Usairways Vs. Southwest

[usacrew3]

So we are flying from FLL next week to Dallas for a wedding and we didnt want to use our free taxable tickets we got from US Airways for taking the early retirement so we got on Southwest's website and couldn't believe that 2 tickets to Dallas would be over $1,000.
We then went on Priceline and entered $200 maximum per ticket and can you believe we are now flying confirmed through CLT next weekend on US Airways!
It sure beats nonrevving and it won't be reported as income to the IRS. Thank you US Airways!! B)

 

[Winglet]

So we are flying from FLL next week to Dallas for a wedding and we didnt want to use our free taxable tickets we got from US Airways for taking the early retirement so we got on Southwest's website and couldn't believe that 2 tickets to Dallas would be over $1,000.
We then went on Priceline and entered $200 maximum per ticket and can you believe we are now flying confirmed through CLT next weekend on US Airways!
It sure beats nonrevving and it won't be reported as income to the IRS. Thank you US Airways!! B)

[post="258730"][/post]​

Yep, ol' SW is as good as history. Lakefield is going to bleed 'em to death.

 

[Ch. 12]

So we are flying from FLL next week to Dallas for a wedding and we didnt want to use our free taxable tickets we got from US Airways for taking the early retirement so we got on Southwest's website and couldn't believe that 2 tickets to Dallas would be over $1,000.
We then went on Priceline and entered $200 maximum per ticket and can you believe we are now flying confirmed through CLT next weekend on US Airways!
It sure beats nonrevving and it won't be reported as income to the IRS. Thank you US Airways!! B)

[post="258730"][/post]​

I do have to agree with Winglet that we truly thank you for showing how WN is doomed to failure due to U's tremendous business plan.

Let me just ask you, crew, how you happened to get the FLL-DAL flight priced on WN's website seeing as the Wright Amendment precludes you from making such a reservation. And if you pieced together a few itineraries, then that just shows you how bad the WA is for the consumer. Instead we let a bleeding airline carry people on loss-leader fares while a fully competent airline is disallowed by legislation to serve a decent route.

But I'm still curious how you bucked the system and found $1000 on WN's website...

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

Ch12: The website doesn't bust the Wright Amendment for you. You have to do it yourself...figure out where you want to connect...and then "hunt & peck."

The travelers conveniently forgot to tell me which dates...but looking out around 3 weeks from now I am able to do a $284 per person RT (including all taxes fees etc) by busting the trip at MSY.

KCFlyer and I may be neophytes at the subtlety and nuance of yield management and the vagaries of blofares, but one thing we can do....is bust the Wright Amendment. We've been doing it for years.

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

Morally, ethically explain to me the difference between buying a GoFare and getting upgraded to first versus busting the Wright Amendement?

The Wright Amendment was a federal law implemented by a congressional leader of questionable ethics (Rep Jim Wright, D, Ft Worth) to unfairly restrain trade and to provide "trade protectionism" towards American Airlines & the city of Fort Worth. The law does not prohibit indivvidual passengers from purchasing tickets to anywhere, it merely prohibits Southwest Airlines from offering for sale or providing transportation between Dallas Love Field and cities outside the catchment area.

Passengers circumventing the law causes Southwest no harm; they are still in compliance (they have not offered the flight outside the catchment area for sale, nor have they sold a ticket to a destination outside the catchment area). On the contrary, the monies given to Southwest accrue to their bottom line. So they benefit from the passenger creatively booking flights from dallas to Kansas City (via OKC or TUL); Baltimore (via Little Rock); Florida (via AUS, HOU, or MSY); or Phoenix & California (via ABQ or ELP).

There are some folks, Bob, who even go Dallas Love Field to Las Vegas....via Amarillo. Yes, they offer a daily nonstop from the torpid little town of Amarillo (that you so often mention as a RR tourist destination) to Las Vegas, that glittering capital of sin and wantonness.

I can't get in to KC's mind and won't pretend to. I wouldn't say you are wrong to milk the GoFares for whatever they are worth and upgrade every time you can. You are looking out for you. I think that's his point. It's not about the airline or its fiscal health. It's about you.

I don't buy tickets from Dallas to OKC then OKC to MCI for the airline's benefit....the extra revenue doesn't do them any harm, I am sure they are glad to get it. I buy tickets that way because (a) it's always cheaper on a walk up basis and (B) I get additional RR credit that way...for those exotic Amarillo vacations. Let us not forget the tantalizing prospect of a week in Midland/Odessa either.

 

[TomBascom]

That rationalization sounds remarkably like the sorts of things we airline customers have said for years about back to back tickets, hidden cities etc...

FWIW I agree with you.

 

[KCFlyer]

So then YOU admit to bending the rules to suit your specific needs, wants & desires? Such as busting the Wright Admendment.

Morally, ethically explain to me the difference between buying a GoFare and getting upgraded to first versus busting the Wright Amendement?

[post="258739"][/post]​

Yes Bob we do. It's morally ethical since a last minute round trip flight on AA is $872. A fully refundable last minute round trip on Southwest from MCI-TUL is $200. A fully refundable round trip on Southwest from TUL-DAL is $200, for a total of $400 - for a full fare, high yield trip. If the Wright amendment were not in place, that fully refundable round trip fare would be in the neighborhood of $250. So, as I see it, I am booking a flight to Tulsa. Then I forget that I didn't mean to come to Tulsa and get on the flight to Dallas. Same thing on the return. Play your cards right and your ground time in Tulsa can be as short as 5 minutes.

