Wright Amendment
- Thread starter MCI transplant
- Start date
In regard to this post:
May 12 2005, 01:11 PM
Post #5
Group Icon
Rank: Advanced Member
Group: Founders Club
Posts: 160
Joined: 17-April 03
Member No.: 2,160
QUOTE(aafsc @ May 12 2005, 07:09 PM)
Then look for lots of AA aircraft at Love! tongue.gif
*
AA won't do it - It's nothing but an idle threat. They don't have the cash or the manpower to pull it off.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
You're (Wright) AA won't have to, we would send in the Eagle. Talk about a spanking!
May 12 2005, 01:11 PM
Post #5
Group Icon
Rank: Advanced Member
Group: Founders Club
Posts: 160
Joined: 17-April 03
Member No.: 2,160
QUOTE(aafsc @ May 12 2005, 07:09 PM)
Then look for lots of AA aircraft at Love! tongue.gif
*
AA won't do it - It's nothing but an idle threat. They don't have the cash or the manpower to pull it off.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
You're (Wright) AA won't have to, we would send in the Eagle. Talk about a spanking!
eolesen
Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2003
- Messages
- 15,959
- Reaction score
- 9,374
Uh, YMX, Stapleton and Kai Tek were closed by the airport authorities, not the airlines.... The latter were replaced by entirely new airports and closed by design, as was Austin's airport. Love Field's continued existance is exactly why they were closed and the runways torn up.
I'mRayFlyMe
Advanced
aafsc said:
Hmmmm, like what happened several years ago when AA got their feathers ruffled by startup Legend Airways? Remember how AA countered by moving into Love with some of their smaller jets for a Dallas-Austin route? Then when Legend folded, AA slunk away and moved these flights back to DFW.
Methinks this idle threat doesn't exactly have SWA shaking in their boots!
I'mRayFlyMe
Advanced
Vortilon said:
See Post #23... 'nuff said!
I'mRayFlyMe
Advanced
Here's a recent letter to the editor that appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (of all places)... read it and learn from it!!!
Pro and con on the Wright Amendment
Star-Telegram
I plan to open a gas station at a major intersection. I get my congressman to enact legislation to prohibit my competitor across the street from advertising, selling or pumping gas into any vehicle made by General Motors, Ford or Daimler-Chrysler.
Motorists who buy gas from my competitor must, under federal law, park their vehicles off-premises, walk to the station with a gas can, pump the gas and carry it back to their vehicles.
Does that sound like stupid, self-serving legislation that slaps the face of free trade? You're right. Does it sound like a law that Congress wouldn't be stupid enough to pass? You're wrong. Let me introduce you to the Wright Amendment.
Enacted in 1979 and named for its author, then-Rep. Jim Wright of Fort Worth, the amendment prohibits air carriers operating planes with more than 56 seats from advertising, offering or suggesting direct or nonstop service to and from Dallas Love Field, beyond Kansas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
If passengers want to fly to or from Love Field to outside the "Love Field service area" they must:
• Buy a point-to-point fare and change planes in an intermediate city.
• Have a minimum layover of 45 minutes.
• Claim their bags from the originating flight, re-enter the airport as a new passenger and re-check the bags to the destination city.
A point-to-point fare means that you pay one fare from Dallas to the intermediate city and a second fare from that city to your destination, thus rendering any sale fares null and void and prohibiting booking on the Internet for special fares or extra frequent-flier points.
Why the absurdity? Because when Dallas/Fort Worth Airport was being planned, authorities were concerned about its financial stability. When Southwest Airlines declined to participate in D/FW's funding scheme, Wright put together the law that bears his name.
Even then it was an arrogant violation of free trade. Today, D/FW is thriving and financially sound. After 9-11, I thought Congress wanted to "help" the airline industry. It's time to repeal the Wright Amendment. That would help the airline industry, keeping in mind that the "industry" is more than just American Airlines.
It doesn't sound quite that ridiculous now, does it?
Pro and con on the Wright Amendment
Star-Telegram
I plan to open a gas station at a major intersection. I get my congressman to enact legislation to prohibit my competitor across the street from advertising, selling or pumping gas into any vehicle made by General Motors, Ford or Daimler-Chrysler.
Motorists who buy gas from my competitor must, under federal law, park their vehicles off-premises, walk to the station with a gas can, pump the gas and carry it back to their vehicles.
Does that sound like stupid, self-serving legislation that slaps the face of free trade? You're right. Does it sound like a law that Congress wouldn't be stupid enough to pass? You're wrong. Let me introduce you to the Wright Amendment.
Enacted in 1979 and named for its author, then-Rep. Jim Wright of Fort Worth, the amendment prohibits air carriers operating planes with more than 56 seats from advertising, offering or suggesting direct or nonstop service to and from Dallas Love Field, beyond Kansas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
If passengers want to fly to or from Love Field to outside the "Love Field service area" they must:
• Buy a point-to-point fare and change planes in an intermediate city.
• Have a minimum layover of 45 minutes.
• Claim their bags from the originating flight, re-enter the airport as a new passenger and re-check the bags to the destination city.
A point-to-point fare means that you pay one fare from Dallas to the intermediate city and a second fare from that city to your destination, thus rendering any sale fares null and void and prohibiting booking on the Internet for special fares or extra frequent-flier points.
Why the absurdity? Because when Dallas/Fort Worth Airport was being planned, authorities were concerned about its financial stability. When Southwest Airlines declined to participate in D/FW's funding scheme, Wright put together the law that bears his name.
Even then it was an arrogant violation of free trade. Today, D/FW is thriving and financially sound. After 9-11, I thought Congress wanted to "help" the airline industry. It's time to repeal the Wright Amendment. That would help the airline industry, keeping in mind that the "industry" is more than just American Airlines.
It doesn't sound quite that ridiculous now, does it?
I'mRayFlyMe
Advanced
Garfield1966 said:
Au contrere, mon frer... WN does NOT owe its existence to the Wright Amendment, but to smart business strategy, outstanding Customer service, low fares and the notion that their fleet does not make money sitting on the ground.
Like a wise man once said, it's better to be thought a fool and say nothing than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Later gators!
Wasn't DFW built on a binding legal agreement that required both Fort Worth and Dallas close their airports and jointly use DFW? It sounds like the root of the whole problem is that Dallas did not perform their part of the contract and close down Love. It seems to me that the Wright Amendment was designed as a compromise because Dallas did not fulfill it's part of the deal.
Also don't forget AA still has 3 gates at DAL and I believe there are still 6 available gates in the former legend terminal. They can also rebuild the part of the terminal that is next to their three gates that was torn down and put in more gates. So if the Wright amendment is repealed and DAL is opened up, AA would have the right to go back there. AA has about 50-60 planes sitting in the desert and they could put some of those into DAL. Or they could just take planes from DFW.
I'mRayFlyMe
Advanced
aafsc said:
That's true in part, but it also was an agreement involving all air carriers at the time it was drafted. Southwest Airlines did not exist when that agreement was drafted, therefore it was exempt and (despite many well-documented legal attempts to block it) was allowed to fly from Love Field.
But the city of Dallas should have told Southwest that it had a legal obligation with regards to DFW to shut the airport down and then follow through. Someone sure did have some good lawyers. When I worked at DFW, Fort Worth was upset because they felt that the city of Dallas backed out of the deal , while they upheld their end of the agreement and closed the airport in Fort Worth.I said:
