A regional partner? Just like Chicago Express, huh?

I jumpseated on a expressjet plane from Love Field to Houston yesterday. I would say that is pretty much direct competition even though it went to iah and SWA goes to Hobby.

Was this an Expressjet (branded) flight or a CAL Express flight? Big difference. XJT (branded) doesn't even fly DAL-IAH so my guess is it was under the CAL banner, which is what my point was. SWA is trying to downplay the use of RJ's used throughout the system as a whole, NOT specifically XJT's branded flights.

XJT Branded doesn't compete with SWA on a head-to-head basis, so I doubt SWA would put all this marketing effort into trying to unseat XJT Branded flying, which is what some people think. I just don't believe they are a threat. I read somewhere that the XJT MEC has stated recently that with current oil prices, load factors in excess of 90% won't make money. Not good.

said expressjet on the engine

just to clear up the confusion: (not trying to be patronizing but maybe some people are confused) expressjet flies 205 airframes for continental, 21 for delta, and roughly 30 airframes under their own brand. xjt's routes on branded are extremely limited and their aircraft are painted like a tube of aqua fresh along with a green tail and large Expressjet written on the side of the aircraft. No green tail = not a branded flight. We have had to use our branded aircraft on Continental mainline routes due to a lack of coverage from Chautauqua but i don't think we have done so in the recent past.

with SWA pulling back expansion, their new pilot contract, and SWA's business model .... this rumor has a whole lot of holes in it. The biggest hole is going to be the reaction of SW's pilot group. Hopefully their management isn't aiming to sneak one buy them by letting them vote in a contract and then sneaking this code share through after the pilot group passes the contract. This doesn't sound like their management though.

It also said "Continental Express" so stop wasting our time. Every regional carrier has their name somewhere on the jet, the nacelles on our CoEx jets just happen to be the most prominent. Again, read the literally thousands of posts on our Branded (non-continental and non-delta) flying and educate yourself.

Your flight was CONTINENTAL competing with Southwest...XJT assumes no competitive risk for its CoEx flying.

not good at all, however its not load factor thats the problem, its the price of the ticket..................

Jet Blue did it. They had very low pay rates with the A-320 crews, and still they went with the E-190's. SWA was looking at 190's around the same time, but decided against them. Maybe they've had a change of heart. Even with their fuel 80% hedged around $55.00 a barrel next year, it's still more expensive that they're used to, and with major changes at the top coming soon, perhaps an opportunity for a change in direction at LUV is presenting itself as well.