Midwest Airlines Midwest Miles (Pre-Alignment) - Frontier it is!

Thought a new thread would make sense now that we know.

A few early items:

-Best Care Club is staying and it sounds like DEN is getting one too...yes?

-Cookies are staying, and were described as "fresh baked" in a PR item on the Embraer jets, and they will provide updates as they work to introduce them to the Airbus fleet.

-TV on the Airbus fleet is staying, and some form of inflight entertainment is planned "in each of our aircraft" by 2011.

Sad to see Midwest go, but the Midwest Airlines brand we all knew was gone long ago. It's a bit of a relief to see this saga wrap up. Frontier seems like a good airline, and I've heard lots of good things about them, but I'll have to wait and see how much I actually fly them out of MSN/MKE, particularly without a Delta/Skyteam relationship. I wish them and their various subsets of employees (currently working and not) luck; they have a lot of work ahead of them!

This is great and smart news.

Look for a big ad onslaught and huge sale.

Spot check of fares shows discounts of about 28% over the lowest recent fare for some markets.

The Badger on the 1st Frontier E190 will look sweet and should be in MKE by the end of the month! I am happy to hear they will keep the slogan "Best Care in the Air" and open a BCC lounge in DEN. They project 7% growth year over year which is pretty aggressive. I was watching the presentation in Denver by mistake, but they did do a tribute to Midwest Airlines on the TV Screens. By any chance will we be able to see that tribute on the web somewhere? I'm glad this is over and I look forward to the future. Bryan seems to be the guy to get things done.

The Badger on the 1st Frontier E190 will look sweet and should be in MKE by the end of the month!



http://www.frontiermidwest.com/weare1/images/frontier-badger-tail.gif

http://www.frontiermidwest.com/weare1/images/frontier-badger-tail.gif

And people in Wisconsin get to name him. I like Bucky, but that name is already taken I believe and probably can't be used. Not without some added cost. LOL

I for one welcome our new Frontier overlords.
And thustly will continue to fly on *A

Midwest was a damaged brand. With competition from southwest and airtran there was need for a brand that was going to allow for growth. Much like how the "express" portion of Midwest was dropped years ago. I would've rather seen better livelry, I do feel an overhaul of the current one is needed if there will truly be integration. Wonder when we're gonna see a cow on the tail.

I have to agree it's good to see the end of Midwest Airlines being dragged through the mud. RIP.

Frontier Airlines has a good reputation and a good product. I hope Frontier can keep its culture verses the Republic culture taking over that airline too. I was hoping a new code-share or airline alliance was going to be announced for FF members.

Good luck to Frontier Airlines.

I for one welcome our new Frontier overlords.
And thustly will continue to fly on *A

Ditto here - will stick with *A. Nothing impressive in the announcement to draw me back. One more club will not do it. Still easier to fly out of ORD and get direct to where I need to go.

Interesting comments on the Frontier board:

"Colorado's Gov. Bill Ritter and Denver's Mayor John Hickenlooper were both on hand for the announcement, which was made at Coors Field."

The local media did not report if anyone of importantce was there but maybe we might hear something later.

"Republic CEO Bryan Bedford says the Frontier brand is associated with low fares, and the Midwest name is not. Midwest was based in Milwaukee, which has become a hot spot of airline competition with both Southwest Airlines and AirTran."

Kind of surprising on the low fares comment. I wonder if they will expand on that at all.

From WISN TV:

http://www.wisn.com/news/23133893/detail.html

Among the info from Bedford:


Because of fleet and union issues, Republic will continue to run what amounts to two different airlines under the Frontier name - the crews and planes that originally came from Frontier, and the Republic-operated jets that will now fly under the Frontier name.
Wi-fi service will be available on the Republic-operated planes, and may expand later to the Frontier-operated fleet.

BlueHourseShoe and I were at today's event and we expect to each post our reaction by tonight.

But, here are a few things to get off my chest right now:

Overall, Frontier is what I expected, but I expected more detail related to their future plans for the combined carrier. We'll have to wait for that.

No mention about Live TV...I thought they would have included that when talking about "the cookie."

And what about the FF partnership with AirTran? It's still there, for now at least.

So long, Midwest. You were a great friend. We will never forget you in Milwaukee.

In spite of predicting a combined brand name (like AirOne Frontier and AirOne Midwest) I’m glad they didn’t go that route for I don’t think it would have lasted. If you’re going to change the brand, make the change and don’t do a half-hearted effort destined for another change. The reason I stuck with that prediction was Bedford’s comment months ago that going to a unified brand wasn’t about simply dropping one airline for the other. I never found a source quote for the more recent comment that the new airline would definitely be either Frontier or Midwest (everybody referred to an article in the Denver Business Journel but I never found the quote itself), and so I was skeptical it was going to be that clean. In fact, it is.

Perhaps Bedford’s exact wording addressed not specifically the just name but the name and brand attributes of the two airlines. They are keeping some Midwest brand attributes like the cookie, the best care club, and the slogan, but they did in fact choose one of the existing names….Frontier.

I liked the fresh break with the past baggage that an entirely new name would have brought, but new brands are of course expensive. Unless they were going to move to an entirely new brand name, there are several reasons that Frontier is the way to go beyond the simple size of the markets.

(1) The Frontier name is battle worn but nowhere near in the same way the Midwest name is. Denver has seen the sting of job loss and HQ loss, but so has Milwaukee. Denver has not seen years of ex employees, union reps, and competitors trashing their reputation in a steady drumbeat. Deserved or not, this has clearly happened. The Frontier brand is far more salvagible.

(2) The new combined airline product will be much closer to the Frontier brand than the “classic” Midwest brand. A new airline named Midwest would perpetually be compared to the idealized image of the old Midwest (and I do mean the idealized image) and fall short. The new airline product does not face anywhere near the same comparison issue with Frontier.

(3) Milwaukee has already been introduced to Frontier to a much greater extent than Denver has been introduced to Midwest. The aircraft swap which sent several E190’s to Denver put the Midwest name onto select frequencies which were primarily off-peak times or secondary markets. Other than airline geeks, it’s likely only Frontier’s frequent flyers who really noticed that much. On the flip side, the Frontier Airbus flights went into several of Midwest’s highest-volume, highest profile routes at Milwaukee. The level of exposure to the Milwaukee public of the Frontier name was far broader than the converse in Denver. That’s especially true of the twice-a-year Vegas and Florida crowd who speak as if they are million-mile travelers…some of whom are local media figures.

So while I’m sad to see Midwest go, the Frontier name was the right thing to do.

I did expect more meat at the rollout, and when I saw the number “1” on Bedford’s lapel button I was a little concerned we were going to something like “1Republic”. It’s that kind of new branding which would take time to get used to. A new brand is more exciting than an existing one (the name Flight is still available!) but much more expensive to build and of course open to more criticism. I would have liked more “meat” to the rollout, but rather than offer more details of the combined brand it seemed they focused on the their strength and growth in Milwaukee, mentioning their advantage in departures, jet parking spots, destinations, etc. The lack of much new product detail in the presentation suggests that they are not ready to roll things out. The FAQ sheet at frontiermidwest.com includes some details not mentioned in the presentation.

