Southwest Airlines - Why they are so good

[christoofar 0]

Ok, we all know the famous "Cattle Car" company. The news is now saying their profit has jumped 41%.

I can only see why. They opened up in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and are RAPING US Airways. A round trip ticket to Pitts from Phila used to cost over $400 on USAir, now it's less than $100. My goodness!

And comparing employees to employees, USAir's workers seem less than enthusiastic about helping you... I know some ticket counter employees first names on Southwest, and they won't give me an attitute if I go on standby.

I wonder why they're doing so well.

Hmmmmph.

____________________________________________________________
I'm RICK JAMES! Fo shizzle.

[mailin 0]

USAir sucks.

I took them twice down to FL. Once they lost my luggage. Another time I got stuck in Philly when I got booted off my flight for 7 f'ing hours. By the time I got into Orlando I had to get a hotel rather than to the DZ to set up my tent - so I drove down to Cocoa Beach and paid $80 for a room that I was honest to god scared of.

Never again. I hate USAir.


Jen

Arianna Frances

[Anvilbrother 0]

I never had a bad time with south west, and if you take a travel voucher if you have time, they hook you up good. I stayed in orlando for a few hours, and got $340!

Postes r made from an iPad or iPhone. Spelling and gramhair mistakes guaranteed move along,

[StreetScooby 5]

Don't ever fly AirTrans. Flew them once round trip from NYC to Memphis. I fully expected someone to get on the flight with a live chicken. Flight(s) were horrible in every way.

On the flight back, one of the two rear mounted engines was not working properly. The pilot had to _yank_ us back onto the center line _3_ times before rotation. Then, he easily lost 5k during a left hand turn at 15k. Scared me to death.

We are all engines of karma

[mailin 0]

agreed! Independance Air on the other hand was a delight to fly down to FL last year. Very pleased.

I've never had any trouble with SW either - always enjoyed them.



Jen

Arianna Frances

[mx757 4]

Southwest Airlines is NOT good. they are a cancer on the industry..

[GTAVercetti 0]

Quote

Southwest Airlines is NOT good. they are a cancer on the industry..

Hey, there is a nice angry statement with no reason to back it up. Nice.

Did I walk into SC by accident?

Why yes, my license number is a palindrome. Thank you for noticing.

[NWFlyer 2]

Didn't we just have this discussion?

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1715750

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[BlindBrick 0]

Quote

Quote

Southwest Airlines is NOT good. they are a cancer on the industry..

Hey, there is a nice angry statement with no reason to back it up.

Might be because he's an A&P.

SouthWest is not cancer but evolution in an industry that direly needed. True, it left the other competitors with some brusies, but to quote the old addage "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs".

Of course, the part left unsaid is that it really sucks to be one of the eggs.

-Blind

"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

[Beerlight 0]

Quote

SouthWest is not cancer but evolution in an industry that direly needed.

Also, there's a reason SW is making money now when other carriers are running on a tight margin. SW had foresight to buy their fuel contracts up to 2 years in advance at low prices.... Good on em....

[mx757 4]

Quote

Quote

SouthWest is not cancer but evolution in an industry that direly needed.

Also, there's a reason SW is making money now when other carriers are running on a tight margin. SW had foresight to buy their fuel contracts up to 2 years in advance at low prices.... Good on em....

have to give their[SWA] managment credit for good forsight to lock into fuel hedges. don't kno why no one else did.. I been reading in paper for 2 years that fuel prices would go up... etc. guess they had their heads buried in the sand?

[mx757 4]

Quote

Quote

Quote

Southwest Airlines is NOT good. they are a cancer on the industry..

Hey, there is a nice angry statement with no reason to back it up.

Might be because he's an A&P.

southwest is responable for outsourcing of aircraft maintenance jobs to cheap 3rd party outfits. already United & Northwst are sending their aircraft to China & Koera for overhaul. United had one of their airbus nose gear turn 180 on landing because they forgot to put a bolt in when this aircraft came back from overseas 3rd party repair shop. their aircrafts are coming back with lot of problems too. Jet Blue and American West send their aircraft to El Salador for overhaul. I doubt they can even read english in repair manuals and their happy to make 300 a month, second their not FAAa licensed mechanics and they have no drug background checks or training on these aircrafts. Southwest sends their aircraft to Canada and cheap 3rd party outfit in Arizona. trust me in few years were going see lot maintenance relate crashes due to this stuff.

Were hearing about lot work that's been "signed off" as done but later found never have been done..

[mx757 4]

this is from CNN.com

Carriers are also outsourcing maintenance overseas and flying planes longer. This has the U.S. Transportation Department worried about safety, according to the latest U.S. government report.

[skyejumper 0]

I just flew Southwest from CA to NY, for $380. Holy crap... they DON'T serve food (except for oreos and stale graham crackers), and I had a stopover AND a layover. On a bright note, I had a lot of free drink vouchers, so after a few G&T's the flights went by quicker.

Southwest is REALLY good for short flights... AZ, CA, NV. The flight attendants and pilots are usually funny, and an hour or hour and a half flight is just enough time to down a few drinks and be on your merry way.

