NoStressHere

rumor
no basis

just some water cooler chit chat

pinniped

I can see where bin space can get tight on any airline, but honestly it seems like WN has fewer issues with full bins and widespread gate-checking, almost certainly because they permit all passengers to check bags. That takes some pressure off of the boarding process already, so it seems to me that WN doesn't really need to take extreme action to remove even more carry-on bags from the cabin.

I sit in about 17C, even when I'm boarding on a BS ticket. I go to the back, chill out, and watch the plane fill up from there. I almost never see someone forced to gate-check. Contrast to any legacy carrier, where they're often gate-checking 20-30 bags on a 737.

kennycrudup

I'm in the next-to-rear row; by the time someone's actually there out of necessity, there's no bin space left, and the frequency is quite higher (at least one, and sometimes 2-4 depending on load).

RAAng

Agree with every word you say. I've been flying to Europe my last couple vacations, and whenever I book the plane ticket I long for Southwest. I've never had a problem with Early Bird, always get decent seats, overhead spaces, and I have to lug less onto the plane because of my two free bags.

rasheed

As others have said, unfortunately Southwest is not going to get much leverage to do things like a basic economy-like fare. I just saw the Summer sale go out, and in my checking, Southwest had not held a formal sale for this period since January. Yes, in many markets the sale price was offered on a flight or two each day if it was still empty.

I think Southwest is not really a premium experience, but will need to do some work to get some flyers back as well. I think most FF who flop among a few airlines continue to choose away from Southwest unless there is a particular reason (pricing or timing).

obunewbie17

I had to do a double take...I fly WN all the time, but had never really considered it as a premium product....but after a bit of thought, you're pretty accurate. Pricing is similar to any other carrier (although you can get a bargain every so often). I'm a big fan of the boarding process, and I haven't had a bad customer service experience.

But -- theoretically -- if they were to consider a fourth fare category, I don't know that I'd solely attribute it to the issues they've had right now. It's short term. However, other carriers are releasing their ultra low cost options, and it's worth at least taking a hard look at their business and deciding if they should release one also. But for the traveler who's goal is to get from one city to another (no regard for customer service, points, etc), creating a new fare would be a way to stay competitive with what competitors are doing. WN isn't always the cheapest option anymore, and they could lose a portion of their legacy customer base because of it.

ryw

Had a kneejerk bad reaction to thinking about a devaluation of a WGA fare. Seems like it wouldn't help with much.

But...thinking longer, I could hypothetically see an added a 4th fare bucket. A basic economy offering that's about $15 less than WGA consisting of only a personal item (no carry on), boarding number C30+ (assigned in check in order), and 2 free checked bags. The bags flying free would still differentiate Southwest from other basic economy offerings.

Though of course, I could foresee a few problems - likely current WGA fares would just become the WN Basic Economy fare, and new WGA fares would be $15 more than current offerings. I also don't know how they'd deal with A-listers in this case, as they'd probably just buy the cheap tickets and board at A61. (Unless you prohibited A-list benefits with the lowest fare, ala DL, but I don't see how that could be enforced.)

jeffandnicole

Companies like people like you.

Let's say there's 150 seats on a plane. We all know A1-A15 are for Business Select, and the fare difference and benefits for Anytime from BS is so small that it's a wonder if anyone really purchases this option with any regularity. Thus, at least 90% of the people getting on the plane are already flying WGA. Compound that with the fact that rarely are A1-A15 filled (or A1-A5 for that matter), and you see that nearly everyone is just paying WGA fares anyway.

So why be nervous? Because of a silly rumor?

tatterdema

If they have to devalue something, I sure hope it is limiting carry on. In fact it wouldn't bother me at all. If they start charging for checked bags, now that would be a different story, I would not be happy at all.

LegalTender

Gotta believe it's costing US airlines a fortune. I suspect the "one bag and one personal item" allowance may end this year.

European carriers permit a single carry-on piece and experience boarding times - first call to door closed - in the 15-20 minute range, even on wide bodies.

kennycrudup

I'm A-List Preferred, and via segments (vs. points) as I can plan my travel in advance well enough to take advantage of WGAs, while retaining the benefits (and more) of BS fliers (and from what I can see ex-SJC, ~70% of the time BS is at least half full). But if WN goes ahead with changes like this and elites don't get exemptions, then WN becomes less attractive as a carrier, and who knows- I may end up looking at alternate carriers, depending on route and purpose and making travel far less convenient (which may end up meaning less of it).

... so yeah, nervous. Who knows what they'll do, and they have made adverse changes before (i.e., the proactive cancellation of parallel, overlapping tickets, which was handy when going to SoCal as I wasn't sure which city I'd needed to be in 'till day-of, so I'd buy both possible locations early on).

MrMan

My thought is if you thought it was a long shot why post it here, instead of leaving it with the junior high kids at airliners

ursine1

And because I'm open to my opinion being influenced by the carefully considered thoughts of others.

Gig103

I am a cynic, but believe that rumors like these get started (not by OP, but in general) by the airline to gauge responses. Some well-placed internet posts and tweets are cheaper than hiring a company to do a phone or email survey (which also gives it away). I'm thinking about when Amazon raised Prime memberships in 2014 - all the media were reporting a $120 rumored price, and folks were upset, and then when the 'rumor' was confirmed it was 'only' $99.

pinniped

A recent example was the Marriott/Starwood merger. Prior to the announcement of the details a couple weeks ago, speculation ranged from the death of the travel packages to a complete devaluation of all elite levels to full dynamic award pricing, effectively killing the hotel loyalty program concept in general. (Well, leaving Hyatt to soldier on alone...) It make me wonder if Marriott didn't seed a little of that themselves.

Then the announcement came, and the sky didn't fall. Aspirational awards still exist. Travel Packages still exist. SPG's Ambassador level still exists. Most elements of both programs remain in the new program, and most elites will see their status stay the same or improve on paper. Flyertalkers are lamenting a few really detailed things that might go away, but by and large people don't appear to be flocking to Hyatt. Expectations were so low, people were so nervous, that when they came out and said, essentially, "if you have lounge access now, you'll have it in the future - and we'll honor your status at almost all brands including resorts", people were by and large happy. (This includes me.)

The other shoe to drop could be massive category creep when they merge the properties, but again...as long as it isn't a total bloodbath people will probably be happy.