SWA taking off with music over PA?
- Thread starter B200 Hawk
- Start date
Anderson talked a little bit about this during "In Command".
We've kicked SWA's butt pretty good but not as effectively as Spirit and Frontier have. Apparently, Frontier and Spirits engines running on all cylinders and mopping the LCC market's floor with the Canyon Blue colored blood.
SWA can't match the cost structure of either but can't charge a premium over an "Evil, Dinosaur Legacy" so they find themselves in a juxtaposition, which is why they are trying to branch out into markets dominated by legacies where they have pricing strength, but now they're head to head with carriers like JetBlue which have the "product/price" market nailed. SWA's product is price and price alone. JetBlue is superior product at an attractive price and hard to match that with strong headwinds on your cost structure.
I'm just parroting. Personally, professionally, I really don't care.
ZapBrannigan
If it ain’t a Boeing, I’m not going. No choice.
I find it absolutely bewildering why there is such constant "my airline is better than your airline" ferver between pilots. It approaches the level of ferocity one would expect from fans of <name your favorite sports teams> or even religions squaring off against which is right.
I do have opinions regarding who has better products than others (yes, jetBlue has a terrific product at that price point!) but quite frankly I can't see myself as a member of the pilot community wishing ill will against any of my friends at other carriers just so that mine will be more successful. And furthermore I can not understand the mindset of anyone who does...
This is just a job folks. Everybody deserves to make a living. If you don't like my airline (or discount retailer for that matter) fine, shop someone else -- but the vitriolic hatred and desire to see me or any of my 8000 colleagues lose my job over what are essentially marketing decisions is just outrageous. The only one on here who has any skin in the game and MIGHT have a case to "hate" one carrier's pilots is ATN_Pilot -- and even then, hundreds of his friends and former colleagues now depend on this carrier for their livelihoods. So even if he chooses to never spend another dollar here (I wouldn't blame him) I would take him to task over the notion that he wishes ill will towards the airline at large.
We are better than this people. I've been doing this professionally for 20 years. I have good friends at virtually every major airline in the country, all of the LCCs, several regionals, and even some of the <GASP!> Middle Eastern carriers. I hope that all of their carriers are successful (hopefully not at the expense of mine)
Don't like my product? Don't buy it. But back off the venomous rhetoric! Its really hard to not feel defensive when you are being attacked!
I do have opinions regarding who has better products than others (yes, jetBlue has a terrific product at that price point!) but quite frankly I can't see myself as a member of the pilot community wishing ill will against any of my friends at other carriers just so that mine will be more successful. And furthermore I can not understand the mindset of anyone who does...
This is just a job folks. Everybody deserves to make a living. If you don't like my airline (or discount retailer for that matter) fine, shop someone else -- but the vitriolic hatred and desire to see me or any of my 8000 colleagues lose my job over what are essentially marketing decisions is just outrageous. The only one on here who has any skin in the game and MIGHT have a case to "hate" one carrier's pilots is ATN_Pilot -- and even then, hundreds of his friends and former colleagues now depend on this carrier for their livelihoods. So even if he chooses to never spend another dollar here (I wouldn't blame him) I would take him to task over the notion that he wishes ill will towards the airline at large.
We are better than this people. I've been doing this professionally for 20 years. I have good friends at virtually every major airline in the country, all of the LCCs, several regionals, and even some of the <GASP!> Middle Eastern carriers. I hope that all of their carriers are successful (hopefully not at the expense of mine)
Don't like my product? Don't buy it. But back off the venomous rhetoric! Its really hard to not feel defensive when you are being attacked!
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
You're not being attacked. Your airline's product is. That's a very important distinction.
KLB
Well-Known Member
All economy flying is pretty much the same. You sit in your seat. You get your peanuts and soda. And you hope the person sitting next to you doesn't have side fat that spills over into your seat.
SWA has free Inflight tv. You just have to access it on your own personal device.
SWA has free Inflight tv. You just have to access it on your own personal device.
🦈💜
Well-Known Member
Meh.
