Southwest has looked like a diamond in a slop jar in the airline industry since the early 1970s. The airline has flown in the face of the idea that cheap means poor service and surly employees. It is today—in my opinion—proof positive that economy can be served with a smile and on-time service.
But I’m worried.
Cometh via email today news that Southwest (SWA) is indeed considering a larger version of the Boeing 737—the B-737-800. We had hints and rumors prior to this, but now it is official.
Call me old-fashioned, but SWA has moved along using their formula for success for lo, these many decades, and it has worked. Are they now going to change the formula?
They are famous for using alternate airports—like Love to serve the Dallas/Fort Worth area and BWI to serve Washington, DC. This possible—or perhaps probable—change to a bigger airplane is at least partly, the story goes, to fit in better at airports like LaGuardia, where time slots limit the number of flights and partly because the extra seats will reduce even further SWA’s already low-cost-per-seat mile. It all makes sense, I guess, and SWA does have a habit of doing whatever it takes to make a profit.
After all, it’s not a brand-new airplane—just a bigger version of the B-737—and SWA has done that before, while working the original formula. I still get nervous when they start adjusting to humongous airports and ever-longer flights.
I just hope SWA remembers that old adage, “Dance with the girl that brung you.â€
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