toomanybooks

Dude, we have heard it all 100000 times here. Not gonna respond with WN's positives again.

If you care to learn why WN is so successful, start searching in this forum. But somehow I do not think you do. Even so much as THINKING about the old-style boarding from TEN YEARS AGO is silly.

If you do not like WN, fly others.

joshua362

Wrong again!

nsx

He also forgot that Southwest reduced the formerly generous seat pitch.

And he forgot the "in the United States" part of the thread title.

You can win a race by standing still if everyone else is running backwards.

catsfroggy1

I see why they are successful because they are cheap. That is what people look for in airlines these days. Like I said my home airport is BWI if I fly domestic I have to fly Southwest if I want a direct flight. So I fly them all the time. This is a discussion if they are the premium airline in the US. Of course they are not premium. They are a budget airline with no frills. It is like saying the Dollar store is the luxury shopping destination in the US.

catsfroggy1

I only fly Southwest domestic. I have no choice if I don't want to drive an hour and a half to get to the airport. I have flown Delta in the past when the company I used to work for had a client in Cincinnati. That is about the only national flight left out of BWI that isn't Southwest. I used to fly Air Tran before Southwest took them over in the big mergers. Much preferred Air Tran as I could get an assigned seat.

toomanybooks

Not sure where you got the idea they are cheap. They USED to be, relatively, but mostly no more.

Plenty of complaints here that they are too expensive now, even compared to legacy business/first on certain routes.

Not successful because they are cheap. Mostly it's because they do not fly Barbie jets, they offer great flexibility, lots of frequency on certain routes, the Companion Pass, and their employees tend to be nicer and lie less frequently/blatantly than those of legacies.

pilsn3r

Being in Dallas, Southwest used to be cheap prior to the repeal of the Wright Amendment. After, they raised their prices (or others lowered their prices) and now I end up flying AA as they are often cheaper than Southwest and have more direct flights. I've heard that they are cheaper than other airlines out of Hobby and other TX cities, but definitely not Dallas/Love.

catsfroggy1

They are pretty darn cheap flying out of BWI. The companion pass is pricing. Nicer is an opinion. None of this stuff is premium. Its not like the Flight Attendants are going out of their way to treat you better on the flight. They don't have to do anything compared to real airlines. Other than give you peanuts or pretzels and a can of soda. Or do they even give you the full can? I could be wrong but my thought is that Southwest is so freaking cheap they only give you a small cup of beverage and part of a can.

I have had some bad experiences with Southwest attendants. But I fly Southwest a lot more than other airlines so I won't use that to judge them as it might just be the odds of flying with them so much that I ended up with a bad one.

littlemookie

I'm not sure why it matters how we classify Southwest. They have a unique business model that works for them. As a customer, I know what I get from Southwest and decide to fly them with eyes wide open. I consider them an airline, just like any other ariline (LCC, legacy, ULCC, etc.). Their boarding process is unique, they don't interline, and their pricing can be high or low depending on the market. You won't be flying on a turboprop, you'll be setting an alarm for exactly 24 hours before departure to check-in, and you can always check 2 bags for free.

What makes Southwest special in my view, is the award flight flexibility. The ability to rebook at the lower price allows me to book a flight, and capture a fare sale months later, with no penalty. The ability to cancel the same day of the flight is a tremendous value, and the companion pass is by far the best perk of any US airline.

I don't care how you classify Southwest, the lines have blurred over the last few years, and all the airlines have thrived, despite different strategies.

Kevin AA

So America's largest airline, by passengers boarded (and for many many years now) is not a "real" airline?

sdsearch

I'd say it is real, even though I'd say it is not premium. The only non-real airline in the USA I'm familiar with (which does happen to be premium) is this one:

catsfroggy1

Like I said American's choose the cheapest. And the fact that Southwest can't even code share means I have to travel to Philadelphia or Dulles to fly internationally. Norwegian decided to stop flying from BWI.

By a real airline I mean one that can serve meals, have assigned seats or code share. Like every other freaking airline. If i didn't live in a hub city I wouldn't really care so much.

Kacee

I take it you're referring to no fees for baggage or to change a ticket (apart from the upfare). Because of course it's a myth that WN has lower fares than the legacies.

sdsearch

Really? Spirit serves meals? Sun Country serves meals? Frontier (of today) serves meals? (And they are the most "freaking" of all the airlines !)

I think you['re confused because you probably don't fly ULCCs (which are way lower tier than even Southwest) and thus don't realize there are a whole bunch of domestic airlines out there that don't serve meals, it's just that most of them are way smaller than Southwest (and perhaps don't fly from your home airport?).

Btw, who cares whether they can code share or not? I think perhaps you meant to say that can interline*? (But then, DL refuses to interline with AA, and I thought you called them both real airlines?)

Code sharing is simply selling flights under an alternate airline's name. Big deal, compare to interlining which means the ability to check bags across multiple airlines on the same ticket. Southwest couldn't do that even with its partners , though hopefully that might change when the new reservation system is more fully in place at Southwest. (it was their old "homemade" reservation system that created the inabilities to codeshare or interline.)

Proudelitist

As WN does not offer a premium product, it is not a premium airline. It is a no-frills airline, and very limited in the product it delivers in terms of int'l, code share, direct routes trans con, alliances, lounges, classes beyond Y etc.