LUV BOS_PHL

[CaptBud330]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Southwest-Airlines-Begins-New-prnews-3817288537.html?x=0&.v=1

 

[BoeingBoy]

Gone are the days of $500+ each way...

Jim

 

[Travelpro72]

Hmmm and what will US do? Maybe they'll show WN who owns the town and bring the PHL-BOS market to 6 crj's a day and claim there is just no business on the route. US blows harder than a Santa Ana Wind.

 

[SparrowHawk]

Maybe US will decide to stand and fight for once.

Why not make the trip part of the US Airways Shuttle Brand? Here's another thought. Price is slightly above WN and off a FLAT FARE, all the time, anytime. Charge more for peak travel times.

Do this on all branded shuttle routes and consider adding LGA-CLT to the Shuttle brand as well. If US continues to allow competition to come into it's back yard soon the revenue premium will dry up and US will be toast. Which was why Wolf tried to merge with UA because he felt US had no long term viabilty due to LCC's paoching their prime routes.

 

[PHL]

Maybe US will decide to stand and fight for once.

Why not make the trip part of the US Airways Shuttle Brand? Here's another thought. Price is slightly above WN and off a FLAT FARE, all the time, anytime. Charge more for peak travel times.

Do this on all branded shuttle routes and consider adding LGA-CLT to the Shuttle brand as well. If US continues to allow competition to come into it's back yard soon the revenue premium will dry up and US will be toast. Which was why Wolf tried to merge with UA because he felt US had no long term viabilty due to LCC's paoching their prime routes.

But Sparrow - is the Shuttle really a brand anymore since there's absolutely nothing to differentiate it other than the hourly service? There used to be a sub-fleet of A320's with all coach 34" seating, the cool French meal packs customers could pick up upon boarding, etc. etc. etc. Now the flights are assimilated to mainline standards with tighter coach (albeit with added First class) and no special meal service. I don't think there's anything special about the shuttle flights if we can even call them that anymore, so there would be nothing special about a PHL-BOS flight either......

WN will grab some market share. US will be wise to hold it's own by competing on the price, even though it will hit their bottom line hard on that route. There are a lot of regulars/elite flyers in BOS and PHL, so it will take more than a few $59 flights to get them to make a full switch...

 

[tadjr]

I just picked some dates in July and US is $10 cheaper than WN Wanna Get Away fare and $5 more than their anytime fares on all flights. I can understand matching them on the flights closest to their departure times, but why match them on all of our flights? Just for a start and then see how the bookings play out? Seems like inventory/pricing could work something a little better out unless they're letting it go for now with all the hype/publicity and then tweak it later on.

 

[BoeingBoy]

I can understand matching them on the flights closest to their departure times, but why match them on all of our flights?

Well, with the old US pricing ($500+ each way) people would probably go on WN an hour or two earlier or later to save $300+ bucks. But I see your point. I haven't looked at the two schedules to see what the max difference in departure times is, but if long enoung US could charge some more for some flights. I expect that the higher demand departure times (morning and end of work day) have similar schedules on US and WN, so don't know how much extra US could charge on off-peak times.

The problem WN will have with the O&D traffic is the problem lcc's always have in a new market - people, especially the FF's, will love the lower pricing that WN brings but fly US for the miles. Then if WN cuts the flight because of not enough passengers US will put the old fares back in and the same people will b&m about US charging an arm and a leg for a short flight. B6 saw it with PIT-NYC.

Jim

 

[SparrowHawk]

But Sparrow - is the Shuttle really a brand anymore since there's absolutely nothing to differentiate it other than the hourly service? There used to be a sub-fleet of A320's with all coach 34" seating, the cool French meal packs customers could pick up upon boarding, etc. etc. etc. Now the flights are assimilated to mainline standards with tighter coach (albeit with added First class) and no special meal service. I don't think there's anything special about the shuttle flights if we can even call them that anymore, so there would be nothing special about a PHL-BOS flight either......

WN will grab some market share. US will be wise to hold it's own by competing on the price, even though it will hit their bottom line hard on that route. There are a lot of regulars/elite flyers in BOS and PHL, so it will take more than a few $59 flights to get them to make a full switch...

