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Viva Mexico

rsweet
Explorer B


 
 
We're codesharing with who...or is it whom...I always forget, but who cares? I should be writing this in Spanish...do you write in Spanish? Wow, I'm struggling today with what few writing skills I have,  probably because I'm so excited about the announcement of our second International codeshare partner - Volaris.
 
It's Volaris...yes Volaris! You know, if you fuse the Spanish word volar (to fly) with the word Polaris (North Star) you get Volaris? Well, that's how they came up with their name, and I think it's a pretty cool name. What's even cooler is that Volaris is an exceptional low-cost airline flying in Mexico. They are focused on high levels of Customer Service and provide a great inflight experience. Volaris plans to begin flying in to the US sometime in 2009 and will become Southwest Airlines' Mexico codeshare partner in early 2010. If you haven't heard of Volaris, here's a little information that should give you a feel for them and why we think they will be a great partner!
 
Like our new codeshare partner WestJet, Volaris presently serves some pretty cool destinations...or should I say hot destinations! Places like Cancun, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, and Acapulco are certainly great places to vacation. Mexico City (via Toluca), Monterrey, and Guadalajara are great business travel destinations and will complement our efforts to attract more business travelers.
 
Also, like WestJet, Volaris has a fun corporate culture. On one of our visits to their Headquarters, their VP of Sales was having his head shaved in front of the Volaris Employees—it was payback for the Employees who had met a revenue goal that he challenged them to meet. Their Employees are very energetic and love their airline. Their Customers join in the fun as well. They recently had an inflight concert! My favorite Customer experience was influenced by the free tequila and cerveza they served! They also give away Krispy Kreme donuts! It's a regular Fiesta!!! Oh yes, and every Volaris plane is named after one of their valued Customers. I can't wait to see Ricardo!
 
Unlike WestJet, Volaris is an unknown brand in the US. Although they are relatively small and certainly new (they began flying in 2006), Volaris has proven themselves itself as a successful and viable airline and are developing a new generation of flyers in Mexico. Coupled with the Southwest brand, network, and Customer base, the opportunities are huge.
 
Okay, enough of my rambling, whadoyouthink? 
 

 

