an RJ is operated under a "major" banner - do the "lost/delayed bags" stats go against the regional partner or the mainline airline? Because I do recall reading several articles that substantiate your comment "Also, the RJ's are often weight restricted on an average 1 hour segment", which indicated that often times, baggage was not loaded to keep the RJ within it's weight restriction.

The PAWOB (pax arriving without bags) number is broken out within the UAL system as to which express carrier is flying the trip. As I understand the method at UAL is that if the flight is wt restricted it is based on a passenger AND bag number. That is to say they will attempt to keep the passengers with their luggage that are onbaord the aircraft. They do not load the cabin with people and THEN load the bags to a max. Of course this is theory. I know when we had AirWisconsin flying UAX service their CRJ's were rarely wt restricted. When SKYW took over they used a different W/B system that made what was once a normal segment that could seat 50, one that could only take 46. This is blocking almost 10% of your seats for load reasons. No airplane can operate profitably under those conditions.

There was an interesting take on the RJ's recently. Many of the cities that no longer have mainline service are having trouble carrying human remains to their proper destination. In the old days we would take bodies home to their families for funerals to many cities. Now with RJ's flying these routes the mortuaries have to drive to the hub city to pick up the bodies because of the inability for the RJ to carry such cargo.

I do believe the first Mainline carrier that cuts the strings with the RJ's will win the pax over.

 

[KCFlyer]

I do believe the first Mainline carrier that cuts the strings with the RJ's will win the pax over.

I agree with you on that...also, thanks for the explanation on RJ loading restrictions.