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Gary Kelly: AirTran absorption to be completed in 2014

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Gary Kelly: AirTran absorption to be completed in 2014

 
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Old Jan 17, 2014, 7:54 pm
  #31  
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Originally Posted by rsteinmetz70112
Airtran was also investing in new planes and expansion of it's route structure, something Southwest was not doing. Their fleet and route structure was flat for 2-3 years before the purchase with new planes being used to replace older less economical planes.
You may have your airlines confused.

Air Tran fleet count

1/08: 137 aircraft
2/09: 136
1/10: 138
12/10: 138

Southwest

year end 2007: 520 aircraft
ye 2008: 537 aircraft
ye 2009: 537 aircraft
ye 2010: 548 aircraft

Source: annual reports from the respective firms

WN added 5.7 Billion revenue passenger miles in the period; FL, 2.3 Billion.

Last edited by 3Cforme; Jan 17, 2014 at 8:03 pm
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Old Jan 18, 2014, 8:18 am
  #32  
 
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Gary Kelly: AirTran absorption to be completed in 2014

I will miss my AirTran. I'm sitting in Biz again with another elite upgrade as I'm making a quick segment jaunt to JAX to keep my Elite and A List status.

I will likely only fly WN when travelung with pers, as pet fees are low but the rest of my biz is going to DL.
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Old Jan 18, 2014, 8:30 am
  #33  
 
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Originally Posted by tfc3rid
I will miss my AirTran. I'm sitting in Biz again with another elite upgrade as I'm making a quick segment jaunt to JAX to keep my Elite and A List status.

I will likely only fly WN when travelung with pers, as pet fees are low but the rest of my biz is going to DL.
I'll miss Air Tran too; I loved the assigned seating and business. I used to throw a lot of business at WN and Air Tran both.

You know Delta was never going to let Air Tran win. If need be Delta'd throw a crappy CRJ on an Air Tran route to kill yields. At least WN has the scale to compete.
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Old Jan 18, 2014, 6:27 pm
  #34  
 
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[QUOTE=hazelrah;22177568]
Originally Posted by tfc3rid

I'll miss Air Tran too; I loved the assigned seating and business. I used to throw a lot of business at WN and Air Tran both.

You know Delta was never going to let Air Tran win. If need be Delta'd throw a crappy CRJ on an Air Tran route to kill yields. At least WN has the scale to compete.
Well, not sure if WN really does when it comes to ATL. They are drastically reducing the number of flights out and cutting the whole FL hub here to adhere to their product. Which won't sit well in a place where you can basically fly DL anywhere nonstop for the same price as WN.
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Old Jan 18, 2014, 10:08 pm
  #35  
 
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Last edited by traveller001; Jan 18, 2014 at 10:38 pm
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Old Jan 19, 2014, 11:16 am
  #36  
 
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It is absolutely pointless to fly WN out of ATL if you have a Delta credit card and/or any level of status.
Why give up assigned seats, free bags, nonstop flights and similar fares for second-grade lunch line boarding and trips that take seven hours (because of at least one stop) instead of three?
Not to mention the horrible, horrible bag service WN has provided at ATL since replacing the FL crew with their contractors. Minimum of 40-minute wait to retrieve a checked bag via WN. With DL, it's rare that the bag isn't there by the time I take the plane train from my gate.
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Old Jan 19, 2014, 12:33 pm
  #37  
 
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Originally Posted by melissaru
It is absolutely pointless to fly WN out of ATL if you have a Delta credit card and/or any level of status.
Why give up assigned seats, free bags, nonstop flights and similar fares for second-grade lunch line boarding and trips that take seven hours (because of at least one stop) instead of three?
Not to mention the horrible, horrible bag service WN has provided at ATL since replacing the FL crew with their contractors. Minimum of 40-minute wait to retrieve a checked bag via WN. With DL, it's rare that the bag isn't there by the time I take the plane train from my gate.
Clearly WN needs to get its service level up at ATL to compete. ATL Being a mega-hub for Delta has many advantages for the Atlantan with status.

I've had status on Delta and I have to disagree with your comments on boarding. Even with an assigned seat on Delta there is always a scrum at the door and a lot of gate lice.

I pay for early-bird, get an A position, and I find the lining up to be very orderly and friendly.
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Old Jan 19, 2014, 3:40 pm
  #38  
 
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Originally Posted by hazelrah
Clearly WN needs to get its service level up at ATL to compete. ATL Being a mega-hub for Delta has many advantages for the Atlantan with status.

I've had status on Delta and I have to disagree with your comments on boarding. Even with an assigned seat on Delta there is always a scrum at the door and a lot of gate lice.

I pay for early-bird, get an A position, and I find the lining up to be very orderly and friendly.
Yes, but even with the gate lice, you still know where you're sitting once you board. And, since you know where you're sitting, you don't HAVE to engage with the gate lice unless you have overhead carry-on luggage.
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Old Jan 19, 2014, 6:49 pm
  #39  
 
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Gary Kelly: AirTran absorption to be completed in 2014

So far out of ATL, I havent flown in WN. We only use FL/WN when we are flying to either NYC or MKE with pets, as its significantly cheaper than DL. As for everything else, the rest of my biz goes to DL. Used to be 100% on FL.
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Old Jan 19, 2014, 8:51 pm
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by 3Cforme
You may have your airlines confused.

Air Tran fleet count

1/08: 137 aircraft
2/09: 136
1/10: 138
12/10: 138

Southwest

year end 2007: 520 aircraft
ye 2008: 537 aircraft
ye 2009: 537 aircraft
ye 2010: 548 aircraft

Source: annual reports from the respective firms

WN added 5.7 Billion revenue passenger miles in the period; FL, 2.3 Billion.
WN added 28 aircraft and FL added just one but added nearly half the revenue passenger miles against WN.

Thinking back this might have been FL adding West Coast and red-eyes. International did build over that time. Both accounting for longer legs.

That of course says nothing about yields.. Guessing WN wins on that side with 28 aircraft flying more trips per day per day than revenue passenger miles indicate.
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