If they handle things right, today can be a day for the jolt of the new brand and the loss of the Midwest brand. The new things – as they come – can each be an opportunity for more PR. If today they had announced four new routes, the name and details of the new combined FF program, a new club lounge in Denver,a new policy allowing complementary upgrades for premium FF members, their plans for the onboard entertainment, a revamp of the pricing structure toward or away from F9’s bundling, a FF link with Virgin America and Virgin Atlantic, plans for full code-sharing with AirTran, a revamped catering program, and a plan for more point-to-point flying outside of their traditional hubs, how much of that detail would get lost in the shuffle? News outlets have X column inches or seconds to fill with this story, and then it is past. Whatever new things come can be additional news items to continue the buzz and create buzz beyond the loss of the Midwest name.

A key fear I had out of this announcement was that it would be Republic with the drab Republic house colors or a slightly modified version of them. Milwaukeeans will face their fears of losing the Midwest name and live to tell about it, and Denver gets to keep Frontier and their critters. Imposing the Republic name and scheme would have really felt bombastic and amateurish in my opinion.

I’m pleased that the Frontier tails are staying and hoped they would no matter what the new branding was. It was a very successful marketing tool and one not to be dismissed lightly. I was glad to hear John Mahoney’s voice on the sample Midwest to Frontier commercial and hope they keep him aboard. They’ve used him for years, and it would be a subtle but important piece of continuity for the Midwest markets. One of the things which has personally grated on me just a little bit regarding Southwest’s commercials tailored to the MKE market is that the announcer says “Milwaukee” with an inflection that sounds like an outsider with an attitude. No, no, I’m not looking for anybody to say “Muhwaukee” like many locals do, and that would probably sound wrong to the ears of people who aren’t even aware they say it. We hear “Milwaukee” said all the time on TV and radio by people not reared here, and certainly John Mahoney isn’t a local. But that Southwest voiceover guy doesn’t hit the mark in my ears. Something similar to (though more subtle than) hearing someone say Wesconsin instead of Wisconsin.

Anyway, regarding those tails…

(a) Many of the wild animals of Wisconsin and the Midwest are also native to the west, so there are probably not a ton of new critters from that direction…but there are five main dairy cow breeds. C’mon guys!

(b) I have not checked any other message boards recently, but I’d be surprised if nobody has yet posted a suggestion that the Frontier badger be named Tim….or Timmy…. depending on who’s making that suggestion.

No mention about Live TV...I thought they would have included that when talking about "the cookie."

I wonder if the DEN event talked about the cookie as much as the MKE event did? The cookie is an icon like the tails. Plus the TV is not necessarily going to go onto the E190 or E170, so talking it up might have been problematic.


And what about the FF partnership with AirTran? It's still there, for now at least.

Isn't that a curious one? I'm sure we'll find out eventually. It will almost certainly need to be expanded to include the full route system or dropped. Currently AirTran and Frontier compete just on ATL-DEN and MKE-DEN, and that's been no big deal, apparently.

I guess when it comes down to it, we all looked for more questions to be answered today. They will in time. In the mean time, it gives us more to speculate about!


So long, Midwest. You were a great friend. We will never forget you in Milwaukee.

Goes without saying.... :-)

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Hoaxema, as it turns out, sold out Midwest and Bedford sold out Milwaukee. Perhaps a "Best Care Air" could have embodied the best of Frontier and Midwest but this is akin to Delta's killing off Northwest and maybe worse. As for Bedford, my thoughts are not printable except to say that he's not the type of guy that I'd trust with my change on the bar.

It looks like the credit for these goes to Dan O'Donnell of WTMJ radio for uploading to YouTube:

Voiceover of John Mahoney
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z82j2mHQDUg&feature=player_embedded

Badger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJH8ZMhFcpQ

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Hoaxema, as it turns out, sold out Midwest and Bedford sold out Milwaukee.

Does anyone recall Hoeksema's comments when he announced the sale to Republic?

"This sale will allow us to maintain the Midwest brand".

How things have changed in nine months.

Does anyone recall Hoeksema's comments when announced the sale to Republic?

"This sale will allow us to maintain the Midwest brand".

How things have changed in nine months.

Perhaps he was given a verbal commitment by Republic, but obviously nothing in the purchase agreement.

The venom for Hoeksema at this point is really kind of pathetic.

The moment Republic got Frontier, it was pretty obvious that keeping the two airline brands separate would be a difficult and unlikely path long term. Had Southwest gotten Frontier, it probably would have turned out differently.

As tiresome as it can be dredging up the old Midwest versus AirTran takeover debate again and again, at least the Midwest vs AirTran competitive fight is an ongoing active one. Hoekesma lost control of the company when TPG took over, a deal accpeted 32 long months ago today. He was pretty much just a figurehead in the TPG days and been out of the picture since Republic came.

Perhaps he was given a verbal commitment by Republic, but obviously nothing in the purchase agreement.

Perhaps the agreement specified X number of months. What does Tim care? He took the money and ran.

Perhaps he was given a verbal commitment by Republic, but obviously nothing in the purchase agreement.

Those sneaky executives - he said the brand would remain but never for how long. Deep down I think he knew it was a matter of time.

But didnt the Frontier deal come after the YX one? Maybe he was told it would stay, but once Frontier was thrown into the mix things changed.

Those sneaky executives - he said the brand would remain but never for how long. Deep down I think he knew it was a matter of time.

But didnt the Frontier deal come after the YX one? Maybe he was told it would stay, but once Frontier was thrown into the mix things changed.

Perhaps we will hear the whole story one day, after he pens his long-awaited book. :)

Does anyone recall Hoeksema's comments when he announced the sale to Republic?

"This sale will allow us to maintain the Midwest brand".

How things have changed in nine months.

What Hoeksema said last summer may have very well been accurate at the time.

Remember, Republic and Southwest were battling over Frontier. It wasn't even certain that Republic would end-up with Frontier. Besides, that Frontier sale didn't close until last October anyways.

If Republic lost the Southwest bid, the Midwest name may have survived. Perhaps there were even plans to operate Frontier/Midwest similar to how Alaska/Horizon operate.

At this point, does it really matter?

Wonder if we are going to see this animal on any tails soon:
Link (http://www.exilecoffee.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cookie-monster-300x290.jpg)

Does anyone recall Hoeksema's comments when he announced the sale to Republic?

"This sale will allow us to maintain the Midwest brand".

How things have changed in nine months.

He did maintain it; he maintained it for 9 months ;)

As tiresome as it can be dredging up the old Midwest versus AirTran takeover debate again and again, at least the Midwest vs AirTran competitive fight is an ongoing active one. Hoekesma lost control of the company when TPG took over, a deal accpeted 32 long months ago today. He was pretty much just a figurehead in the TPG days and been out of the picture since Republic came.

Refreshing the memory of everyone is entirely germain. As I've noted before it is not uncommon in the business of merger and takeover to search for a benign partner, a "white knight" as it were. How gravely mistaken was the ex-CEO in his choice.

IMO the approval granted for NW to purchase Midwest should never have been given. In today's regulatory environment I don't think it would have passed muster. The demise of Skyway affected many small communities negatively.

The fact is is that Midwest was not viable as a stand-alone. This is borne out empirically;with today's announcement the last vestige of Midwest will soon be gone.

Air Tran was near spot-on off its analysis of Midwest 4 years ago; and this analysis has been vindicated in entirety. Milwaukee is a vibrant and growing market, and Air Tran has grown its MKE hub organically.

