LegalTender

Big February ad buy

Not clear they're beating FL 2012-2013 loads.

WN had business travel themed-billboards and radio spots in those years.

rsteinmetz70112

It's about 3 years too late.

Many formerly loyal Airtran customers are disaffected by the way Southwest handled the merger. Many former Airtran employees living in Atlanta are not happy with their treatment, causing bad word of mouth.

Service has declined substantially especially international service, add to that prices have gone up substantially

It will take years for Southwest to rebuild the goodwill they have lost.

smmrfld

What merger? FL is defunct, bought by WN and summarily dismantled...and FL ex-pax and ex-employees at some point need to get a grip and recognize that simple fact. Bad-mouthing, bad treatment, whatever...if WN ultimately offers a competitive schedule, fares, and service, then the collective whining will have no impact whatsoever. The market will decide.

rsteinmetz70112

Yes and Southwest has poisoned the Atlanta market. Fares are merely competive, schedules are not particularly advantageous. Service may or may not be better.

Having basically told the Atlanta market it doesn't matter for 4 years, and not offering a compelling story, why would Atlanta passengers care? No change fees is about the only arrow in Southwest's quiver.

My partner and I fly over 100 times a year. I was happy to take the chance for the value proposition on AirTran up to December, I'm undecided about Southwest in the futjre.

I fly to Atlanta a couple of times a month and you (and Southwest ) have no idea how much damage has done.

LegalTender

Competitive service would mean things like legroom+ seating, power ports, food sales and international non-stops. They're not holding terrific cards. But I admire their sponsorship of charities and would love to see DL a little scared.

steved5480

LUV stock is up +139% in the 13 month period January 1st 2014 thru January 30th 2015. Planes (all carriers) are packed, and the price of oil is down.

Nothing against ya'll in ATL, but why in the world would anyone think Southwest (or for that matter Delta, Coca Cola, etc.) give a flip about ya'll any more than any of the other 100 +/- stations?

It's a bidness, nothing more and nothing less.

If they accidentally happen to make a customer happy with their offerings, prices, service, etc., then great. All of the touchy-feely B.S. about community involvement is great, but never forget that ultimately that's all it is....touchy-feely B.S. Delta, Coke and others are equally guilty (or innocent, depending on the angle of your view).

They're in bidness to turn a profit and make money for their shareholders. That is all. Carry on.

toomanybooks

Yeah, #1 stock in the S&P 500. Shocking, actually.

rtalk25

If the first ATL-LGA flight on a weekday (preferrably Monday) morning looks solid, it might be a good indication if it's attracting business pax. That flight has no connecting pax and is all O&D.

If loads are high, fares weren't discounted, and Business Select A1-15 is taken, I'd think it could a be a sign that Southwest is doing well with business pax that are ATL originating.

It's one route, but a key route.

I think all the ATL-Southwest hub/large station flights can always work simply with the connections and/or strength from the other side helping out.

I'm less certain with schedules like ATL-PIT only at 2x daily, with flight departures after 9:30am. The Monday, May 11 schedule shows ATL-PIT running at 11:30am and 8:15pm. That's not going to be competitive (for business pax) especially ATL originating. The PIT-ATL first flight leaves at 6am, which is fine for some PIT originating pax, but it might be too early for some. Delta operates an 8x daily schedule providing more flexibility.

I think even if a few routes like that are discontinued, Southwest will still have a large presence in ATL.

Certain stations like RIC depend on the ATL connecting bank schedule, that is still being continued from AirTran days.

rsteinmetz70112

I don't check the stock market before buying a ticket. As a customer I couldn't care less about their stock price. It also has nothing to do with their performance in Atlanta.

[/QUOTE]Nothing against ya'll in ATL, but why in the world would anyone think Southwest (or for that matter Delta, Coca Cola, etc.) give a flip about ya'll any more than any of the other 100 +/- stations?[/QUOTE]

It's been obvious for some time Southwest doesn't care much about the Atlanta market, and that's puzzling because it make the purchase of Airtran a mystery. I'm not sure what Southwest go from that purchase.

In the end whether Southwest does well in Atlanta or not depends on whether passengers in Atlanta are wiling to buy tickets on Southwest, and that is an open question.

