Originally Posted by SEA_Tigger
Well, TED is different from Southwest on a number of points. It's more comfortable (wider seats and more legroom), you can get a seat assignment prior to boarding, you can generate miles that will take you to a lot more places in the United States, much less the world. It has entertainment other then the FAs. Etc. Etc. Etc.
How can the seats be wider? The only benefit you've mentioned that has any appeal to me is pre-assigned seating. More legroom is nice, but I'm used to CO coach, which is pretty tight. As for generating miles, I can't recall the last time I was able to use miles to go where I wanted when I wanted -- I keep them strictly for upgrades.
I know to those who only fly First Class, anything else might as well be WN. But they are 1% of the flying public, if that.
I don't only fly F -- it's just worked out that on my SFO trips "down south," the difference between F and walk-up Y was so small that it was worth buying the F ticket.
The biggest annoyance for me when I fly is not tight seat pitch, indifferent FAs, no-meal long-hauls or any of the other indignities inflicted on us by the airlines, but inexperienced casual flyers who turn a relatively unpleasant, but reasonably efficient, process into chaos -- they're the ones who bring on too many carry ons, hold up boarding, hold up disembarkation, hold up check-in lines, bring on screaming kids, etc., in other words, the "Southwest experience."
I'll do without the amenities. I won't ride Greyhound, whether on the ground or in the air.
You're not the only one, but there are a lot less people like us now then before 9/11 and the Tech BOOM. The airlines have had to adjust to the lower spend.
I wonder, though. The less pleasant air travel becomes, the more I try to avoid it. Meetings that used to take place in-person do so more and more often on the phone. I'm really curious what would happen if an airline said, "We're not going to offer the cheapest tickets -- in fact, we're going to price ourselves 20-30% above the discount carriers. However, we're going to provide service like you remember from the good old days, which includes a FF program that actually means something."
I'd fly 'em. Would you?
Well Economy on the majors (and especially UA and AA) is a far sight better then Economy on WN based on what I've heard and seen on "Airline". So there is still hope.
I know I'm not the first to say it, but "Airline" is the worst kind of advertising for Southwest I could imagine.