Bedford identified clearly his vision for the product as a low-fare carrier; and the Midwest brand was out-of-sync with this vision.

I'll be retiring from the Midwest board at this point ;) -last post. Good luck to you all whether your plans are to stick with Frontier, or to opt for the transfer in MSP, DTW, or ATL, or ORD ;)

Hoaxema, as it turns out, sold out Midwest and Bedford sold out Milwaukee.

How did Bedford sell out Milwaukee? He has brought almost 400 new jobs in already, breathed life into a carrier that was on it's last legs and is now merging that carrier with one poised for long term growth in Denver and in Milwaukee.

I'll be retiring from the Midwest board at this point ;) -last post. Good luck to you all whether your plans are to stick with Frontier, or to opt for the transfer in MSP, DTW, or ATL, or ORD ;)

or CLE or EWR. :D

Refreshing the memory of everyone is entirely germain. As I've noted before it is not uncommon in the business of merger and takeover to search for a benign partner, a "white knight" as it were. How gravely mistaken was the ex-CEO in his choice.

IMO the approval granted for NW to purchase Midwest should never have been given. In today's regulatory environment I don't think it would have passed muster. The demise of Skyway affected many small communities negatively.

The fact is is that Midwest was not viable as a stand-alone. This is borne out empirically;with today's announcement the last vestige of Midwest will soon be gone.

Air Tran was near spot-on off its analysis of Midwest 4 years ago; and this analysis has been vindicated in entirety. Milwaukee is a vibrant and growing market, and Air Tran has grown its MKE hub organically.

Bedford identified clearly his vision for the product as a low-fare carrier; and the Midwest brand was out-of-sync with this vision.

I'll be retiring from the Midwest board at this point ;) -last post. Good luck to you all whether your plans are to stick with Frontier, or to opt for the transfer in MSP, DTW, or ATL, or ORD ;)

Thanks for all of your provocative contributions on this board over the years, hazelnut. See you around in the other forms ;)

Thanks for all of your provocative contributions on this board over the years, hazelnut. See you around in the other forms ;)

Hoss that was not nice. So how long will this thread be kept open? When will it be merged with Frontiers?

Wonder if we are going to see this animal on any tails soon:
Link (http://www.exilecoffee.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cookie-monster-300x290.jpg)

I hope so or a frontier animal eating a cookie

This is a good move (the only move) for republic. I was not surprised at all. Maybe we will see MKE-SNA, MKE-ANC or MKE-MSY. Airtran needs to start MKE_MIA next fall. It would also be nice for Airtran to keep SAN year round. I would like to see WN start MKE-OAK. As I may be moving to the Bay area soon the BART fair from SFO to east bay is expensive.

There have been a lot of great comments and analysis on this board already, but I will share a few additional tidbits. Many here saw the actual presentation, so I won't focus much on that. Instead, here are some things that may not have been noticeable from the webcast.



Everyone was kept in a tent outside of the hangar until just before 11 when they lead people through a series of temporary "hallways" consisting of black drapery.


It was a rather elaborate stage setup with two large screens. The logistics were well done and professional. Orchestrated much better than the seat sale earlier this year.


Several hundred people in attendance, including employees, business leaders, media, and other invited guests. Big-name politicians were invited, but not one of them showed up to my knowledge. It was probably because they didn't have speaking roles.


BB had a "clicker" in his hand that would be used to advance the slides. However, when the slide show went slightly awry, he admitted that he wasn't actually advancing them. So, what exactly was the point of that clicker? Was it a facade?


Other than that faux paus, BB came across as very professional and clean as a tack. It was a different feeling than the more folksy (but still professional) manner that TH had.


Unless I missed it, I didn't hear any details about the Live TV. I think that is a key asset from Frontier that they should keep, plus it's a revenue generator and perk for the elite flyers.


I was really hoping they would have an actual aircraft as part of this presentation, but they opted against it. It would have been great theater to reveal the brand by opening the hangar doors or uncovering an actual jet with the branding on it.


They served cheese, fruit and (cold) cookies after the event. Minor point, but the old Midwest always had warm cookies to reinforce the brand at events like this. Today, they handed out stuffed animals (dolphins and raccoons) to people on their way out. It's my understanding they had media kits on USB drives also.


The BCC in DEN is a great move, and expanding the cookies to all flights will help give them a little differentiation, along with the TVs if they ultimately keep them.


I hope they keep John Mahoney as the voice on the commercials, along with the voices of the Frontier animals. They are keeping "The Best Care in the Air" for at least some of their branding efforts. A Whole New Animal also appears to be sticking around. They might want to settle on one eventually, just to hammer it home in the minds of the flying public.


As noted above, no announcement on a FF agreement. That is going to be a key issue for many flyers. The fact that the AirTran FF partnership is still around I find particularly intriguing. Will it still be in place after the integration? Perhaps they'll just keep it in place until something better comes along. For all we know, there might not be that many people who take advantage of it, so would be no urgency to eliminate it just yet.


So, in the end, our predictions were spot on. Although I agree that some additional details would have generated some more excitement today about the brand, Knope made some great points above. They can get some positive PR hits if they announce their enhancements one at a time every few weeks or so. That could be a good strategy for them.

Overall, I'm glad I was there, but I was hoping for a little bit more drama...at least some over-produced splashy video announcing the new brand would have created some good theater. When the Frontier name was announced, you could hear a pin drop. It's almost like people didn't know it was coming right at that moment. It was all very low-key, but professionally done, so that's all good. I'll stop rambling now...

I gave my pictures to BlueHorseShoe, so he will be making those available to all of you later. Thanks for reading.

BB had a "clicker" in his hand that would be used to advance the slides. However, when the slide show went slightly awry, he admitted that he wasn't actually advancing them. So, what exactly was the point of that clicker? Was it a facade?

The clicker turned on a light to notify the person to flip the slide. Had something to do with some sort of interference that may trigger the slides to progress on their own if the clicker was ir or radio. They said they encountered the problem before with wireless microphones interfering with a presentation clicker.

I just thought of something... I will need to change my FT nick now! It's a product of the AirTran hostile takeover attempt years back. :eek:

The YX code will likely remain, as used for Republic. And it appears that the Frontier E170/E190's will be Republic. So...your tag will mean Fly Frontier's E170's and E190's if you want to keep it!

Here are some of the highlights from the brand announcement today. I’ll add a few comments about the presentation since most already saw it and newsmanhoss already made all of the important points.

I arrived at the hangar about 10:30 am. Midwest had a tent set-up outside for guests until they were allowed inside the hangar for Bedford’s presentation. Coffee, bottled water, and cookies were available. By this time, the rumor mill was in full swing.

After mingling with some of the guests, everyone seemed to have a “good source” that knew what was about to come. One individual told me that the Midwest name was being kept but animals would be placed on the tails. There was also talk about Frontier serving as the mainline carrier while Midwest Express would serve as the brand for all regional jet flying (a la Alaska/Horizon). Someone even mentioned that a union representative had informed him that a Frontier jet flew into MKE during the middle of the night and was sitting inside the hangar waiting to be used as a prop during the roll-out. Oh how wrong and disappointed some must have felt!
Employees gathered at the hangar for the official unveiling at 10:45 am. As they left, community leaders, media, and other invited guests were allowed inside.

