Dallas Blog

That's #$*!%ing badass...

Whats brilliant about about being obvious?

double post, Awesome!

It's this kind of self-serving negative advertising that is going to cost SWA when Congress begins handing out airline industry bailouts and welfare checks based on how many feelings got hurt. They'll be sorry!

Brilliant!

All you other airlines, pay attention!

Look, air travellers (especially regulars) are not morons. They know gas prices are through the roof. They know you're going to raise your prices. So just raise your #$*!%ing prices already. Don't play little petty lame-ass nickel-and-dime games with jacking up a fee here and adding a new fee there, that just pisses everyone off.

Got it?

The only thing I can think is - what happens, Southwest, when your fuel hedges start declining next year? Why paint yourself into a corner promising no fees, when your CEO recently said that you needed to find alternative revenue streams? You know, since you haven't made a profit on your actual fares in a long, long time. That ad is antithetical to what Herb Kelliher recently said made Southwest what it is today, "Underpromise and over-deliver."

But that's just me, being rational. I shouldn't be giving advice to my competitors, though...

Hey Tim, that's why I said. How about a job?

I have no problem with avoidable fees. Like with a excess luggage fees, one should know that up front. If you need to have excess luggage or you're a dumbass and don't know the rules, then you pay for it. People who fly Southwest are generally the dumbass variety -- Southwest doesn't want to lose their precious dumbasses (as noted by the advert). I understand that. It's the mandatory fees that get me -- the ones that come with a service or good that are unavoidable. Now, those piss me right off.

Nico - They start paying what everyone else is paying for fuel, driving up the cost of operations and eating away the bottom line. You got to increase revenue to float, which means raising ticket prices, adding fees, whoring Herb.

Alright Tim, still waiting for the offer.

Southwest: Friendly & helpful employees, low prices, no bs fees
AA: Bloated and untrustworthy management, poor customer service & unfriendly employees, high prices, lots of bs fees.

Which one would you give the benefit of the doubt to? Which one would you rather fly? (In the interest of full disclosure, I was a platinum flier on AA, a full blown AA apologist, and pro-Wright Amendment (and still think Southwest should move to DFW). I now avoid AA whenever possible.)

Tim, you can naysay Southwest and their soon-to-decline oil hedges all you want, but the fact is that with oil at $130, the airline industry is going through a highly accelerated shakedown right now.
What did Southwest do during the Gulf War oil mess in 1990-91? They charged when everyone else was cutting back, and they ended up conquering the intra-California market, which is now an enormous revenue stream for them. Their cash position and their low-cost, high-productivity strategy will help keep them afloat long enough to dominate the market share that other carriers are being forced to give up.

Considering jet fuel is 80% kerosene, I'm getting tired of hearing about gas prices putting airlines out of business. Bad customer service, erroneous fees and poor business management is putting airlines out of business. I applaud Southwest for having the balls to ruffle a few feathers.

$60 oil? Tim, you honestly believe there's a 50/50 chance that's ever going to happen again?

OK, so Tim is pretty good at his job....he takes SWA to task for their fuel hedges running out....but doesn't ask the question where was AA's fuel hedge?

Oh, that's right, they couldn't afford a fuel hedge and have to pay market rate for fuel.

From SWA:

the Company had fuel derivative contracts in place for over 70 percent of its expected fuel consumption for the remainder of 2008 at approximately $51 per barrel; over 55 percent in 2009 at approximately $51 per barrel; nearly 30 percent in 2010 at approximately $63 per barrel; over 15 percent in 2011 at $64 per barrel; and over 15 percent in 2012 at $63 per barrel.

My wife is Platinum on AA, I refuse to fly them unless I have to. Old Hags for Flight Attendents that are rude, gate agents that don't give a flying fuck, takes over 45 minutes to get a piece of luggage at D/FW (hell, I can drive from LUV to Keller faster than waiting on luggage at DFW) and now all these fee's.

AA will be filing for bankruptcy by the end of the summer. The Pilots will force their hands, and if they are wise, they will break the unions, fire all the overpaid rude employees and get a CEO that knows what Customer Service is.

Tim, say what you will, but Southwest has built up an enormous reservoir of good will, while virtually everyone I know loathes American. That didn't just happen because AA is unlucky. Interestingly, AA has adopted its own version of Keliher's "under-promise and over-deliver" mantra. We all know exactly what AA will deliver, and it's not pretty.

Doug - we're hedged. We just didn't take the risks that Southwest has. We're conservative in our hedging.

I'm not taking them to task at all - their risk has paid off beyond the wildest dreams of their fuel strategists. All of their profit is due to their fuel hedges. That's great. All I've said is that it was a risk, and that nobody can hedge as much as they have going forward. So, their expenses are going to rise, and they have to find new ways to offset those expenses. I'm just parroting what their CEO has said.

You can take a look at our balance sheet if you like, and the cash we have on hand. Any talk of bankruptcy is speculative and off base.

Brett,

I may be crazy, but I believe there is about $70 of speculation in the price of a barrel of oil today. Demand is declining for distillates and gasoline. Supply is above demand, not just here, but worldwide. Read about the price spike in the last two days - it's all about monetary policy and speculation. It has nothing to do with supply and demand fundamentals. I just happen to believe that a free market economy will correct itself - and oil is about three years overdue for a correction. Once the Fed starts raising interest rates to counter inflation, I think commodities will drop like a rock.

Hey, just got home and saw this thread. Caught an early morning American flight from Chicago. $200 extra to change from the afternoon flight, but what the hell, my client was paying and said go for it.

Great ad from Southwest. Tim's right-- they are the counter-culture airline. And when the culture of the industry at large is rotten, that's a terrific thing.

Whether or not they can go without fees forever, it shows that they know how to tap into consumer frustrations. American, sadly, only seems capable of creating them.

Tim, I hope you're not crazy. I just don't ever see us paying less than $3 for gas ever again...they have us over a barrel...

I'm not a frequent flyer so I don't loathe AA more than any other airline, but I have never gotten angry at a desk agent when my flights gotten delayed, cancelled, etc and its paid off for me numerous times in the way of first class upgrades, etc. Now I didn't miss any weddings due to the delays...just a little work, so I'm not complaining.

This is all quite fascinating - There should be an SWA counterpart to Mr. Tim on here - Anyone know who that person is? Do they even pay attention to the buzz of the blogs? Hmm...

We're definitely paying attention, Warhol Reject. We have a blog ourselves (www.blogsouthwest.com), and we actively participate in blog conversations everyday. I'd be happy to weigh in...I just didn't want to steal Mr. Wagner's thunder (wink).

In the meantime...glad to see you like our new ad. I was pretty tickled by it as well.

Paula Berg
Southwest Airlines

apologies for the repeat comments :)