Yep, this is the new Sun Country. But it is also the ULCC model. I'd wager that Allegiant would do the same, WOW Air and Norweigan are known for this, also. ULCC's almost never even have the capacity in their reservations systems to book you on another airline, so if anything happens to their flight, which may not be daily, you're screwed with a refund, best case of course.
That is all true but this was a change to the extreme, and Sun Country is far less known than Frontier, Allegiant, and Spirit. Really, I think Sun Country's biggest mistake(other than throwing the finger to their loyal flyers for the last 40 years who chose them over freggin Delta often) was refusing to allow seamless MSP connections until a few years ago. I know their MSP hub model was geared mostly at getting people out of MSP and then back home, but SFO-MSP could have been marketed as SFO-SXM/LGA/RSW/SJO ect. But instead, one would have to buy 2 tickets, re-check the bags, re-clear TSA(assuming there were bags to check/claim), and have no protection in the event of a misconnect. Firing all station managers, outsourcing almost everything to the lowest bidder, and going from great comfort/service at a cheap price to almost no comfort/service for a slightly cheaper price. And they chose to get into the West Coast blood bath where Southwest, United, and Alaska are all dumping frequencies and slashing fares on routes out of PDX, LAS, SFO, ect that Sun Country has decided to start serving. All the other airlines have to do is price match Sun Country and there is no reason for the average West Coast pax to choose them over the majors. You're entitled to your opinion, mine is unfortunately that we won't have Sun Country 10 years from now, be it by merger, take over, or bankruptcy. Hopefully I'm mistaken, but seeing as Sun Country got rid of just about everything "Sun Country", from First Class to the employees themselves, and that on many routes like SFO-MSP Delta has already price matched with much more to offer, I don't see a happy ending here. And I love happy endings.
Given the past between DL/AS and the monopoly DL has at MSP, I'd laugh so hard I'd probably pee if that happens. It would be the business equivalent of this:AS buys Sun Country.
You heard it here first!
Given the past between DL/AS and the monopoly DL has at MSP, I'd laugh so hard I'd probably pee if that happens. It would be the business equivalent of this:
tcbmag.com
Interesting interview with the CEO from a few months ago that touches very briefly on PDX and the relative lack of ULCCs in that market, plus the need to expand outside of MSP.
Jude Bricker Gets Very Real on Sun Country's Quest for Financial Sustainability
The airline's CEO believes the Eagan-based company still
Honestly? I have a good buddy who went there after many years of 135/91. He loves it. He’s someone whose opinion I respect too.
They were just like Midwest with their niche market. But Midwest had the warm cookies.
And we saw how the sale/low-cost model worked for Midwest.
1 perk is they are expanding fast, and with the low pay, many will leave after upgrade I'm sure. The flying is cool, Sun Country has always had a diverse route network with focus cities in DFW, LAS, and others and a ton of point-to-point routes. There are also a lot of charters, from USA-Mexico/Hawaii to Europe, Asia, and even Africa believe it or not. Also, I'd give it a high chance that if Sun Country succeeds, Alaska or some other major will be interested, and flying there could be a fast track to a major. Sun Country stayed independent so long by basically staying off the major's toes(not offering connections in MSP until recently meant they really were not much of a threat to NW/DL even flying the same routes technically). Now they are on the radar.
I think what Midwest had working heavily against them was they chose their base as MKE. No matter how many analysis reports you run to justify MKE being able to support a national LLC, it just wont work. Skybus is another example of that. Thanks Obama!