Think back to recent and not so recent events - Delta's Song failed experiment, Delta's Bankruptcy, Competitive battle royale in MKE, the purchase of Northwest airlines (consolidation), feed stuffing through the Atlanta hub.
They're all connected IMO; they are all related to Delta's struggle to compete against the LCCs, first Air Tran, now Southwest and to a lesser degree Jet Blue and to a small degree against Spirit.
My observation is that there is certain degree of myopia of those who are loyal to Delta. Folks know one thing about one thing, (for instance the ATL hub) and think they know it all. Delta and Southwest have fundamentally different approaches to air service i.e. hub and spoke and point-to-point.
Let's take the ATL hub for instance. If you expect WN to compete in the same manner as Air Tran, you will be sorely disappointed. Also, the days of WN coming into a new market with salutes, fireworks, and $50 promo. fares are largely over. Delta, to its credit, has realized the competitive threat from "red-bellies" in ATL well in advance of WN incursion, and has stuffed feed through ATL and adjusted its fares to match. Those who opine " well WN is not cheaper than Delta" - what a surprise that Delta matches fares at its mega-fortress home hub.
Yes, WN is not always the cheapest carrier anymore, and SHOCK, sometimes it may even be more expensive. WN's cost advantage has indeed been eroded by all the surviving legacies declaring bankruptcy and slimming down their costs, and WN pays industry leading wages.
Competition is a great thing and I say bring it and bring more. I'm not a loyalist, I'm a free agent. When planning a trip I always search multiple carriers (including Southwest) and book on the basis of price and convenience. Sometimes this is Southwest, Allegiant, United, sometime even Delta. I shop 'em all. BTW I l always book a premium economy seat/ early-bird, assigned seat,
I acknowledge that every market is different and one can't generalize what is true in ATL is true in DTW or MSP or MKE. Here in MKE the market is occasionally ultra- competitive. Maybe it's some last vestige of the NW taint petulantly defending a Midwest market.
