ulmguy

Low cost carrier refers to the carrier's (primarily operating) costs, not the prices they charge. But yes WN does have a lot of people trained to think they are always the lowest priced airline and to go to their website without checking prices on other airlines first.

nsx

WN was double the competition for a trip next week that I just bought for a family member. I used DL miles, which are tied closely to fares.

Boraxo

So I am going to go on a limb and pick these off:

(1) Carryon bag restrictions would greatly delay the turns and require more personnel as the GA is checking everybody through. So I don't see that happening
(2) Eliminating EBCI makes no sense as that eliminates a potential revenue stream that has proven very profitable.
(3) Non-changeable fares seems bizarre when every other airline finally matched WN and eliminated "change fees"

It is difficult to see what benefits WN could remove from the basic WGA fare bucket. Maybe checked baggage though that will impact the boarding process if more people carry-on. Certainly they could reduce mileage earning - maybe 3 points/$1 for BE fares. Maybe delete A list perks for BE fares or eliminate Companion Pass on BE. But that would just annoy your best customers.

WN does need a fare between WGA and anytime - as it stands it seems there are already multiple WGA fare points and the lowest disappear as the flight fills or that are never offered in peak periods. But the $39 WGA fare gets the same perks as the $159 WGA fare on the same flight, and maybe that is a problem now?

This looks to me like a simple fare increase which was the case when BE was introduced elsewhere.

Prior to the pandemic the main thing I valued on WN was TTF and reliability. As both of those factors have now been superceded by the competition there is little incentive to fly WN anymore except for schedule frequency and secondary airport routings (e.g. OAK-BUR).

Case in point we flew OAK-SLC a year ago on DL. Free bags and only $10 extra for assigned E+ seats. Fare was lower than WN. But if WN flights are full I guess they don't miss us.

djp98374

it’s one thing to say you are limited to two bags ( most GAs can count that high)

ask thrm to cross check pax name and ticket class…good luck in that.

in basic economy they are thrown to last boarding group where space is usually filled up on planes

i guess we see a D boarding group? That will cost millions in system upgrades.

djp98374

southwest operates differently. They usually raise prices under 14 days and under 7 days that makes wanna and BS under the $40 buy up. They utilize more longer planning horizons with business contract class purchases.

almost always other airlines sre better priced for under 2 weeks bookings. It’s always been that way.

for me I fly WN based on routes and times. Some routes they have better flight times or have directs/ one stop vs connections on other airlines.

I said originally in an up post that they likely do an 8 pt group between any and wanna.

thus might be what’s available on some routes when wanna is gone.

the only restrictions I can see them do is affect your boarding group you get. Wanna best they could get is B30. Or they set up a D grouping so you see a non continuous numbers between A and B and C and D. You have a few in A1-15, then A15-B47 which has status, anytime, and this in between group, then C1-C60 are filled and then it goes through D for all seats left on the plane.

They could then offer a lesser buy up to be first in line of these secondary group. On flight with heavy ststus/ anytime fares the Ccpoint could be C20 or worse.

basic economy doesnt come with free changes on airlines. They still come with a fee. Hiteks have nonrefund rates.

they could limit point earning on basic level. The big problem comes with fare changes and rebooking sun their current system where it just goes as cash credit. In a flight change they could change a cancelation fee of around 20% of paid amount.

the last thing they want to do is put such burden on gate/ flight attendants in policing the changes.

dmbolp

They're gonna add more seats to the same planes?

djp98374

right now they have 180 spots

they limit A and B to only those anytime and status you might have 2 in BS, A16-B10 have passes. So 57 PAX

69 Cs give you 117 total. Most planes have 150+ seats.

dmbolp

Still not following. The two configurations today are 143 and 175 seats. A and B today aren't limited to anytime and status; or are you saying this part of your prediction?

jmw

Here is my sad prediction/guess: C15+, no free standby for A list, and no free checked bags as a new BE product. Keep KISS as much as possible.

djp98374

A1-A60= 60 spots. Same for B and C . Total is 180.

so they could change A/B boarding zones to just BS, status, anytime fare bookings. Any empty slots you could pay to get at a less fee thanBS buy up but only if available.

wanna fares with no status the best you can get is C1. From there you go into a D group.

lougord99

I suspect that since no one here has come up with any possibilities that make any sense, WN will also institute a new fare that makes no sense and will simply drive people away in some vague effort to satisfy investors in the short term.

LegalTender

Long term, code-sharing is paging "Bob Jordan" at BWI:

International low-cost airline launches next spring at BWI

nsx

Like Volaris, ATA, or WestJet?

Loose Cannon

When travelling for work ALWAYS check two bags and do the carry on plus personal item. If WN was to move away from two free checked bags up to 50lbs each, I would have no practical reason to stay loyal to WN should I ever be able to return to work. Two free checked bags plus no charge to use overhead bin is a HUGE deal to me.

nineworldseries

WN is clearly losing slash driving away the FF market, those of us that can calculate cost-benefit analyses, care about things like assigned seating, fare class, and what airport we fly into, and aren't hyper price sensitive. WN is seemingly losing calculating flyers in droves and retaining or gaining the people that have no clue what they're doing on an airplane, don't care about what airport they go into, only want the "lowest" fares, won't compare prices, and are loyal to WN based on outdated, false beliefs. They're clearly wanting more unthinking consumers and more inexperienced, uncalculating flyers. There is an apparent "brain drain" as WN experienced flyers flee to the suburbs (legacy carriers) leaving more confused, inexperienced flyers and a more chaotic experience on WN moving forward. That's my theory, at least.