Originally Posted by
johnso29
Ok, let's not put SWA on a pedestal here. They are doing less & less point to point flying every year, & quickly moving to a hub and spoke system. MDW, BWI, PHX, & DEN are quickly becoming hubs for SWA. Also, they haven't exactly been following their required mx schedules so I'd say that's been contributing to their profit. Who knows how long they've been doing that. Also, I'm pretty certain bankruptcy & outsourcing to RJ's had a LOT more to do with this overall shrinkage in work force then SWA did.
SWA has had a successful business for a long time, but they're far from perfect. People have unpleasant experiences on SWA all the time. Their used to be a reality show about SWA. People often got left behind due to oversold flights, WX, MX delays, & not being able to take pets on board.(This has changed)
SWA is much closer to a Legacy then most think, & their luck will run out. That doesn't mean they won't be successful, but they will encounter moderate turbulence along the way.
My overall point is that SWA has had very little to do with the overall workforce reduction.
I'm not putting SWA up on a pedestal. I'm just comfortable in my own airline to realize it's strengths and weaknesses and what made SWA go from the airline that everybody laughed at to the largest domestic carrier in the US as well as the rise of companies like AirTran, jetBlue, and others. These companies grabbed the easy low hanging fruit from the majors and built a reputation (whether true or not) on it.