The presentation

At about 11:15 am, Jim Reichart took the podium, welcomed everyone to the brand unveiling, and then turned things over to Bedford.

I thought Bedford’s presentation started out strong but he seemed to get tripped-up when the PowerPoint slides weren’t synched up with what he was saying. This was around the time when Bedford announced that a Best Care Club would be opened in Milwaukee (he meant to say Denver but seem flustered by what was happening with the PowerPoint slides). Even though he appeared to have a “clicker” in his hands, there was a bit of back-and-forth as to what slide should be displayed.

Bedford seemed to be getting into some specifics about what the merged brands would look like when all of this unfolded and then seemed to quickly move on once the slide he wanted was found. Perhaps this is why no mention was made of WiFi, in-flight entertainment, LiveTV, etc.
When the Frontier name was actually announced, there was a brief moment of dead silence followed by some polite applause. Newsmanhoss was right when he said you could have heard a pin drop.

I was confused on what slogan will be used going forward. Will it be a "Whole Different Animal" or "The Best Care in the Air." It wasn't really clear.

Despite the issues with the slides advancing too fast, I thought Bedford’s delivery was strong and professional. However, the big unveiling was light on specifics and I honestly expected some more detail.

I also found it somewhat strange that there was no actual aircraft available to serve as a back-drop for the presentation. While having the aircraft in MKE may have blown Republic’s surprise, it would have been a great back drop for the media. Plus, Bedford could have given the media a tour of the plane, making a point to highlight the availability of LiveTV and cookies for every passenger. This would have generated some positive PR as well.

Afterwards

Once Bedford finished, he made himself available for the news media.

Newsmanhoss and I spent some time talking with Mostly Air, Steve Mathwig (Now heading up the combined Frequent Flier Program), Jim Reichart, and several other individuals at Midwest who are all familiar with FlyerTalk!

I had some general discussions with several of these individuals regarding a possible replacement for Delta. Work is actively being done on this front and a partnership/membership with a certain alliance is hoped for. Nothing is finalized yet and I won’t say anything more about it at this time.

When leaving the hangar, I grabbed a couple of cookies. Even though not warm, they were actually pretty good (much better than an experience I had on a MCI-MKE flight a few years ago…those cold cookies were truly awful).
After leaving the hangar, I turned Jeff Wagner’s radio program on to gauge how well the announcement was going over. He kept flapping his gums about how it didn’t have to come to this and he’s certain that people would have paid a little bit more (maybe $30-$40) for the extras Midwest once offered (as if that even came close to covering the costs). Of course, he also stated that Midwest would have had to cut back a lot of its flights and destinations to be able to do this. The calls are always interesting because they can be such a mixed bag of opinions. One man was complaining about how he couldn’t fit into the Saver Seat and Midwest wanted to charge him extra for the up-grade (contradicting his claim that he would pay extra for the bigger seats). What nerve! It’s not as if Midwest is responsible for the man’s size. Surprisingly, the most reasonable caller was an airline pilot who clearly articulated why Midwest fell on such hard times in the first place.

Here are some pictures that ‘Hoss and I took today:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39531954@N05/

When the Frontier name was actually announced, there was a brief moment of dead silence followed by some polite applause. Newsmanhoss was right when he said you could have heard a pin drop.

Those are some pretty good updates Blue and Hoss. I'd like to add to the pin drop moment.

At the time I was hiding behind a curtain working with some other people on the communication part of the event. ie all the emails and frontiermidwest.com. Then I heard Bryan say the new brand name in a non-shaulent way, probably catching most people off guard and then the claps came, it was somewhat the same for the employee get together before. After the presentation when most people were gone and Bryan was done with the media he even mentioned the moment to us saying that he was thinking, "come on people give me some help here." Seemed that Bryan was a little bit nervous of the moment too. :D

A couple of more things I forgot ton add above.

I asked Reichart how the employee reaction to the name change had been at the event held right before the public unveiling. Overall, the response had been positive but he thinks it will take a bit to get everyone fully onboard with the change.

Also, Bedford said that loads for April in MKE are running about 85% so far. Obviously that includes Easter, but it's good to see Frontier filling so many seats in a very competitive environment.

Newsmanhoss and I spent some time talking with Mostly Air, Steve Mathwig (Now heading up the combined Frequent Flier Program), Jim Reichart, and several other individuals at Midwest who are all familiar with FlyerTalk!

cAAn you AAt leAAst give us ONEwor(l)d of AA hint? mAAbye?

Edit:
Forgot to put this. The article on jsonline.com has some interesting comments. Its about a 3 way tie. Some are happy to see it go. Some are ticked because they're losing the cookie (seriously, get over the bloody cookie!). And some could care less and will fly the cheapest carrier.
Take that back, there's a 4th one that is a group of people that are completely uninformed.

Do I think that its better that Republic bought Midwest? Yes. AirTran had some benefits, but the big benefit (that wasn't known at the time) is that we have now a western hub to go thru. AirTran would've either had to bulk up MCI or you'd be going thru ATL.

I'd still have rather seen an updated Frontier livery. Its decent, but kinda boring. They do have a lil lil duckie on the tai.

Thanks Hoss and Blue for your thoughts on the morning, as well as the photos.
The personal comments complement the media coverage.

Blue, thanks for including the photos from the Do last year. They really add a bit more nostalgia to the day. Maybe there will be a sale of all of the remaining Midwest-branded materials, once the brand-change is completed.

What kind of response did you observe from employees at your session?

I get the impression that a little extra time to organize the event might have been appreciated, but, once the date was announced, there was no going back. Perhaps this is one reason why the information was so limited. I also believe that trickling out the information over a period of time will keep the PR flowing and provide the most bang for the buck.

Thanks again guys for your reports.

Great update Blue and Hoss. Thanks for taking the time, and for the pics.

What does the future hold for MCI? We seem to have heard little if anything about MCI.

According to an interview with Bedford in the Denver Business Journal, some more announcements will be made within the next 7-10 days regarding some projects put on hold due to branding work including wifi.

E-mail message sent tonight to MM members


Special Announcement for Midwest Miles Members

Thank you for being a loyal customer of Midwest Airlines and a member of the Midwest Miles program.

When Republic Airways acquired Midwest and Frontier last year, it was clear both airlines enjoyed great customer loyalty and employee cultures. We made it our goal to combine the best features of these two well-respected airline brands to offer an even better travel experience. More recently, we asked travelers like you to help us determine how to move forward to deliver the best flying experience for you. If you were one of the thousands of customers who shared your comments and suggestions, thank you.

Based on that feedback, we concluded that the new single brand for our growing airline will be Frontier. And we are committing a promise to you – our valued customers – and to ourselves that together as Frontier we will deliver a truly different and better flying experience by providing the best care in the air.

Be assured that the decision on the brand name was difficult, but one that was based on comprehensive independent research. The research showed that while customers expressed strong loyalty to both brands, Frontier – with a much larger customer base – was better poised to meet our customers' needs for affordable fares and convenience.

Both airlines already share a passionate commitment to customer service and the delivery of an exceptional travel experience. Because of that common commitment, we now have the opportunity to combine these two cultures into one that is even better.

What does this mean to you?

