I was just about to post the same message, as I checked early December MKE-FLL RT. With about 85% of the plane unsold, the RT fare is $1230...nobody in their right mind would book at this fare, and thus, it discourages any new reservations that YX would have to worry about reaccommodating on another carrier. Award travel does not come up at all..message states that dates not available (not even for miles & cash award, which is usually fairly easy to get). Only "C" and "Y" class show as available, or sometimes, only "Y," which is the highest possible fare. FLL shows only "Y" class available in October, when the MKE-FLL service was to resume with 717 service, after the summer hiatus.

MKE-LAX shows only "C" and "Y" class for the MD80 nonstop; all MKE-LAS nonstops, however, currently show normal fare buckets being available. MKE-SFO looks safe as a 717 direct flight with a 40 minute layover on the ground at MCI.

I know some people did not care for Carol Skornicka (maybe because of her former political life), but I personally feel she handled the press in a much more professional and capable manner. Her interviews presented a more confident face of the company, even during the AirTran crisis days.

When I watched the unedited video of his interview the other day, Brophy looked like he was facing a firing squad, instead of a reporter with a mike.

This job is not for him.

While a newbie to this sight, (I mainly post on airliners.net) I have been involved in the debate over the FL takeover attempt last year and am familiar with Skornika's handling of the matter. I was one of the supporters of the deal, but hindsight works on both sides of the argument. (Maybe the FL takeover would have been a disaster, but the present situation is the only proof we have of the outcome of the YX decision)

Anyway, in reference to Brophy's performance, yes I agree not so good. A little perspective vs the situation Skornika managed though, makes it hard to make a fair comparison. Carol was pompous and entrenched BUT was dealaing with a fight she could likely win. Brophy is dealing with a fight that looks impossible to win. And while Skornika's participation in the fight allowed her to leave the airline "victorious," and more "respected" than Brophy, her attitude in hindsight seems much less genuine considering she knew or likely knew during the mudslinging (Yes, FL guilty too) that she was on her way out.

So, while she gets to retire with a final victory, and while most of her predictions and arguments for a standalone YX proved to be the opposite of the current situation (I give her nobody knew the oil shock would be this bad), she isn't the one having to eat crow now. Unfortunately for Brophy, she left that task to him. He's stuck answering for a faltering airline while she enjoys retirement and doesn't have to explain how her sharp tongue turned out to be nothing more than the same misguided posturing she so eloquently accused FL of.

Regarding the potential of Hartford being dropped, I am a frequent flier on that route, and I'm very surprised. YX has served Hartford for about 10 years now, and has appeared very loyal to the market- having about the same times for that span (departures at 11:15am and 7:45pm, with a third departure at 5:30pm during some monthsw), which made it appear to me they had a good thing going. I know the load factors reported on here are a better indicator of how the route has performed than my times flying the route; but out of those times they have been full, with potentially high yield customers. I see the extremely high refundable fares listed starting in mid-September, so that's a good indication of when it's going to be dropped. I wish Midwest luck, but I wonder if it's too little too late; or jumping the gun if oil continues to trend back down.

What a shame for those cities that are gone from Midwest Airlines/Midwest Connect especially MKG. Too bad they aren't able to just eliminate the midday flight and just keep the stopover to/from FNT have an early flight and late night flight. Well NWA will soon have a monopoly at MKG and you can bet fares are gonna go through the roof. What a shame. I enjoyed flying on YX to get home to see family looks like it will be GRR from now on out, to bad. I really wish YX would have taken the deal from FL, I think there would still be flights to MKG with FL but again I could be wrong. In all honesty I'm amazed you can still fly into MKG. Did you know they are trying to court service to ORD? Who would be interested in that with high fuel prices. Maybe fuel will come down. I remember reading a while back that ExpressJet was interested in taking over the MKE-MKG flights when it was announced that SkyWest was taking over the routes and there was uncertainty with MKG, could they still be interested, any ideas?

I've noticed more and more codeshare flights connecting at IND, i.e. MKE to FLL, TPA, RSW; all codeshare connections seem to be at IND, nothing at MSP.

Besides SAN, the possible elimination of BDL is a head scratcher. I would never have guessed those two routes would be on the chopping block. Loads were always decent...even when extra segments were added. Thinking about SAN some more, I did notice that on most of my flights there were always a lot of people from MKE, sometimes as high as 50 who would remain on the plane during the quick stop in MCI. I always wondered how much of the local MCI-SAN market Midwest had??? In the case of BDL, the fare levels seemed to be fairly high I definately considered that a business market. Knope...any insight on these two moves.