302 Comments
Anonymous850
Explorer C
Warrior Spirit? ...to code-share?
Anonymous3431
Explorer C
Okay, enough of my rambling, whadoyouthink? *********** IT STINKS! AND IS PATRONIZING AND CONDESCENDING TOWARD YOUR OWN PEOPLE. GROW UP AND STOP WONDERING WHY YOUR STOCK IS SO LOW!
Mary_T_
Explorer C
This is sooooo wrong at so many levels.... Agree with most of the comments above. You need to trust more in your own people!
Geoff1
Explorer C
I use Southwest exclusively for domestic travel and legacy flag carriers for international travel (including Mexico). I am not sold on the value of codesharing. First, when flying international my preference is for non-stop flights and I don't see these deals offering me any options out of New England on Southwest's metal or anyone else's. Second, I never trust a situation where two vendors can point the finger at each other when something gets messed up... if I buy a ticket from an airline I want to be their customer, not someone else's customer on a codeshare. As a customer I value the fact that Southwest is cautious even if that means I don't see a route that I would like but in this case I think JetBlue is making the right play.
Roque_TX
Explorer C
You should subcontract every future destination then... Why fly it yourself? Outsourcing is cheaper and less risky... And don't worry about those "whiny" employees... they come and go! Besides, if the want to fly to Mexico, Canada or the caribbean they can work for any other airline in the country. They all (but you) fly there!
A_Customer_of_B
Adventurer C
Yea Spirit, Jetblue, and Airtran are flying to the Carribean and Cancun....but lets consider a few things....Spirit has HORRIBLE customer service that SWA doesn't want, Airtran used to be Valujet(unsafe) and their employees aren't happy, and Jetblue has shaky earnings along with a JFK meltdown on the books and agreements of their own for European flying. Do you want to be like them??? These airlines also fly to BOS, LGA, JFK, EWR, ATL, CLT, MEM, etc. which you guys do not so I think you should think about taking that step with your own metal before you go to Canada and Mexico with it. Also, Herb and Colleen are still @ SWA per http://www.swamedia.com/swamedia/sidebar/officer_bios.html and picked the people who came after them who were already with the company so they obviously have confidence in them. Lastly, it looks really bad to your customers and those at the airlines partnering with you who have had no ill will against you at all when you complain and act pessimistically like this in an anonymous fashion of the blog in front us so please cosnider that as well. -A Customer who agrees with the employee who sees it differently
B__Rubio
Explorer C
So, you really don't think that the people that made your company a success for 37+ years cannot land a plane in Mexico, or have a responsible layover or pass immigration cards to customers?
Anonymous2427
Explorer C
ATA Deja vu all over again! As a Bi-lingual and experienced Flight Attendant I feel offended by what lies behind this decision: The assumption that we are not capable to design, retrain, make changes and deliver a superb near-international product. Your loss!!! I know I can work an international flight and deliver superior service. I also see how full our competitors serving Puerto Rico are and how foolish and stubborn we look for not serving the only domestic mayor destination in the caribbean where passports are not required...
Anonymous718
Explorer C
Thumbs down!
Anonymous3535
Explorer C
And they think that everybody is stupid amd doesn't realize what they are trying to do? Bravo southwest employees for being pissed of!!!!! Revolt! don't let them do it! SWA DESERVES better!
Very_depressed_
Explorer C
Ok, so far code-share to Canada and Mexico and still looking for co-shares for Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Alaska, The Caribbean and South America (not to mention Europe!). That's 4, 5 or 6 different code-shares! so that doesn't complicate things? What are we becoming? Danger, Will Robinson! Soon our res center will move to India and every new destination will be a code-share.... Depressing! time to go to one of the "other" airlines at least they still fly their own planes to their destinations!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous2119
Explorer C
A dose of reality here, we can barely afford to open up a new city, we are afraid anymore to go up against failing carriers like US, DL, and we yield new service and gates to weak airlines like B6, Spirit and Airtran and you'll expect us to embark on a full scale International venture?? Please!!! First of all it is EXTREMELY expensive, second it's not just a matter of "let's fly there" and third, we will not be able to go into other countries and undercut the competition by offering lower fares. Most countries have laws against this in order to protect their flag carriers. There are too many CEOs, planners wannabees in here!!
Employee3
Explorer C
