I wish I had time to do justice to this reply, but running to a meeting.....

What is up with MFE?? MTY!!

MTY is the 3rd (2nd?) largest city in Mexico-- fares to MTY are HIGH!! It's about a 2 hour drive by tollway from MTY to MFE, so many, many MTY fliers drive to MFE, aprk at the airport for free (!) and fly MFE-IAH-The World.

The Southwest effect has a greater impact on local Valley (US side) originating traffic-- for them, the drive to HRL for a few bucks savings is worth it. However, for MTY folks, they're already saving a hundred or two by driving 2 hours MTY-MFE.... the extra 45 min drive to HRL may not be worth the added time/effort to save another $50. (What is that economics principle-- economies of scale? Can't remember from Econ 101... somebody give me a pizza example )

MTY is a hard market, fare wise: lots of business travelers... always a shrimp cold plate in F and sandwich in Y on the 40 min flight. Even with the plane 1/2 full, IAH-MTY is a cash cow. Don't know if CO will ever switch to all RJs for MTY.... losing a F cabin will mean losing high yield passengers.

My background for speaking: I lived in MTY for 12 months, and have made at least 20 flights to/from the area.... half of which I flew into MFE and took the bus to save $$... and I fall into the category of people who are content with saving $$ by using MFE vs. MTY, and HRL isn't worth the added inconvenience.