Southwest does charge more for non-advance purchase tickets. Business flyers do fly SWA when they have no other direct alternative- some choose SWA b/c of of their high on-time percentage. Furthermore, SWA's fares (compared to YX and DL) are usually higher for the routes I fly- which would make me think that in fact the price discrimination is supporting the lower prices.

SWA's profitability is based more on their attempts to provide low cost service in areas that they can exploit. This does not mean such a model would be succesful for carriers such as UA, AA, DL, which serve major airports instead of just the low cost option. I'll pass on flying to Islip when going to NYC- and we know I won't be flying SWA on a trip over the pond.

I am grateful SWA exists- as it does sometimes come in convenient- and every now and then it may lower the price on a route I fly on another airline.

I guess what I'm saying is that SWA's model overlaps DL, AA, UA model, but is not the same model- nothing is wrong with either model- but to consider need of DL/UA/AA's product exactly the same as the need for SW's is incorrect. Likewise, each will have a different model to fulfill the demand. To state that elite status/benefits is/are not needed in the SWA model- and, therefore, not in DL/AA/UA model is somewhat like saying that the best way to way to grow apples is also the best way to grow oranges since both are fruit.

As for the rest of the elite line issue...

Something, that I don't think has been mentioned is fixed versus variable costs in providing security- the fact that an increase in flying by elites (due to lesser wait times) may decrease the average cost of security per flyer (to a level of over $2.50 a seg).

[This message has been edited by uncflyer16 (edited 03-29-2002).]

Absolutely not.

Business travelers don't always avoid them. In fact, they frequently flock to them, since they have reasonable last minute fares, unlinke most majors. Also, Southwest may operate from an airport more convenient to you. This is the case in Dallas. Its been a while since I flew Southwest, but I assure you that the planes were not devoid of the business traveler.

Check Southwest's DAL to Houston schedule. There are a *ton* of flights. They used to run an ad campaign that procalaimed "Southwest: The company plane" Southwest is pulling in *major* revenue from business travelers.

However, you do make a good point about Southwest's history of turning a profit. It certainly is the envy of the industry.

[quote]<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by jsmeeker:

Quote:

]Business travelers don't always avoid them. In fact, they frequently flock to them, since they have reasonable last minute fares, unlinke most majors. Also, Southwest may operate from an airport more convenient to you. This is the case in Dallas. Its been a while since I flew Southwest, but I assure you that the planes were not devoid of the business traveler.

Well, let me just say this about Con Air. My butt will never be in their seats. Ever. If the trip is important enough to my employer so that I have to go at a moment's notice, without any chance to get a lower ticket price, it's important enough to not put me on Con Air.

Plus, when you consider that they charge $130 to fly from BWI to Chicago, and UAL and AMR charge like $165 -- well, not having to deal with Con Air is well worth the $35 to me even when it's my own money.

I am not sure what the point of the above post was with context to the current discussion. The bottom-line, however hard it may be to swallow, remains that the business traveller has been subsidising the leisure traveller for a long time and their absence will hurt the majors.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztra...ded-planes.htm

Here are some things to ponder about Southwest vs the majors.

Comparing Southwest to majors is not an apples to apples comparison. Southwest does not fly international. They do not fly trans-continental. Their entire business-model is based on extreme utilization of planes in the short-haul market, lower maintenance costs (single class of planes), lower crew cost (no traditional salary model which is hard to uproot), zero frills service and a carefully selected set of low-cost airports with a lot of freebies thrown in by the locals. Every year, small regional airports BID for Southwest and offer all kind of sops for them. On the other hand the majors have to deal with the NIMBY crowd, noise/flight restrictions and higher fees and delays at the major airport.

And as a number of others have mentioned a LOT of business people do fly Southwest, specially for last-minute travel. Southwest too rewards its flyers with the free Companion Pass etc. and Southwest virtually owns the smaller airports they fly from.

I have seen Islip detoriate from a fun place to fly, to absolute hell. The airport is served by the feeder airlines of the majors and used to service small 30-50 passenger aircraft. Southwest has 5-6 737s scheduled to fly within an hour in the morning. As a result a security check point designed to service 200 people in 2 hours is forced to check 4 times as many. You can guess what happens. I missed my 6:30 flight on American today but luckily got on the 7:30AM flight which was oversold but flew with empty seats since 8 of the 29 passengers could not get through security! The Southwest agents were trying their best to squeeze their passengers through while the rest of us gaped at the scene. In the word of the DL GSC, "Southwest virtually owns the airport, and till the new dedicated Soutwest terminal (being paid for by the town) comes up, you will have to endure this hell".

Southwest has filled a gap in the air-travel market and serves a well-defined niche. However I cannot fly to Europe on Southwest, nor can I go to Hawaii; I need to take a 3 stop flight which takes 10 hours to go from New York (ISP) to California (SJC/LAX). Their product does NOT compare to the product of the majors.

WN not providing a fast-track line is a WN business decision based on the profile of their passengers (and the unwritten leverage they enjoy at the smaller airports they fly from). However the majors who count on their frequent flyers to pay more for the business fares have the right to make sure that their best customers are taken care of.

Denying the majors this right, IMHO, is anti-competitive. It is equivalent to having a $2/gallon gas tax on private automobiles to encourage the use of public transport (Yeah the bus also gets your there so why do you need your car?)

[This message has been edited by SJC2ISP (edited 04-01-2002).]