AirTran Airways A+ Rewards - Airtran is sw moneymaker

SW will drag their feet combining the airlines totally to increase their revenue.
For a company that touts low fares, no fees, and easy redemptions. They have done nothing to intergrate Airtran into those ideals. Airtran still charges bag fees, change fees, and other crap that SW prides itself as having eliminated...but it seems as long as it's making money for them changing the policy is not a priority and will be the last thing they change.
Their frequent flyer programs will probably take years to integrate as well since it will cost them money. I booked an Airtran flight with some credits that were expiring in the hopes that they would combine programs in FEB like they hinted. Now I had to cancel the ticket and the expired points were not redeposited. Even the credit card claim that your points dont expire as quick if you have the card are bull, only credits earned after you get the card are extended. It stinks that you can't use RR points to book Airtran or vice-versa. It stinks companion pass privileges are not extended to Airtran flights.
It stinks that points continue to expire under the Airtran name. It stinks that SW is dragging their feet applying their best features (no fees, no expiration on points, or blackouts on reward tickets) They were able to cut routes and kill service quickly after merging, but instead of making a priority of painting new logos on their planes, they should be thinking about the customer.
They have had more than enough time to plan for this, but as long as it's profitable they will drag out the death of Airtran as long as possible. We ought to start a write in campaign among travel sites to get them to commit to a a timeline for consolidation, instead of some vague crap about "in the next couple of years..."
SW commercials about caring about the customers and not charging fees is hipocritical bullcrap as long as Airtran operates seperately.
I also find it retarded that they pulled the plug on ATL to DFW/DAL (the 2 hubs) service and just recently added some SW service between the 2.
You still can't book an Airtran flight to DFW or DAL so until they integrate and operate as one carrier route options are worse, not better.

Rant over......

AirTran flight attendants will begin transitioning to the SW side starting in June. As they transition a plane, they will transition crew. Thought I would share that as an indication that the transitioning has begun.

You are probably correct though - they will operate separately until the majority of AT A/C have been transitioned.

SW will drag their feet combining the airlines totally to increase their revenue.
For a company that touts low fares, no fees, and easy redemptions. They have done nothing to intergrate Airtran into those ideals. Airtran still charges bag fees, change fees, and other crap that SW prides itself as having eliminated...but it seems as long as it's making money for them changing the policy is not a priority and will be the last thing they change.
Their frequent flyer programs will probably take years to integrate as well since it will cost them money. I booked an Airtran flight with some credits that were expiring in the hopes that they would combine programs in FEB like they hinted. Now I had to cancel the ticket and the expired points were not redeposited. Even the credit card claim that your points dont expire as quick if you have the card are bull, only credits earned after you get the card are extended. It stinks that you can't use RR points to book Airtran or vice-versa. It stinks companion pass privileges are not extended to Airtran flights.
It stinks that points continue to expire under the Airtran name. It stinks that SW is dragging their feet applying their best features (no fees, no expiration on points, or blackouts on reward tickets) They were able to cut routes and kill service quickly after merging, but instead of making a priority of painting new logos on their planes, they should be thinking about the customer.
They have had more than enough time to plan for this, but as long as it's profitable they will drag out the death of Airtran as long as possible. We ought to start a write in campaign among travel sites to get them to commit to a a timeline for consolidation, instead of some vague crap about "in the next couple of years..."
SW commercials about caring about the customers and not charging fees is hipocritical bullcrap as long as Airtran operates seperately.
I also find it retarded that they pulled the plug on ATL to DFW/DAL (the 2 hubs) service and just recently added some SW service between the 2.
You still can't book an Airtran flight to DFW or DAL so until they integrate and operate as one carrier route options are worse, not better.

Rant over......

A +1 to you, sir. Of course WN is a business but they're one which always claims to be customer focused. Their integration of Airtran is a disappointment.

We are now at month 10 of the merger, after several more months of pre-merger doldrums. The entire process is amazingly slow and poorly thought out. Southwest is doing this like a government agency would do it, not a American private business.

