Originally Posted by
KC10 FATboy
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.
You must be quite old. I can't remember anyone in my lifetime seriously laughing at Southwest (the business model). We may have laughed at Southwest (the pilots), or Southwest (the airborne comedy show), or their "Burbank fuel-hedge", and spent a lot of time asking whether they know the difference between a taxi and a take-off roll, but I don't think we've underestimated the model. Ever.
If anything the industry and the public are collectively guilty of buying enough into the hype, that they made the legend true by running scared at every opportunity to fight.