The new Frontier will be bigger, stronger and priced right. Travelers will enjoy an expanded combined route network, enhanced schedules and better connectivity. With the addition of 15 new markets this spring and summer, we now serve 74 cities across the Americas – offering more opportunities to conveniently fly to the places you want to go.

You can already earn and redeem miles in either the EarlyReturns or Midwest Miles programs when flying on either carrier. You'll realize additional benefits and an expanded selection of program partners when the two programs are fully integrated. At that time, all miles you've accumulated in both programs will be combined in a single, convenient account.

Our integration timetable was specifically designed to minimize impact on customers. We expect to integrate our reservations systems by November of this year, and over the next 12-18 months we will implement a phased approach to rebranding our operations to reflect our new identity.

Learn more about today's announcement.

We've also established a new Web site, frontiermidwest.com, to share progress of our brand integration. We encourage you to visit frequently for additional information on the integration of the two loyalty programs.

We will provide updates on our integration progress over the coming several months. In the meantime, I would welcome hearing from you regarding how we have, or have not, fulfilled our promise to you: to deliver a truly different and better flying experience by providing the best care in the air.

Thank you in advance for your patience during our integration. We truly appreciate your business.

God bless,

Bryan Bedford
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

As a former Midwest and current Republic flight attendant I also attended the presentation today. It was pretty much as I expected. I knew it was going to be Frontier, as the only part of Midwest that still remains are the cookies. Everything else is long gone. I was pleased with the announcement, maybe now Midwest can be remembered for what it was in the glory days, and we can all move on to the new Frontier. I am just proud and happy I was able to be a part of it, and also very pleased I was able to furnish my living room with signature seats!

Those are some pretty good updates Blue and Hoss. I'd like to add to the pin drop moment.

At the time I was hiding behind a curtain working with some other people on the communication part of the event. ie all the emails and frontiermidwest.com. Then I heard Bryan say the new brand name in a non-shaulent way, probably catching most people off guard and then the claps came, it was somewhat the same for the employee get together before. After the presentation when most people were gone and Bryan was done with the media he even mentioned the moment to us saying that he was thinking, "come on people give me some help here." Seemed that Bryan was a little bit nervous of the moment too. :D

Channel 58 did show the reaction by employees... there was dead silence at first. People were looking at each other, then they applauded. Interviews with employees afterwards were generally upbeat. The decision was made so move on and help build up the brand in MKE. I like Frontier so it won't be that hard for me to transition.

As a former Midwest and current Republic flight attendant I also attended the presentation today. It was pretty much as I expected. I knew it was going to be Frontier, as the only part of Midwest that still remains are the cookies. Everything else is long gone. I was pleased with the announcement, maybe now Midwest can be remembered for what it was in the glory days, and we can all move on to the new Frontier. I am just proud and happy I was able to be a part of it, and also very pleased I was able to furnish my living room with signature seats!

Thank you for for hanging in the trenches through all this. It's nice to see familiar faces onboard.

I think putting the Midwest name behind them is the right thing to do. I'm looking foward to moving forward, too.

Thanks for the first-rate reports, Hoss & Blue! Lots more to say tomorrow...

I just listened to a report on WISN TV's website and they say Frontier is going to build a new 2 Million Dollar hanger at the airport. Did I miss something?

http://www.wisn.com/news/23133893/detail.html

Channel 58 did show the reaction by employees... there was dead silence at first. People were looking at each other, then they applauded. Interviews with employees afterwards were generally upbeat. The decision was made so move on and help build up the brand in MKE. I like Frontier so it won't be that hard for me to transition.

The brand announcement at DEN was described as being greeted with raucous cheers.

Here is how it all played out in Denver, acccording to the Denver Post:

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14874415


The article mentions that Midwest's chocolate chip cookies will be retained and served on all Frontier flights, "as a concession to Midwest," according to "Republic officials."

The brand announcement at DEN was described as being greeted with raucous cheers.

You can watch Denver response at the link below.

http://qik.com/video/6037547

WISN TV's late news interviewed Jay Sorensen, identified as an airline industry analyst and "former Midwest Airlines executive," who said "I don't see the opportunity for success that Republic management sees, as far as their ability in being able to turn around "these two troubled franchises...Midwest and Frontier."

He goes on to say that he does not rule out JetBlue or Spirit moving in to serve MKE.

WTMJ TV interviewed Ben Mutzabaugh, who said "Having two hubs like this makes it a very strong carrier and able to compete with the likes of AirTran, Alaska Air, and possibly even Southwest."

It's amazing how their opinions can differ so. :)

I just listened to a report on WISN TV's website and they say Frontier is going to build a new 2 Million Dollar hanger at the airport. Did I miss something?

http://www.wisn.com/news/23133893/detail.html

Pretty sure they were talking about all the money they are spending on the current hanger getting it ready for Frontier and the new call center.

WTMJ TV interviewed Ben Mutzabaugh, who said "Having two hubs like this makes it a very strong carrier and able to compete with the likes of AirTran, Alaska Air, and possibly even Southwest."

Having two (or more) hubs does not make for a strong airline. Better said, strong airlines can succeed with multiple hubs. FL's previous hub expansions have been less successful because of their weak financial position. MKE is successful for them because they have the resources to win. F9/RAH's resources are questionable. Who will succeed in MKE and DEN? I assert the airline(s) with the most resources. Now that RAH is going mainline, I expect a lot of their income activity (contracted flying) to dry up. While F9 may attract market share, especially in DEN (who said loyalty doesn't matter?), do they have the resources to succeed against WN and/or UA? WN or FL in MKE? IMO, F9 is seriously lagging the fight and the stronger companies recognize the need/advantage to kill the least viable competitor.

We'll see...

Brian Bedford to be interviewed live at 7:22 AM this morning, on WTMJ Radio.

http://www.620wtmj.com/home/ondemand/44930432.html

I'm thinking FL drops the FF program with Frontier within a month. Also I can see FL surpassing Frontier as the #1 carrier in MKE... Probably in 2011 if not sooner. I hope Bedford plays his cards right.

Brian Bedford to be interviewed live at 7:22 AM this morning, on WTMJ Radio.

http://www.620wtmj.com/home/ondemand/44930432.html

Interview did not offer any new information, as Bedford was not about to offer any this morning.

Question about FF agreement with FL did not get answered. Bedford's response merely said that miles are safe and that the new program will hook up customers to "a much larger international network."

Could this be oneworld?

WISN TV's late news interviewed Jay Sorensen, identified as an airline industry analyst and "former Midwest Airlines executive," who said "I don't see the opportunity for success that Republic management sees, as far as their ability in being able to turn around "these two troubled franchises...Midwest and Frontier."


Perhaps Republic would be find successful opportunities to turn these "troubled franchises" around if they hired Sorensen to do some consulting work for them. :D

Could this be oneworld?

You'll just have to wait a bit longer to find out :D

You'll just have to wait a bit longer to find out :D

Blue - you are in a :D mood today. I have the impression that you were satisfied or pleased with the event yesterday.

WISN TV's late news interviewed Jay Sorensen, identified as an airline industry analyst and "former Midwest Airlines executive," who said "I don't see the opportunity for success that Republic management sees, as far as their ability in being able to turn around "these two troubled franchises...Midwest and Frontier."

He goes on to say that he does not rule out JetBlue or Spirit moving in to serve MKE.

