Articles tagged “southwest airlines”

Yet again, Southwest is choosing not to copy United, American and Delta. Its independent strategy has worked well for the last five decades, so why change what works?

This is an oops moment. No matter whose fault it is, Southwest should have not launched new service to Mexico without receiving final regulatory approval.

Booking.com displaced Southwest's long-time hotel partner, Orbitz, on Southwest.com. Booking.com's pay-at-the-hotel system meshes much better with Southwest's flexible fare structure than did Orbitz's preponderous hotel bookings requiring prepayment. Booking.com's integration of its Rocketmiles acquisition on Southwest now makes total sense.

Southwest is almost a victim of its own success. Investors have massive expectations for the stock, and since Southwest is now performing no better than the competition, the company is losing its luster a bit. But the airline should be OK.

American, United, and Delta are all introducing no-frills fares to try to thwart Frontier, Allegiant, and Spirit. It might work, or it might not. But it's worth a shot. The Big 3 do not want any of the discount airlines to grow to be as large and powerful as Ryanair.

Southwest just made traveling standby easier for elite members of its Rapid Rewards Program. Perhaps there is a good reason to fly that carrier for business travel.

There's a bit of blaming the victim (the consumer) in these words. Few in the airline industry think carriers have solved their technology woes, so passengers can expect intermittent outages to continue for the foreseeable future.

Southwest and JetBlue might have the cheapest redemptions, but savvy frequent flyers generally still find more value in programs offered by American, Delta, and United.

It makes sense that Southwest is finally realizing what other airlines have known for years — partnering with international airlines makes good business sense.

This letter should get Sens. Markey and Blumenthal some attention. But beyond that, it is not likely to have much of an influence on the nation's airlines.