Originally Posted by
Diamondback
It has been discussed in other posts here that low load factors right now are due in part to just a slow time of year for travel. Summer is over, school is back in session, the economy is down. I think these are more likely the reasons your flight was empty rather than any planned efforts of WN.
Well, yeah, it was September, a slow time of year. You're not going to get an empty plane at peak times. Still, I would submit that any flight that has only 18 pax needs to be looked at by the planning dept. There obviously aren't enough people willing to pay the published fares to make the flight practical (at least that day).
Only time will tell whether WN's strategy of bumping up fares (while they tell customers they'll save them money on fees) is the correct one. The number 2 discount airline, AirTran, is also raising fares, but also putting more fannies in the seats (they just had their highest September load factor ever).
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/081002/ny36726.html?.v=1