The stats below were "lifted" from a post by "DOC". What I find interesting is the the experts in low fare cattle class air transport have increased their traffic year over year, yet the majors have gone down. Maybe people have decided if they are not going to be treated with respect and get amenities (food, movies, short wait times, etc), then why not just fly with Southwest or Airtran in the first place? I am not slamming either of these airlines as they provide a good service.

Interesting stats.

Summary of post-9/11 recovery progress.
Dec. 2001 vs. 2000 Airline Pax Traffic
========================================
Air Canada -2.5%
AirTran +5.2%
Alaska -5.1%
American -17.4%
America West -15.0%
Continental -10.6%
Delta -9.8%
Northwest -11.3%
Southwest +0.6%
United -18.1%
US Airways -22.0%
---

The story is that business travellers are flying on leisure fares and using low fare carriers since the recession hit.

The airlines hit the most are the ones that catered especially to high fare business pax.

AA got hit a bit less than UA I imagine because of the TW acquisition -- TW had turned into more of a carrier of low fare leisure travellers in recent years.

I sorta like AirTran. U/G to "business" (a more comfortable chair) for $25 each segment. No entertainment/meal service though, and really limited map.

From MDW-ATL it's great.

What I'd really like to know is why WN sticks with their "cattle call" boarding process. I'd consider flying them more if I could arrange for a decent seat ahead of time. For biz travellers it's the worst in terms of seating because these are the travellers who are most likely to arrive at the last minute and get stuck in a middle.

It must save them a lot of dough? If so, how?

Mikey � I have long wondered about the rational at SW as well. It is especially irksome if one must check a bag to stand in line once at check in and again at the gate. I�m sure there must be an economic reason for it but eludes me as well. Perhaps others at FT have an insight to share on this.

Open seating is seen as a way of getting the pax loaded fast. Usually coupled with an enforced minimum check in time.

(UK budget carriers is 30mins I think, arrive 29min b4 and you don't get on the plane with reports that this is enforced hard even if the plane is 3 hours late departing).

As much as I prefer the front cabin, IF WN were to go where I wanna' go, I'd be a fool not to give 'em more of a "whirl!"

They avoid the big airports I use like the plague!

I have also met some of the company exec's and they seem to have a great attitude as well. It all starts at the top you know!

This is one of the reasons I did not fly Southwest (WN) for a long time. However last year I began using them for my short, west coast flights and came to appreciate their business model. Yes, I still dislike
standing in line to stand in line, however they are almost never late.

They don't assign seats because it allows them to turn a plane in 20 minutes - pretty amazing. Because of this they are able to have more stops in more cities and carry more passengers.

Back to the original post, I agree 100%. I think many business travelers have decided if you're not going to get a meal, special services, etc. Why fly with AA/UA/NW/US when you can fly on a discount carrier that arrives on time. One more thing, I have yet to meet a rude Southwest employee.


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Ken in Sacramento

The above replies are correct, WN does not assign seats so they can turn planes much much faster than the other majors. However, as a frequent passenger on the PHX-AUS runs last fall, I can attest the fastest turn I witnessed was 27 minutes. So much for the 20 minute turns they used to do a few years ago. They recently became more unionized. You be the judge if there's a connection.

As I see it, the two downfalls of WN are the lack of assigned seating and the FF program. They have no airline partners, and their free tickets expire in a year. Pretty hard to go anywhere but their destination with Rapid Rewards.

IMHO, the majors could do a much better job of boarding.

Just board back to front, and have an FA monitor that pax are not clogging the forward bins.

Take the last five rows, then the next five toward the front, etc.

If you miss your call, t.s. You wait until the end to board.

No more of this "elite pax board first." Most of the time I hang back anyway because I like the aisle and hate to be jostled.

Meal or no meal I can't stand Southwest. Makes me wait in 3 lines.I feel the slow turmaround is dued to passengers with lots of carry on's, which is still a problem even after Sep 11. I know a number of people complained loudly on beening limited and then try to cheat.

Even if you get to the aiport early, unless you are aggressive you can still not get a decent seat. Because I've seen people saving seats for late arrivals. You also have to be quick in getting in the last 2 lines. Because these determines where you sit. I flew SW once because it was cheap and didn't want to waste mt ff miles. After being herded like cattle. I say forget it.

There are other cost savings as well as those already identified. No calls to reservations asking for a change in seat assignments. Simpler reservations software (no seat maps), No fancy boarding passes (paper).

I believe WN is being forced to abandon the anonymous plastic boarding passes they have used, because of the luggage-matching rule coming into effect. Don't know if they will begin assigning seats.

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Middle_Seat

No I don't think they'll assign seats, but they are issuing boarding passes with names on them.

Not assigning seats saves 1) phone calls to assign seats, 2) phone calls to change seat assignments, 3) time boarding, 4) time booking, 5) time issuing the ticket. I wouldn't be surprised if it saves 2% or more in gross revenue.

This past Wednesday I had to visit a customer in S. Plainfield NJ, last minute trip so CO wanted $780 to EWR from ORF and AA/US wanted $675 to LGA. There were three of us that had to be there so we flew Southwest to BWI - r/t cost $150 and 5 additional car hours.

That's why.

"No more of this "elite pax board first." Most of the time I hang back anyway because I like the aisle and hate to be jostled."

Disagree and agree... (I'm a libra, what'd ya expect?)

Anywhoo, the way I see it, the most efficent way to board the aircraft is

1 First class and special needs PAX (Wheel chair only though)

Rear to front every five rows.

Get out of line, go to the end of the line.

ENFORCE ENFORCE ENFORCE!!!

Seriously, the thing I see over and over is one guy in row 7 trying to figure out where he's going to stuff his carry on while the guy in row 9 tries to get by etc etc. Just board from the rear, five rows at a time and ENFORCE that. If someone comes up with the wrong row ... (MUUUUUUUAHAHAHAHA!!!) .. RANDOM SCREEN THEM!



Regards,
-Bouncer-




[This message has been edited by Bouncer (edited 01-25-2002).]