C'mon...Does anyone on this board truly believe that either of these airlines want to enter MKE? As a consumer I welcome it, bring them in!!!

From an infrastructure standpoint, does MKE have the space to add these? Especially with the supposed expansion plans of F9 and FL...Maybe there will be, if WN continues to reduce flights.

Secondly, has the economy recovered enough for these two airlines to take the risk and enter possibly the most competitive market in the nation?

Hoss and Blue...Thanks for the inside look into yesterday's presentation...Ever since these two airlines got together and started integrating equipment I have been a big supporter and think that both of them were solid airlines that will complement each other really well...I look forward to seeing the change over the coming years.

C'mon...Does anyone on this board truly believe that either of these airlines want to enter MKE? As a consumer I welcome it, bring them in!!!

Either of the two listed, I doubt it, but I would have to bet that Southwest is going to look at a new MKE-DEN nonstop. If Frontier has a couple of flights that have decent loads, I do not think that they will be far behind in getting one going.

Blue - you are in a :D mood today. I have the impression that you were satisfied or pleased with the event yesterday.

LOL...I may have had too much coffee this morning.

Overall, I was pleased with yesterday's announcement. I find what Republic is doing with Frontier/Midwest fascinating. If Bedford can pull this off, he'll be a true visionary in the airline industry.

There are certainly challenges ahead for Republic but I'm optimistic about the future.

Here's a little food for thought about an opportunity that may present itself in the future. There have been numerous reports over the last week or so that United and U.S. Airways are in merger talks. If it actually comes to the point were these two carriers hook-up, the DOT will require them to divest assets at certain airports (this was a requirement back in 2000 when both carriers announced plans to merge) to level the playing field. United and U.S. Airways have enormous overlap in Washington, D.C. With Dulles serving as a major international hub, focus would probably shift to downsizing DCA. Guess who is the largest slot holder at the airport? It’s Republic, which holds about 150 slots and leases them back to U.S. Airways. They could create a nice little focus city at the airport if everything breaks their way. Imagine what opportunities might also become available if the perimeter restrictions are lifted.

C'mon...Does anyone on this board truly believe that either of these airlines want to enter MKE?

For years and years Sorensen's big threat was that Southwest would come to Milwaukee and mop up. Now they are here, and not exactly catching fire (at least so far). So now his big threat to alarm everyone about is JetBlue or Spirit. For his sake I hope those airlines don't come to Milwaukee or his schtick will be degraded to warnings that Amtrak and Iceland Air coming to set MKE straight. Or maybe he's waiting for the Great Pumpkin.

For years and years Sorensen's big threat was that Southwest would come to Milwaukee and mop up. Now they are here, and not exactly catching fire (at least so far). So now his big threat to alarm everyone about is JetBlue or Spirit. For his sake I hope those airlines don't come to Milwaukee or his schtick will be degraded to warnings that Amtrak and Iceland Air coming to set MKE straight. Or maybe he's waiting for the Great Pumpkin.

JetBlue to MKE would be amazing. Non-stop flights to JFK, BOS, OAK and maybe Long Beach.
Spirit is a completely different thing. I lost respect for them when they started charging for carry on baggage.

Midwest was a damaged brand. With competition from southwest and airtran there was need for a brand that was going to allow for growth. Much like how the "express" portion of Midwest was dropped years ago. I would've rather seen better livelry, I do feel an overhaul of the current one is needed if there will truly be integration. Wonder when we're gonna see a cow on the tail.

The reason why there are no cows on the tails of Frontier aircraft...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyZYi7WZz-U


LOL

You'll just have to wait a bit longer to find out :D

I could see JetBlue, Frontier and AA doing a full blown code share. Also being part of OneWorld would be a bonus. Then AA could move to D Concourse and JetBlue could finally come to MKE. Move WN and Great Lakes out of Concourse D. Let Oneworld have all of D at MKE.

Here's a little food for thought about an opportunity that may present itself in the future. There have been numerous reports over the last week or so that United and U.S. Airways are in merger talks. If it actually comes to the point were these two carriers hook-up, the DOT will require them to divest assets at certain airports (this was a requirement back in 2000 when both carriers announced plans to merge) to level the playing field. United and U.S. Airways have enormous overlap in Washington, D.C. With Dulles serving as a major international hub, focus would probably shift to downsizing DCA. Guess who is the largest slot holder at the airport? It’s Republic, which holds about 150 slots and leases them back to U.S. Airways. They could create a nice little focus city at the airport if everything breaks their way. Imagine what opportunities might also become available if the perimeter restrictions are lifted.

Republic has some very valuable assets at DCA and LGA. I expect them to be able to leverage them in the future. Especially when the legacies start renegotiating or dropping contracts after they expire with regionals. A small Frontier hub on the East Coast would be fantastic.

Yesterday's news is playing well in the local MKE media:

(1) There has been rather little specifically bemoaning of the loss of the hometown airline. A lot more wording along the lines of "Milwaukee's hometown airline is now a part of Frontier Airlines", as opposed to "Milwaukee's hometown airline is dead".

(2) There have been lots of statements along the lines of "little will change" and "implementing the key parts of Midwest into Frontier".

(3) The tails of Frontier seem to be receiving a positive reception -- several newscasts even played part of the welcome-the-badger commercial, and the newspeople remarked positively.

(4) For several years, nearly every bit of Midwest Airlines news was framed with the AirTran buyout, the TPG buyout, and AirTran's subsequent growth here. Pretty much nobody framed the news this way.

(5) The quick news on local sponsorships and brandling such as the Midwest Airlines Center was a key move done correctly. Report after report from various local sources has mentioned this, and it is something of a reassurance to the community.

(6) As stupid as some think the cookies are, they are a touchstone to the "old" Midwest...their inclusion has been universally mentioned in local and national media. I just hope they spring for the EZ-bake ovens on the Airbus to make sure they are warm cookies. Don't underestimate that dfference.

(7) The Journal Sentinel print edition's front-page story featured the following graphic, roughly 5" X 7", which was about as positive as they could be and essentially free advertising:

http://media.journalinteractive.com/images/frontier041410g1.jpg

They could just have easily used that space to convey the death of Midwest, to talk about having no hometown airline, to show the battle at MKE for dominance, etc. Plenty of less positive things could have been there. But that's what they chose to print.

(8) More than once source, including JS, has specifically worded it along the lines of "Milwaukee's hometown carrier is now Frontier" as opposed to "Milwaukee has no hometown carrier" or "Frontier is absorbing Milwaukee's Hometown Airline".


Anybody who reads my posts for long knows that I can be highly critical of how the media has treated Midwest Airlines for quite some time. There's an incredible ability to spin information by how it is framed and the word choice used. The spin we've seen them put on yesterday's news is remarkably favorable, in general. Not what I expected, and Republic should capitalize on it as best they can. It's not something the old Midwest was especially good at.

JetBlue to MKE would be amazing. Non-stop flights to JFK, BOS, OAK and maybe Long Beach.
Spirit is a completely different thing. I lost respect for them when they started charging for carry on baggage.

JetBlue's window of opportunity to serve MKE has come and gone. They should have entered the market between 2002 and 2007 before AirTran became well established and Southwest commenced service.

Fares are low and non-stop service is robust. What do they have to offer at this point?