Many are concerned about Southwest "outsourcing" our jobs. They also say, "Why doesn't Southwest just fly it???" Ok, where are the extra planes going to come from? Where will our customs areas be? How will you pay for the new terminal rents in another country? Along with whatever issues are involved with flying internationally. OR.... we could just let Volaris pay for it, use their equipment, their customs areas, and use all of their resources which are ALREADY in place and IN USE. And... we get a cut of the profits!!! Just because an employee wants to vacation somewhere doesn't mean it's a profitable route that must be serviced immediately. Cabo is a great place along with Cancun. But how many business passengers are on those flights? Those are all frequent flyer miles and leisure fares... passengers who save up all year round for this one trip. Codesharing is a fantastic idea at this point in our economy and state of the company. Or we could end up like ATA, Aloha, etc... I'll take codesharing!
a_pilot_that_kn
Explorer C
It is sad that Mr. Kelley wants to ruin the airline built on trust from the employees. The very people that are supposed to be the first customer. If SWA planes can get their SWA crews should be flying the routes. The public needs to be aware that the pilots at Volaris arent as qualified as SWA pilots. They arent trained to the same standards. Both pilots at SWA are qualified as Captains and EVERY pilot has been a captain prior to working for SWA. Volaris crew will have minimal experience. The airline itself will have minimal experience where as SWA has been at it for 37 years. It is to bad Mr. Kelley has so much disregard towards his employees. He will be the down fall of Southwest Airlines. I will sell my stock in the company, due to the fact they no longer want to grow the airline. They just want to be a travel agency. The employees will lose their drive and motivation, with that SWA will suffer. The employees built it he will tear it down. They are looking more like a Legacy carrier everyday.
Robert11
Explorer C
Southwest, what are you thinking? Are you kidding me? Have you now stooped so low as to just become another American brand name that has just outsourced itself to the cheapest bidder? What can we expect next? To talk to outsourced reservation agents "based" in Bangladesh (or the like) like the individuals I got to "converse" with during your ATA codeshare debacle? Wow! Now that was an experience! Not enjoyable to be sure, neither my scheduling/coordinating experience nor the flight segment on ATA! When I book Southwest, I want to fly Southwest!
Pin_Prick
Explorer C
Dear employee who likes codeshare, how will you feel when your job is outsourced to India or Pakistan or another subcontractor like Mensies or SABRE or a host of low rate companies who would love to fill your job with a mimimum wage or better yet overseas employee? Not so easy to let this codshare thing get started now, is it?
Anonymous441
Explorer C
To the flying public: This is not what it seems. This is outsourcing of pilot and flight attendant jobs, the same pilots and flight attendants who are so happy to service you our customers. In place of our own growth, and in place of our traditional "go it alone" strategy under your beloved Herb, our new CEO and ex CFO has decided that outsourcing our jobs is the future culture of Southwest Airlines. This is a perfect example of the victory of theory and numbers over just plane common sense. First the FAA maintenance scandal, then the open labor contracts, now outsourcing. Our culture is under fire and our airline is becoming just another legacy airline. I'm tired of going the extra mile so these bean counters can destroy our airline. The emperor has no clothes. We miss you Herb.
SWA_Employe_who
Explorer C
I have to say I love this. Lets see, they do the work, they do the flying, they load the bags in Mexico and we make the money. Hmmmm. We lose out how? I would say the only bad thing about them is they fly Airbus and not BOEING. So tell me exactly how do we lose out? Oh I have that answer too. We can't use our passes on them so we lose out on free trips to Mexcio.
pberg
Frequent Flyer B
It’s understandable that some Employees and Customers would have questions as to why we would choose to codeshare rather than fly our own aircraft on international routes. While our current focus is on codeshare service, our leaders has said that flying our own aircraft outside of the United States is not out of the question, it’s simply not our focus at this time and in this economic environment. Right now, with a weakening economy, unpredictable fuel prices, and slowing Customer demand, the level of investment that would be required for us to fly international routes ourselves simply doesn’t make sense for Southwest Airlines. The idea is to first restore our Company’s profitability to levels that would justify adding the necessary airplanes, flights, destinations, and jobs needed to sustain such growth. For now, codesharing is a way for us to grow our revenues and profits without taking on the risk of adding expensive aircraft to our fleet. It allows us to fill seats that would otherwise go empty, and it allows us to add destinations that we otherwise might not serve. As you may recall, we entered into our first codeshare agreement with ATA Airlines in February 2005, and that relationship generated $40 million in additional revenue in 2007. That codeshare agreement was in place until April 3, 2008, when ATA announced its plans to discontinue service. Of course, we were disappointed with the news because we believe the ATA codeshare was a success. For that reason, we began