Articles tagged “southwest airlines”

Southwest has made money for more than 40 years. But that consistency does not satisfy many Wall Street analysts, who keep pushing the airline to increase profits.

A good operational meltdown like Delta's should make travelers nostalgic for the good old days, when carriers regularly cooperated to help each other's passengers.

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly is dismissing union calls for his ouster but if profits slip, or there is another major tech outage, then the CEO's future will get more interesting.

Sometimes generosity and taking care of your most loyal customers gives a halo that is not immediately visible, but can have long-term benefits and end up saving your skin.

Budget airlines' strategy of focusing on direct bookings allows them to grab a larger share of web traffic and gain ground in the direct booking wars.

Other airlines are trying to segment their customers as much as possible. But that's not something Southwest plans to copy.

The first quarter is a popular time for travelers to start planning spring break and summer travel. Based on TV spending estimates for the first quarter, it's clear that the top spending brands such as Southwest Airlines, Trivago.com and Royal Caribbean are bent on getting Americans enamored with the thought of summer vacations.

The level of profitability revealed in the latest BTS report is leaves the Big 3 U.S. airlines room to improve their in-flight products and passenger services, without breaking the bank. But they have achieved this profitability in large part by becoming better businesses. If they are to stay profitable when the next inevitable industry downturn comes, they will need to keep improving their retail models.

Digital payments are big business. It's not just a question of how travelers spend. It's about the market power that comes from knowing how they spend, and other companies' access to that information.

We love the idea of a JetBlue and Virgin America merger, but loving the notion does not make it any more likely. Assuming that anyone will one day buy Virgin America, we believe it will be Delta. Go on, though, JetBlue. We would be delighted to be wrong.