Originally Posted by
3Cforme
Oh, come now: Southwest flies ~3,000 mainline flights a day that don't go to Orlando or Las Vegas.
Sure, sure, I didn't mean to suggest Southwest doesn't fly elsewhere. I am speaking of people I know. Las Vegas and Orlando are key 'vacation' destinations and from middle of the country non-hub cities, Southwest offers BETTER routes to those destinations than any legacy carrier does . For my family members (that all fly southwest most of the time), they are headed either to Las Vegas or Orlando about 75% of the time. The other times, they are going to other cities that Southwest flies to as well (Denver, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles).
The Legacies are great for a couple of reasons (beyond their ever devaluating frequent flyer programs) - international links, extensive small-airport connectivity through hubs (as is my case), and high frequency of flights between their hubs and major US cities for business travelers that care about flight
times as much as flight
days. None of these matter for someone living in Tulsa Oklahoma or Kansas City Missouri (etc) and primarily looking to go to Vegas, Disney World, Disney Land, Ski trip in Colorado, or catch a cruise from Galveston TX for a week. In other words, for business travel, Southwest may have 'odd connections', but for the typical Southwest customer I know, the legacies are the ones with unnecessary connections.