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The title says it all. Southwest will no longer have nonstop flights from RDU to Philly after March 2013. Coming from PA/NJ his really hurts my family. We loved Southwest bc the flights were priced perfectly and we could fly into Philly within an hour!
So my question is what now? Any travel tips to avoid driving and high flight prices?
US Air has about 6 direct flights a day to Philly for about the same price as SW. It will be interesting to see how much they raise the fee when the competition shuts down.
US Air has about 6 direct flights a day to Philly for about the same price as SW. It will be interesting to see how much they raise the fee when the competition shuts down.
I've always taken US Air instead of Southwest whenever possible. I do wonder about fare increases. Mine are almost exclusively for business and paid for by my employer, but I do travel there occasionally on my own dime.
Wonder why SW is discontinuing service?
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Southwest is not invincible anymore. High fuel costs make their operating economics look more like the other airlines' operating economics. USAirways played their cards right by dropping PHL fares to the point where neither airline could make money. Southwest eventually saw that USAirways wasn't going to blink, and Southwest decided it could make more money by shifting their aircraft to other routes.
Southwest is not invincible anymore. High fuel costs make their operating economics look more like the other airlines' operating economics. USAirways played their cards right by dropping PHL fares to the point where neither airline could make money. Southwest eventually saw that USAirways wasn't going to blink, and Southwest decided it could make more money by shifting their aircraft to other routes.
Yep. Worth adding there that SW had seen the opportunity to make PHL into a Northeast US focus city but they've cut back lots of routes; I believe PIT and BOS are gone or severely cut back. Lots of places are taking PHL hits on Southwest these days.
The SW direct to PHL gained a lot from GSK's business travellers after GSK cancelled their private plane shuttle to PHL and after American cancelled their direct to PHL. GSK has a lot less employees now than they did 6 years ago and they're clamping down on budgets so they have a lot less folks taking those flights every day.
Hopefully another airline comes in to give US Airways some competition because without it they are likely to raise rates significantly. Delta seems keen on continuing to grow their presence at RDU so maybe this is a chance for them to send a RJ to PHL and back a couple of times per day.
Have been flying USAirways between RDU and PHL since relocating here last year. My daughter also uses them . Always a good choice of flights, price is comparable and a good friend of mine has been a mechanic with them for 25 years, now in PHL, so I like to patronize.
As far as airfares go, it does cost money to to run an efficient, safe airline. I know we all want the most for our hard earned dollars, but I hear all the inside stories about the industry, and it is pretty complicated.
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