With these latest cutbacks, only one route remains from all of the additions added during 2007...MCI-SEA.

I wonder how long it will take AirTran to revise its MKE schedules. I definately expect FLL and possibly MIA to be added, with another RSW segment likely too. Maybe they'll reconsider ending BWI service as well.

AirTran used to operate MKE-RSW 2x daily. I would not be surprised to see the second daily flight added back; the demand should be able to support it.

The cruise traffic, especially on the weekend, needs the FLL service. With UA abandoning FLL, there are not a lot of nonstops from the midwest, anymore, not even out of ORD. SE Fla is a huge metropolitan area with not only leisure traffic, but business flyers, as well. With the expansion of FLL, it is an ideal midpoint between MIA and PBI.

I suspect if the trend towards moderating oil prices continue AirTran will jump on these routes you just mentioned and then some. If oil climbs back to $147 next week again, then forget it the oil bubble hasn't burst yet. My guess is oil inventories will continue to grow and the price per bbl will continue to fall. It has to happen eventually because oil refineries are cutting back on production of gasoline. The route cuts mentioned at the beginning of this thread are already devastating to me. :(

First of all, welcome to FlyerTalk cheapoATL!

You made some good points. As you mentioned, Midwest is not going to win the PR battle with the restructuring. However, Midwest did go through a very similar situation back in 2002-2003, starting with the flight attendants strike and culminating with the near bankruptcy filing and eventual restructuring. For about a six month period there was a near steady stream of bad news about Midwest. She did a pretty good job of handling the media then.

The current situation Midwest finds itself in seems to be out of Brophy's league. The golden rule in PR is to release bad news on Friday afternoons because it has better potential to get swept under the rug or overlooked because most people aren't tuned into the news on Friday nights or saturdays. Yesterday would have been a perfect time to release the schedule cuts as Midwest already knew what they were going to be. Instead, Brophy appears to be a fan of the "drip-drip" affect. Bits and pieces of information are released here and there, with the news getting progressively worse. Maybe he plans to issue a big press release Monday morning trumpeting all of the cities/routes being trimmed.

Would be interesting to hear from Midwest customers who have confirmed reservations on flights that are being eliminated.

• Have you been contacted by YX to notify you of the change?
• If contacted, has YX made alternate arrangements to your satisfaction?
• If the alternate arrangements are not satisfactory, have you been offered a full refund and left to make your own alternate arrangements?
• If you have upcoming award travel using miles from your MM acount, have you been rebooked by YX on another flight using your miles?

Looks like Fort Myers may be incorrectly included on the list of dropped destinations. If you go into February, MKE-RSW definitely has all fare buckets for sale. It appears that perhaps the seasonal resumption of RSW service is planned to start later, but not dropped completely. That would make two mainline cities and eight CRJ cities on the block.

You pretty much nailed it. The SAN-MCI routes were typically full, and the elimination of the route is a shock. However, it was typically about 45% MKE, 50% MCI, and 5% other destinations like (MSN/LGA/BOS/DCA). Also, of the 45% to MKE, this is including those continuing on to other cities like GRB/CWA/GRR/IMT, etc.

From what I can tell, the lower fares are for codeshare flights with NW, routed thru IND. The nonstop MKE-RSW flights price at straight coach, refundable fare.

For Knope
 

flight : Fort Lauderdale, FL to Milwaukee, WI:Mon, March 02, 2009 (13 results)
You are currently viewing all flights.
View: 8 morning flights from $262, or 3 afternoon flights from $262, or 2 evening flights from $262.
Flight(s) Departs Arrives Stops Web
Special Discount Coach Regular Coach Business
Class
(more advance purchase) (less advance purchase)
70/435 6:15 AM 10:46 AM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
73/435 7:15 AM 10:46 AM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
73/446 7:15 AM 2:40 PM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
65/446 8:45 AM 2:40 PM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
40/446 9:40 AM 2:40 PM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
40/442 9:40 AM 5:18 PM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
107/446 11:14 AM 2:40 PM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
107/442 11:14 AM 5:18 PM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
88/442 12:00 PM 5:18 PM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
80/440 3:14 PM 11:08 PM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
74/440 3:48 PM 11:08 PM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
81/440 6:17 PM 11:08 PM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*
72/440 7:18 PM 11:08 PM 1 stop $262* $299* $359* $419* $479* $509* $589*

To select your flights, click on the radio button (circle) to the left of the fare listing.


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The above is from Airtran's website.

A week ago only Coach fares existed, none of the discounted fares were posted for March 2. Could this indicate they may be planning a MKE-FLL nonstop? Thus far, only connecting flights are displayed.