Midwest Airlines Midwest Miles (Pre-Alignment) - AirTran promo with Midwest Miles

Donate your Midwest Miles:

http://www.airtran.com/donatemiles/

I personally find this distasteful and underhanded. :td:

Alright, this is hilarious. Help Milwaukee charities out and AirTran will give you a free business class ticket.

And the free elite to current Midwest elite members can't hurt in drumming up business either.

Maybe underhanded, but also creative. There's nothing stopping Frontier from fighting back with their own promotion.

Here's the news release (http://pressroom.airtran.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=201565&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1427125&highlight=)

I personally find this distasteful and underhanded. :td:

Since the Midwest Miles program will be gone with the Midwest Brand Name I don't see a problem with this promotion. As I said before, the decision to drop the Midwest Brand Name gives AirTran a more level playing field in the MKE market. AirTran is taking advantage of this. Now if Frontier was smart, they would do a counter promotion to this.

Since the Midwest Miles program will be gone with the Midwest Brand Name I don't see a problem with this promotion. As I said before, the decision to drop the Midwest Brand Name gives AirTran a more level playing field in the MKE market. AirTran is taking advantage of this. Now if Frontier was smart, they would do a counter promotion to this.

Only the Midwest name is going away. The miles are staying and will be merged with the Frontier program.

I just want to be clear that the miles are safe and it's not like you're going to lose them and have to donate them instead. But I wonder if people who don't use FT will be taken and think that their miles are going away if they're noit donated.

This is absolutely hillarious.

I certainly can't recall a situation in which one airline has asked customers from a rival carrier to donate miles to charity. However, targeted offers relating to status matches, etc. happen all the time in the airline industry. It's a competitive business afterall and everyone wants the frequent traveler as a customer.

It will be interesting to see how many people act on this offer. Regardless of how many people ultimately participate, this will get AirTran some additional press in the Milwaukee market.

It is neither underhanded nor devious. It is a great marketing scheme. Ball is in Frontier's court.

Just when you think the heat in MKE couldn't be turned up any more, AirTran just dialed it up a notch.

I just hope that AirTran does not play this as if this is part of an altruistic program to give back to the community, i.e. charity.

This move is for their own benefit to move YX/F9 customers to FL; if they wanted to be truly charitable, there would have been a promotion with their own FF members making a donation to benefit Make-A-Wish, in exchange for the benefits.

This looks like guerrilla warfare.

From Today in the Sky's Ben Mutzabaugh:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=92557.blog

I just hope that AirTran does not play this as if this is part of an altruistic program to give back to the community, i.e. charity.

Of course it's not "altruistic." AirTran is a business, and they're trying to steal some of Midwest/Frontier's customers. Giving the miles to charity makes the switching customers feel good and perhaps does a bit of good. What's wrong with that?

If I were Frontier, I'd cap charitable contributions at 49,000 miles for the life of the AirTran promo. Not the nicest thing to do, but why let AirTran "exploit" the Midwest program for their own gain? Sure AirTran might respond by changing the promo, or issue a snotty press release, but so what?

And, of course, Frontier could respond with its own ff promo.

BTW, how much longer is the AirTran/Frontier ff partnership likely to last? A couple days? :)

And I'd love to see one of the Star Alliance carriers run this promo on Delta!

BTW, how much longer is the AirTran/Frontier ff partnership likely to last? A couple days? :)



This is the most interesting part of the situation. If they were good with each other at status quo then why initiate a program like this?

It seems as though the end is near for the AirTran/Frontier FF agreement.

This is the most interesting part of the situation. If they were good with each other at status quo then why initiate a program like this?

It seems as though the end is near for the AirTran/Frontier FF agreement.

Very astute comment!

Only the Midwest name is going away. The miles are staying and will be merged with the Frontier program.

I just want to be clear that the miles are safe and it's not like you're going to lose them and have to donate them instead. But I wonder if people who don't use FT will be taken and think that their miles are going away if they're noit donated.

Sorry, I should have been more clear in my post and it wasn't my intention to scare anyone into thinking their Midwest Miles would disappear. My comment was in regards to only the brand name and not the FF Program. Maybe Frontier can offer a miles boost for staying with the Midwest Miles Program through the transition period? Double your miles if you stay? That might be too much, but something like that to counter AirTran's offer. :)

It seems as though the end is near for the AirTran/Frontier FF agreement.

