Originally Posted by
uastarflyer
This is the key point. I've long asserted WN would regret not going along with the other airline fees, as those fee dollars are 100% pure cash profit.
Now WSJ is saying the same.
Does anyone have any real data to validate? I'd think by end of summer we'd have a solid 9-12 months of data look-back to make an assessment.
What kind of passenger influx does one expect when economic conditions are down, down, down? These are the
changes in April loads from the previous year:
United -10.5
Delta -7.7 (inc. all regionals, apparently even NW)
Alaska -5.9 (excludes Horizon)
American -4.7
US Airways -3.0
JetBlue -2.7
Continental -2.3
AirTran +0.3
Southwest +4.1
Southwest seems to be holding its own. The two airlines that are gouging everyone with fees are doing the worst.