Pretty obvious that their business strategy is to hike fares here and sacrifice load factors. It's not necessarily a bad strategy -- JetBlue started posting much better financial results a year or two ago when they dramatically raised their fares and eliminated most of their junk fares (like sub $100 transcons).

This is what all the focus on "Business Select" and such is about. WN is looking for customers who will pay more, not the riff-raff that flyertalkers like to make fun of.

Bad for bargain hunters (like me!), but the airline isn't run for the benefit of cheapskate travellers.

In addition to higher fares, the downside to this strategy for customers is fewer flights and low growth. WN isn't going to be adding many flights with load factors in the 60s.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/081002/lath024.html?.v=101