KiloAlpha

The religious cult that surrounds SWA prevents its employees from seeing their dire future.

Once they are on an even playing field with their competitors, their employee's compensation will have to be reduced; no way around it.

pushDAgrnbutton

oh, on a level playing field?

like united dumping their pensions?

or being subsidized by the govt for the last 3 years?

or delta slashing pilot salaries?


god, it makes me sick that no one in here has ever taken a air econ class, heck, even a regular econ class. there was this neat little thing that happened in the 70's called de-reg-u-la-tion. here's a crash course - airlines can set their own fares. like an earlier poster, would you pay more for a car or a boat, or a bicycle than you had to? why are all these expedia's and travelocity's (owned by the majors) so hot? maybe because almost all of the flying public doesnt give a flying f about what it says on the side of the plane. they just want the lowest fare!

yes, fuel is the highest cost at an airline....anyone care to take a guess what the #2 is? LABOR! why would united pay someone $26/hr or more to throw bags? or yell at me behind the desk? anyone care to chime in with what a jet blue college freshmen is getting paid to do the same job? tell ya what, its below half that!

united has defaulted on pensions and now soon their common stock. how much is that gonna raise to issue new stock...AND THEY STILL CANT TURN A PROFIT. how is this legacy carrier gonna survive when they cant make money while they are in bankruptcy and dumped their pensions?

oh, thats right, the govt will support them, so much for deregulation.

KiloAlpha

Level playing field in the sense that everyone is paying roughly the same price for fuel. My statement was not ment to be taken literally; as it so ignorantly was. As mentioned earlier, SWA's fuel cost is nearly 1/3 the price of its competitors. When the hedges run out, that implicates an increase in operating expense potentially running in the billions each fiscal year.

Frontier85

Amen Brother!!!

Frontier85

To- KiloAlpha- Amen Brother!!!

Frontier85

I would be talking about the ORIGINAL Frontier not this upstart Frontier. Your to young to remember.

pushDAgrnbutton

so could you please explain to me how airlines that are dumping pensions do not get a competitive advantage? is that what you metaphorically meAnt by "leveling the playing field?"

why are we bashing SWA for making a smart business decision and buying fuel before the price went up?

should they have instead relied on the false assumption that fuel prices are going back down and that the last minute, $14,000, international business passenger was coming back?

mike

LuvJockey

W-2 envy at its finest! "Pretty soon it'll suck over there just as bad as it does here!"

KA is clueless. He has no idea what he's talking about. No clue what SWA's cost advantages are ex-fuel. Please look it up and post it here, idiot.

SkyHigh

Frontier85,

My most sincerest apology. I didn't know.

SkyHigh

4th Level

God, it's almost like some of you are hoping SW will have a losing qtr. Isn't there enough smoldering wreckage in the industry? Will us losing money somehow make you guys feel better? I'd personally like to see us ALL raking in the profits.

As far as the much discussed hedges go; they were in place LONG before they ever made the public spotlight. Gary Kelly is a brilliant leader - do you really think he is sitting on his ass wondering what he will do as those hedges expire? They are only one of many aces up his sleeve.

Are we immune from losses? Absolutely not.

Will our management continue to be creative and innovative in their ability to minimize costs and maximize profits? Of course.