Lets look at some of JetBlue's key markets:

1) JFK. Milwaukee traffic is slanted heavily towards LGA. Fares are already low on the route as is. Getting passengers to switch to Kennedy would be a very tough sell.

2) BOS. Not big enough for three carriers, especially in the off season.

3) MCO. They'd be the fourth carrier on the route. Frontier, AirTran, and Southwest have or will be reducing capacity.

4) FLL. They'd be the third carrier on a route that can barely support year-round service as is.

If JetBlue did begin MKE service, flights to the West Coast would be highly unlikely, especially to secondary airports like OAK and LGB.

Anybody who reads my posts for long knows that I can be highly critical of how the media has treated Midwest Airlines for quite some time.


'Hoss and I commented on this yesterday when we say the editor for The Business Journal talking to Jim Reichart.

We were afraid that if you attended the brand announcement we may have had to break-up a fight in the parking lot, LOL!

Yesterday's news is playing well in the local MKE media:

(1) There has been rather little specifically bemoaning of the loss of the hometown airline. A lot more wording along the lines of "Milwaukee's hometown airline is now a part of Frontier Airlines", as opposed to "Milwaukee's hometown airline is dead".

(2) There have been lots of statements along the lines of "little will change" and "implementing the key parts of Midwest into Frontier" were made.

(3) The tails of Frontier seem to be receiving a positive reception -- several newscasts even played part of the welcome-the-badger commercial, and the newspeople remarked positively.

(4) For several years, nearly every bit of Midwest Airlines news was framed with the AirTran buyout, the TPG buyout, and AirTran's subsequent growth here. Pretty much nobody framed the news this way.

(5) The quick news on local sponsorships and brandling such as the Midwest Airlines Center was a key move done correctly. Report after report from various local sources has mentioned this, and it is something of a reassurance to the community.

(6) As stupid as some think the cookies are, they are a touchstone to the "old" Midwest...their inclusion has been universally mentioned in local and national media. I just hope they spring for the EZ-bake ovens on the Airbus to make sure they are warm cookies. Don't underestimate that ifference.

Anybody who reads my posts for long knows that I can be highly critical of how the media has treated Midwest Airlines for quite some time. There's an incredible ability to spin information by how it is framed and the word choice used. The spin we've seen them put on yesterday's news is remarkably favorable, in general.

I hope they're able to keep that up. It's not something the old Midwest was especially good at.

Good analysis. Part of what's happening here, in my view, is that the general public sees a brighter, stronger future with this brand. I think that Midwest, for years now, has been viewed as a local, vulnerable brand on its last legs.

The new brand provides an infusion of excitement and hope for the future. The new ad campaign is a contrast to the rather stale and predictable YX advertising campaigns of the last 10 years.

We'll see where this goes, but I think both the general public and frequent travelers feel that this new airline is becoming a bigger player on the national stage than Midwest ever was.

Who would have thought that MKE would ever have two decent sized hubs that are both growing?! (at least for now...)

Good analysis. Part of what's happening here, in my view, is that the general public sees a brighter, stronger future with this brand. I think that Midwest, for years now, has been viewed as a local, vulnerable brand on its last legs.

The new brand provides an infusion of excitement and hope for the future. The new ad campaign is a contrast to the rather stale and predictable YX advertising campaigns of the last 10 years.

We'll see where this goes, but I think both the general public and frequent travelers feel that this new airline is becoming a bigger player on the national stage than Midwest ever was.

Who would have thought that MKE would ever have two decent sized hubs that are both growing?! (at least for now...)

+1

I am beginning to see the further "harmonization" - I received a Frontier e-mail announcing a fare sale, which interestingly enough seems to match with the sale from Midwest. I don't believe the fares yet match across the board, though.

+1

I am beginning to see the further "harmonization" - I received a Frontier e-mail announcing a fare sale, which interestingly enough seems to match with the sale from Midwest. I don't believe the fares yet match across the board, though.

There is one pricing department between MKE and DEN so the prices will be reflected as the same because the same department is doing both.

There is one pricing department between MKE and DEN so the prices will be reflected as the same because the same department is doing both.

Clarification - Frontier codeshare flights do not price out the same as when purchased on Midwest site, and vice-versa.

One observation on the new branding campaign. Both the online and print ads show an E-Jet dated February 23, 2003. They should have used a 717 t-tail instead, because that's when they took delivery of them. They didn't have any Embraers in 2003.

Minor point, I know.

The media is often rightly criticized for using the wrong images for various airlines/aircraft types. Now, we have a case where the actual airline is using an incorrect image.

Clarification - Frontier codeshare flights do not price out the same as when purchased on Midwest site, and vice-versa.

That may be because of roundtrip pricing on the Midwest side. However the statement is still true that it is the same group of people.

I was almost expecting a full page ad from AirTran in the JS today proclaiming themselves as "Milwaukee's new hometown airline".

I was almost expecting a full page ad from AirTran in the JS today proclaiming themselves as "Milwaukee's new hometown airline".

Seems that Frontier got that with free advertising, because the image below is what ended up on the front page.

http://media.journalinteractive.com/images/frontier041410g1.jpg

One observation on the new branding campaign. Both the online and print ads show an E-Jet dated February 23, 2003. They should have used a 717 t-tail instead, because that's when they took delivery of them. They didn't have any Embraers in 2003.

Minor point, I know.

The media is often rightly criticized for using the wrong images for various airlines/aircraft types. Now, we have a case where the actual airline is using an incorrect image.

I found an online publication that used a picture of a plane that belonged to an Egyptian Airline called Midwest. LOL

One observation on the new branding campaign. Both the online and print ads show an E-Jet dated February 23, 2003. They should have used a 717 t-tail instead, because that's when they took delivery of them. They didn't have any Embraers in 2003.

Good catch…details do count! They got the DC9 right as N300ME was one of the originals.

I like the ad copy of the print ad which showed the tails. I don’t think I could have written it any better. I love that they hearkened back to1984. For those who have not seen it:


Tales of Your Hometown Airline.

A New Chapter Begins

Many of our customers still call us “Midwest Express.”
That was our name in 1984 when we first took off from Milwaukee with just a few planes to a few cities. By the time we shortened our name to “Midwest” in 2003, we flew every day to dozens of destinations and enjoyed wide recognition for the care we provided to our customers. Now a new chapter begins as we become one airline with Frontier Airlines, offering Milwaukee more flights to more places than anyone else. Now, as Frontier we’ll offer you new enhancements like in-flight live television on longer trips. And of course you can expect a chocolate chip cookie onboard. Today you can book your travel at either midwestairlines.com or frontierairlines.com. For any questions you may have, just visit frontiermidwest.com. To new and long-time passengers in our hometown we say, as we’ve said for so many years, welcome aboard.



Aircraft tail choice glitch aside, a very fine ad IMHO.

That may be because of roundtrip pricing on the Midwest side. However the statement is still true that it is the same group of people.

For those of us that have travel booked later in the year. Will we retain our seat assignments? I know some Frontier fare classes do not assign seats until departure.

'Hoss and I commented on this yesterday when we say the editor for The Business Journal talking to Jim Reichart.

We were afraid that if you attended the brand announcement we may have had to break-up a fight in the parking lot, LOL!

Yikes! No worries...I'm not that type. Believe it or not!

For those of us that have travel booked later in the year. Will we retain our seat assignments? I know some Frontier fare classes do not assign seats until departure.

