duranza

What other airline will give you a credit on your airfare should it drop in price?
Southwest.
I've done it 2x

usairwaysLamb

Ok, well i cant argue with clueboy4 or whatever his name is, his statements are perfect. I still "hate" SWA, and always will. The open minded responses have proven a great point, Southwest is ahead of the game. Yes, my "hate" maybe part jealousy (being a usairways fan) but the way SWA operates, with employees in bluegeens and wise cracks from the flight attendants, its seems so unprofessional. To me, Southwest is the carnival cruise ship of the sky. What you get is what you see, low budget get on, get off. The beauty of SWAs sucess is, what they offer is exactly what some people want.

AZ Travels the World

Being in PHX, long home of one of WN's largest hubs, I have a luv-hate relationship with them.

I luv the impact they have on fares in the markets they serve. They typically bring a fare rationality to a given route, which is nice. It keeps the competitors honest. In PHX I can almost always fly HP, soon to be US, for a similar fare. In markets that WN doesn't service, such as PHX-DFW, I pay 2x or 3x what I pay for any other comparable distance. That's solely because WN can't run it. So in this respect, I luv them.

But, as someone who flies all the time, I hate flying them. The check-in and security lines in PHX can be ungodly long. There is no elite status so there is no way to go to the head of the line. The cattle-car boarding and lack of seat assignemnts just adds stress to a flight that I don't need.

What I don't understand is why they don't add an elite program, give those elites a priority security line and let them pre-board. These moves would be relatively easy to make. It would make it much harder for frequent business travelers like me to keep going elsewhere. You have to like their on-time record. They're incredibly reliable.

Then it would be come down to the frequent flyer program. As one who uses virtually all of my miles for premium cabin international trips, Rapid Rewards is a non-starter for me. But for those who use miles for free domestic tickets, WN would be a much more viable option.

ballen0420

It is nothing but a big ole cattleheard. If you like feeling like a bunch of cattle, hey great for you this is the airline for you!

exerda

Don't many airlines allow for credits (if restricted to use on future purchases with that airline) if the fare drops? I guess that the more complex fare structures on most of the majors means that to be considered the "same" fare class and to thus get the difference w/o paying a change fee is more difficult than WN's model.

ClueByFour

The latter two are why they don't do the former two.

Southwest has realized that the key to non-labor cost containment is to keep things simple. Elite preboarding ruins that.

Further, you now have two sets of expectations to meet--joe normal taking the kids to see the mouse once a year, and the poor consultant who is on the road every week. It's two completely different sets of expectations, which require some complexity in the operation to meet. They don't do that, because it drives up costs. US is trying to be all things to all people--and so far as I can tell has jacked up a bunch of their VFFs in the process (I'm not taking bets if that is by design or as a result of trying to be all things to all people--I'll leave that for another thread).

I typically split my mileage usage these days--last minute domestic trips and premium cabin international. The former is (or will be, until 2/2006) much more lucrative on LUV. The latter is not possible on LUV. However, it's probably worth noting that most folks who have status on an airline (much less those who frequent the legacy airline forums on Flyertalk) are not the typical flyer in today's environment.

kinglobjaw

Southwest Airlines and why they are idiots:

1) A supposedly cheap experience thats misadvertised

2) A horrible website, hard to manouver

3) No Hawaii, No Canada and No international service

4) Horrible frequent flyer, with messed up rewards credits, and credit card that does not show progress in earning and points

5) No neat bording process loading people on theyre planes like animals loaded on a freight train, no ahead of time seat assingments

6) no elite lvls, no first class and no free upgrades

7) Fools trying to start up "major" operations at Love Field, bringing economy down in Dallas, making peaceful community loud by flying planes.

8) If more than 1 airport in city, major operation are at the smaller airport, worse, less prestigous airport aka Love Field, Midway in Chicago ( by the way go ORD)

9) Trying to break into other airlines airports aka PHL, PIT, FLL, MDW and more. The airlines just cant create its own airport and expand from there.