How are they different? by buying a $250 transcon and getting upgraded to first you are bleeding the airline dry. Morally reprehensible, IMHO. What ELP and I do is pay top dollar for our airfares, and the airline gets not one full fare ticket, but TWO full fare tickets for our efforts to circumvent the Wright Amendment. As a matter of fact, Southwest tells us that THEY can't book that routing for us. And they won't transfer baggage between the two flights - gotta claim it. But...if you are carrying your bags on. and book those two round trips, well, that's something the good Congressman from Fort Worth didn't take into account.

To the original poster - yes, I can believe that. I can also believe that this demonstrates why this is US's second trip to bankruptcy court. You needn't rape the last minute passenger, but you shouldn't give away the seats via priceline....the wiley Piney's of the world are on to this.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Must be nice to have flexible ethics KC. Rules are indeed rules.

[post="258783"][/post]​

Bob,

KCFlyer is a big boy and all that so he can speak for himself, but I'd like to know what rule he or WN is guilty of breaking.....

Jim

 

[KCFlyer]

Must be nice to have flexible ethics KC. Rules are indeed rules.

Granted the Wright Amendment is a shining example of what's wrong with the federal governemnt. My guess is that the Wright Amendent idea came from the fruitful mind of Linda Daschle AA top lobbyist and wife of the former Senator Tom Daschle. Restraint of trade is NEVER good for the consumer.

Now back to my originally scheduled rant!

Breaking a rule/law as assinine as the Wright Amendment is no different than the GoFare example except it benefits you not me. Well one difference is that my being an educated consumer violates NOTHING. Not a law or a US Airways fare rule.

If you complied with the rule/law as intended you would admittedly pay significantly more in many if not all cases. So chastising me for playing totally by the rules while you to be polite "Work Around" them just rings a bit hollow over here in Mystic Island.

It's a sucky example because the Wright Amendment is such a piece of garbage. When I see the legacy carriers and their lobbyists pull that type of crap it makes me want to fly an LCC. It appears the legacy carriers have reaped what they have sown and now the public is rewarding them for their arrogance. That makes me smile.

[post="258783"][/post]​

Bob...I book a trip to Tulsa...perfectly legal. I book a trip from Tulsa...again perfectly legal. Southwest sold me two trips...perfectly legal. Southwest did NOT in any way assist me in making two trips. That would be illegal. I was well within the scope of the Wright Amendment. But you are wrong...your gofares example costs your airline money...perfectly legal and within the rules...my trips on Southwest where I two step to Dallas do not afford me the luxury of advance purchase. So I exercise my LEGAL rights to save $400. Again...perfectly legal and within the rules. Southwest didn't offer that trip anywhere in their system. I "bought what they had" (where have I heard that before?) and it worked out to my advantage.

I suppose the difference is this - when I "break the rules", I am giving my airline top dollar for the trips...insuring that the "turd brown bus" is there to serve me again. You are "taking advantage" of your favorite (well, second favorite, looks like CO is now your favorite) airlines habit of giving away tickets...then upgrading to add an additional cost to the services that they provide you, pretty much insuring that this trip to bankruptcy court may well be their last. I sleep well, knowing that I have paid a fare that keep the wonderful employees of Southwest in a job, and keep the service levels (that really are superior to many other airlines) there for me when I need it. It's a "win-win" situation. Your gofares example is far from a "win-win" situation.

 

[BoeingBoy]

The whole Wright Amendment thing. You can bust it by buying 2 separate tickets which is a technical violation sort of.

[post="258788"][/post]​

Is that like being sorta pregnant?

Possibly you misunderstand the Wright amendment and subsequent changes. It prohibits two things:

1 - WN cannot operate a non-stop revenue flight to/from Love Field and a point outside Texas and the surrounding states. Did they break that rule - no.

2 - Wn cannot sale a ticket to/from Love Field and a point outside Texas and the surrounding states. Did they break that rule - no.

Did KCFlyer (and presumably lots of others) exploit a loophole in the Wright amendment that has become possible due to WN's spread across the country? Absolutely, but that's different than breaking the rule.

Jim

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

This is probably a really naive question, Bob....but after having seen what USAirways management has done to its employees over the years and through 2 bankruptcies....and seeing how they have squeezed captive markets for top dollar fares since Christ was a Corporal......did you REALLY think that USAirways managemtn would listen to or act upon recommendations from an ad-hoc organization of frequent flyers?

 

[BoeingBoy]

My understanding is the same as yours. I don't exploit ANY loopholes. I play 100% within the rules as defined by the contract of carriage and any other rules that apply from US Airways.

[post="258791"][/post]​

You get a pat on the back from me for that. Playing by the rules is honorable. But who was it that said "Give me a rule book and a week to figure it out and I'll make it work for me."

That's all KCFlyer is doing - making the rules work for him.....

Jim

 

[usairways_vote_NO]

I really thought we were making some headway, but it appears we were gvien ego strokes and lip service instead of meaningful dialogue.

[post="258791"][/post]​

How many times did I try to tell you that. I told you so I told you so

 

[BoeingBoy]

***OFF TOPIC ALERT***

Bob (or anyone else),

I've been meaning to ask and keep forgetting....what happened to the "box lunches" on the transcon FC? Was it 'temporary' as advertised or is 'temporary' stretching out to permanent?

Jim

 

[BoeingBoy]

Now that I can sympathize with. I do get the impression that KC and Elp are WN supporters, though, and sometimes you're pretty hard on "the turd brown bus". Ya gotta expect to get something back occasionally.

Jim