Yes your seat should be safe.

The reason why there are no cows on the tails of Frontier aircraft...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyZYi7WZz-U


LOL

That was
AWESOME!

There's not much else to WI other than badgers, eagles, and cows. You could argue the Green Bay Phoenix, but i'm not sure you'd want to put that on an airplane.

There's not much else to WI other than badgers, eagles, and cows. You could argue the Green Bay Phoenix, but i'm not sure you'd want to put that on an airplane.

Might be a surprise to some, but Wisconsin has numerous bison, caribou, wolves, elk, cougars and moose but settlers eventually killed or drove out pretty much all of them in the 1800's and early 1900's. Some of these have been reintroduced or returned in limited numbers, but Frontier already has those critters anyway.

Here are the top ten F9/YX stations in traffic as of February 2010. (I used February 2009 for PHX because they don't have detailed stats, but that shouldn't change their ranking too much either way.

Included in this ranking are
--Feb 2010 passengers
--peak daily operations (O+D) planned for summer 2010 (not February)
--total nonstop markets, including seasonal ones
--market share at that airport
--rank (when ranked 5th or higher)


1. Denver
775,969 feb passengers
332 peak daily operations
61 nonstop destinations
23.1% share
rank #2

2. Milwaukee
225,599 feb passengers
202 peak daily operations
36 nonstop destinations
33.7% share
rank #1

3. Kansas City
59,366 feb passengers
46 peak daily operations
13 nonstop destinations
9.1% share
rank #4

4. Phoenix
45,403 feb passengers
10 peak daily operations (obvious scaled back from february)
2 nonstop destinations
1.6% share

5. Las Vegas
45,318 feb passengers
16 peak daily operations
2 nonstop destinatinos
1.6% share

6. Los Angeles
43.641 feb passengers
18 peak daily operations
3 nonstop destinations
1.1% share

7. Washington DCA
37,001 feb passengers
24 peak daily operations
4 nonstop destinations
3.6% share

8. Dallas/Fort Worth
36,101 feb passengers
20 peak daily operations
2 nonstop destinations
0.9% share

9. Omaha
32,973 feb passengers
22 peak daily operations
5 nonstop destinations
11.2% share
rank #5

10. Minneapolis/St Paul
32,806 feb passengers
10 peak daily operations
1.5% share

I may have missed this issue being addressed, so I apologize if it was previously discussed.

With the integration of Midwest and Frontier, how will flights price out?

Midwest now prices the lowest available fare, which includes advance seat assignment; Frontier offers three purchase options, with their lowest fare (Economy) matching YX in cost, but not providing advance seat assignment.

Business Journal article, including quotes from MMAC's Tim Sheehy, as well as Carol Skornicka:

http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2010/04/19/story2.html?b=1271649600%5E3207261&t=printable

Do you think that anyone has tried to reached Tim Hoeksema for comment?

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/90999159.html

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/90999159.html

Jim Stingl is always a great read. Thanks for sharing.

I may have missed this issue being addressed, so I apologize if it was previously discussed.

With the integration of Midwest and Frontier, how will flights price out?

Midwest now prices the lowest available fare, which includes advance seat assignment; Frontier offers three purchase options, with their lowest fare (Economy) matching YX in cost, but not providing advance seat assignment.

I thought we would get some hint of this from Mostly Air when he replied in post #88.

I suspect this may still be one of the unknowns. Stay tuned.

I just thought of something... I will need to change my FT nick now! It's a product of the AirTran hostile takeover attempt years back. :eek:

I'm not changing mine...these are the airlines of my childhood! YX and NWA inspired the love of flying over the last nearly 30 years. I've moved away from MKE, but air travel to me, always involves YX NWA and MKE :)

I'll never forget the old YX DC9, the NWA E Concourse in MKE, and the NWA DC10 serving MKE-MSP :D

Great memories, but a sad year for this aviation enthusiast, now in Dallas. Maybe I'll adopt WN...

The badger's name should be...are you ready?..."Chip"! Gives a little tip of the hat to Midwest and the chocolate chip cookies!

The badger's name should be...are you ready?..."Chip"! Gives a little tip of the hat to Midwest and the chocolate chip cookies!

Hey...don't give your ideas away. There is going to be a contest to name the badger.

The badger's name should be...are you ready?..."Chip"! Gives a little tip of the hat to Midwest and the chocolate chip cookies!

Considering a lot of people expect the cookies to go away within a couple years, I doubt they'd want to give it a name that makes people think "hey, why did they take away the cookies?"

The badger's name should be...are you ready?..."Chip"! Gives a little tip of the hat to Midwest and the chocolate chip cookies!

I'd rather see Timmy. We need something to remember him by.

I'd rather see Timmy. We need something to remember him by.


Don't worry, Tim will be remembered. His poor decision making and greed will be go down in Milwaukee airline history.

Save Tims name for the Weasel.

Don't worry, Tim will be remembered. His poor decision making and greed will be go down in Milwaukee airline history.

Save Tims name for the Weasel.

Well said.

I'd prefer a donkey for Tim, though.

It is just me, or has the "welcome the badger" commercial been modified a bit to make it less apparently that it wasn't shot in Milwaukee?

http://www.frontiermidwest.com/weare1/funstuff/

When this commercial first came out, there were a couple of comments here and elsewhere (admittedly by detail-oriented geeks like me) that in spite of saying that they were in Milwaukee, it was pretty clearly in Denver. I see to recall that in one shot in the background was a solid glimps of the distinctive DEN terminal canopy roof. No such view in the link above.

The ops tower shown behind Larry the Lynx is not one in Milwaukee, and the plains behind the row of Frontier planes is also not MKE, but these shots are generic enough that most people wouldn't recognize they aren't MKE.

Anybody else remember a the background looking clearly more non-MKE?

It is just me, or has the "welcome the badger" commercial been modified a bit to make it less apparently that it wasn't shot in Milwaukee?

http://www.frontiermidwest.com/weare1/funstuff/

When this commercial first came out, there were a couple of comments here and elsewhere (admittedly by detail-oriented geeks like me) that in spite of saying that they were in Milwaukee, it was pretty clearly in Denver. I see to recall that in one shot in the background was a solid glimps of the distinctive DEN terminal canopy roof. No such view in the link above.

The ops tower shown behind Larry the Lynx is not one in Milwaukee, and the plains behind the row of Frontier planes is also not MKE, but these shots are generic enough that most people wouldn't recognize they aren't MKE.

Anybody else remember a the background looking clearly more non-MKE?

I'll agree...

Anyone else see the new GE commercial? Shows a YX E jet in the hanger at MKE (subdtle, but clearly MKE if you're from there), and then later shows a YX connect Embraer with full titles showing...of course I saw this for the first time AFTER they announced they were going with F9. Kind of funny that YX is the only airline in the commercial...I'll try to find a link for it.

I'll agree...

Anyone else see the new GE commercial? Shows a YX E jet in the hanger at MKE (subdtle, but clearly MKE if you're from there), and then later shows a YX connect Embraer with full titles showing...of course I saw this for the first time AFTER they announced they were going with F9. Kind of funny that YX is the only airline in the commercial...I'll try to find a link for it.

I believe it was posted to this board a while back. Very nice commercial though. Showcases Midwest well.