Cyio

There is no chance they will do a "Southwest Firstclass." It will just be more legroom and the front third of the plane. Should we do first class? Yeah, I think so, but I don't make the rules.
I think a good compromise would be to check the first bag free and charge the second something reasonable, like $25.

at6d

At least the people who pay for A-list type seats will be able to get what they pay for (instead of the post-flight through traveler reshuffle).

flensr

It's not "they say".

It's right there in black and white, in 2Q 2024 the average ticket price was 0.3% LESS than the year prior 2Q 2023, in spite of 7% more passengers, and up to 11% higher overall costs across the board.

That's a pretty cut and dried business definition of "undercharging". They tried to confuse the issue by saying with their new ticket, routing, and sales system, they "sold too many tickets too soon in the booking cycle", but all that really means is that they sold too many tickets at the early booking cheap rates and as the flight got closer and filled up, they didn't increase the ticket prices like they should have (and like every airline does). I didn't dig through Delta's SEC filing but I'd hazard a guess that SWA was the only airline that decreased their average ticket price from 2023 to 2024. That's a huge error for any business, having expenses go up double-digits and accidentally decrease sales prices.

hoover

does anyone think that maybe sw is trying to grab market share regardless of profits to set them up for future ?

Cyio

I agree. I think the way we have been treating the A-List is entirely wrong, and I am honestly surprised that anyone pays/earns that status with us. I am really curious to see how we handle the wheelchair issue or if we are just going to still allow them free upgrades.

e6bpilot

We should handle it like any other airline. If we don't, we have failed. A Listers are upset at the erosion of their benefits including increased pre board abuse and same day standby for everyone. The program needs a total revamp if they want to make it valuable again and attract travelers with the benefits.

flensr

No, primarily because if it was a market share grab then they could have said that during the earnings call, instead of talking about how they undercharged during the investor call. They specifically stated they undercharged for tickets, multiple times during the call. Except they called it "sold too many tickets too early in the booking curve". Which means they priced too many tickets at the early/cheaper rates, ie. didn't charge enough for the tickets.

It's pretty cut and dried. They stated several times that they undercharged, and blamed it on a new booking management system. No strategy involved, just a couple-hundred million dollar mistake that nobody will be held accountable for.

arbalist1

New thing I just saw on social media. How to buy the cheapest ticket, then utilize the no change fee policy to get the flight you actually want. A whole bunch of comments from people doing this. I wonder how much revenue we're losing to people gaming the system. Not that it upsets me, they're just playing the game.

Cyio

My understanding, and perhaps it's wrong, was that you can change the ticket for no "fee," but if the ticket's price changes, you are still accountable for that.

flyguy81

Rev standby now has no charge. They buy the cheapest ticket and show up for the flight they really want and pay nothing.