While holding hands and singing kumbayah is nice, it's obvious that competitive circumstances have changed and Frontier and Airtran can no longer be partners. So be it.

It seems as though the end is near for the AirTran/Frontier FF agreement.

That was pretty much a given.

I was told at the brand unveiling that Republic is actively pursuing a relationship with one of the big alliances. If that doesn't happen, a partnership with one or more international carriers will likely materialize. Bedford himself recently said that Frontier customers will have access to a global route network later this year.

Republic will kick AirTran to the curb soon enough. The real question is why this hasn't happened already?

Maybe Frontier can offer a miles boost for staying with the Midwest Miles Program through the transition period? Double your miles if you stay? That might be too much, but something like that to counter AirTran's offer. :)

As this offer seems to be targeted at more frequent travelers, perhaps Frontier should launch a "Fly Three Get One Free" promotion on all competitive routes to individuals traveling to/from MKE. Sure, this would cost a few bucks put would put the screws to AirTran.

Republic needs to take a good slap at AirTran. Why let your chief rival have all of the fun?

While holding hands and singing kumbayah is nice, it's obvious that competitive circumstances have changed and Frontier and Airtran can no longer be partners. So be it.

I agree this hole frenemies thing is getting a little old. Both airlines need partners. Jetblue has done some great things with South African Airlines and AirLengus.

I would like to see Airtran get deals with: British Airways, Emirates, United or Lufthansa

Frontier: AirFrance, US Airways, Royal Jordanian

That was pretty much a given.

I was told at the brand unveiling that Republic is actively pursuing a relationship with one of the big alliances. If that doesn't happen, a partnership with one or more international carriers will likely materialize. Bedford himself recently said that Frontier customers will have access to a global route network later this year.

Republic will kick AirTran to the curb soon enough. The real question is why this hasn't happened already?

I understand it was pretty much a given that the relationship would end, but the fact remains that it has not happened yet, so there must at least still be some value to them. Otherwise, they would have cancelled it already. I suppose they'll just keep the partnership until something better comes along.

Nothing underhanded, just savvy marketing. A good way to give Midwest travelers a chance to try AirTran, they may like it. The charity is the real winner. Kudos to Kevin Healy and the marketing team at AirTran.

Okay Jim Reichert, now it's your turn to respond.

Midwest passengers might just enjoy that 2x2 seating in Business Class which has disappeared and been renamed STRETCH.

Five more inches of legroom is a pretty poor substitute.

Both airlines need partners.

I would like to see Airtran get deals with: British Airways, Emirates, United or Lufthansa

Frontier: AirFrance, US Airways, Royal Jordanian

Air France and US Airways? :td:

I'd much rather see Frontier strike an alliance with the carriers you mention for AirTran. However, with United as the main competitor in Denver, I doubt United or Lufthansa will work.

So, count me in the camp of being thrilled if Frontier could pull a hook-up with the One World alliance.

OneWorld looks to be a great option with plenty of codeshare flight opportunities from DEN. It is a little different from MKE though as MKE has almost no international flight connection opportunities without going through a spoke city.

oneworld has ALL the AA flights out of ORD. 95%+ of the international travelers that I know in Milwaukee WILL want to drive to ORD for their International flight and not connect. There is just too much risk and incovenience in missing a once-a-day International connection.

A oneworld tie in with AA helps cement the F9 pax who also do International trips.

Of COURSE something really interesting like this breaks during a period when I have virtually zero time to comment or spend online.

I think the response should try to thwart the FL plan, should work hard on avoiding hurting the charities, and incent FL members to come F9 way.

(1) Immediate cap of 49,000 miles per calendard year (or six months?) to donations.

(2) Republic should match charitiable donations so if you donate 49,000 miles the charities actually gets more. Something substantial so it doesn't look chintzy and so it doesn't look like capping the mile donation is screwing charities. A one-for-one match would be nice, but maybe excessive? They need to be able to look like they are encouraging donations.

(3) FF members who donate miles above X get automatic status. Maybe Aspire for 30,000 miles and Summit for 49,000 miles.

(4) Status match on F9/YX for A+ elite members.

Maybe more will come to mind later today...

