I just caught a glimpse on CNN of the top 5 most admired U.S. companies. Starbucks, Walmart, G.E., Southwest Airlines and something else that I forgot (if you know let me know). In 1994, when I was a freshman at Trinity University in San Antonio I wrote a detailed research paper about Southwest Airlines. I described the ways they increased their profit margins, and predicted that they would be very succesful. My professor was an idiot who liked to teach overly-complicated, elitist theory. He gave me a C. My dad, formerly CFO of Community Coffee, indirectly taught me much more about money than that joker could ever understand. I've never seen my dad drink a up of coffee in my whole life, but that's another story. Anyway, today several smaller airlines like Jet Blue and US Air follow Southwest's techniques.
myriam [email] said at 4:41 PM 02-22-2005: that's what they're trying to do, yeah. slowly but surely. it's sort of a shame, really. southwest has an interesting business model but i would have hoped there would still be a market for long-haul, direct flights with all the niceties. no one flies like they used to. and as a 15 year veteran southwest traveler, i can say, it comes in handy when you have no money, but as soon as i ever have a bit of cash i plunk it down on something less crappy, thank you. even if they do make funny jokes over the PA, my hips still don't fit in their tiny ass seats, and i'm a little girl of thin-ish build.
christian [email] said at 5:14 PM 02-22-2005: whats crappy about southwest besides the fact that the seats are first-come first-serve? are they really that much smaller than regular coach? i've never flown southwest because i always find really good fares on orbitz
mary [email] said at 5:31 PM 02-22-2005: As myriam pointed out, they rely more on short connecting flights than direct flights. For instance, I can't fly straight to Detroit on SW; I have to connect in Chicago. When flying from BWI to New Orleans, my plan usually touches down in Nashville or Birmingham. Same plane, it just stops.
The real reason for their cost savings, though, is the labor costs are cut to the bone. No unions.
myriam [email] said at 9:41 PM 02-22-2005: the seats are not only extremely narrow, but they are very thin as well, so that you can feel the metal pieces underneath. In other planes that size, airlines usually have a 3 seat-aisle-2 seat arrangement; they have a 3-aisle-3. so it's really tight in there. the first come, first served thing means that you cant just sit around by the gate waiting for your flight; you have to spend that time standing in one of three lines (a, b, or c).
being that squeezed and herded is alright for short, one hour hops. but a four hour flight in a plane like that is pure torture. you are shoulder to shoulder with your neighbors, so you feel like no matter how you hold yourself you can't relax; you can't let your arms droop because there is no elbow manoevring room on either side. you can't let your head loll because you are inches away from someone else's head. so... yeah. not fun!
ed [email] said at 1:29 PM 02-23-2005: Although flying, for me, is rarely something I need to or care to consider, I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this. I would absolutely die if I had to take a long flight in conditions like that.
myriam [email] said at 1:36 PM 02-23-2005: Yeah. Honestly it is very uncomfortable. If a 5'4" girl is saying that, you know it means something.
If you rarely fly it's probably worth it to spend $100 more and fly in a little more comfort. Unfortunately, since approx. 9/11 (or shorty thereafter) all the airlines have gone through huge cost-saving changes and frankly flying is nowhere near as comfortable as it used to be, sadly. You basically are rarely served food, and I swear to you actual, real, direct, no-stop AT ALL flights are just no longer in existence. They have redefined "direct" to include one stop-over--but you don't change planes, yippee! who gives a shit! it's still a waste of time and one extra landing and takeoff and sitting around in one MORE airport! oh but it's "direct"! so i'll pay more for that! yay!
sorry. I fly a lot and am frankly pissed. Flight prices haven't gone down and now i'm just getting shitty flight experiences everywhere and I used to LOVE flying. I would rather pay more if i had to to have a fucking comfy flight, with a fucking hot meal, and ONE DAMN FLIGHT ONLY. GRR!!!!
kevin [email] said at 1:56 PM 02-23-2005: i remember reading that the major airlines (with the exception of southwest) had been in trouble financially for years prior to 9/11. after the 9/11 disaster they were able to get government bailouts, which just kind of postponed the inevitable changes they needed to make to their business model(or whatever blah).
