toomanybooks

http://www.wapt.com/money/jackson-ai...510922#!bEAOVf

Now said to be 9th highest in US.

"Southwest Effect" in reverse!

normalone

Chicago - Jackson is my route. It's been incredibly painful for the wallet

alggag

�but, but, but, I thought it was all just a thing of the past and that WN marketing was just pulling wool over people's eyes?!

dw

^ It always frustrates me when people argue that WN isn't cheaper than the legacies anymore. On many routes, it's STILL the mere presence of WN (or B6, VX, etc.) that keeps the legacies in check. On routes with no WN competition, the legacies still gouge travelers (particularly business travelers) in a way that WN won't.

EWR-ORD is a perfect example. To get the lowest fares from the legacies, round-trip purchases are still required. Further, weekday travel that doesn't meet a certain minimum stay requirement (i.e. typical business travel) prices out at fares that are similar to WN's Anytime fares on EWR-MDW.

For example, a two-night, weekday trip with four weeks' advance purchase is currently pricing out as follows:

EWR-ORD
UA: $836 (Non-refundable; $200 change fee)
AA: $836 (Non-refundable; $200 change fee)

EWR-MDW
WN: $250 WGA ($836 for Anytime)

darthbimmer

In small markets it's not necessarily "the Southwest Effect" when WN joins or leaves the market, it's just the law of supply and demand. I think you'd see the same as in Jackson at any small market served by 2 airlines. When airline "B" closes shop the supply of seats is greatly reduced. Airline "A" is able to sell the smaller number of remaining seats only to customers who are willing to pay higher prices. That will continue until either airline "C" spots an opportunity and starts operations there or "A" decides there's better money in increasing its own supply while lowering average prices. In the airline business these operational changes do not happen quickly. The short-term price spike could last months or longer.

rtalk25

Those are high fares from EWR. Maybe it's just an anomoly, or maybe Southwest isn't getting the traction against United on the market pair.

In PHL, there is more competitiveness between US Air and Southwest between PHL-ORD and PHL-MDW, and United is a follower. United is selling $335 r/t out of PHL.

DWooderson

This.

hazelrah

They are clueless, either willfully ignorant or unintentionally - WN is the price leader as you observe.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/...leadership.asp

hazelrah

The chaos at small and medium size airports has been ongoing ever since the onset of consolidation started by Delta/Northwest. Just call any small or medium size airport manager and they will tell you this; it is happening all over the U.S. Jackson is just the latest airport to experience the "benefits of consolidation".

Often1

Nobody cares about which carrier is cheaper by some national metric. All any one passenger cares about is the price of his ticket for his particular flight.

At a small station, when one carrier pulls out, that means a vast drop in capacity and that leads to a significant increase in prices.

It also means that the station could not support the capacity in place. That is a function of the local economy vis-a-vis other markets.

Expect to see significant price increases to/from smaller markets such as this as AA/US takes hold.

hazelrah

This is not what the Jackson airport manager said. Paraphrasing - he said the departure of Southwest led to a decrease in competition (i.e. increased monopolistic concentration) and provided the remaining carriers with the opportunity to increase margins and profitability.

It's been an ongoing trend and happening in small/medium markets served by Delta/Northwest, United/Continental, and yes Southwest/Air Tran. Why should we expect any different with AA/US? For better or worse consolidation is what the industry (and as implicitly agreed to by our government) has decided to do.

rsteinmetz70112

According to the article
That is not an extraordinary increase and less that Southwest's average fares have gone up. Blaming Southwest is probably just convient.

Has anyone looked at the schedule out of Jackson? There is basically no competition on any single route.

Here are the cities you can get to non-stop. All of them are hubs.

DFW (AA)
Charlotte (USA)
Washingtom (USA)
Atlanta (DL)
Houston (UA)
Chicago (UA)

I just checked a fare from Jackson to Houstom about 30 days out and got a tound trip in the $260 range with one stop. That's less that Birmingham to Houston on Southwest, about the same as Memphis Houston and about $20 more than Atlanta Houston. The only nearby Airport which offered subistantially lower fares was New Orleans Houston which was about $100 less.

formeraa

The latest round of airline consolidation is just the latest blow to small and medium-sized airports. Most of the "chaos" stems from deregulation back in the late-70's. Before deregulation, fares were regulated by the government and were primarily based on distance. Also, airlines were required to serve the smaller cities.

Now, it's a virtual free-for-all. Some of the higher fares can be attributed to the higher costs associated with serving small cities (same staffing for fewer flights, etc.), but it's really supply and demand. The most onerous part of the latest round of consolidation was to let Airtran and Southwest merge together because some smaller cities in the Midwest and Southeast have lost "low fare" service.

toomanybooks

Airline deregulation was about the only intelligent thing Jimmy Carter ever did.

I remember those days. I remember how high airfares were relative to what they are today. Much MUCH higher overall for the average flight. Take a trip to the library and pull microfilm newspapers from the '60s and '70s. You'd be shocked at how high airfare was relative to average income..

Why exactly should people in small towns get subsidized on their airfares by guys like me who live in metropolitan areas, put up with all kinds of hassles, and have a much higher cost of living (including taxes)?

I'd like to live in bucolic nowhere and have people give me free money, too.

sdsearch

There is no airline such as USA; it's either US or UA. (Yes, I know they used to be partners, but no longer.) Charlotte is a US hub. Washington DCA is a US hub, but Washington IAD is a UA hub (so Washington USA is ambiguous).