Airlines don't need to be full service. That's exactly why they are not
making a profit. Each of the majors is trying to be all things to all
people and compete with every other airline on every front. With the
exception of a few airlines, they have lost the concept of value and have
made their seats into commodities, competing only on price.

It doesn't have to be that way, but the majors are run too poorly to do
anything about it. The majors could choose niche markets just like SWA and
JetBlue have done and then they would be able to charge a fair price for
their tickets and make a buck.

Instead, they try to compete with JetBlue and SWA by cutting every cost
they can - charging for food and standby changes, reducing the quality of
maintenance on the planes, reducing the quality of the staff, and reducing
the amount of legroom so they can fit a few extra seats (even though the
net result is many flights end up empty), Basically they have reduced the
value of the service they offer - making it worth less than the $300 you
paid to get to LAX because it is such a miserable experience... They are
putting themselves out of business.

Sam Spade wrote in news:uTeIg.165$c07.55@fed1read04:

Jonathan Goodish wrote:



Southwest has been profitable every year for some 30+ years. Their
fuel hedge has expired and been renewed several times. The fuel hedge
isn't the reason that they've been profitable, it is simply one of the
reasons. The big reason is that management runs the company well and
treats the employees well. In turn, the employees work hard for the
company and the customers. That "big reason" is missing in most of the
other major carriers.

I am concerned, however, that Southwest is beginning to lose its spark,
and mess with a model that has worked well for 30+ years.


JKG

I should have said Southwest has been profitable recently primarily
because of fuel hedges.

When Herb stepped down the special status of the employee groups is
slowly descending into the morass that is typical of all U.S. airlines.

The other reason SWA has made money is by operting only one type of
aircraft (one of the cheaper to buy and maintain). It prevents them
from being an international carrier, though, which means they are not
full service in that sense.

They have also saved money by not playing with the other airlines, such
as interline baggage transfers, which does not serve their customers
well.

Having said that, all in all, SWA does better than most, but not as good
as they used to. And, their fares are generally higher than the
compeition, although they seem to be able to gloss over that.

I use American often to fly LAX to IAD for $350 or so round trip. I
also use SWA to fly SNA to OKC, $650 rount trip.