Of COURSE something really interesting like this breaks during a period when I have virtually zero time to comment or spend online.

I think the response should try to thwart the FL plan, should work hard on avoiding hurting the charities, and incent FL members to come F9 way.

(1) Immediate cap of 49,000 miles per calendard year (or six months?) to donations.

(2) Republic should match charitiable donations so if you donate 49,000 miles the charities actually gets more. Something substantial so it doesn't look chintzy and so it doesn't look like capping the mile donation is screwing charities. A one-for-one match would be nice, but maybe excessive? They need to be able to look like they are encouraging donations.

(3) FF members who donate miles above X get automatic status. Maybe Aspire for 30,000 miles and Summit for 49,000 miles.

(4) Status match on F9/YX for A+ elite members.

Maybe more will come to mind later today...

+1, especially with #2. Having the company match will allow a lot more positive press and help the charities the company already helps.

I haven't looked at the fine print but I would imagine that people who donate their miles and receive free flights would be under the same restrictions as a regular person exchanging their miles for free flights. They can only fly when free seats are available.

I thought there might have been a response yesterday but none came. Maybe their waiting until they announce their new code share partner?

[QUOTE=8C4IOW;13962186
I thought there might have been a response yesterday but none came. Maybe their waiting until they announce their new code share partner?[/QUOTE]

If they plan on announcing anything, it should be done next week to take away some of the positive press AirTran is sure to receive. AirTran will probably get all kinds of glowing coverage for holding the annual meeting in Milwaukee, unveiling the Brewer's 717, and the likely announcement of new routes/increased service.

Of COURSE something really interesting like this breaks during a period when I have virtually zero time to comment or spend online.

I think the response should try to thwart the FL plan, should work hard on avoiding hurting the charities, and incent FL members to come F9 way.

(1) Immediate cap of 49,000 miles per calendard year (or six months?) to donations.

(2) Republic should match charitiable donations so if you donate 49,000 miles the charities actually gets more. Something substantial so it doesn't look chintzy and so it doesn't look like capping the mile donation is screwing charities. A one-for-one match would be nice, but maybe excessive? They need to be able to look like they are encouraging donations.

(3) FF members who donate miles above X get automatic status. Maybe Aspire for 30,000 miles and Summit for 49,000 miles.

(4) Status match on F9/YX for A+ elite members.

Maybe more will come to mind later today...

First of all, I like the AirTran Promotion as I think I am the one that came up with it ;)



1.) The best solution for F9 is for F9 to suck up and understand that they lost this round. Move on to the next round of the fight.

2.) Heavily promote the uses that the charities have from the "FREE Travel from F9/YX".

3.) Offer anyone who wants to dontate 20,000 miles, the extra 30,000 miles. Makes FL pay Two free tickets for a lot more people who are not the key business man target. The 49,000 limit idea would just get FL to lower their offer to 49,000 miles instead of 50,000. What is F9 going to do ... limit it to 47,000.

If they plan on announcing anything, it should be done next week to take away some of the positive press AirTran is sure to receive. AirTran will probably get all kinds of glowing coverage for holding the annual meeting in Milwaukee, unveiling the Brewer's 717, and the likely announcement of new routes/increased service.

Good point, I forgot about that meeting.

It will be an interesting week in Milwaukee, thats the feeling I get any way.

I'm sure no one will be surprised that Frontier tonight announced that they are terminating their frequent flyer agreement with AirTran.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13974236-post1.html

I'm sure no one will be surprised that Frontier tonight announced that they are terminating their frequent flyer agreement with AirTran.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13974236-post1.html

I wonder if AirTran's Midwest Miles Promo was the final straw and Frontier decided to end it ASAP?

I wonder if AirTran's Midwest Miles Promo was the final straw and Frontier decided to end it ASAP?

I would think that's a good guess! :) I mean, this promo is really "in your face."

I wonder if AirTran's Midwest Miles Promo was the final straw and Frontier decided to end it ASAP?

According to his latest letter to employees, Bryan Bedford is not happy at all with AirTran's Midwest Miles promotion.

I would think that's a good guess! :) I mean, this promo is really "in your face."

I wonder if they will interline?

