Continental is matching Delta's checked bag fees, too. Not surprising, I guess, since they code-share.
I flew this same route last month. Same plane as well. US Airways blows. United/Continental/Star Alliance FTW.
But average ticket prices have dropped dramatically since oil prices came down. Average ticket prices are down about 10% from just a year ago, and they are about the same as they were 25 years ago, despite substantially higher oil prices, improved safety, etc. The tradeoff is that you get less perks (food/etc) and have to pay for all the extras like luggage. But it's essentially a pay-for-service model - instead of everyone paying an extra $30, the ones that have bags pay an extra $50 and those that don't pay $0. You only pay for the services you use, essentially.
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I've enrolled for two days a week since the gas hike. I don't care that it "went down." I hate not having control over something my car needs. If everybody had the same mind set they could not take advantage of us so easily.
That blows I am a silver elite with continental, so I can carry 2 bags with no extra charge. However until a couple weeks ago, my bags could be up to 70lbs, now they can only be 50lbs.
Southwest is like flying in a CATTLE CAR. I only do it when I really have to. Im a Gold Elite Access on Continental. Matter fact, Im on a trip right now where I had a First Class upgrade (getting them alot recently).
Also, with the class of passenger on a lot of Southwest flights, it is like being on a Greyhound bus. Many SW flights are bus routes. Having 2-3 stops with the same plane, before you get to your destination. Yes, Im a business travel SNOB. There is nothing like being on a flight with people who do not know how to conduct themselves. You find that more on Southwest flights. I have never played baggage fees on Continental.....because Im an elite member. However, People are trying to carry on so much luggage now to avoid baggage fees...that it gets really annoying.
Not sure if you were aware, but planes don't pull into your corner gas station. Planes use Jet Fuel. The cost of Jet Fuel has gone up over 41% over the past 12 months alone. So it is only YOUR perception that the airlines are guaging customers. In reality, virtually no airline has sustained a profit for more than one calendar year since 9/11. THAT is why it costs more to fly. Labor has remained constant. Cost to lease planes is about the same. The ONLY thing that has changed significantly is the cost of jet fuel has quadrupled since 9/11 and is now the single largest expense even larger than labor. http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/economics/fuel_monitor/price_analysis.htm The ONLY reason Southwest can get away with not charging for bags is because they took a huge gample (and won) on fuel hedging. Those hedging bets are about to expire and Southwest will be on a level playing field with the other airlines. It'll be interesting to see how long they can hold out with low fares when their fuel costs go up.
Even when their av fuel hedge expires, LUV is the only airline with an investment grade credit rating. I believe they're BBB. Because the others are have junk ratings, they're limited in terms how much they can hedge.
That's great if you live in a Continental hub like Houston or NY, but on the West Coast it's mostly United.
Even if that were true (you provided no source), you can't see the relationship between the two? A good credit rating in the symptom. If one company has significantly lower runtime costs and presumably can keep more cash on hand, wouldn't that help their credit rating? So logic would follow that when their fuel hedges expire that they'll start buring cash faster which will inevitably lower their credit rating?
Just checked my Bloomberg. S&P has them at BBB and Moody's has them at Baa3. Credit ratings are a function of a firm's default risk. DAL, UAL, etc. have a ton of long-term debt -> so the debt overhang kills them with the rating agencies. Given that the future price is in contango, Southwest can benefit by being able to lock in a larger % of their fuel at current prices. Meanwhile guys like AMR and UAL are much more limited in their ability to enter into large av fuel hedges due to concerns of them not be able to meet margin calls.
back when I used to travel all the time (CO Gold Elite) I used to think like you. We would pick CO over any airline, even if it was out of the way just for the miles and upgrade. Nowadays, I don't always pick CO. I've been very unimpressed the past few flights. Dirty, people trying to carry everything on, packed, late, etc Southwest is basically the same thing but cheaper and quicker (no huge airport to deal with). The flight attendants are better at getting people on and off as well. People aren't trying to carry on everything since it can be checked. I don't care about food so that doesn't bother me, CO food is gross anyways, why pay for it. Granted, I won't take the multi-stop southwest flights, those are a joke, but CO has those too and I avoid them
Exactly. ...SWA's debt ratio is lower cause their operating costs are lower. Had 9/11 not occured, we would not be having this conversation about why SWA doesn't charge for checked bags and everybody else does.
ATL is nearest national airport to me, and they have no Southwest. I'm tempted to drive the extra hour and a half to Birmingham next time I fly just to try them out, though I like AirTran out of ATL.
the big carriers had issues prior to 9/11. it just became an excuse. They have been scraping by for a long time. eventually the herd will be thinned out
