Lcc And My Next Door Neighbor---whats A Lcc He Asks

[twoturnin]

Having flown this dude around for 10 yrs in corporate aviation and known him for 28 yrs--he tells me about the pricing of our LCC airline----he checked our price to florida destination-- $450 & a 1.5 hr drive to arpt---next he called SW out of KRDU----you guessed it-----$250 & a 2.5 hr drive. I couldnt even needle him about that difference. Hope Mr.Parker gets the East Coast squared away QUICK before the sucking sound (of money going down the sink) begins to sound like a ROAR.

 

[UWCactus]

Having flown this dude around for 10 yrs in corporate aviation and known him for 28 yrs--he tells me about the pricing of our LCC airline----he checked our price to florida destination-- $450 & a 1.5 hr drive to arpt---next he called SW out of KRDU----you guessed it-----$250 & a 2.5 hr drive. I couldnt even needle him about that difference. Hope Mr.Parker gets the East Coast squared away QUICK before the sucking sound (of money going down the sink) begins to sound like a ROAR.

Though that may be true..keep in mind fares are based on availablity..so maybe our amount of cheaper fares have already been sold in that market and theirs have not. Its possible. Dont just take the average joes word on this. The HP guys have been pretty good about revenue/yield management the past 12 months. Did he compare the same departure point? In addition, in some markets Southwest can afford to let seats go cheaper than competitors, it's just their cost structure.

 

[pitguy]

"... Southwest can afford to let seats go cheaper than competitors, it's just their cost structure..."


Don't buy a house in Phoenix unless you can pay it off in 18 to 24 months.

 

[UPNAWAY]

Though that may be true..keep in mind fares are based on availablity..so maybe our amount of cheaper fares have already been sold in that market and theirs have not. Its possible.

This is the case usually when people see big price differences.
In PHX to LAS I hear people complain all the time about why is LUV cheaper.
We have the same price buckets but HP's higher load factor causes the cheaper seats to sell out faster.
Why does HP fill up quicker? Probably connecting traffic?
It would be interesting to see what our and theirs O&D is in OHX to LAS. I am sure theirs is more local traffic.

 

[twoturnin]

The Boss says "so what" when I told her of this post---let them do that out of KRDU---they dont have the frequency from KRDU we do from KCLT to florida. Its probably just me being REAL antsie wanting SOMETHING to change QUICK in the day to day operation of this place---just tired of the last 15 yrs of watching my company make Southwest what they are today---they dont know it but they owe so much to AAA for their success in the east coast markets. Just come on in SW and have another big chunk of cake and ice cream at ours expense---time for this crap to stop or lets all go home.

 

[TheNewLowFare]

You're not going to get the lowest fare all the time. I used to work in reservations way back in 89 and the fares are always subject to change. There are different fare types Q, F, V21 , Y fare etc... The lowest fare that matches southwest might have been Q or V fares, if those are sold out it goes up to the next available fare and so on.
Also keep in mind, it's not always cheaper at WN sometimes. It depends on the routing etc.

I have spoken to a gate agent and she said there's a way to get the lowest fare sometimes through hotwire, but those type of tickets are terrible. She said they have tons of restrictions and you don't get milleage because some of them have tons of illegal connections.

 

[bluetoad]

check out AAA LGA to Boston round trip on 8 Nov. That is the day jetBlue starts their service. US Airways: $500 plus taxes. Jetblue $50 plus taxes. Is $450 worth the taxi ride to JFK? Granted its an introductory rate for jetblue but cant see jetblue charging more than 299 roundtrip in the future. 😱

 

[phasersonstun2]

"... Southwest can afford to let seats go cheaper than competitors, it's just their cost structure..."
Don't buy a house in Phoenix unless you can pay it off in 18 to 24 months.

Truly you are uninformed. Buy a house in PHX... NOW! In 18-24 months, it will have doubled in value.

 

[UWCactus]

Truly you are uninformed. Buy a house in PHX... NOW! In 18-24 months, it will have doubled in value.

Having worked side by side with southwest airlines since early 80's, there is simply no way to compare other carriers (older carriers) to the Southwest cost structure. They have only recently have strayed from their route structure, they still only fly 737's, i beleive they only interline with ATA, they don't serve food and never have. There are so many reasons why they have an advantage, unfortunately, carries such as US cannot back track and only fly one equipment, get ride of 1st class, unassigning seats etc,..the list goes on. They have done a great job, but they are the main reasoin HP had to change it's original plan of 737 only, west of the missisipi, coach class, low fares, no frills. They hit us too hard in Phoenix early on and we had differentiate outselves since....it's been catch up ever since.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Speaking of LCC & low fares......

