OK now what?

[JonC]

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On 12/21/2002 6:29:31 PM autofixer wrote:

But what happens when SWA goes head-to-head with U? Does anyone really think that SWA will not look at PHL or CLT and not start licking their chops (periphial airports)? U is walking away from PIT. How about AirTran and Jet Blue? The world is changed and so is this industry. Avaition Week had several articles on this last month...U is only postponing what will happen. It is a market shift. A new product has entered the market place. Small penetrations at first, until a market share of 22% is attained, and then the massive shift occurs (now)! A La WalMart!
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Southwest in PHL? The "black hole" of US Airways' operation...one drop of rain north of DCA, east of PIT or south of LGA and the place groundstops in a minute. People are driving from PHL to BWI to fly WN and its probably close enough. But, if Southwest did want to get into PHL territory, ABE, TTN or Wilmington (DL) would be a much better choice than PHL, primarily because of congestion and ATC problems.

 

[JonC]

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On 12/21/2002 914 PM Heinrich wrote:

From Norfolk, VA to BWI Southwest is $7 cheaper than USAir with a little pre-planning (2 weeks). Neither myself or my company would balk at spending $7 more to send me on USAir.

I swear I think the myth about Southwest is so cheap because the put these really cheap prices in large bold print - then you realize it's a 1 way fare pre-tax and 9-11 fee etc.
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You are absolutely right. A route I travel often is TPA to PVD and WN has a non-stop that would be quite convenient, but its also more expensive than almost anyone else's excursion fares.

Believe it or not, last winter I had a customer service problem on Southwest. I had purchased a ticket for travel in January in August. However, come September 11th, WN eliminated one of their two non-stop SDF-TPA runs and rebooked me on an earlier direct flight that stopped in MSY. I had to go in the afternoon, around the time that my original flight had been on. I checked their schedule and they could route me through BWI that evening, but they refused to do it, saying that it wasn't a valid routing for that fare. Well, duh, it was an involunary reroute, so you can bend the rules a little. I argued with about everyone and their manager and finally said screw it and non-rev'd home on US that night.

However, I should kindly note that I used to non-rev on WN quite a bit and was always treated very well. Often better than US Airways treated me.