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I'll keep flying Hawaiian. If baggage fees are an issue to travelers, maybe they should re-think their trip.
Bag fees can be important if you are towing around a bunch of children - it can add up fast. But, lets face it, that is usually summer months when most of the kiddos are flying - so the rest of the year it has less of an impact.
Regardless - the major advantage to SWA is the route network connections. Sure, they have no change fees, but if the planes are full (all the airlines are right now) it doesn't matter if the change fee is free if you can't get on another flight - I highly doubt they will fly that many planes to Hawaii and it might be from niche markets on the west coast (and keep in mind, these are small planes, the range is limited to the West Coast).
On the other hand, SWA will have some huge downsides they need to think about.
No first class - some airlines have free upgrades to lie-flat seats, others you can use miles to get a ticket or upgrade, and for others they will just pay for it.
No seat assignments - they likely have to rethink that. That is a long flight playing the gate roulette for a seat.
Entertainment - they don't have good options - some offer personal device entertainment completely free.
No extra legroom options in Economy - so, no economy plus, extra comfort, etc - you get what you get
Do airlines actually adjust their price according to fuel costs? While we don't know the actual fuel cost, as they do the hedging thing, there should be industry trends that show as oil prices go down airfares should go down as well (even if they do hedge ahead of time, it should be some kind of timed delay correlation I feel like).
But SWA going to HNL/etc. is a great news! I'm always up for more competition in the market.
I see the downsides in the above post, though I feel like there's a group of travelers that seem very loyal to SWA and it's kind of like the thing to do....since SWA is having an image of that different, cool kid and not the typical big coporate airliners....
Do airlines actually adjust their price according to fuel costs?
Yes - it is a huge cost.
You adjust either by the airfare - or they sneak in the dreaded "fuel surcharge" which makes the airfare seem low then they tack on extra fees, especially international flights.
A decade ago, fuel hedges were a huge competitive advantage for Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV). Between 1999 and mid-2008, Southwest saved $3.5 billion on fuel due to an aggressive strategy of hedging its fuel costs years into the future. Meanwhile, most of its peers didn't have good enough credit to do much hedging.
However, fuel hedges have become a huge liability for Southwest Airlines in the past two years. While there is a light at the end of the tunnel, fuel hedging losses will likely cause the company to report its first year-over-year drop in adjusted profit in several years in Q3. This unwelcome news contributed to a massive 11% decline in Southwest's stock price after it reported earnings last Thursday....
Are any airlines currently using the 737 on Calif to Hawaii routes? Seems to me when Aloha was around, I would see their 737s at the Oakland Airport. I know I prefer a bigger plane on longer flights, but it seems to be a thing of the past. Everytime I fly nonstop from the East Coast to the West Coast it's a 737. A friend just flew from Providence to Norway on the 737,. That's a 7 hour flight. He said it was a cramped crowded flight, that the plane is way to small for such a long flight. Of course the airfare was only $198 RT. I told him he really can't complain flying all the way, to Norway for that cheap price on Norwegian Air.
I hope these new flights to Hawaii will be successful for SW. We need all the competition we can get, in this day and age.
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