Originally Posted by
Guava
Exactly, this is why I think the US management team is making a big mistake. They are now stuck in the middle. I think the chance of US going bankrupt within 6 months to a year will be pretty high because they can't compete with the like of Southwest and yet, their products are now materialy inferior to the legacy airlines. There is little reason to fly the U.S. except convenience and that means its customer base will be limited to to its hubs. You can't survive on just that.
US is materially inferior to the legacies in terms of service and product, and materially inferior to WN in terms of policies and service. Unless you live in a market where US is 1) the only option, or 2) hubbed (offering non-stops to a lot of places), it is more painful to fly US than another option.
US can't play both sides at once. They either need to go all the way over to a LCC, including WN's customer-friendly policies, or it needs to go all the way back to a legacy and offer services that the others don't. There is, simply, no market differentiation and brand confusion... and that's bad for the customer.