In thinking about potential response to AirTran's promo to lure Midwest members, I missed a very critical point. The AirTran promo is designed to encourage people to drain their Midwest accounts...essentially severing ties and reasons for flying Midwest...and start or increase earning on AirTran.

A YX response should have an element to increase flying on and investment in the YX/F9 account: double or triple credit for flying YX and F9.

So here's a revised idea:

(1) Cap MM donations at 45k. Yes, AirTran can lower its award from 50k to 45k, but the lower you force AirTran to go, the more you're making them give away status and the free business class round trip to not-so-frequent flyers.

(2) Send a clear statement in the Best Care Weekly that Midwest Miles are not disappearing but will be counted in the combined program.

(3) Offer this special offer to YX frequent flyers. Donate 45,000 miles and 50,000 are donated to charity. Donor gets:

--Free round trip certificate
--Double miles and double elite credit for the rest of 2010
--Free day pass to the Best Care Club
--Immediate Aspire status, or bump up to Executive if you're already Aspire.

Airlines match and/or react to the promos of competitors all the time. RAH can choose to not react further to the AirTran promo, but it's hardly out of line for them to offer a competing promotion like this. And one which both rewards for the charitable donation and encourages additional YX/F9 flying is ideal.

AirTran now advertising the promo on Milwaukee radio and billboards.

I wonder what the response has been, so far.

http://www.jsonline.com/business/94343334.html

I like this quote from the story on JSOnline tonight.

So far, "hardly anyone" from the Midwest program has responded, said Jim Reichart, Republic's vice president of sales, distribution and loyalty programs.

Also Bob Fornaro talks more about the hostile takeover of Midwest and how it really was a bad idea.

That was a foolish question from the JS. What was he going to say that they had thousands of customers taking advantage of a promo by their competition?
For some odd reason I had a flashback to Brophy and dont know why???

That was a foolish question from the JS. What was he going to say that they had thousands of customers taking advantage of a promo by their competition?
For some odd reason I had a flashback to Brophy and dont know why???

I suppose it is all relative.

It would be interesting to know if this means fewer than ten, more than 50, etc.; perhaps FL will release the information, upon completion of the promotion period. But, that will probably only happen if FL deems the promotion to be successful.

We also do not know what percentage of MM members are in the actual target market.

That was a foolish question from the JS. What was he going to say that they had thousands of customers taking advantage of a promo by their competition?

Of course he's not going to say they've been flooded with donations. But had he said something more calculated like "some activity" or "a very small percentabe of our total base", that might be a way of indirectly saying that it's more than just a few.

He could be lying through his teeth...so could anyone...but there are reasonably telling guarded ways to suggest what activity they've seen.

In any case, I hope that somebody at YX/F9 is tracking this promotion and the ongoing activity of those who participate. AirTran's intent is clearly to have YX flyers drain their accounts and essentially cut ties and fly FL instead. But that may or may not be how things play out. Just the other week I needed to redeem miles for a trip to NYC for a concert and needed specific flights which had no FF availability and had high fares ($300 R/T). So I burned 40k for a premium award (any seat on any flight) and had I not been MME, it would have cost me 50,000 miles. I could have used those 50,000 Midwest miles for a free business class flight on AirTran, but that wouldn't make me fly FL any more or YX/F9 any less. I just have a lot of miles banked on YX.

The true measure of the penetration of this program is to watch the travel patterns of people how dontated 50k or 100k miles to charity over the next months compared to prior earning. Undoubtedly there are some whose earnings will drop...there were some people who have primarily migrated elsewhere, and some who just fly less base on circumstance. Of course this kind of information is not likely to ever be public. But knowing this information can give them an idea of the degree of vulnerability in their FF base.

Has anyone else received a postcard from FL touting this promotion? I received a notice in today's mail, about two weeks before the promotion is due to end.

I wonder if the repsonse has not been that great.

Today is the last day for the promotion. I wonder if either side will release the outcome of how many people participated in the promo.

What will likely not be measured is how much of a PR impact this had in the Milwaukee area. Was it a desperate, low-blow to the competition? Or was it a gutsy move to show the public how serious they are about gaining a foothold in Milwaukee?

Too bad there likely won't be perceptual research on this.

Data has finally been released showing how many miles were donated via this promotion.

http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2010/07/19/tidbits2.html

Thanks for finding and posting this, newsmanhoss! Channel 6 reported last night that just under 15 million miles were donated, but I could not find anything online about it then.