10) No airline partners, just bankrupt ATA, with non intertwined routes, to serve passenger joinltly, so little earning reward earning opportunities, just some hotels and car rental companies.

11) No nice airplanes, just small old 737 airplanes.

12) Service non proffesional.

13) Nothing to eat on board, just peanuts and tiny beverage

14) Stuck up folks that think cant be beat. Wait to you see the new US Airways you Southwest Ceo Kelly!

15) This wonderful profit making airlines needs a show called "Airline" to earn some big money. And the funny part is that it shows many of the worst aspects of this already horrible airlines.


The question is... Why do so many people follow the blindness of the crowd. Some of us are like horses with patches on our eyes limiting to look in one direction. Time to open up our eyes.

LOT Polish Airlines Youre Under Our Wing www.lot.com

You wont regret flying with US www.usairways.com

sonof1K

In my opinion, the only thing that Southwest did wrong was to show how inept and overpriced the legacy carriers are. Many of the things that Southwest do are in the interest of keeping prices down so that you can get to your destination for the lowest possible price. For example, how many times have you called and spoken to an operator to change seats for a booked ticket. Thats a cost that Southwest doesn't have to bear. That among with fuel hedging, quick aircraft turns that keep planes in the air making money and not on the ground costing money allows Southwest to continually post a proft, all the while treating their employees like people and having possibly the best employee morale in the business.

usairwaysLamb

Exactly!! People hear from the media "Oh Southwest is so great and its cheap, all the other airlines are disorganized and overpriced!" The crowed runs for the "budget airline" when in fact, although SWA breaksup prices sometimes, most major airlines match OR BEAT southwest fares, and offer twice the service luv could ever dream of providing!

EnvoyBoy

I've had one LUV experience--and not as a pax, I assure you!

I was tracking a friend's flight on LUV, which was over 3 hours late due to PHL and many east coast airports being closed, horrid summer storms, out of control (and out of LUV's control) air traffic, etc., etc.

I probably called LUV 4-9 times during those three hours to check status. I never was on hold for more than 30 seconds and most time not at all, as an agent picked up immediately.

I was impressed. Seems that joe traveller has to wait on hold for US, speak to someone in another country these days, and gets a message during irregular ops such as I just described that hold times will be much longer.

They're doing at least that part right. I don't think they're idiots at all. They know their product and they know their market. They--unlike all the others--are making money and had the foresight to hedge oil prices.

goingsomewhere

My airline is better than yours.

trvlr64

AH!? USAIRWAYS stuffs you in a nasty RJ, EJ or prop. I'll take an old 737 anyday.

Have you read the threads about poor service from US employees on here? Obviously not.

And as of September 1, pretzels are gone off US. So either you bring your own snacks or you're not munching anything. And it's the same size beverage on US as it is on WN, NW, AA and others.



I've been flying US for 9 years weekly. I've witnessed their decline. Have you? I can only hope and pray that Doug Parker turns "the new USAirways" into the airline it once was and was supposed to be.

Your carrier of choice.

dhuey

Southwest is wonderful. Even if you've never flown on it, you should be awfully grateful it came around. Had it not, you'd have paid a lot more for your flights -- whichever airline you fly.

kinglobjaw

First off everytime I fly US airways even in coach i get full can of what i get on US Shuttle free alcohol even on the EMB 170 flights ord to/from dca i always get full can not just cup. pretzels situation is true bout nwa not us airways. and all the flight attendants even the worst one would beet the best southwest flight attendant and if youre so protective bout Southwest why are you US1 isnt that first class too nice? im sure youd rather be stuff in an unassigned seat on southwest!!! now rebuttle to more than 3 statements about the idiots at southwest. go on at least prove why you like flying youre cheap filthy unorganized not so hot stuck up hot shot southwest airlines. oh ya while youre at it stop flying US, if youre dislike them so much you hyporcrit!!!

here we have a not so US US flyer!

LOT Polish Airlines You Under Our Wing www.lot.com

You Wont Regret Flying With US www.usairways.com

longing4piedmont

ahhhhh for the good ole days. Were is www.iflyswa.com when you need him?