Southwest could expand Midway presence with WestJet deal

Excellent! Southwest wins again. This is the business model others in the industry should have been trying to emulate years ago.

Does this mean Soutwest will be required to have life vests on their flights?

This sounds cool. My wife and I have always enjoyed flying Southwest to our favorite destinations, and it's great to see that list of destinations expanding.

Richard S wrote:

Does this mean Soutwest will be required to have life vests on their flights?

They already do.

Steak wrote:

Are there a lot of white trash in Canada?

No. They all live in PA :-)

Excellent!

ChgoSaint wrote:

Excellent! Southwest wins again. This is the business model others in the industry should have been trying to emulate years ago.

The problem is that they just allow anyone to fly these days.

Musician wrote:

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No. They all live in PA :-)

Since the best parts of michigan are under water, most live in W.Va.

Musician wrote:

<quoted text>
No. They all live in PA :-)

I'm actually in Chicago, but good one nonetheless.....

Please keep expanding, Southwest! Then I no longer have to be subject to the awful service from United and American. May these dinosaurs go under.

I hope Southwest keeps expanding and goes to Minneapolis. Airtran pulled out of it Chicago service and the pricesa re now over 400.00 round trip which used to be 169.00. ThNAKS NORTHWEST FOR GETTING RID OF AIRTRAN I HOPE DELTA CUTS YOU TO NOTHING!!!!!!!!!

Southwest needs to be in Minneapolis -- Mike is right. No airline is better than Northwest at chasing people out of what it perceives to be its "service area", and only Southwest has the strength and clout to take NWA on -- unless of course the Manchurian Candidate (Delta's senior management and board) eviscerates NWA from within.

Frankly I'd like to see Southwest make a pass for Europe, although I don't expect it to happen -- they'd be undercut on price by Ryanair and EasyJet, both of whom are non-union and pay their employees slave wages. It's a pity Southwest's arrangement with Icelandair didn't work out.

Musician wrote:

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They already do.

When did this happen because the last time I heard Southwest did not have them because they did not fly over water.

Including you.

Richard S wrote:

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When did this happen because the last time I heard Southwest did not have them because they did not fly over water.

I believe Southwest decided they wanted to fly more direct routes for their flights to Florida, which would take them over the Gulf, so they were required to have life vests on all their planes.

Richard S wrote:

<quoted text>
When did this happen because the last time I heard Southwest did not have them because they did not fly over water.

They fly over the great lakes, more than enough reason to have life jackets. Last time I checked, you can't swim to the shore if you're in the middle of Lake Michigan.

P.S. It's an FAA regulation that all passenger jets have adequate flotation devices for passengers.

Just remember that Southwest's hedge to buy fuel starts running out next year I believe, then prices for seats will be adjusted upward to pay for the new gas prices they will have to purchase.

Street Level wrote:

Just remember that Southwest's hedge to buy fuel starts running out next year I believe, then prices for seats will be adjusted upward to pay for the new gas prices they will have to purchase.

Gary Kelly, chief executive of Southwest Airlines Co. is planning for the day when Southwest's fuel advantage will disappear, either over time or if oil prices drop as rapidly as they have risen. Eventually, the rest of the industry will recover. Those that survive the tumult likely will be lean and hungry and threatening to Southwest.

But with hedges in place through 2011, Southwest has years to hone its strategy. Other U.S. airlines don't have that luxury.

"We bought the time, and the others have not," Kelly said. "They're just going to have to move much more rapidly, and it creates a significant amount of risk for them."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-su...

Street Level wrote:

Just remember that Southwest's hedge to buy fuel starts running out next year I believe, then prices for seats will be adjusted upward to pay for the new gas prices they will have to purchase.

Southwest hedges probably won't ever "run out." They continue to hedge, but the "barrel equivalent" price gets higher.

This year they have about 71% of their needs hedged at $51. Next year, they have about 50% hedged at the same price.

Currently their unexercised hedges have a cash value of more than $5BIL.

BUT ... the kicker is that Southwest's operational costs (CASM, or cost per available set mile) are lower than any other major even if they were paying the SAME PRICE as everyone else for fuel.

So even if Southwest's hedges went away completely, they would still be able to fly cheaper than any other major ... just not as much cheaper.

Southwest has its fuel hedged through 2011 according to the article in the Trib on Sunday. And they'll continue to hedge if they want to.