Originally Posted by nsx

I've been commuting on Southwest for years, racking up well over 500 flights. Starting last summer I have been occasionally flying B6 for transcon trips when it's convenient. Here are my thoughts, for what they're worth.

Likes:

Wider seats

Unbeatable seat pitch in back

TV (although it can cut into my ability to sleep sometimes)

Endless in flight snacks and drinks.

All of these features are the best in the industry, IMHO.


Dislikes:

Customers who buy the last seats at the highest fare get the worst seats. I prefer Southwest's system in which everyone has the same chance to get an "A" BP and thus a good seat, starting 24 hours before the flight.

Flight delays can be extreme, with no alternative due to thin service. My first B6 flight was delayed 3 hours.

TrueBlue is arguably one of the world's least attractive FF programs. I have called TrueBlue a placebo, but that's a bit unfair since I just figured out how to get an award before my oldest credits expire, and since Rapid Rewards has suffered serious devaluation.

Intriguing:

The selling process at JetBlue is straightforward, and I wonder whether or not it's a little too much so. Prices start low and creep up as the flight fills. I doubt that this is the best way to capture the consumer surplus.

I have been watching Southwest's increasingly elaborate efforts to manage yields by choking off the supply of low fares on popular flights, along with their ideosyncratic Ding offerings. I have to believe that there is a method to WN's madness, in which case the straightforward B6 approach must leave revenue on the table. WN's flights are among the least filled in the industry, improving the product significantly. (I can't be the only one who seeks out less full flights so I have more room, and B6's flights have been jam-packed recently.)

Full disclosure: I became a LUV stockholder last year when I first noticed WN's aggressive fare changes, figuring that what they took with one hand I would then get back with the other. So far this has worked out very well for me.

As to the debate about JBLU stock, I must say that as soon as I read about the maintenance "holiday" for the A320s and the ambitious explansion plans I believed JBLU would go to zero during that process. Rapid expansion requires huge amounts of capital, and I don't see how smaller planes can be as profitable as larger ones.

That said, I have no doubt that B6 will survive even if it does file Chapter 11 during the next few years. The product is superb, and so are the people. Everything else can be adjusted as necessary to beat the competition. Fuel costs may be hurting profits on long-hauls right now, but the market price on those routes must and will increase to cover the extra cost. Therefore this factor will NOT hurt B6 in the long run. The stock price crunch will come from expansion pains and the onset of maintenance costs.

BTW, I also believe that stock in satellite radio companies is worth $0, so obviously the stock market doesn't my pespective on popular companies that absorb capital like a sponge.