BigRed1
Member
Guys:
I do not hate Southwest. I respect everything about Southwest. I am just tired of people comparing a one A/C type domestic carrier only, with a domestic/international corporation who's missions are not apples to apples. Southwest no longer has the cheapest labor. They have employees on par with the seniority of other "legacy carriers." They are heavily unionized. They are starting to show signs of achieving those comonalities with other airlines. My post from last night was just pointing out my frustrations with the cost of fuel, and those fortunate hedges SW had the money for to put in place is their really massive cost advantage right now. Without that cost advantage folks, Southwest is not so extra special any more. That is just my opinion. They have done a great job containing costs since their start about 30 years ago. United Airlines got big and fat and lazy, and UAL took their eye off the ball way too many times. But Southwest is still 50 years younger than UAL and it will be interesting to see what Southwest looks like in the year 2054. Still flying one fleet? Still only domestic? Still got that 25 dollar oil hedge in place?
We are all tired of those that compare Jetblue to more mature airlines with international fleets and routes, with employees more senior than 5 years, and an airplane that actually needs to have its maintenance paid for, instead of taking advantage of the warranties still in place after the sweat deal on on the purchase prices from Airbus. It is very easy when you have no retirees to take care of, and fast growth to satisfy all your employees. But things are slowing down over there as the easy cherry-picking of routes becomes more difficult and all those airplanes start needing heavy checks and those employees start pushing that pay scale up in years. They have already made the mistake of going to another fleet type. Oh no! More training and transition costs. The Wall Street Darling Jetblue's stock has gone from 46 bucks to 21 bucks in the last year. There is a reason for that. Costs are rising and expansion is becoming more difficult. As everyone gets those leather seats and TVs, JetBlue will be just another carrier.
I say again, I do not hate Southwest, or blame them for our problems. Our problems were self inflicted by not containing costs and not reinventing ourselves to compete with these new start-ups.
Domestically, Southwest will always be a competetor. Internationally UAL will always be a competetor. United will adapt domestically, or cease to exist like PanAm. We will never have the cost stucture of Southwest. But the topic of this post about not being able to compete with Southwest? For every passenger that says they love Southwest, I have talked to another that can't stand things like the multiple stops and the lack of seating assignments of Southwest. We can compete. And we will.
I do not hate Southwest. I respect everything about Southwest. I am just tired of people comparing a one A/C type domestic carrier only, with a domestic/international corporation who's missions are not apples to apples. Southwest no longer has the cheapest labor. They have employees on par with the seniority of other "legacy carriers." They are heavily unionized. They are starting to show signs of achieving those comonalities with other airlines. My post from last night was just pointing out my frustrations with the cost of fuel, and those fortunate hedges SW had the money for to put in place is their really massive cost advantage right now. Without that cost advantage folks, Southwest is not so extra special any more. That is just my opinion. They have done a great job containing costs since their start about 30 years ago. United Airlines got big and fat and lazy, and UAL took their eye off the ball way too many times. But Southwest is still 50 years younger than UAL and it will be interesting to see what Southwest looks like in the year 2054. Still flying one fleet? Still only domestic? Still got that 25 dollar oil hedge in place?
We are all tired of those that compare Jetblue to more mature airlines with international fleets and routes, with employees more senior than 5 years, and an airplane that actually needs to have its maintenance paid for, instead of taking advantage of the warranties still in place after the sweat deal on on the purchase prices from Airbus. It is very easy when you have no retirees to take care of, and fast growth to satisfy all your employees. But things are slowing down over there as the easy cherry-picking of routes becomes more difficult and all those airplanes start needing heavy checks and those employees start pushing that pay scale up in years. They have already made the mistake of going to another fleet type. Oh no! More training and transition costs. The Wall Street Darling Jetblue's stock has gone from 46 bucks to 21 bucks in the last year. There is a reason for that. Costs are rising and expansion is becoming more difficult. As everyone gets those leather seats and TVs, JetBlue will be just another carrier.
I say again, I do not hate Southwest, or blame them for our problems. Our problems were self inflicted by not containing costs and not reinventing ourselves to compete with these new start-ups.
Domestically, Southwest will always be a competetor. Internationally UAL will always be a competetor. United will adapt domestically, or cease to exist like PanAm. We will never have the cost stucture of Southwest. But the topic of this post about not being able to compete with Southwest? For every passenger that says they love Southwest, I have talked to another that can't stand things like the multiple stops and the lack of seating assignments of Southwest. We can compete. And we will.