I guess I'm a classless hick...and I dream of a classless society. Maybe that's why I like Southwest. Before I was in the industry, my two favorite airlines to fly on were Virgin America and Southwest. Also, they were often the only ones with tickets at a price point that made the hit to my wallet palatable, so there was that, too. (And I wasn't exactly working at 7-11)
Going back to ECP to visit my parents on Delta was horrifyingly expensive. Throw in bag fees, relatively unfriendly flight attendants and gate agents, airplanes that were a sea of beige, the averted eyes of the first-class douchebags sipping their martinis and trying to ignore the hordes of unwashed shuffling down the aisle, and the legacies had a product that I didn't much care for, and couldn't justify the price of.
From that point of view, Southwest and Virgin America were breaths of fresh air, relatively speaking. Friendly, sociable flight attendants, gate agents that actually seemed happy to be there, ticket prices that were affordable enough to make flying several times a year a legitimate possibility, no bag fees, no discrimination between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat—first-class tickets on VA were far more reasonable, and upgrades available inexpensively at the gate if seats were available.
The first time I flew on a commercial airliner, I was 24. Before that it was just greyhound, even though I got my pilot's license at 17. I'm pretty young still, but when and where I was growing up, flying on the airlines was still something that only rich people did...so keep that in mind. Most of the gaps have closed now between the LCCs and the legacies, which is probably something that's forcing my kind of classless hick to the ULCCs, regardless of how poorly they're treated.
As a jumpseater, Southwest and Virgin America have treated me just as well as anyone else... better, in some cases.
So yeah, I realize that this won't be a popular post, but I don't care. The bandwagon will go on entirely without me... but the LCCs have treated me well, and I have to put in my 0.83¢ in their defense.
-Fox
I guess I'm a classless hick...and I dream of a classless society. Maybe that's why I like Southwest. Before I was in the industry, my two favorite airlines to fly on were Virgin America and Southwest. Also, they were often the only ones with tickets at a price point that made the hit to my wallet palatable, so there was that, too. (And I wasn't exactly working at 7-11)
Going back to ECP to visit my parents on Delta was horrifyingly expensive. Throw in bag fees, relatively unfriendly flight attendants and gate agents, airplanes that were a sea of beige, the averted eyes of the first-class douchebags sipping their martinis and trying to ignore the hordes of unwashed shuffling down the aisle, and the legacies had a product that I didn't much care for, and couldn't justify the price of.
From that point of view, Southwest and Virgin America were breaths of fresh air, relatively speaking. Friendly, sociable flight attendants, gate agents that actually seemed happy to be there, ticket prices that were affordable enough to make flying several times a year a legitimate possibility, no bag fees, no discrimination between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat—first-class tickets on VA were far more reasonable, and upgrades available inexpensively at the gate if seats were available.
The first time I flew on a commercial airliner, I was 24. Before that it was just greyhound, even though I got my pilot's license at 17. I'm pretty young still, but when and where I was growing up, flying on the airlines was still something that only rich people did...so keep that in mind. Most of the gaps have closed now between the LCCs and the legacies, which is probably something that's forcing my kind of classless hick to the ULCCs, regardless of how poorly they're treated.
As a jumpseater, Southwest and Virgin America have treated me just as well as anyone else... better, in some cases.
So yeah, I realize that this won't be a popular post, but I don't care. The bandwagon will go on entirely without me... but the LCCs have treated me well, and I have to put in my 0.83¢ in their defense.
-Fox
FlySooner9
Well-Known Member
Any airplane I've flown the cockpit crew takes priority over the PA system. aka the pilots would still be able to use the PA.
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
FlySooner9 said:
Missing the point.
And yet your shop has some of the most ridiculous safety videos out. But be damned if an FA tries to emulate one of them.
"Do as I say, not as I do."
Edit to add: You can be that fuddy duddy. If you need me to lock-step with it, that's fine. But what exactly would the violation be?
Last edited:
FlySooner9
Well-Known Member
Roger Roger
Bottom of the list
I don't want friendly, sociable flight attendants anymore than I want waiters that make small talk.
No one said you have to pay attention to them other than when they do the safety announcement. You could always fly another airline.
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
When they won't shut up, it's hard to ignore them.
surreal1221
Well-Known Member
Hey man, I appreciate all the rides I have gotten on SWA.
Commuting on Delta between ATL and DTW can be challenging. I do this by choice and do not complain about the commute...I'll let others complain about the decisions they willingly made. I enjoy flying with the DTW crews and it is a refreshing change from my 7 years in Atlanta.
So, to you and the other SWA folks that continue to help me get to work - Thank You, you and your organization make my life easier.
