Originally Posted by
PDXpress
Southwest is offering a $30/$60/$90 deal from Denver and claims the fares are "based on how far you travel." How then is it that SFO is in the $60 bucket while it's $90 to OAK?
It used to be that OAK was the cheap way to fly to the Bay Area, but it seems the fares to SFO are almost always lower these days, at least from DEN. What gives? Should I just be thankful for the Southwest/United/Frontier battle for DEN-SFO?
Yes, you should be thankful for competition. Yes, Southwest lowers airfares when they come to a city but they also raise them after they drive the competition away. See OAK-SNA before and after AS was driven away. See OAK-PDX now that AS dropped their 737's and switched to QX CRJ's. Don't get me wrong, Southwest is a great airline as is Alaska but you should always check prices, times, and always give the underdog a little boost now and then to stimulate competition. I normally fly AS or QX but flew WN this past Sunday PDX-OAK because their times and prices were better for me.
Safe travels!