to actively pursue other codeshare opportunities. On July 8, we announced our first international service by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOA) with WestJet. WestJet was named Canada's most admired corporate culture in 2005, 2006, and 2007, and we believe WestJet will be a solid match for both our Culture and our level of service. Today we announced our MOA with Volaris, a Mexico-based carrier. While some of the comments here have questioned the choice, Volaris is known for competitive pricing and has earned the reputation for being Mexico’s most ontime carrier. For those reasons, among others, we believe Volaris is also a great fit for Southwest Airlines. An important point to remember about codesharing is that it only adds a marginal number of Customers per flight. However, this margin helps us sustain our own flights, especially in this environment of rising fares and declining traffic.
Andy5
Explorer C
I am a Southwest Dispatcher who is VERY happy about this new opportunity. Why? It's a cheap, low-risk way to test the market and add significant revenue with a quality partner. If our Customers respond well to international service via our codeshares, I have no doubt that we'll operate international flights with our own metal and Employees. Operating international service ourselves would be expensive, complex, and risky. Until we are highly confident it will be profitable and successful, it's better to let another airline assume that risk.
Anonymous3650
Explorer C
Paula, that was LAME even for Southwest. This is just sad. This company lost its "mojo"...
Anonymous3346
Explorer C
If you think flight attendants and pilots WANT to take a 10 hour "vacation" overnight after a 12 1/2 hour work day to Tijuana or Cancun you must work at Headquarters in Dallas. We don't even NEED to overnight there!!!! We have PLENTY of stations that we could fly turns to Mexico from. If you don't know what "turn" means it means going from one station to another and directly back to the same station. Why let a company other than ours bring OUR passengers to and from the states? Because neither one of these code share partners are unionized and their workforce makes HALF of what we do now. It may be costly to set up these stations initially, but the time, dedication and customer service Southwest employees provide is proven and well worth the cost in the long run. You at Headquarters should be concerned as well. There are only so many VP positions to go around when Southwest Airlines STOPS growing.
Anonymous3617
Explorer C
I love the ones trying to be condescending with their fellow employees and accusing them of being brats "because they cannot non-rev to Mexico". That's very superficial, I believe... and in any case I know that Southwest have very good non-rev agreements with all the airlines that do fly there.... Wake up! This is more than a bunch of brats throwing a tantrum... I have read a lot of legitimate concerns!
Disappointed_Em
Explorer C
Is codeshare really the new endgame for SWA? Has GK decided to transform this AIRLINE into a TRAVEL AGENCY? 35 years of good will rapidly being frittered away... 😞
JOE_ISUZU_GARY
Explorer C
Flight crews have been battling the codeshare "creep" (initials GK) for a while now and so far our so called employee friendly CEO has lied to us about his intentions from the days of ATA. Now he's promised the pilots one thing and we read in the media quite another. Gary's post Herb free ride is OVER if you ask me. The man can dress up in whatever cute Halloween costumes he likes, but as of today the fun is over.
Anonymous3718
Explorer C
Wow, I find it hard to believe some of the rhetoric I've read about outsourcing. Say what you will about Volaris, I only heard about them for the first time today while reading this announcment, but don't even think about trying to brand codeshare with Westjet as outsourcing or thinking of them as some second level operation not worthy of partnering with Southwest. Fact is, WestJet does it very well, probably even better than Southwest. Yes, they took a model that Southwest created and perfected it to another level. And there are some who are very worried about Canadian customers boarding a flight in Canada connecting in the US and suddenly being herded like cattle the Southwest way. The Southwest model, in its purity, would not be tolerated by most Canadian travellers and thats why Westjet had to modify it. Codeshare is a great way to gain exposure in a different country without the risk and complication of regulations, Customs, and cultural expectations. Westjet flies to the US, the Carribean and Mexico. Southwest does not need to worry about its brand when partnering with Westjet. That's a solid partnership. Seperate the Volaris announcement from the Westjet announcment. It's like NAFTA. That sucking sound you hear going south started in the north. Mexico is to the US as the US is to Canada regarding job loss and outsourcing. Once you get that you'll realize how absurd outsourcing claims to Canada really is.
Anonymous4115
Explorer C
