Southwest Rapid Rewards - What's special on long-haul routes?

I have flown Southwest several times on segments under 2 hours. I agree they are KING of the short-haul route. However, is Southwest offering anything special on their new long-haul routes similar to the live DirecTV or gourmet food for sale like JetBlue and Song? I am curious if Southwest can keep leading the pack as these other carriers begin to grow.

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Frequent travel to: ABE, BDL, EYW, GNV, MDT, OKC, PDX, and RDU.

I haven't flown anything longer than HOU-BWI but I do know that WN does not offer meals for sale or in-flight entertainment (movies, audio, DirectTV) on any flights, regardless of length. I imagine the transcon flights probably have an additional drink service but I can't speak from experience. Also, flights over 2.5 hours generally have a
"snack pack" (box with prepackaged Nabisco snacks) in addition to the usual peanuts and beverages. I doubt WN has any plans for meals or entertainment systems as those would require radical departures from their traditional business model, not to mention expensive changes to the planes to accomodate the entertainment systems and additional galley space required.

"Take me as I am or let me go."

If Southwest could speak.

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I've met a lot of educated derelicts during my life.

Having flown four MDW/west coast flights in the last three weeks...don't expect anything too special. There is that "snack box" of cookies, crackers and jelled fruits. And I did find the attendants a little less rushed than on the MDW/SDF flights I often take (after all they have hours to take care of us). I found the planes a little newer than on the SDF and intra-California flights that I have been on. Other than that they were the same 737s that are on all of the routes.

Entertainment? Hot food? Hot towels? Reclining seats that turn into beds? Not on SWA!

I flown FLL-OAK several times. No special. But if you use drink coupons, you can have a lot of drinks.

Well - you get to use the free ticket from flying 4 of the shorthaul roundtrips. That's pretty special to me.

As noted above, not much else is different, other than a slightly better chance you'll get a newer plane.

Thanks all.

I pretty much expected this to be the case. It's all fine with me as a passenger. I would gladly be happy with the free tickets. However, as a stock holder, I have a long-term concern.

I hope Southwest will concentrate on growing its short-haul point to point structure and leave the growth in transcon to the newbies with DirecTV.

With all other factors equal, it would be a no-brainer to go with the live DirecTV and no food over a snack box and a magazine.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by CALeeIII:
...as a stock holder, I have a long-term concern...With all other factors equal...</font>

As another stockholder, I do not have a long term concern. Two of those west coast flights that I was on were overbooked. The others were packed. The long haul/short haul strategy seems to be working. After all, all other factors are not equal (routes, pricing, FF programs, those wonderful SWA FA's songs).

Of course, Direct TV could be added (at a cost) if it turns out that that becomes the "standard". As for me, my laptop has a DVD player and I'll watch what I want from Blockbuster or Netflix. (Although I do wish that SWA would put power outlets on its planes. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif )

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"I was once dissappointed that I didn't get an upgrade, then I saw a homeless man without shoes. Somehow, the upgrade didn't seem all that important."

I've noticed that many of the recent WN TV commercials focus on emphasizing their long-haul routes. Are the loads light or are these routes more lucrative? Is this a trend?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by CALeeIII:
I have flown Southwest several times on segments under 2 hours. I agree they are KING of the short-haul route. However, is Southwest offering anything special on their new long-haul routes similar to the live DirecTV or gourmet food for sale like JetBlue and Song? I am curious if Southwest can keep leading the pack as these other carriers begin to grow.
</font>
They offer 1-stop direct (no plane change) routes, as well as nonstop, which I'm not sure that the others do. And these can be kinda special http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif IF the one stop is soon after you leave (like a stop in Phoenix when traveling cross-country east or a stop in Baltimore when traveling cross-country west), because the through passangers can choose new seats and get first choice on seats (over even the preboarders on the next leg), and there are usually only a small fraction of people who are through passengers. And because of Southwest's turn times, it only costs you about half an hour extra.