LegalTender

They're clearly concerned about DCA and ATL, which offer alternatives with greater amenities, frequency and destinations. Captive airports (DAL, MDW) and other focus cities aren't struggling - at least, not that I've heard.

Note the ATL campaign leaves out fares, quality of product, frequency and destinations. And even free bags.

HeartAtlanta 1
HeartAtlanta 2

No CP or change fee incentive. Totally lame.

rsteinmetz70112

They have announced special fares for ATL starting at $49. If they do that on a regular basis they should be able to attract a following. Recently that has not been the case and fares to and from Atlanta were often higher that fares between other comparable city pairs. Even sale fare represented less of a discount than other routes (sometimes a little as $9).

hazelrah

This is just a silly comment. Of course it cares about the Atlanta market, just because you don't understand or agree with the strategy doesn't mean that WN doesn't care. There are some head-winds to be sure as follows:

1. The acquisition and assimilation of AirTran took time and effort. Personnel, equipment, gates, and scheduling all took time to get situational awareness and move forward to implementation.
2. The AirTran way of doing business and brand took time to eliminate.
3. A fierce incumbent legacy hub. No one would expect Delta to make things easy.
4. Sometimes things just take time. Southwest paid for ATL, of course it cares.
5. All the major airlines have consolidated. Time to give up the nostalgia for AirTran.

Going forward Southwest will make progress the way it always does- by providing value and customer service.

rsteinmetz70112

From my perspective they haven't shown they were interested in Atlanta, until today. They have almost completely failed to communicate their intentions to the Atlanta market, notwithstanding the tasks involved in merging Airtran into Southwest it would have required relatively little effort to publicly lay out a road map, keep existing customers informed or address the customer service issues they created.

Unlike virtually every other market Southwest has entered when Southwest purchased Airtran there was a large and effective operation in Atlanta. There was no need to grow one. Southwest dismantled that operation, cutting flights by about half and laying off several hundred people. Yes I know they were all offered jobs elsewhere in Southwest but as I understand it a substantial number of those employees decided to leave the company rather than relocate, as did the employees at Airtran Savannah call center when it was closed and relocated to Atlanta.

Throughout this period Southwest did very little to communicate to its customers in the Atlanta area. They increased fares negating the "Southwest Effect" so many people have talked about.

This has not gone unnoticed in the market, often helped along by local media friendly to hometown airline Delta.

Southwest may prosper in Atlanta but they must first dig themselves out of a hole they dug themselves.

The announcement of a "The Month Of Love" for "Heartlanta", may be the beginning of that, I hope so. It would have been better a couple of years ago as the cuts and price increases were making themselves felt at the same time Mr. 15% was working hard on his bonus.

I have to think this sudden focus on "Heartlanta" is the result of some metric showing their competitive position weakening.

What I think doesn't matter, but I will be watching with interest.

BYW Delta has not matched the $49 fares Southwest announced today (yet), but they are offering $73.10 fares which are lower that the previously published Southwest sale fares.

saneman

For all the people deriding AirTran customers whining, well what are the forums for? YOU did notice the name of the topic. if you are an ATL based passenger , the WN acquisition of AirTran was a bad thing. Delta will feel less of an urgency to match prices even if WN announces sales because WN will not have the same number of direct flights from ATL as AirTran did.

One measly 49 sale fare is a start, but that's all it is - a start. Let's see how WN treats ATlanta. I think they realize they took ATL for granted too much and are now working to woo that customer base. It sure was silly for them to downgrade customer service counters when they took over ATL. How much money did they save by making the operating hours of the MARTA customer desk a mystery? It made lives of those of us who took the subway to the airport a little more inconvenient. Yes, ATL residents were spoiled by AirTran's presence because they forced Delta to reduce flights on a lot of their domestic flights. It's not just WN's stock that went up, but Delta's too because they welcome WN's replacement of AirTran.

For my sake, I hope WN does a better job in how they handle ATL. I have no hope they would ever restore the same frequency of direct flights and that is business and I can live with that even if I don't like it. But I can complain about it.

joshua362

Well said saneman! I meet up with several ATL based travelers who look at me like I have 2 heads when I say I travel WN almost exclusively. They don't look at them seriously with the Almighty Delta in place. Maybe its the leisure market WN wants after all, otherwise they wouldn't have dragged their feet in such a manner for so long...