For the longest time, Southwest Airlines operated an airline like none of the legacy carriers. The plan was simple: provide good efficient point-to-point service at a discount with a smile and the rest is one of the biggest success stories in sound airline management and model of profitability. Copycats tried and failed to emulate the Southwest model. While the method seemed simple, having a savvy team and the execution is not.
Lately however, Southwest kept the smile in their service but happily followed the legacy carriers in drastically increasing fares across the board and upped their hostility towards travel agents. Agencies get penalized to the tune of $150 per booking if they fail to ticket a reservation. Even legacy carriers are not that harsh. It is getting hard to find meaningful savings when fares are compared to legacy carriers especially when you have to trek to distant airports.
Southwest is a great carrier, but they are deviating from their success recipe that they have doggedly followed for over 40 years and allowing new upstarts to finally copy their original recipe. Just like we did not care too much for the "New Coke" back in the 80's, Southwest is quietly remaking itself with the bungled Coke strategy.
The No change/no baggage fees is being tested as their new subsidiary Air Tran maintained these fees. Southwest wants to be all things to all travelers, and in the process, they may lose their identity.
www.premieretravel.com
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