I Almost agree! The onboard differential is no longer there. In fact one could argue that the WN onboard experience is better. In my scenario is that a new expanded shuttle brand would be the pricing formula.

The Differentiator would be the One Fare all the time. Charge a slight premium over WN but keep the fare flat no yield management. Let's say $150 one way peak. No restrictions, Whether it's 21 days or 21 minutes to departure it's $150 one way PERIOD. You do this and you offer the business/elite traveler maximum flexibility and that they will pay a little extra for. IMO the way for the Shuttle to make money is to apply KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) In my world the Shuttle route structure looks like this:

BOS-DCA
BOS-LGA
BOS-PHL
LGA-CLT

If the new routes work out maybe you add ATL and rattle DL's cage too. US Airways needs to get creative as they can't match costs with WN, so there has to be some value add or at least a gimmick. I don't know where the price point is for the Shuttle to make a buck but there are people who do at US. They need to stop rolling over and playing dead and get in the damn game.

Another thought is to relaunch the Shuttle Brand and market the bejesus out of it. If US plays it right perhaps they drive either AA or DL out of the Shuttle game, which helps negate WN's entry into PHL-BOS market.

Heck all US really has to do is break even as it screws up WN's plans to expand. Plus if US builds up these routes they are likely to get more connecting traffic which can't be bad.

 

[Kittyhawk]

Many airlines have entered this market in the past including other LCC's. DL, AA, FL, and Midway back in the day, to name a few. None have kept the route for more than a year. Competeing with hourly service will be a challenge for WN just like it was for every other carrier. Granted, WN has better staying power than all other airlines, however it will eventually drop this route, just like everyone else.

 

[PBI2FLL]

If you look at a similar scene down the road when WN started PVD-PHL, it is not US that retreated. WN ended up reducing their frequency. That battle seems to have played out quite nicely.

 

[Singleflyer]

Maybe US will decide to stand and fight for once.

Why not make the trip part of the US Airways Shuttle Brand? Here's another thought. Price is slightly above WN and off a FLAT FARE, all the time, anytime. Charge more for peak travel times.

Do this on all branded shuttle routes and consider adding LGA-CLT to the Shuttle brand as well. If US continues to allow competition to come into it's back yard soon the revenue premium will dry up and US will be toast. Which was why Wolf tried to merge with UA because he felt US had no long term viabilty due to LCC's paoching their prime routes.

I agree with this concept 100%

DL just expanded their 'shuttle' service with LGA-ORD a few weeks ago, and I was on a RT over the weekend, and I was quite impressed.

It is operated by Express carrier Shuttle America who I understand operates other shuttle flights for DL. The use the e-175 with FC.

I was up-graded in both directions.

Free Beer & wine for the entire plane. In FC pre-departure drink, take off, drink & snack basket service, meal 2 choices, then another round of the snack basket.

I could have flown mainline on UA with CO status, but if I need to fly that route again I would take DL in a heartbeat.

Now if US could do something like that on BOS-PHL I think they would have a winner there over WN.

 

[Travelpro72]

US never takes on ANY carrier. They try to keep their head above water. All you hear is AA will crush them if they took them on. DL would crush them if US took them on. I'm sorry but compared to the MUCH larger legacy carriers US doesn't stand a chance. As for US marketing the hell out of the shuttle....do we MARKET anything? Just sayin'. Tempe has their own way of doing things apparently. I don't believe that WN pulled out of the PHL-PVD market because of US at all. I believe it was redeploying their a/c. Weren't they ramping up DEN at the time or starting to? For anyone to think that WN of all the carriers to fail against US or run from them is the joke of the day. Sorry, I wish I could stand proud for US and have faith in management to be forward thinkers. Maybe someday it will happen. 🙄

 

[BoeingBoy]

Granted, WN has better staying power than all other airlines, however it will eventually drop this route, just like everyone else.

With 59% of the O&D passengers and less than half the flights, it's debatable that US "won" the PVD-PHL competition.

Jim

 

[lostplanetairman]

Today WN sent an email to RR customers--fly three PHL-BOS trips and get a free round trip anywhere they fly.

 

[phlus2]

With 59% of the O&D passengers and less than half the flights, it's debatable that US "won" the PVD-PHL competition.

Jim

And don't forget that the US flights today are on much smaller aircraft than they were several years back.