Wow,
I never thought my change of heart would be the start of such a debate!
First of all, thank you for the kind words--greatly appreciated.
There is merit to much of what EACH of you say, however, let me clarify MY position on the matter.
I live 12 miles from ISP, and 38 miles from JFK, 36 from LGA-depending on which routes I take to get there. Of course, its a no brainer that I would prefer to use ISP, but the choices are fewer and fewer all the time as airlines pull out and routes are cut (WN notwithstanding).
Long ago in a galaxy far far away, I traveled almost exclusively on AA. This was the early 80's, and life was good for a FF. In fact, AA only had one elite level, Gold at the time.
As I changed jobs and the geography of places I needed to travel to changed, I moved to DL (AA did not yet have MIA developed). I remember DL only having one level of elite, called Medallion, and you got there by flying 40,000 miles! Somewhere I still have my Medallion card from 1989 or 1990. In those days I was a regular on the DL 1011 from JFK to FLL, and got to know crews and Crown Room folks very well.
Around 1999 I changed jobs again, to the one I currently hold. I stayed with DL for the first 6 months, making Gold Medallion in about 8 weeks. After a string of missteps with DL, I was "interviewing" new carriers. A DL flight cancelled, and after being rebooked on US, a billing issue arose which was handled by US not only promptly and professionally, but in a manner in which they offered me Gold or Preferred Plus for the rest of the year to try and win me over. It worked. I made Chairman's on my own for about 7 years running, and you all know the rest of the story, with our forming the "Cockroaches" which later morphed into FFOCUS.
Fast forward to today--my primary carriers are AA and CO as you know, and I do fly Jet Blue a little, and even tried Airtran (a mistake). As the airline business continues to change, so do my attitudes about certain carriers, as well as what is important to me...today, it's VALUE, CONVENIENCE, RELIABILITY, SPACE, and CUSTOMER SERVICE, in varying order depending on the individual circumstances.
I expect value for my money. I know fares are going up, frankly, they should have gone up long ago. There is no place in today's economy for the ridiculous $69-$99 one way fares to Florida, Vegas, or anywhere else. Fares SHOULD be based on what it costs to provide the service, not what the competition is doing. I am willing to pay a little more for flexibility, early boarding and other areas covered by Business Select.
What I will NOT pay is the usurious and ripoff fees which airlines continue to charge for short to medium business-heavy flights, where they feel they can charge what they want because people will pay. To me that is criminal. Gouge the business traveler because you're losing money elsewhere....No thank you. Fares still need to be FAIR--mind you not artificially low, but FAIR. I think WN excels at this. Add this to properly managing expectations, and the point goes to WN.
At the same time, I expect reliable service, and adequate customer service if and when something goes wrong. Now nothing went wrong with this trip, but I did notice a difference between how WN was handling some issues and B6 was (they are across from each other in MCO). Again, point goes to WN...although B6 was not bad, a little more finesse would have been in order in what I have seen, and to be fair it's not right to judge by ONE example.
I also expect convenience. Now here is where I had my only issue. My meeting ended early and I wanted to try to get on the 3:45 flight to ISP, rather than the 6:10 which had run late for three days prior. What I did not know was the 3:45 cancelled, so I wound up waiting on line for 45 minutes or so just to get a boarding pass. What I think they should consider is expanding Business Select to dedicated check in lines where and when able, with the agents filling in on regular lines when no BS customers are present. My time is valuable too, and I thought this was the most disappointing point of the trip, although you were all kind enough to suggest workarounds.
Reliability speaks for itself in this case, however, I think WN has a very reliable operation, and it was enhanced in my perception even further by operating on time to ISP while JFK and LGA were ALL being delayed by ATC (I know it's not WN's issue but it still matters in the general scheme of things).
Space is most important to me once on board. I am used to flying in F, which in some cases is nothing more than a larger seat (US). That said, I have done long flights on CO in the exit rows on 737's and have been perfectly happy. The exit rows on WN are just fine, as long as I can get one, and it did appear that most of the other seats had more room than many others. B6 has good legroom as well, with the minimum being 34 inches, and their exit rows are great too but you have to pay for them now (another issue for another day). Also with space it is important to me to be an early boarder, because I carry on, and do not want to deal with gate checking. Interestingly enough, on two full flights, there were no carryon issues--and that was a first!
So I can be flexible, and I hope this explains what matters to me. I do believe there will be occasions for me to fly WN again, and I will remain open to it if it makes sense.
That said, I still PREFER assigned seating and F class where possible, and my experience with WN has done nothing to change that opinion.
I am trying to be objective and look at the big picture, folks. I do not think I am being unreasonable for one who flies over 100K a year, and I am adjusting my expectations where necessary.
What I will NOT do is spend money with a company who does not treat its employees OR customers with respect, and that policy is not just limited to US Airways.
Thanks for listening and enjoy the weekend.
