olddominion727 From United States of America, joined Jan 2012, 141 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 months 3 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 1752 times:
Recently, I booked six business trips out of IAD or RDU. I was looking at WN like I usually do, and every flight I looked at with more than 2 months notice was a least 150% more in cost of it's competitor. DL was $288.40 to ATL, FL $413.10, DEN AA, UA, F9 $438.-$488 WN $621.10. I stuck with WN because they're almost always on time. But are they gearing up to force a profit during the merger, or are they going to redo all the cabins with Business Class, or a "more leg room coach?" Something that puts them at least equal to VX, NK & B6? I would rather pay baggage fees and lower fares (because I take carry-on). The one that really surprised me was RDU-LAX. Every carrier flies that. I had to go with DL on this because I got a wonderful deal $231.00 but AA, US, UA all ranged high $200's to mid $300's. WN $606 Anyone's thoughts?
You mean that you stuck with WN because they have a really good branding team. The actual on-time rate of WN is worse than some legacies - in particular US...
Air India is definitely much better than you think it is.
XFSUgimpLB41X From United States of America, joined Aug 2000, 3695 posts, RR: 36 Reply 3, posted (3 months 3 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 1497 times:
WN is among the worst on time of the carriers in the US...
toltommy From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 3076 posts, RR: 5 Reply 4, posted (3 months 3 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 1450 times:
Quoting usflyguy (Reply 2): Compare those same flights for the next 7 days,
Okay, I did. Out 2/2, return 2/3.
ATL - DL and FL equal, at $541 each, roundtrip. The only place FL would have an advantage is on bag fees. Oh wait, FL still charges for bags, despite beingowned by WN. You won't get a seat assignment in advance on FL, you will on DL. Win to DL.
DEN - WN is $501 RT, US comes in at $328, DL $426. Even if you check a bag (and you said you wouldn't), you are better off on a legacy carrier over WN. Only advantage is that WN does offer nonstops in the market. But thats it, even if you are checking a bag, win to the legacies.
blueflyer From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 2522 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (3 months 3 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 1223 times:
Southwest has an extremely talented marketing team that has millions of occasional fliers convinced that there's no better deal to be had anywhere else, so why bother looking?
With a higher proportion of VFR traffic on Southwest than other carriers, it may also be that the cheaper seats go faster because VFRs tend to book early to get the best deals and Southwest has only the more expensive fare buckets left whereas cheaper fares are still available from competitors.
After that, it's loads and yields. Southwest doesn't set out to be more expensive just for the fun of it. Just like other airlines, Southwest has people and computer models watching loads and yields at all times, and if they reach the conclusion they can fill the remaining seats with higher fares, that's what they'll do. If they're wrong, they'll adjust. If they're not, they'll keep going.
freakyrat From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 271 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (3 months 3 weeks 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 849 times:
I did this same comparison last July when flying from the Dallas Fort Worth area to South Bend Indiana. Do I take WN to MDW like I usually do and drive or do I fly directly into SBN. WN is usually cheaper to MDW but this weekend they were $345 from DAL-MDW. Upon checking further I found that DL from DFW to SBN connecting in ATL was only $251.00 Taxes included. I flew Delta and the flights were all on time and I just had a carry-on bag so there were no bag fees.
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