06-22-2009
06:32 PM
15 Loves
Business Select and A-List Customers should get WiFi as a perk (i.e. free). You might also offer it free when someone earns a Rapid Rewards award - as you do with the drink tickets.
Other Customers should get WiFi for a minimal charge - I'd be disinclined to pay more than $5 unless I were going to be traveling all day - and this should be per trip. If the Customer signs in with their PNR, it should be possible to know whether that Customer has already paid on a flight earlier that day and not charge them again (and if you also verify that the Customer is signing in aboard a flight that matches their PNR, then it's harder to cheat - not that we know anyone who would).
Yes, the revenue helps, but this is Southwest. And WiFi is free at Motel 6, the public library, etc.
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09-26-2007
01:07 AM
4 Loves
Gary, if you really want to give people a good scare, why not show up in a three-piece suit and wear a mask with the face of the CEO of one of the legacy airlines. Announce the acquisition of Southwest by another carrier. Talk about horror! :-)
But maybe not ... even with defibrillators handy and paramedics standing by, it might prove too much for the faint of heart.
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08-10-2007
01:30 AM
6 Loves
Is it so very wrong of me to congratulate myself for checking my bag when I see some poor unfortunate soul in group C struggling the length of the aisle with a well-stuffed roller bag just as it's announced that the bins are full? What about the frazzled parent who is trying to keep control a bag as well as a child?
When I get off an airplane, I usually need to visit the restroom. I might need a quick snack if it was a longer flight or if I won't get a chance to eat on the way to my final destination. It's easier to take care of these things without a bag in hand--and how much time are you really saving by carrying it all on?
A bag in the hold doesn't mean that I have nothing left to put under the seat in front. Did I mention that my feet are size 12?
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Great post, Bert. I've been doing 1-5 all along. I never lock my bag anymore since advent of TSA screening, and I always stay at the counter until I see that the tag with my name and destination has in fact been attached to my bag. I'll be adding No. 6 on future trips.
I've never had my bag go astray on Southwest. I *have* had it beat me to carousel a couple of times.
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07-24-2007
05:34 PM
1 Love
Pay nothing extra to change your travel plans. Why are you not advertising this more? If another airline has a lower promotional fare, but charges a hefty fee to change a reservation, that low fare is booby-trapped and I will really hesitate to book it. I won't make that reservation until I am absolutely sure that my plans are firm. But with Southwest, I can book whenever and know that I have a year to use the funds and it won't cost me a dime more than the actual fare.
I was originally going to make a trip last January. It was put off THREE TIMES (circumstances beyond my control each time) and I finally made it in May. On some other carriers, the change fees alone would have been as much as the fare I finally paid to fly from Oakland to San Diego.
My comments on potential changes to Rapid Rewards and seating:
Tampering with Rapid Rewards would be a major negative. The current RR program keeps me on Southwest even if I could fly to a more convenient airport or pay a few dollars less for someone else's promotional fare, because it's easy to earn awards before your credits expire. I can even live with the capacity controls. I'll choose WN to BWI over B6 to IAD every time. BUT - if you go to a mileage- or point-based system, and it becomes more difficult for a leisure traveler to earn a free flight before credits expire, there will be far less incentive for me to choose Southwest over another carrier offering a comparable fare. If I know I'm not going to get a free flight with either carrier, then I won't be particularly loyal to either.
Open seating versus online seat selection is 50/50 for me. I do like open seating, and if you know the way it works, you can get in group A easily. And I'm a great believer in checked baggage, so group C doesn't scare me. But I'd also like the certainty of *knowing* I've got that window seat I like. The main concern I have with assigned seating is whether it will slow the boarding process. We all get aboard pretty quickly the way it is now and quick turnaround means on-time departure and helps keep fares low.
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09-16-2006
01:59 AM
25 Loves
On September 7, 2001, I bought my Ticketless Travel from southwest.com and was all set to visit my friend Crystal in Arlington, VA. She had moved there a few months previously and I had decided to visit her over the Columbus Day weekend. Crystal assured me that it was easy to get to her apartment on Columbia Pike: "You get off the Metro at the Pentagon and the bus is right there...." Four days later and our lives--and especially air travel--changed forever.
I had weeks to think about whether I should cancel my travel plans--especially given that I was traveling to one of the places that was attacked. But I wanted to see my friend, and I *didn't* want to let Bad People win.
I can tell you that security at the airports was *nothing* compared to what I saw in finding my way to the bus at the Pentagon (the main Metrobus transfer point is now at Pentagon City, one stop down the line). The bus took me right around the Pentagon and I could see the missing section like a slice missing from a cake.
But I had a great visit with Crystal and our Columbus Day visit to the Capitol City Brewery's Oktoberfest at Shirlington Village is now an annual tradition. Take *that*, Osama!
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Gee, Traci, I guess it's that perspective thing again. I just LUV flying low over water and the approach to OAK (or, when I'm stuck flying someone else to MSP because SWA doesn't go there, to SFO) is one of my favorite things about flying. On the other hand, although I know in my head that safe landings at SAN number as the stars in the sky, my gut does *not* like landing at Lindbergh Field!
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