Pittsburgh Trib. Editorial

[wnbubbleboy]

The Southwest effect: Direct connections



Saturday, May 7, 2005


Iconic Southwest Airlines at Pittsburgh International Airport may bring to the surface pent-up hostility against US Airways.
"They're ripe," says Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly to The New York Times. The newspaper thought the arrival of Southwest's direct flights from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, Chicago, Orlando and Las Vegas meshed nicely with the recent growth of direct flights throughout the airline industry.

They (customers) are ripe (eager) to be plucked from the bankrupt-but-still-dominant carrier in Pittsburgh, which for years used its government-enabled monopoly at the airport built for it to charge high fares. US Airways has dropped fares, but Southwest's aura of low prices, financial health and customer-oriented service stand in stark contrast to the memories of US Airway's arrogant, predatory practices.

Direct flights are only 10.7 percent of the domestic total, but that's up from 9.3 in 2003.

Direct flights are returning because -- now, let's wrap our heads around this one -- customers don't relish hassling through airports to make connecting flights. The agile, low-fare carriers battling against the giants and their excessive reliance on hubs sparked the trend.

The doom-and-gloomers who lamented that US Airways' troubles would translate into a doomsday for the airport would not take into account the capacity of the market to adjust.

Glory be, it has.

 

[Flying Titan]

Direct flights? Huh?

This editorial baffles me a bit. I can understand the points about lower fares, new attitudes, the way PIT has been treated by US in recent years, etc.... but, "customers don't relish hassling through airports to make connecting flights"? This doesn't make sense. Has SWA offered any direct, non-stop flights that weren't already offered by US? Does SWA offer more frequencies to these destinations? Doesn't US still offer far more non-stop flights from PIT than any other carrier? Won't it be this way for the forseeable future? (assuming US survival)

This editorial is just plain silly. Praise the fares, the service, the attitude - but don't act as though PIT hasn't enjoyed the benefit of more non-stop service than just about any city of its size in the nation. It's just not true.

 

[luvn737s]

Hooray! Now a customer in Dubois can get a one-stop connection to London on Southwest!

Wha..? Wait a second. You mean the Dubois customer has to drive 2 hours, then grab a timetable and make their own connections and take 3 stops just to get to OKC on WN? Oh, well it's a few bucks cheaper and the flight attendant's joke was funny the first 3 times I heard it.

 

[usairbear]

Just a minute. Let's compare apples to apples here.

Southwest never purported to offer Dubois customers service to Oklahoma City, much less London.

Fact: Walk up fare DUJ-PHL on US = $408.40.
Walk up fare PIT-PHL on WN = $39.20.


You can have a heck of a good time in Pittsburgh for $369.20, even if you have to drive 2 hours to get there. Plus you can be assured on WN you will get a CLEAN airplane, and even if the employees are a little corny, they have an enthusiastic attitude.

Duh.

 

[justaumechanic]

Everything you said is true but the clean airplane part.. Both airlines planes are filthy dirty!!

Southwest offeres cheap fares.. Simple as that.. Remember the mayor was telling everyone to drive to Cleveland to fly on Southwest because they were cheap.. So you have to drive 2 hours to fly to PHL and save 350 bucks!!

All you winers, you all do it and you know it..

Southwest never offered anything more than a seat to someplace people want to go.. How many people a year travel from Dubois to London?

Just a minute. Let's compare apples to apples here.

Southwest never purported to offer Dubois customers service to Oklahoma City, much less London.

Fact: Walk up fare DUJ-PHL on US = $408.40.
Walk up fare PIT-PHL on WN = $39.20.
You can have a heck of a good time in Pittsburgh for $369.20, even if you have to drive 2 hours to get there. Plus you can be assured on WN you will get a CLEAN airplane, and even if the employees are a little corny, they have an enthusiastic attitude.

Duh.

[post="268368"][/post]​

 

[justanadd]

Hooray! Now a customer in Dubois can get a one-stop connection to London on Southwest!

[post="268317"][/post]​

Is it really necessary and why should taxpayers pay for funding airports that are with-in a reasonable driving distance from a major city airport?

 

[luvn737s]

The point is that the benefits of a network carrier go beyond the hubs they serve. PIT should be glad that it's getting WN, I suppose, but it's really only getting a price break to a few destinations that U already served, not new service.

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

The point is that the benefits of a network carrier go beyond the hubs they serve. PIT should be glad that it's getting WN, I suppose, but it's really only getting a price break to a few destinations that U already served, not new service.

I think the folks in Kansas City or Nashville or Albuquerque or New Orleans would probably tell you that not being a hub can be its own reward, as can having Southwest serve your fair city.

Today PIT is getting a much deserved price break to a few destinations where they already have service.

Anyone care to predict the future? My bet is if the flights do well, and they probably will, you will see PIT build up to where its WN presence looks something like BNA or MCI. And the service there is nothing to really sneeze at.

No, Southwest won't give PIT 300 or 400 flights a day. But how many of those 300 or 400 flights a day were to places someone wanted to go, and how many were to places like DuBois or Franklin/Oil City?

 

[trvlr64]

The point is that the benefits of a network carrier go beyond the hubs they serve. PIT should be glad that it's getting WN, I suppose, but it's really only getting a price break to a few destinations that U already served, not new service.

[post="269030"][/post]​

Well this 7 year US1 was quite happy to get on a WN plane in PIT this past week to MHT. They were what they promise, good customer service. And reasonable airfares. Too bad US wants to continue to gauge it's customers. This trip would have cost $640 on US for the dates and times I needed to fly. I was able to split the airlines and WN was $118.40 and US was $137.40. My WN flights were filled while the US flights were basically empty (48 on a 737 MHT to PHL). My company is based outside of Boston and they are going to force me to fly WN from now on. US is charging over $900 for PIT to BOS no matter when you book a reservation. US is going to loose more customers in PIT for sure.

So do I need new service? No. I need reasonable airfares to those cities that I travel to already. Besides, all those destinations that WN does fly to are the same ones on US that I have flown to for the past 9 years. It's just a matter who is more cost competitive to get my business.