For those of us without online subscriptions, the last line we can see is

"Nearly 210 Midwest frequent fliers — enough to fill two Boeing 737 aircraft — took part in the promotion, donating enough miles to circle the earth 600 times, according to AirTran."

Anything of significant interest below that point which is blocked to non-subscribers?

Speaking of that last line....

If "nearly 210" means 209, then to fill two Boeing 737's they needed their participation rate to be 35.9% higher than it was. Two 737's hold 274, meaning they were 75 short, and 75/209 = 35.9%. Overstating the participation rate by 35.9% is not just casually rounding up. And this is, again, the kind of stuff that leads me to question just about everything they say in public.

--------

Anyway, if we assume "Nearly 210" means 209, then to come to 15m miles donated at either 50k or 100k at a time, it comes out to this:

91 people donated 100,000 miles
118 people donated 50,000 miles

The actual numbers might be a bit different, but probably not too much. It's possible that some people just drained their Midwest accounts, but I suspect most people donated the required amount to get the benefit they wanted.

Here's a recap of what the donations brought compared to what the same miles bought if you kept them on YX.

100,000 miles redeemed on YX
--four roundtrip coach tickets

100,000 miles redeemed in the AirTran promotion
--Enough credits for four round trip coach tickets (64)
--Invitation to meet Ryan Braun at a VIP event on August 8th
--Charity receives benefit


50,000 miles redeemed on YX
--two roundtrip coach tickets

50,000 miles redeemed in the AirTran promotion
--Enough credits for two round trip coach tickets (32)
--Charity receives benefit


So, was the promotion a success? That's a very subjective question.

Publicity
In the line of "there's no such thing as bad publicity", this did generate some buzz. As for the reaction to the promotion itself, I've heard a many reactions ranging between "that's very clever of them" to "that's not how we do things around here". That's clearly anecdotal evidence, but my sample isn't limited to Midwest loyalists by any means. What I did not hear mentioned a single time…which is disappointing in some ways…is that this promotion did good charitable work. Not a soul I talked to about this made any mention of that positive aspect of the promotion. AirTran didn’t seem to get the positive spin they deserved for that aspect of this promotion.

Penetration
With over 1,100,000 members, getting fewer than 210 to participate is not exactly a massive response. Only residents of Wisconsin and northern Illinois qualified (which is the very large majority of their FF members) so the pool is somewhat smaller. And of course people needed at least 50k miles to participate. But I personally know about 30 people (primarily here at work) who regularly have high balances in their Midwest account, so there have to be many, many times that out there who were eligible. I don’t think fewer than 210 is a very big penetration.

New Business from a Change in Airline Loyalty
This is almost certainly the ultimate goal of the promotion, and if every donation was made as a decision to empty the Midwest account and switch flying to AirTran, they may have made as many as 209 converts. However among those 209 people:

--Some (as many as 91) may have participated primarily for the Ryan Braun party. For people primarily driven by that motivation, participation in this promotion doesn’t necessarily signal less Midwest flying and more AirTran flying.

--Some people who already primarily fly AirTran used this as a way to essentially transfer credits over from the Midwest account to the AirTran account. I would guess there are more than a few people who did exactly this. That doesn’t represent any new business moving from Midwest to AirTran.

--Some people who no longer fly much may have donated from a stagnant Midwest account, perhaps because miles were going to expire. Those customers do not represent much of a loss of flying for Midwest nor much added business for AirTran.

--Some people may have participated because it was a good way to donate miles to charity without really “costing” them anything. Donate enough miles for a few free tickets, but then be given an equal amount of free tickets elsewhere. (I did not personally run into anybody who seemed to think this direction, but there may have been some.)

--Some participants may be an occasional flyer on AirTran but don’t have elite status, and used this as a means to get that status without losing any free flights.

So between (a) people who used miles to get close to Ryan Braun (b) people who already moved business from Midwest to AirTran and saw this as a way to transfer FF credit from one program to the other (c) infrequent flyers who donated stagnant miles, and (d) people seeing this as a “free” way to be altruistic, I suspect we’ve covered a whole lot of those 209 without necessarily moving anybody new from Midwest to AirTran.

