Originally Posted by flyerCO
SW is indeed a smart airline for the market it's catering to, but it's not catering to the business traveler. It caters to the low cost no frills person. No meals, No assigned seating, multiple stops to get to your destination, etc.
Works great if you have tons of time on your hands, like working on an empty stomach, and don't mind be squished between two people when you don't check-in early enough to get to board 1st.
As much as I hate Southwest.....
They very much cater to business travelers, depending on the market. They run high frequency flights between some key business centers. If you look at the crowd on those DAL-HOU flights that sometimes run as frequently as every 30 minutes, you won't see low cost no-frills persons. Same with many other intra-Texas routes. St. Louis to Chicago is another example. Intra-California flights on business days have many commuters. Here in Jacksonville, the crowd coming off those 7-8 daily flights to/from Ft. Lauderdale are at least equal part suits and shorts. While a business traveler probably wouldn't want to fly them over long distances, it's the short/frequent service that Southwest does best and what they began with business travelers specifically in mind.
Plus, with online check-in, you can get an A card without queueing up at the airport for a couple hours before-hand.