The Wonderful Web Site

[bigbusdrvr]

You must have missed the "little" tidbit in WN's last quarterly report - the one that said they'd added to their hedge positions, which now go out to 2012.
I guess that other "little" tidbit escaped your attention - the one where WN has about a 20% cost advantage without the hedges and before factoring in our higher Express costs. So don't hold your breath waiting for a level playing field.

Jim

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I was just refering to what their CEO said to their employees....surly he's not wrong??

To hedge now is "Brilliant".....

I guess even experts have to step on their D###s now in again.....

 

[BoeingBoy]

I was just refering to what their CEO said to their employees....surly he's not wrong??

Wrong - absolutely not. However, there's a subtle but very important difference between the following two statements:

1 - If "X" changes after the fact, and nothing else changes, the result will be "Y".

2 - If we know that "X" is going to change in advance, we'd do nothing to counteract it so the result would be "Y".

#1 is basically what he said - remove the hedges retroactively so that nothing else changed, and the result would have been losses.

#2 is what would have happened if the hedges had never been there. Why? Because that's what WN has done for most of those 30+ profitable years since they've only been hedging to any degree for the last 10 and only had significant gains from hedging for the last 2 years.

The big advantage of hedging isn't making the right guess about the future price of fuel, although it's a nice bonus when it does pay off. The big advantage is knowing the price of a significant cost item ahead of time. That allows WN to make pricing decisions based on facts, not guesses. That's why contuning to hedge fuel isn't dumb.

WN recently announced a price increase. If the hedging hadn't existed in 3Q06, they could have instituted that price increase a quarter earlier and voila - they'd still have their profitable quarter.

Jim

 

[jcooke]

I've gotten the same one today and I've never been a FF member either...

JC

 

[LCC_#1]

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Damn piney...your fast...flood control is slowing me down.

I used to be one of those rampers...used to shlep your bags around...thought id rather be flyin the public...doing my part for the good of the people, whatever...

Get used to it, I did with exerything else in my life...Slow websites, slow service, no answere, etc...

Why do the airline have to be the best for the least for you people....

Come on...do you go on weboards and complain about everything......Get real man....

Was your meal or your heat or your whatever late or cold or whatever.....

Its transportation man....get a life.....

Try yoga or somthing.....HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Piney is a loyal customer. He loves US! Maybe you should learn to love US!! It's about VALUE!! If you want to cheapen the product, cheapen the price. We aren't doing that. You know as well as I that if company A gives you better value than company B at the same price, you would choose company A. THAT'S the ISSUE!!

 

[Phoenix]

If you have a business model that does not allow your business to compete effectively that is not the Customers fault.

Keep in mind the following:

1- SWA is only the cheapest fare 26% of the time. Myth #1 exploded!

2- SWA has the highest percentage of full fare tickets sold of any domestic airline! Myth #2 exploded

3- SWA's workforce is among the highest paid in aviation. I don't care what was, I deal with what is. Myth #3 that low cost = low wage Exploded

Bottom line is the reason they are profitable 33 of 35 years is NOT because of low fares but because of:

1- A more efficient business model
2- More productive workforce
3- Operationally Sound
4- Communicates and executes it's business plan/model better.
5- Deos a superior job of managing customer expectation.

In short they are better business people. Has NOTHING to do with much else.

Customers and employees of USAir are clearly not to blame. Customers and employees of USAir also have adopted the assumption that USAir management intended to run a good airline.

So Soutwest was profitable for 33 of 35 years? I wonder what management parachutes, bonuses and stock options have looked like at USAir for 33 of 35 years? (and perhaps we should add union leader kick backs)

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

And I would NEVER fly Southwest--I don't do cattle car.

Art...Art...Art.

While I've disagreed with your posts on that subject over the years, by and large you come across as the quintessentially reasonable man.

But that attitude is exactly why that USAirways employee can talk at you in such a condescending and disrespectufl manner.

The representative of a company talks to me in that manner....the first thing I am likely to do is to tell him to attempt something anatomically impossible. The 2nd thing is I am likely to decrease the amount of business I do with his company.

But back to the point of my post.

If and when business brings you to Texas....please message me.

No, I am not going to throw my money away flying you down here on WN. Once here, though, I might spring for dinner in a different town which would necessitate us flying what Bob euphemistically refers to as the turd brown bus.

Not quite sure where I ought to feed you, though. For food, ELP is always good although El Paso is 1 1/2 hrs each way from Dallas and 2 hrs each way from Houston. Texas is not Rhode Island.

 

[JS]

Art must be in F on every US flight, for US Airways is now the "cattle car" of the skies.

 

[tadjr]

Didn't get hung up in the "Security" gobbledy gook due to my very common name being on some watch list.

Sorry about the security issues that keep happening. Without divulging too much, US is on the highest level of security protocol and that is why your name keeps locking up the system. Unfortunately, they havent worked out a way to bypass the security situation. On the other hand, that could be considered a good thing for some.

 

[trvlr64]

Well look what the competition sent to me......


As you are a Rapid Rewards Member, we wanted you to be among the first to know that we've launched a crisp, new look to our home page—a home page that's all about you!

This refreshed look makes our most popular travel tools even easier to find. Now, it is as simple as ever to Book a Flight, Check In Online, Check Flight Status, and View or Change Your Flight. In one click, you can get to the login screen to access your MySouthwest account and make your online experience even more convenient. Also, the new "Fly For Less" section will allow you to easily see the most up-to-date air fare specials so that you can click and get them while they're hot. Plus, the menus at the top of the home page will allow you to easily find your way to even more Special Offers, Travel Tools, and Rapid Rewards information.

And that's not all! To show our personality, the new home page will feature photos taken by you, our Customers. We love bringing Customers the Freedom to Fly, and we thought it would be fun to share photos of where that Freedom has taken you. Stay tuned to find out how your photographs can be submitted in the future for publication at southwest.com.

Visit southwest.com today and check out the home page that's all about you. We hope you'll LUV it as much as we do.

Your Friends at Southwest Airlines

http://www.southwest.com/



OH MY GAWD

This website actually WORKS !!! Amazing.........

And I don't have to purchase a pair of bifocals to read the website. WOW !

 

[sharktooth]

Well look what the competition sent to me......

Do you remember their first web-site, a cartoonish image map of an (outlying?) operations office, projecting low-cost efficiency?

I'm pretty impressed with this site, attributing the top picture to a helpful passenger, inviting more, a weather advisory posted with what to do at each station and context sensitive frames for booking with "round trip" or "one way" right at the top, minimizing selectors moving around.(pet peeve of mine)

Without being flashy or FauxNewsy the site conveys to me rock-solid efficiency, with ample opportunities to make the viewer be a part of the experience. (helpful areas, not patronizing or lecturing).

They have a blog. Great way to bring transparency to complaints.

Talk about putting your best foot forward........