Low-cost US Airways hasn't meant lower fares

"Despite US Airways' merger with the low-cost carrier America West Airlines, the airline's fares for flights out of Pittsburgh International Airport have not fallen."

Jim

 

[delldude]

"... Southwest can afford to let seats go cheaper than competitors, it's just their cost structure..."
Don't buy a house in Phoenix unless you can pay it off in 18 to 24 months.

watch out pitguy the negativity police will be at your door in minutes!

 

[pitguy]

Based on knowledge I have and my opinion:
The point I was trying to make is before this deal of the 'new' airline was brought together Airways was on the brink of going chapter 7 liquidation. American West was in very poor shape itself. If you look back even after they came out of chapter 11 themselves they never have truly brought their operation into line. So these scam artists put together a deal of deceit and dolled up both carriers somewhat to draw in investors. America West was especially prettied up to draw in these clients even though if you looked behind the curtain they were ready to go chapter 11 with out these new investor's monies. Airways were going to go chapter 7. So to summarize what I meant was basically odds are great in about 18 to 24 months this new carrier could be back were it started and it may be prudent for employees not to borrow any money unless they can pay it back in that time frame.

If the economy improves and fuel cost lower then this may change, but if you use today’s costs and model odds are great for more trouble ahead.

New faces with a better smile. Can you say criminal acts?

 

[UWCactus]

As I see it:
The point I was trying to make is before this deal of the 'new' airline was brought together Airways was on the brink of going chapter 7 liquidation. American West was in very poor shape itself. If you look back even after they came out of chapter 11 themselves they never have truly brought their operation into line. So these scam artists put together a deal of deceit and dolled up both carriers somewhat to draw in investors. America West was especially prettied up to draw in these clients even though if you looked behind the curtain they were ready to go chapter 11 with out these new investor's monies. Airways were going to go chapter 7. So to summarize what I meant was basically odds are great in about 18 to 24 months this new carrier could be back were it started and it may be prudent for employees not to borrow any money unless they can pay it back in that time frame.

If the economy improves and fuel cost lower then this may change, but if you use today’s costs and model odds are great for more trouble ahead.

New faces with a better smile. Can you say criminal acts?

I have to disagree with you to a point. America West (NOT AMERICAN WEST) was not that close to Chapter 11 as you indicated. However, that could have been a possible scenario 12-18 months away depending fuel price increases, revenue yields, etc. Although there seems to be alot of bickering over who bought who, the truth is..who the heck cares?? They both needed each other in this case..the investors could not have been lined up with just AWA or just US. Nor were the investors going to be lined up without the managing philosophies and low cost mind of the new management team which almost all happen to be America West. Bottom line.....it's mostly America West that has secured this deal...but they both needed each other to make ithappen.

 

[USAguy97]

Having flown this dude around for 10 yrs in corporate aviation and known him for 28 yrs--he tells me about the pricing of our LCC airline----he checked our price to florida destination-- $450 & a 1.5 hr drive to arpt---next he called SW out of KRDU----you guessed it-----$250 & a 2.5 hr drive. I couldnt even needle him about that difference. Hope Mr.Parker gets the East Coast squared away QUICK before the sucking sound (of money going down the sink) begins to sound like a ROAR.

I have checked on prices out of PHL for TWO trips that I was thinking about doing. One was to LAX and the next to Chicago. Well US was way cheapier than SWA. US to LAX was 178 and SWA was 215 with two stops. Chicago was 152.50 flying into Ohare and SWA was 190 flying into Midway. Anytime I have looked at tickets for my travel SWA has never been in the running for me to purchase tickets on because they have been more expensive than US and other airlines. The US tickets were not used with the ED20 either. That was going into USAirways.com

 

[twoturnin]

Played 9 holes this morning with neighbor---traitor that he is---his trip story was nice----F/A's(two) sang songs to the PAX---and told jokes----I'd like to see that on a 330 to London flt---much less LGA to PBI--jk---anyways he liked the service and EVERYONE(SW employees on the flt) acted like they really appreciated the pax's business. I told him he needs to next fly JB with their Sat. TV and check them out.