All of the OP points are correct. Do we have any other examples of a US airline merger that proceeded this slowly? The first plane is being repainted after nine months? Announcing new international service in the old airline's name, to start five months from now? Announcing a station closure while increasing its service? No FF integration and no announcement about how it will be done? Seattle is now announced as the first "integrated city," 15 months after the merger and being integrated by virtue of converting a handful of seasonal AirTran flights (and one year round flight to Milwaukee) to Southwest. As Southwest flights, they wont even make a flight between two top twenty airports like Seattle-Atlanta into a year round service?

By August, if I have it right, at 15 months after the merger, we will have this one daily flight to Austin and then at last some service to Louisville as the sole enhancements to the AirTran route map.

I am still flying AirTran regularly and now clearly see some very empty planes, shockingly empty compared to Delta or Southwest. AirTran just went to triple miles for coach tickets and quadruple miles for Business Class tickets.

I hope they delay for another 1000 years. There is nothing good about WN, except maybe a cheap short hop. Go try and tell the guy in "C group" how great his experience will be. I will take FL any day. ANY day, over WN.

Funny, all the FL flights I fly are packed.

Is there any truth to the claim you make in your thread title?

Is there any truth to the claim you make in your thread title?

I think the truth is that without the fee money FL brings in, WN would really be hurting right now in Atlanta. It was stated on numerous earnings calls how vital the bag fee money was to AirTran's profitability.

I agree, ALL of the AirTran flights I am on are full

"[Southwest]Chief Financial Officer Laura Wright said jet fuel prices have been higher than the airline expected — about $3.50 per gallon instead of the $3.35 it had been forecasting.

Wright also says ticket bookings for spring travel weakened in late February. She says the airline doesn't know whether that was a short-term blip or signals something bigger about the economy."

Ticket bookings weakened in late February because fewer people were willing to swallow the hike in ticket prices.

Southwest says it won't make a profit in 1Q (http://www.ajc.com/business/southwest-says-it-wont-1383268.html)

Maybe it is but a sign that Southwest fares (aside from rising with fuel costs) have skyrocketed to astronomical levels, I can't ever recall Southwest fares being this high. They seem to LUV getting...HIGH.

Maybe it is but a sign that Southwest fares (aside from rising with fuel costs) have skyrocketed to astronomical levels, I can't ever recall Southwest fares being this high. They seem to LUV getting...HIGH.

I laughed out loud when I just clicked on the latest "sale fare" email from both Southwest and Air Tran and saw those awesome $197 each way fares from ATL to LAS. $400 RT??? And that's only on a Tuesday-Wednesday! I never paid $400 RT to Vegas when I lived in Richmond and had to go through 17 airports to get there.
A small hike for gas-related problems is understandable, but this is greed. SWA is gonna be whining about "not turning a profit" for a long time with fares like this.

I think the truth is that without the fee money FL brings in, WN would really be hurting right now in Atlanta. It was stated on numerous earnings calls how vital the bag fee money was to AirTran's profitability.

The AirTran bag fees are a small fraction of total AirTran subsidiary revenues, and the AirTran subsidiary is a small fraction of total revenues for Southwest Airlines Co. (The ratio of total revenues was about 5:1 Southwest:AirTran for 4Q2010, pre-merger.) Small fractions of small fractions amount to about nothing. The OP way, way overstates his case.