As to the corporateish question: So far JetBlue is not competing on any EXACT same routes AFAIK. You have to choose between flying LAX to Islip on Southwest or flying Long Beach to JFK on JetBlue, for example (so either takes you from the general L A area to the general NYC area, but each uses an alternate airport at a different end). Long Beach is a tiny airport, and even if JetBlue takes over all the traffic there, that still won't be much compared to Southwest being at LAX (using almost all of Terminal 1 there already!), BUR (virtually owning the airport), ONT, and SNA (Orange County).

Meanwhile, I don't put Song in the same cateogry of competition as JetBlue. JetBlue has a sound business model. Song is just a division of an airline with an unsound business model. And it's a division that confuses -- it's on one hand too much a part of the parent airline and on the other hand (for people who fly the parent airline TOO) it's not enough a part of the parent airline (doesn't participate in its FF program AFAIK).

And DirectTV sounds better in concept than I think it might be for many people in practice. You're going to be on the flight at random times, so it's not like you're likely to catch a complete movie from start to finish. The sports game you start watching midflight is likely to be ending as you're at baggage claim and have no chance to see it. And if 57 channels are likely to yeild "nothing on", how about 24 (that's the most you get AFAIK on JetBlue)? In fact, it's SHORT HOP that this would make more sense to me (as I wouldn't have to sit through DOZENS of cycles of Headline News on a short hop the way I would on cross country! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ).

I am also curios about the 5 hour and 10 min
flight from SAN-BWI non stop service with nothing but soda booze and snack pak.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JerryFF:
I've noticed that many of the recent WN TV commercials focus on emphasizing their long-haul routes. Are the loads light or are these routes more lucrative? Is this a trend?</font>

WN LUVS U recently spoke about "connecting the dots" - and the trend certainly has been toward the longhauls (additional IND-LAS and CMH-LAS nonstops were the two newest flight additions, for example). Meanwhile, while shorthauls have grown in some routes - BWI-Northeast being a good example, they've withered in others (SDF-STL shrinks down to 3 r/t on the schedule later this fall; IND-STL was dropped altogether a while back - and you can guess what happened to the average fare between the cities).

As you add more n/s flights, I guess you probably can legitimately cut back on some of the shorthauls to the extent that they were "feeder" routes (e.g. you used to connect in STL a lot if going west out of SDF, but now you have PHX and LAS nonstops), but the trend seems awfully skewed to the longhauls for the time being. Of course, since I'm flying out of BWI more than SDF, and because BWI is a big benefeciary of this trend, I really can't complain.

I guess it's working - all of the longhauls I've taken out of BWI over the past 6 months or so have been at or near capacity, whereas mid-size routes (SDF, IND) are a mixed bag - some are packed, while others are at 1/2 to 3/4 capacity.

More long-haul service:

An outdoor billboard near McCarran Airport indicates WN will be starting non-stop LAS-BDL service in September. Don't know if this has been announced elsewhere or in this forum. (Sorry if this duplicates an earlier post.)

I believe the service starts September 10. It appears to currently be available as a one way Internet special at $99.

Edited for typo and additional info.



[This message has been edited by Nevada1K (edited 07-10-2003).]

Wonder why WN does not have red eye flight for cross country trip?

Yosemite: probably because they have a great deal of respect for their employees.

CALeeIII: "gourmet food"; "Song"; are you smoking something illegal?

(I don't much care for the DirecTV thing, either, but that at least is a matter of taste.)

[edited for typo]


[This message has been edited by LexPassenger (edited 07-12-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LexPassenger:
[B]
CALeeIII: "gourmet food"; "Song"; are you smoking something illegal?
</font>


Oops. Sorry, haven't flown Song yet...I was going by the press releases...silly me!

In my many years with WN, I have learned "never say never". We are doing things now that I could only dream of just 5 yrs ago. With that being said, someday you might see direct tv, somekind of meal service and assigned seating but for me, I would rather buy a food at the airport and take it on board. Also I went a bought a personal dvd player for long flights so I can watch what I want and after 26 yrs, I really don't care where I sit on the plane as long as i'm on.

As an employee of WN, you folks are the most important people in the world to me. If it wasn't for you, who know where I would be right now. God bless you all!