"Mike Rapoport" wrote:

Southwest is a very special case. It's the child of a brilliant
manager/founder. Such individuals are rare - vanishingly scarce in
publicly traded corporations.


I don't know if I would agree that SWA success was dependent on
brilliance.
It seems pretty simple. SWA seems to be the only airline that
realizes who
the customer is, what they want and set up a business to provide it.

Seems simple doesn't it? But I make a good living off the chronic
inability of my large corporate competitors to do just that. I'm
thankful that the level of management talent in Fortune 500 companies is
what it is, and I'm sure Herb Kelleher was, too.

The other airlines talk about restructuring but, as soon as the
economy gets
good, they go back to their old ways and the cycle repeats.

Corporate America's idea of "restructuring" usually amounts to little
more than cutting head count and expecting the survivors to cope as best
they can. They usually offer deals that encourage their most experienced
employees to leave. I love this; it's guaranteed to **** off even their
most loyal customers and make my phone ring.

But you're right, Mike: if Delta and United survive into a boom cycle,
upper management will head back to the golf course and let things get
fat again.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM