Originally Posted by
JoeFever1
Yea this makes no sense. You totally made this up and have absolutely no idea. People generally buy tickets for varying reasons depending on why they are traveling. If price is most important, they'll buy cheapest. If a time is most important, they'll buy the departure time that works best. If insuring you get there with the least amount of hassle and delays, they'll buy Delta or United.
But that's only part of the free market. Banks (credit cards) make airlines profitable
NK and F9 have gates and fly out of ATL. NK goes under. F9 will still offer the SAME routes they had before - there is no capacity at ATL to pick up newer (extra destinations). The people that flew NK will still seek the cheapest route but that now might be DL as they ONLY HAVE TO LOWER PRICES to match F9 now (perhaps were hesitant to do so for both ULCCs as that was twice the capacity). In essence, DL would now operate as a new ULCC on the same routes NK had - offering those same budget flyers choices. And that's just DL, perhaps SWA might do the same.
Now think about ALL of NK/F9 share bases - DFW, CHI, PHL/ACY, LAS, MCO, etc. Obviously, there is legacy presence in all these areas.
Keep in mind, despite their reputation, NK still had a loyalty program, credit card, etc. Bankruptcy has all those customers now seeking new deals.
These airline CEOs aren't stupid...