Originally Posted by DHAST
So, I'd like to challenge RC's statement that "most people" choose their travel based on schedule and service. In fact, I'd wager that service is dead last, as most leisure travelers are price conscious, and most corporate flunkies have bean counters telling them who they can and cannot fly.
If service was a priority, YX (Midwest Airlines) would be larger than WN, and they would not have cut out their fabulous meals in the face of economic pressures.
I find very little difference in service for domestic flights among most US airlines. So for me it's 1) price and 2) schedule convenience. Southwest obviously does things differently, but I have learned to work around their idiosyncracies and use them as often as I would any other airline. In fact, for west coast travel I use Southwest almost exclusively because they go to more places more frequently than anyone else and charge the same or less than anyone else.
As far as Midwest, I think their lack of size is a conscious effort on their management's part not to expand - or at least to expand very slowly in a way that they can control and not overextend themselves. They have been successful just about every place they have initiated service.