<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MrMan:
As mentioned above WN is the only major airline I know that if there is an empty seat its yours. Just another reason they have been profitable for 30 years</font>
Almost all of the major airlines have awards where any empty seat is yours. In fact, if you want to fly at Christmas or Thanksgiving, you can get a seat on AA without too much trouble, whereas you can't get anything on WN.
Southwest has been profitable for 30 years for a wide variety of reasons. They are a great airline if your travel needs fit without their niche. I don't mean to diss their program, but it isn't the silver bullet for everyone.
FWIW, I can accumulate 50,000 AA miles for that any-seat award much easier and faster than I can accumulate 16 WN credits.