Originally Posted by
lougord99
Never is a very long time. It is quite meaningless in the above statement.
Quite agreed.
1. The check is in the mail.
3. We won't nickel and dime our passengers.
4. We will never charge change fees.
Based on how long #3 lasted, don't count on the party lasting a whole lot longer.
Originally Posted by
Mr. July
I think at first it was LUV and KISS(es) - trying to extract a change fee added a level of complexity to a simple system (KISS)...
You should have stopped there!
Originally Posted by
Mr. July
No change fee is a huge differentiator and has incredible value. For whatever reason it's still around, may it live long.
Yes, incredible value to the passenger. Your first comment, though, was very close to hitting the nail on the head. My answer to the question is:
WN doesn't charge change fees because they can't.
Think about the fees WN has had over the years: excess bag fees; award reissuance fees; more recently pet fees and UM fees. None of those fees were ever "attached" to a ticket. You have too many bags? Pay a fee to the lady at the counter when you drop them off. You want us to reissue an award? Send us the info and the money and someone in Dallas will take care of it. Pet or minor? Pay the nice lady at the counter. In every case there is a
gatekeeper to collect the fee and cause or allow something to happen.
Now think about the most common fees WN does not charge: fuel surcharge; change fee; short-notice award ticketing. All those fees are very closely tied to ticketing transactions. WN doesn't charge them
because they can't.
Or at least...they
couldn't. EBCI is a potential game changer, especially with the new
à la carte method of collecting it. It
suggests that WN may be moving closer to having the ability to attach fees to ticketing transactions. The facts that EBCI still can't be paid with TTF and that it isn't refunded when you cancel suggest there may still be a level of separation between the ticketing transaction and the EBCI fee.
So, yes, in the beginning they kept it simple. When change fees came on the scene they were small and SWA didn't want to be bothered rewriting the software for some $25 fees. Now with fees as high as they are the reprogramming cost can be pretty easily justified. "No change fees, Denver!" doesn't reassure me, given the relatively weak commitment to no change fees in the shareholder meeting prepared statements. If they are just now giving the software the ability to charge change fees, they can certainly make them variable by market, or introduce "change fee holidays" where you get a limited window to change without a fee. (Of course they'd probably zero out the low fare buckets during the change fee holiday, similar to the "50% off" city promo specials.)
I have little doubt that one thing IT is working on now, or soon will be, is adding the ability to charge fees tied to ticketing transactions. There may not be plans to adopt them yet, but once the capability exists they are no longer off the table has they have been in the past.