And finally, there are those who may intend to move more business to AirTran with this participation but who end up flying YX/F9 when the fare or schedule is better, or because of policies at work.

Even if all 209 people really are converts from Midwest to AirTran, and each one of them flies every single week, that comes to about 906 additional trips per month on AirTran.

Considering that many of those 209 may have participated without actually bringing any new business to AirTran, I don’t see how this promotion was particularly successful toward the goal of bringing significant new business their way.

The part of the article that was cut off does discuss the benefit to the charities.

Here's the full article text, courtesy of the Business Journal:

AirTran promotion attracts nearly 15 million Midwest Airlines miles
The Business Journal of Milwaukee

A 30-day promotion launched by AirTran Airways led frequent fliers of rival Midwest Airlines to donate 15 million miles to charities associated with the Midwest Airlines Miracle Miles program.

Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran, which embarked on a hostile takeover attempt of Midwest Airlines of Oak Creek in 2007, awarded A+ Rewards frequent flier credits to anyone who donated at least 50,000 Midwest Miles as part of the promotion.

AirTran has been aggressively expanding its service at Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport since the failed takeover attempt. Midwest, meanwhile, is being merged into Frontier Airlines of Denver.

Nearly 210 Midwest frequent fliers — enough to fill two Boeing 737 aircraft — took part in the promotion, donating enough miles to circle the earth 600 times, according to AirTran.

The promotion will be a boon to Milwaukee-area charitable organizations, AirTran spokesman Christopher White said.

“This will result in thousands of trips for deserving Milwaukee-area charities,” he said.

— Rich Rovito

The promotion was successful, if for no other reason, it tweeked Republic/Frontier management. Which is what I think was the big intention all along.

The part of the article that was cut off does discuss the benefit to the charities.

Here's the full article text, courtesy of the Business Journal:

AirTran promotion attracts nearly 15 million Midwest Airlines miles
The Business Journal of Milwaukee

A 30-day promotion launched by AirTran Airways led frequent fliers of rival Midwest Airlines to donate 15 million miles to charities associated with the Midwest Airlines Miracle Miles program.

Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran, which embarked on a hostile takeover attempt of Midwest Airlines of Oak Creek in 2007, awarded A+ Rewards frequent flier credits to anyone who donated at least 50,000 Midwest Miles as part of the promotion.

AirTran has been aggressively expanding its service at Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport since the failed takeover attempt. Midwest, meanwhile, is being merged into Frontier Airlines of Denver.

Nearly 210 Midwest frequent fliers — enough to fill two Boeing 737 aircraft — took part in the promotion, donating enough miles to circle the earth 600 times, according to AirTran.

The promotion will be a boon to Milwaukee-area charitable organizations, AirTran spokesman Christopher White said.

“This will result in thousands of trips for deserving Milwaukee-area charities,” he said.

— Rich Rovito

Thanks for posting the rest of the story. And sorry, I'm going to rip on something....

Fifteen million miles comes to 600 free trips @ 25,000 each, which is how it works. 15,000,000 / 25,000 = 600, not "thousands".

The promotion was successful, if for no other reason, it tweeked Republic/Frontier management. Which is what I think was the big intention all along.

Would not be a big surprise....

The promotion was successful, if for no other reason, it tweeked Republic/Frontier management. Which is what I think was the big intention all along.

You are correct, if nothing else, the promo reminded Frontier AirTran is here, and has built a large presence and is a force to be reckoned with.

If Frontier is willing to stop service to a destination as Midwest did in 2008, AirTran is around to pick up the pieces.

I hate to tell you I told you so! Well actually, I don't. Midwest is finally gone and the cheap poser is losing market share. The pro bloggers were laughing at my prediction that AirTran would be the market share leader in Milwaukee over Midwest. Midwest is gone and AirTran is the market share leader over Frontier and the commuter jets from Republic combined. My next prediction is the bankruptcy of Republic holdings in 2011. Not much cash left and a stronger United in Denver combined with AirTran out competiting Republic in Milwaukee, is a bad sign. Yes, I added Skywest in the numbers, but Frontier added their commuter Republic in theirs. Those Frontier commercials in the Milwaukee market are terrible. My only hope is Southwest picks up the slack when Republic goes away to keep the cheap tickets we are enjoying.