expert7700

The article is incorrect, at least as it relates to Southwest. I bought numerous tickets last night, which are now selling for the same "base" fare, but the tax/gov't fee column has gone up from $7.00 to $20-60 (by 15% + the federal segment fee)

iahphx

Right. That's what I'm seeing. But Rick is a smart guy, so something is weird about this. Maybe they're rolling back the fare increase on the more expensive buckets (not the cheap seats)?

expert7700

Looks like Rick was right, at least for Business Select (and I suspect Full fare).

I booked & fllew 3 business select fares in the past 10 days, and they are pricing out nearly the same now as they did then. $472 then vs $471.70 now and $759 now vs $756.50 then.

Unfortunately though every WGA fares I was booking this past week and weekend has gone up this morning due WN not reducing the base fares before taxes went back on.

iahphx

This must be what's going on: leisure fares have spiked, but not biz fares. We're finding similar results here (at least regarding the leisure fares):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...ing-tax-7.html

iahphx

So, at the end of the day, does anyone know whether WN raised fares today with the end of the ticket tax?

Of the markets I was watching, it did seem like they rolled back some fare increases but retained others. I was watching the very competitive PHX-LAX market (there may be more participants in that market than any other!) and it did seem like WN reduced its base fares to cover the tax. But in the PHL-Florida markets (at least other than MCO), WN clearly raised fares today. The cheapest all in price went to $300 -- which, historically, is a crazy high fare to ask for travellers in these leisure markets.

johnslloyd

There are some clever-evil bean counters in WN Dallas headquarters. GK must be licking his chops over this tax windfall. The vast reservoir of customer good will built up under Herb and Colleen will soon be entirely gone.

I do, however, sincerely thank our new FT CSRs, Gabe, Whit, Verity for their efforts in looking out for us pax.

gogreyhound

Who cares what FareCompare says when you have an admisstion from WN of what they were doing. Here is a transcript of their second quarter conference call with analysts on August 4.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External...xUeXBlPTI=&t=1

The important part is near the bottom of page 4, with chief financial officer Laura Wright speaking: "From July 23 through August 1 we have sold tickets with $36 million of incremental revenue based in the fare increase that we took after the expiration of the excise tax. However, we should expect a seasonal adjustment going forward if the tax is not reinstated."

Of course, none of this will make it into the BFF commercials. But GK & Co. want the Wall Street boys to know that WN, the cuddly discounters that they are, are trying to squeeze every last dollar out of passengers that they can. Because the tax lapsed during the busy summer season, they could get away with it. Had the congressional impasse gone into autumn, they might have had to cut the fares.

gogreyhound

For a much longer explanation from GK himself, start in the middle of Page 11 with the question by Bill Greene of Morgan Stanley.

ursine1

has it been decided yet if the airlines will have to pay those taxes?