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

southwest is responable for outsourcing of aircraft maintenance jobs to cheap 3rd party outfits. already United & Northwst are sending their aircraft to China & Koera for overhaul. United had one of their airbus nose gear turn 180 on landing because they forgot to put a bolt in when this aircraft came back from overseas 3rd party repair shop. their aircrafts are coming back with lot of problems too. Jet Blue and American West send their aircraft to El Salador for overhaul. I doubt they can even read english in repair manuals and their happy to make 300 a month, second their not FAAa licensed mechanics and they have no drug background checks or training on these aircrafts. Southwest sends their aircraft to Canada and cheap 3rd party outfit in Arizona. trust me in few years were going see lot maintenance relate crashes due to this stuff.

I'm a bit confused. JB and AW go to El Salvador. United/NW go to the far East (and not Japan).

Whereas SW goes American/Canadian and they're the cancer?!

[Andy9o8 0]

As I said in the other thread, I just flew Southwest round trip between Ft Lauderdale & Boston (a 3-hour flight) on an Internet special for $63 each way. Made the cattle call seating worth it. They gave me genuine peanuts AND a granola bar. Dig that.

Re: the outsourcing: yeah, ok, maybe they're evil, but hell, it's corporate-friendly days these days, and they're all evil. So might as well save a buck.

[bob.dino 0]

Ryanair and Easyjet in Europe are doing the same thing to the major airlines. They're ruthless about cost containment. As long as time is not 100% critical, I'll fly with Ryanair any day of the week. 20% of the cost, 80% of the service of full-service airlines.

[lisamariewillbe 1]

how about , why are they funny. On my way up here i took my alti out cause A. Im a dork and B I wanted to see where we were pressureized at. Flgith atten asks what it is and i explain. Then she says "well I hope you dont relay on that cause were really at 40 grand" so i explained to her why it was only registering 8 grand and she still before she walked away told me to get a new one.

Sudsy Fist: i don't think i'd ever say this
Sudsy Fist: but you're looking damn sudsydoable in this

[Meux 0]

Focused Leadership.

They started with a simple plan, they implemented it, they haven't been distracted from it. The energy of the leadership is transmitted to the workforce and viola', an overnight success (25 years in the making)

I work for a legacy airline and I marvel at their accomplishments. Bravo for them!!

Mo

[AirMail 0]

Quote

Ryanair and Easyjet in Europe are doing the same thing to the major airlines. They're ruthless about cost containment. As long as time is not 100% critical, I'll fly with Ryanair any day of the week. 20% of the cost, 80% of the service of full-service airlines.

I would like to know why EasyJet can fly round trip from Pisa, Italy to Berlin for $30 US. Why does it cost $300 to fly round trip from Buffalo to Boston and back?

P-

--
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
Postal Rodriguez, Muff 3342

[maxmadmax 8]

Along time ago Southwest Airlines understood that you don't make money on the ground....you make money when you're in the air. Hence the cattle car hurry up and board.

As long as I can remeber they have never had a crash aka fatality.

Granted theyare a no frills...but shit buy a $20 steak and take it aboard.

And for the most part they are a bunch of sassy bastards....I like 'em

Don't go away mad....just go away!

[freakyrat 1]

Funny, I've never had a bad flight on Airtran and once when I was flying from Houston to Ft. Lauderdale I was one who volunteered to get bumped in Atlanta as they needed several seats. I got a free flight coupon and got booked in the business class section on the next flight and got to FLL about two hours later.

They also fly to Bloomington-Normal. The town with the grandiose 14 million dollar terminal building in the middle of a farm field that is very close to Rantoul and the WFFC.

Southwest is very good at what they do and that's why they have been consistently profitable and cities around the US clamor to try to get them to serve their airports. It was written that they send all kinds of gifts to Southwest hdqtrs. to back their request up.

Also a real secret is emerging in the airline industry. Niche airlines like Hooters Air, Allegiant Air and Trans-Meridian are entering secondary markets with service to popular vacation spots like Vegas and Orlando using full-size jets. Most of these secondary airports are close to the airports that the big boys fly out and these carriers have no problem filling seats operating from them. Allegiant Air is going to start weekend service to Vegas from my hometown airport which is 90 miles from Chicago on Aug 5th and already their 150 MD-80 jet flights are solidly booked up.

Southwest got their start by flying from secondary airports near major city centers and just recently branched out to major airports like PIT and PHL to take advantage of the weaknesses of USAIR. Even though this went against the original Southwest philosophy they nonetheless have shown they can make money at it and stimulate traffic. PIT is going to re-open up 12 unused USAIR gates for USAIR again because of this traffic stimulation.

Chris

[bob.dino 0]

Local authorities in Europe were paying Ryanair to land flights at local airports. The reasoning was that it was much easier to attract businesses to the area if they had good transport links, and the extra tourist euro weren't exactly bad news either.

[freakyrat 1]

I forgot the one local airport where the other airlines raised hell about Rynair getting unfairley subsidized.

I think it was Brussels Charleroi. My hometown gave Allegiant Air 50% off landing fees, couter and gate rents etc. They also offered it to the present carriers serving the airport if they would start new service to other cities.

Chris