SW will drag their feet combining the airlines totally to increase their revenue.
For a company that touts low fares, no fees, and easy redemptions. They have done nothing to intergrate Airtran into those ideals. Airtran still charges bag fees, change fees, and other crap that SW prides itself as having eliminated...but it seems as long as it's making money for them changing the policy is not a priority and will be the last thing they change.
Their frequent flyer programs will probably take years to integrate as well since it will cost them money. I booked an Airtran flight with some credits that were expiring in the hopes that they would combine programs in FEB like they hinted. Now I had to cancel the ticket and the expired points were not redeposited. Even the credit card claim that your points dont expire as quick if you have the card are bull, only credits earned after you get the card are extended. It stinks that you can't use RR points to book Airtran or vice-versa. It stinks companion pass privileges are not extended to Airtran flights.
It stinks that points continue to expire under the Airtran name. It stinks that SW is dragging their feet applying their best features (no fees, no expiration on points, or blackouts on reward tickets) They were able to cut routes and kill service quickly after merging, but instead of making a priority of painting new logos on their planes, they should be thinking about the customer.
They have had more than enough time to plan for this, but as long as it's profitable they will drag out the death of Airtran as long as possible. We ought to start a write in campaign among travel sites to get them to commit to a a timeline for consolidation, instead of some vague crap about "in the next couple of years..."
SW commercials about caring about the customers and not charging fees is hipocritical bullcrap as long as Airtran operates seperately.
I also find it retarded that they pulled the plug on ATL to DFW/DAL (the 2 hubs) service and just recently added some SW service between the 2.
You still can't book an Airtran flight to DFW or DAL so until they integrate and operate as one carrier route options are worse, not better.

Rant over......

They just got single operating certificate! Comparing how long it took UA/CO and DL/NW I think they are doing ok. Just like the other mergers they are run as too seperate airlines until consolidation. This happened just last week of UA/CO by the way. They have stated that the two will operate as seperate airlines with a codeshare until Airtran's last flight is converted. This is consistent with other mergers. UA and CO kept seperate policies.

With 39 years of profits I don't think WN is reliant on Airtran bagfees for profits.

With 39 years of profits I don't think WN is reliant on Airtran bagfees for profits.

Absolutely. $160M a year is chump change. FL will be dropping bag fees real soon. :cough:

Here are some numbers to suggest how much AirTran's fees are critical to their bottom line...and how they affect Southwest now that the companies are combined.

The last year for which Southwest and AirTran were reported separately was 2010. [original typo said 2011]

To get an idea of how much ancillary revenue means to the AirTran system, we can look at the full-year 2010 numbers.

AirTran's "other" revenue for the year was $264 million from about 24.7 million passenger. That comes out to about $10.69 per passenger boarded.

Southwest's "other" revenue for the year was $490 million from about 114.2 million enplaned passengers. That's about $4.29 each.

Now it's not certain we're talking apples and oranges, but if AirTran's "other" revenue was only $4.29 per passenger, they'd have to take $158 million off their annual profit. AirTran's net profit in 2010 was $38.5 million.

Now you can't flat-out take to the bank that in 2010 AirTran would have posted a $119.5m loss ($38.5m minus $158m) if they had been using Southwest's fee schedule and thus 1st and 2nd bag fees, seat selection fees, phone reservation fees, change fees, etc. But clearly, fees are massively important to the bottom line of AirTran's business plan.

Southwest reps themselves said months ago that weaning the AirTran network off of fee income was proving to be a challenge. While Southwest is far bigger than AirTran, margins in the airline business are so thin that this is not pocket change.

For the year ended in 2011, Southwest's annual report attributes a net loss of $23m to the AirTran operation. We can't know exactly how "muddy" that number is, and as such we don't know what AirTran's net results would have been if Southwest had never come calling...be they better or worse. But it seems pretty clear that the AirTran operation is not raking in full-year profits with all the fees. And AirTran operations are almost certainly contributing negatively to the Q1 2012 loss Southwest just warned about.

High fuel prices are, of course, a big problem. At $20 oil things would look far better. But what does matter is what the price of fuel is and what they're going to do to react to it. That the AirTran system relies so much on the very fees Southwest recoils against is a real problem.

"Low Fares Further".... Away for ATL
:p

Until they offer Airtran service to thier hub in DAL they are not "integrated"
who do they have handling their integration? Catera?.....blah
Why don't they have any specific dates mentioned for integration timeline....soon is getting old. It's sortta like "one day, the world will be a better place...."

Until they offer Airtran service to thier hub in DAL they are not "integrated"
who do they have handling their integration? Catera?.....blah

It would be pretty unbalancing to offer a premium cabin service at their home base, not to mention the bag fee bugaboo.