Zippy-The-Pinhead wrote:
Boilermaker Rick wrote:
Douchebag wrote:
Southwest began the whole race to the bottom in the airline industry. Fuck them. And their fares are not the cheapest which MANY people seem to believe.
Yup. They also take over airports and push out the competition and then raise prices and cut flights.
There is reason they advertise so much. They desperately need to keep up an appearance that doesn't exist.
While it's true that they aren't as cheap as they were when they first became a national airline they definitely have forced costs down in some major hub markets like Atlanta, Charlotte and Minneapolis. You may believe they push other airlines out but in many cases they are the only thing keeping some airports alive. Most of the major airlines were pulling out of Midway long before SWA took it over.
That's not really true. They've done it all over the country. The cost cutting is temporary which chases out the other airlines that can't compete and then they cut routes and raise prices and there is literally no other choice. Chicago is lucky it has O'Hare that at least keeps them kind of honest.
When I lived in NY, they basically took over the airport in long island. They ended up being like 80% of the total flights in the airport. You could fly direct to Chicago, Las Vegas, and many other destinations multiple times a day right from there. The flights were packed most of the time. The airport became dependent on Southwest much more than Southwest was dependent on them but it was a very good relationship for both sides. First they started to raise prices. They then bought a few terminals at LaGuardia, and started moving flights there and got rid of all flights to Las Vegas, then Chicago, and then pretty much every place but Baltimore and Florida(for all the old people who leave for the winter). Now, keep in mind Chicago is the main hub of Southwest so it really is disruptive when they cut off flights to there. So that airport went from a place you could get to virtually every place they fly with 0 or 1 stops to a place where you basically were just flying to Baltimore and then going to the more limited places they go. Airport traffic plummeted and that airport is now costing the city millions of dollars and it is proving very difficult to get another airline in there given the control Southwest still has even with how they have virtually abandoned the airport. Now people have to find a way to the terrible LaGuardia airport or accept the limited options available at a once thriving airport.
That isn't just what they did there. They've done it to other places too.
Now, they aren't even trying to be a low cost airline unless you fly on a Wednesday morning or Saturday night so the cost savings is minimal which I mean they can do because capitalism and stuff but we need to stop acting like Southwest is some benevolent company that loves it's customers like it has in the countless commercials they do. They are becoming the Wal-Mart of the airline industry.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
