Dec 7th, 2010 at 1:00PM: Are the days of bargain pricing over? There's a lot of pessimism around this issue. After getting smacked around in 2008 and 2009, this year has been a good one for air carriers, and USA Today reports: "Airfares are on the rise again and unlikely to fall again anytime soon." Yet, a travel industry recovery comes with advantages, as more people want to fly, and they tend to be willing to stomach ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
southwest posts
The death of cheap tickets? Four factors to watch!
Dec 7th, 2010 at 1:00PM: Are the days of bargain pricing over? There's a lot of pessimism around this issue. After getting smacked around in 2008 and 2009, this year has been a good one for air carriers, and USA Today reports: "Airfares are on the rise again and unlikely to fall again anytime soon." Yet, a travel industry recovery comes with advantages, as more people want to fly, and they tend to be willing to stomach ...Bullets found on Southwest flight by CNN photographer going to cover Sarah Palin
Nov 24th, 2010 at 8:00AM: Let your kids kick the seats in front of them: it could save your life. If you're the passenger being inconvenienced, it may behoove you to find a way to cope.
A kid who would otherwise be branded a royal pain found a loaded gun magazine ... that should have been in the hands of a law enforcement official ... on a Southwest Airlines flight. To make matters worse, the media was actually on the ...Airline profits may mean more elbow room for a little while
Oct 24th, 2010 at 10:00AM: The airline industry wants to thank you. Last year, it was mired in despair. The post-financial crisis recession left the carriers beleaguered and desperate for a turn of fortune. Corporate and leisure travel had fallen precipitously, and doubling down on extra fees, though prudent for profits, alienated both those considering a flight and the passengers with little choice but to hit the road. The ...Fallen American Airlines could be next to merge ... with JetBlue?
Oct 12th, 2010 at 12:00PM: American Airlines used to be the largest airline in the industry – now it's third. Merger activity has narrowed the field, with Southwest-AirTran and United-Continental the latest deals that hit the sector. So, all eyes are on who will succumb to the urge to merge next, and American is being eyed as the next player.
According to a Forbes blog post, analysts from Morningstar believe that ...Airlines getting scammed online, fighting back
Oct 5th, 2010 at 2:00PM: Airlines lose a boatload of cash – tens of millions of dollars a year – because of online fraud. Think about it: you pay for your pillow and to check a bag because some degenerate can't bother to work for a living. The airlines are keeping their customers in mind (shockingly), though, and they're fighting back. Better protection systems, increased staff and a higher priority for ...Southwest uses AirTran for access to business travelers
Sep 28th, 2010 at 3:30PM: The key to success in the airline industry is the business traveler. This category flies often, has less flexibility in pricing and spends more on flights than a leisure traveler could possibly imagine. So, it's hardly surprising that Southwest's acquisition of AirTran – a $1.42 billion transaction – could help deliver greater share of the white collar travel crowd to the low-cost ...What the Southwest/AirTran merger means for consumers
Sep 28th, 2010 at 1:00PM: Southwest Airlines announced yesterday that it will acquire AirTran in a cash plus stock deal.
Here's what to expect:
1.) Good news for AirTran passengers and travel to/from/through Atlanta in general. Southwest has better service than AirTran, and lower fees (assuming that Southwest keeps the low/no-fee model, see number 4, below). Southwest is not keeping the AirTran brand.
2.) ...Airline mergers could lead to fare "creep"
Sep 28th, 2010 at 12:30PM: The Southwest/AirTran merger isn't expected to push fares much higher. The disappearance of seats that comes with airline consolidation would make you think that prices are about to rise, as the fundamental commodity of the airline industry becomes increasingly scarce. But, we're not close to that point yet, notes USA Today:
"We're not at the tipping point," says George Hobica, founder of ...Airlines continued to cut jobs - 25 months in a row
Sep 22nd, 2010 at 3:30PM: There's a reason why airlines have positioned themselves for a solid performance in 2010: in addition to charging all those extra fees, they have been cutting positions (and thus expenses). In July alone, the industry in the United States trimmed 2.3 percent of its workforce relative to July 2009. That made 25 consecutive months of net job losses in the domestic airline sector.
