SW raising fares
 

I don't understand this concept. http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_arti...?storyid=73074
It seems that since COSTS are going up, FARES are going up also. Hmmm, this goes against all my experience in the airline industry. Shouldn't the airline lower fares to fill seats? What is this obsession with making a profit? Doesn't SW understand how to run an airline? ;)

It is good that they are raising fares, it helps all of us.

If SWA raises fares, everyone else will follow suit.

Seems to me that the issue is not raising fares, but keeping them raised. In the past, passenger airlines have raised their fares, only to rescind that fare increase, once they find that the increased fare has put them further down on the computer screen of "lowest fares" on Orbitz, Cheapfares, etc. Has SouthWest run out of their low cost fuel options?

It's deeper than that, IMO. "The low hanging fruit is gone," seems to be a popular cliche these days among market analyists. Now that the legacies have jettisoned debt and pensions, their biz models more closely resemble SW. SW has no choice but to raise fares. It helps us all! I did the math on it a while back. When SW raised the fares from 3-10 depending on length, that equated to about a billion a year. It helps us all.

I don't know if it's true, but someone mentioned SW going into SFO to compete with Slut, I mean Virgin, excusa me , Airline.

Tom

It is true and god help us all if VA becomes successful.