The Begining Of The End Of Us

[EyeInTheSky]

Right airline for the right generation. Look all around folks: Wal-Mart, The Dollar Store, Sam's Club, and Southwest Airlines. Clearly, the American public has made a choice in how little they are willing to pay for goods and services. Not bashing, just making an observation.

 

[JS]

What a freakin concept........eh???? I guess they don't teach this philosophy at MIT and Wharton <_< .

How about doing a study on why the airline industry has so few good airline ceo's??

LOSERS: Wolf, Seigel, Lorenzo, Icahn, Greenwald.

WINNERS: Bethune, Kelleher...................

[post="195799"][/post]​

How do you explain the phenomenal success of Wal-Mart and their piss poor wages and heavy-handed management?

If there is any cause-and-effect going on, it is poor management ==> losses ==> wage concessions (not the other way around).

 

[funguy2]

Good point JS... I know Wal-Mart uses efficiency as a method to reduce costs, however, I am not sure if Wal-Mart's employees make higher than industry standard wages as some Southwest's employees do.

 

[Whatnow?]

Careful now, even the mighty take falls! Rapid growth, industry leading contracts, hiring frenzy, hmmm.....that sounds soo familiar! When I joined USair back in the late 80's that's exactly how things were here. Every dog has its day! As we all know in the Airline Industry the only thing constant is change. :down:

 

[SkyLiner]

Careful now, even the mighty take falls! Rapid growth, industry leading contracts, hiring frenzy, hmmm.....that sounds soo familiar! When I joined USair back in the late 80's that's exactly how things were here. Every dog has its day! As we all know in the Airline Industry the only thing constant is change. :down:

[post="195879"][/post]​

A truer statement was never made. It's amazing to see all the Big Boys in this buisness that now have "the finacially struggling" XX airlines in front of their names.

 

[jimntx]

Careful now, even the mighty take falls! Rapid growth, industry leading contracts, hiring frenzy, hmmm.....that sounds soo familiar! When I joined USair back in the late 80's that's exactly how things were here. Every dog has its day! As we all know in the Airline Industry the only thing constant is change. :down:

[post="195879"][/post]​

Well, I would agree with you unless you are indirectly referring to Southwest. They have now been in a fairly constant growth cycle with attendant net profits for 25 years. When do they start their down cycle like the rest of us have done multiple times in that same period? :huh:

 

[sfb]

Somes continued glee, i assure you will come back to bite. Soon, swa will have a genuine level playing field. With reduced cost and lower casm by us and others, swa day is a coming. Prepare, it wil be your tuern soon enough.

To be perfectly frank, whom do you think you're kidding? Even if US Airways' employees were to work for no pay, US would STILL have higher costs per ASM than Southwest. Now, it's certainly possible that LUV's employees could get greedy enough down the road that employee wages could end up killing the company, but broadly better management of the business has allowed Southwest to prosper in both good times and bad. Southwest has historically run its business very conservatively (as did Delta in years past); they have perhaps passed up on some opportunities during strong economic times in order to keep the company's financial house in order for the bad times. That practice did well by them in light of the last three years and it's allowed them to avoid the massive layoffs seen at the legacy carriers. And historically, WN's employees have been willing to forego some pay in return for the best job security in the industry and a work environment that's been rated one of the best in the United States.

Southwest does not do well because they are the cheapest (often, they are not) or because they don't offer elaborate on-board service. Southwest prospers because they deliver a reliable, predictable product from generally cheerful employees at a price that is almost always fair. They don't try to gouge their best customers; nor do they play a bunch of games with change fees, arcane fare rules, and punitive ticketing policies. They don't cherry-pick markets -- they create markets. Who would have ever thought that a route like MHT-BWI could support 1,500 seats each way per day? They dominate the L.A.-Bay Area market without connecting the two premier airports in each region. Southwest prospers by treating its employees well and by offering its customers value. People, roughly 35% of Southwest's customers travel at full fare. But then, $80-100 for a one-hour flight sure seems like a better value than $300 or $400 for the same distance on US or any other legacy carrier.

It is possible to compete with Southwest; after all, Continental does fine at IAH with Southwest offering over 100 daily flights across town at HOU. But the key is to offer a distinct product for which your customers are willing to pay.

 

[WNjetdoc]

Excellent post sfb, .

You're correct as well about some employees foregoing pay raises for job security. There has been several employee groups that have extended their contracts, including us AMT's. We are getting just about 3 percent a year, which just keeps up with inflation. So the mentality of employees from other airlines that our employee groups are going to kill the golden goose isn't correct.

We all know job security is very very important. Making 100k a year isn't such a groovy idea if you won't have a job next year, and most all of us know that. Look at what happened after Sept 11, 01. What is the only airline that didn't lay off one single person? SWA is, as far as I know. We never even heard any lay off rumors or anything like that. We did hear Colleen Barrett say she would sell a/c before she layed anyone off.

I know I am not alone in saying SWA is the best airline to work for in America.

 

[firstamendment]

As far as US Airways is concerned, they've never known what the hell kind of airline they were or want to be, Now they want to be a lcc. Yesterday, it was to model AWA. Before that a global carrier. One day we are Walmart, the next day Sears. We use to be Burdines. Hell, I would settle to be Banana Republic...At least we would look good.