Excuse me for mangling Shakespeare, but while I like to admire well designed products like BMWs and great customer service at Four Seasons, I really love operationally excellent companies. So, allow me to gush about Southwest Airlines - again.
I flew non-stop this week from Tampa to Houston on Southwest for $ 147 round-trip - 682 nautical miles each way. Uncle Sam added $ 27 in taxes. If you book a non-refundable fare and not fly it, you can apply it towards another fare within 12 months. Other airlines hit you for $ 50 to 200 each time you change tickets.
The average ticket earns $ 93 for Southwest over 793 miles. The IRS recognizes 44.5 c per mile driven in 2006. - 4 times as much.
Each ticket booked on-line - 2/3rds of Southwest tickets are - earns 4 award credits. 16 credits get you a free ticket anywhere on the system. Do the math - the average Southwest customer gets more in free ticket value than he pays the airline. The awards have no capacity controls (other than 15 blackout days in a year during major holidays) so technically 125 passengers could show up for a Tampa to Seattle flight and Southwest would honor all their awards.
Going out of business model? Southwest has never had a loss in its 30+ year history. They are becoming less generous about awards (introducing capacity controls next month). But then they turn around and give me a free companion pass for being one of their more frequent fliers. My daughter can fly free with me anywhere, anytime. 5 flights a day if I choose to. Even if I am using an award ticket! Handy for those chess tournaments.
They are on-time 75 to 80% of the time - depending on the time of the year, and usually 3 to 5% better than the industry average. Their employees laugh and sing during flights - a rarity nowadays in other airlines. They have never had a fatal passenger accident (though recently a Southwest plane had an accident where someone in a car died).
The other airlines will tell you Southwest does not have a first class cabin. It does not. But I can check in on line and get the first boarding group 98% of the time. Which guarantees plenty of on-board baggage space. It also ensures an aisle on the left side of the plane so my right hand can freely work on the laptop. And my 6 foot 2 body frame appreciates the extra leg space their 737s have compared to other airlines. Let's not forget only a handful of their passengers do get upgraded on each flight.
The other airlines will tell you they can fly you around the world on their awards. Try redeeming them. I have called Delta 6 times since past summer to book tickets to Ireland next summer( in fairness, over the years we have taken a number of award trips on Delta but as they get more financially fragile they appear to have become stingier with awards)
The other airlines argue Southwest makes you stop multiple times. From my home airport Southwest now offers non-stops to 26 cities and 1 stops just about everywhere.
The other airlines argue Southwest is lucky to not have union issues. Southwest says it is 81% unionized.
The other airlines can keep saying things ...ideally they should just match Southwest's operational model. Not difficult to match ...just fairly priced, on-time, safe, cheerful.
A thing of efficiency like that is a joy every time. And allows you to save for the other things of joy - the BMWs and the Four Seasons.
