Southwest used to be the cheapest airline in the skies, and I frequently tolerated the "city bus" atmosphere just for the better fare. Now they are more expensive than the regular airlines! I wonder how long these geniuses are still going to be in business...

 

Well that's what happens when the other airlines go bankrupt..Unfortunately We are the ones the suffer..I fly Southwest all the time..because I like the cheap fairs and usually its a nonstop flight!

 

Are they really more expensive? I've taken advantage of their $99 coast-to-coast fares a couple times and they also run Internet specials. I like Southwest.

 

I know that they dropped several fares last week and some other airlines matched them. It just seems that the fare for any particular day, time and destination is a crapshoot for who is the cheapest.

Makes it hard to rack up frequent flier miles.

 

Sondra, there's always Vanguard.

Oh wait...they went bankrupt, too.

Nevermind!

 

They were the only airline company to not lay off a single employee after 9/11, they must be doing something right...

 

yeah they are making money hand over fist

 

Not true. Jet Blue hasn't made any layoffs, in fact they've added routes and added to their labor pool.

SW has become a bit of a crap shoot. This weekend (Labor Day) my wife and I are flying to N. CA. It's costing us less than $100/head. Not too bad. A few weekends ago, my old man flew down from Oakland to Orange County and it cost him and his wife more than $200/head. It seems to be all about the timing and luck of the draw.

I pretty much hate SW as I hate the no preassigned seating debacle. It's just added stress at an already stressful place (the freaking airport) that I don't need but for short trips from S. CA they're hard to beat. At least they take off (thank you very little America Worst) and they're usually a lot cheaper than the competition (try United or American to Phoenix sometime if you really want to get bent).

We fly back to NYC at least once a quarter to visit my wife's family and we've just fallen in love with JetBlue. They only fly out of Long Beach (adds about 20 minutes to our drive) and only go into JFK but we've always been on time (in not early) get great service and are comfortable. The rates are cheap (we usually pay around $250/person round trip) and we're hooked.

Heck, one flight we had the CEO of the airlines serving us drinks as he was coming out to open up a new route to Washington DC the next day. That's the hands on touch that will keep my business.

If only Jet Blue can keep the unions out and stay focused on what makes them good, they'll keep my business. Stick with the new planes, select routes, and comfortable seats. Avoid the useless meals, grouchy flight attendants and high fares and I'm happy.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Da Hapa
[B]Not true.

 

SW has a streamlined operations for example all fleet planes are 737s so mechanics and flight crews only need training on one type of plane.

I've used them before but the lack of 1st class for a long x country puts me off. But if they're cheap enough maybe buy 2 seats and spread out.