According to the ...Five reasons passengers looking for more than just a ride
Sep 22nd, 2010 at 8:00AM: As airlines cut routes and amenities while increasing fees, travel through the skies became a true labor. Sure, the cuts came as the result of market pressures that led to compensation reductions and other changes, but it also brought a problematic perspective. Somewhere along the way, it became acceptable for airline employees to claim that "you get what you pay for." With low fares, essentially, ...Four reasons airlines blame passengers for their current woes
Sep 14th, 2010 at 11:00AM: It would be so much easier if we'd just pay more, right? That's what the airlines seem to believe. It's impossible for them to turn consistent profits because we just won't accept higher prices. And, kicking the poor off the plane doesn't seem to be an option.
I got up this morning and read George Hobica's hilarious "interview" with Wilbur Flywright, CEO of BrokenWings Airways. In it, I was ...Customer service slams airlines in overweight passenger policy enforcement
Jul 28th, 2010 at 11:00AM: Airline rules for passengers who take up more than one seat are neither new nor surprising. Forget about passenger comfort (the airlines already have, of course), it's a financial issue. A passenger who takes up more than one seat is consuming a scarce resource (in the economic sense): seat 42A on Flight ABC123 on July 29, 2010 can only be sold once. If it doesn't bring in any revenue, it never ...Southwest bumps thin passenger off flight for two-seater
Jul 27th, 2010 at 9:00AM:
Last week a 5-foot-4, 110-pound woman was removed from a Las Vegas to Sacramento Southwest flight in order to accommodate an overweight teenager who required two seats. Despite paying full-fare for the last available seat, the anonymous woman was booted off the flight when the heavier passenger boarded the plane just before departure. Southwest admits their handling of the incident was "awkward" ...Cougar attacks 14-year-old boy in flight
Jul 14th, 2010 at 11:00AM: Southwest Airlines is being sued. A passenger claims that the airline's flight attendants weren't able to protect his 14-year-old son from the prowling of an in-flight cougar. The older female passenger, he claims, offered his son illegal drug and made sexual advances during the flight to Orlando on July 13, 2008. The teenager was traveling alone, according to the Associated Press, and "was so ...Travel missing among fastest growing Facebook pages
Jul 13th, 2010 at 2:00PM: What happened to the hotels, resorts and destinations? These naturals for social media didn't make the cut on All Facebook's list of the fastest growing Facebook pages. Media and celebrities dominated the list, which consists of Facebook pages not on All Facebook's leaderboard, but even there, there isn't a travel-related site until #37, the destination- and company-agnostic "I need a vacation!!!" ...Travel Trends: The effect of Southwest Airlines' cheap fares on competitor fares
May 21st, 2010 at 1:00PM: The last time you wanted to book a trip somewhere in the U.S., what airline did you think of first? If you're like thousands of U.S. air passengers, you checked to see if Southwest Airlines flew in and out of the city you wanted to visit. Since its inception almost forty years ago in 1971, Southwest has been providing passengers all over the country with low-cost travel options.
Southwest uses ...GadlingTV's Travel Talk 012: Trains, planes, & mergers! Behind the scenes at Southwest Airlines, Gowalla & Gadling in Austin + a brand new GIVEAWAY!!
May 5th, 2010 at 5:30PM:
GadlingTV's Travel Talk, episode 12 – Click above to watch video after the jump
Well, we've been bouncing around the country this week and have got a great show to prove it! From Dallas, Texas to Austin, Texas and finally Portland, Oregon - we'll take you behind the scenes at Love Field Airport and the operational headquarters of Southwest Airlines!
In the news this week: United ...Photo of the Day (4.27.10)
Apr 27th, 2010 at 8:00PM:
Today's Photo of the Day is a little different from my usual selections, but it caught my eye because of a video I watched on Gadling last week. The shot is of Southwest's 'Florida One', which was unveiled in Tampa on Friday. The aircraft will be joining the fleet on May 23 as Southwest's 13th themed plane.
If you didn't catch the video, you can see it after the jump - I was mesmerized to ...Southwest Airlines decides actor Kevin Smith is "too fat" to fly with them - kicks him off plane
Feb 13th, 2010 at 9:30PM:
Oh Southwest Airlines... You make yourself look good by staying away from those pesky baggage charges, then you go and make yourself look ridiculous by kicking a famous actor off your plane because the captain decided he was "a safety risk" for being too fat to fly.
Bad, bad move.
tweetmeme_url = ...5 little-known, must-see sites on a Southwest road trip
Jan 22nd, 2010 at 12:00PM:
So, you've settled on the American Southwest as your next road trip destination. Congratulations -- you've made a sound choice indeed. Picking one of America's most storied regions to ramble around in is the easy part, but selecting the routes and spots to see is a bit more difficult. You've always got the obvious choices - Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks, for instance -- but it's the ...