Paula, Traditionally our airline grew in some of its strongest spurts during recession and under our founders direction. Herb grew and managed an airline competently. Gary, Mike and Laura are deal makers. Have you forgotten the life long members of Herbs team who endlessly were shown the door when Gary took over? It was disrespect and it was change through trauma. This is the airline industry and contrary to what you goes on at the endless Prom Week and Frat Party in Dallas, we're working our tails off out on line and for what. We're stagnant in growth, we have no advancement, our commuters are treated like second class citizens, and now we're watching our gates, our rampers, and our airline utilize lower wage crews to replace us. If you're really a traditional Southwest type, you'd see this as very un-Southwest. If you or someone else at the GO were to voice similar complaints from your end of the world, I know the flight attendants and pilots would back you. We are a family are we not?
Bird_on_a_tree
Explorer C
Are you serious? At some point, growth has to be checked. Why? Because if you outgrow your skeleton, your vital organs aren't protected. Southwest has never flown through the type of economic climate that it is flying in now. All I hear is people talking like union members (our contract says BLAH BLAH BLAH, we want the work etc). It isn't Southwest that has changed, it's YOU. Being #1 makes people forget how they got to this point and you would be best advised not to forget it. Codesharing brings traffic from another region to your aircraft without you having to go and get them. Let Volaris bring more people to your existing routes at THEIR expense. This may be the last quarter Southwest puts cash in the bank for some time, but doing the downturn, you want to still fly like Southwest, right? You want to still make money, right? Of course you do and that is why new growth must utilize the strengths of your network. Volaris seems to be well regarded in Mexico. Be careful with the sentiment that a well regarded Mexican airline is unable to provide high quality service. It sounds a lot like Mexican bashing and you don't want to go down that road. You would be surprised how much transportation innovation there is in Mexico. They seem to be the Southwest of 25 years ago.
Anonymous4182
Explorer C
Management has claimed that Southwest employees are the best, and their pilots are the hardest working and most productive pilots in the industry. Their reward? Outsourcing and the impression that Southwest pilots may be capable of flying from L.A. to Providence, but an airline that has been in business for two years have pilots more qualified to fly from Phoenix to Mexico City... Wake up employees, this affects EVERYONE! Employees built this company, don't let the company give the fruits of your labor to another company and their employees! And to those who still think Herb was/is the Messiah, call a bookie in Vegas and see what the odds are on him working on this deal before his big farewell and Coleen's final show of "LUV" to the pilots... And to those customers who think this is just "hunky dory", your ticket purchase to Mexico and anywhere else this leads to, helps the inevitble loss of jobs to Southwest employees. It's only the beginning folks...If those who truly realize the damage that is done with outsourcing need to book a flight to any of the codeshare cities, I, for one, hope they book their flights on another carrier! UNITY!!!
Anonymous2930
Explorer B
Could someone in the IT department please turn the troll filters back on? Thank you.
Anonymous2724
Explorer C
I\'m a flight attendant and I\'m concerned. I have a young son and I\'m a single mother. When I first started at Southwest 10 years ago everyone here was so kind and team oriented and those were the days of our triple crown performance. We made record profits, we were highly paid, and we were all on the same team. I trusted Herb and his people. What I\'m confused about is Gary Kelly. He seemed at first to be a continuation of Herb\'s team but now I\'m not so sure. First when that ATA codeshare came out, we thought it was temporary and they said to trust them. We did. Then came all those flights to Hawaii but this we already had those Midway gates right? Then came WestJet but why can\'t we fly to Canada? Now its Mexico but again why can\'t we go there. As we grow this way, I still commute. My son sits without his mom a lot. Now we just had a loss which I\'m not sure but I don\'t think we had a loss under Herb did we? What is going on with Southwest Airlines? We seem like American now and Gary I don\'t know who you think you are.
Anonymous4182
Explorer C
It appears that the negatives are outweighing the "this is wonderful news" and all posts aren't being allowed... Coincidence? I think not... Of course, it coud be a computer glitch. Guess I could call tech support, but I don't feel like supporting that outsourcing either...
Very_Concerned_
Explorer C
I'm shocked Gary Kelly didn't have something written in SWAlife or a video of why he has decided to embark on more codeshares. If we fly internationally and make X million is it not enough? We have to make XX million more using a substandard airline and throwing our own employees under the bus. We are taking our brand and tossing it in the toilet. We saw that with the ATA codeshare but we didn't learn a thing from it. PAULA, why don't we just start laying off employees to save a few bucks and connect Volaris with JetBlue and Airtran through our website. We'll collect a small percentage of the profits then we won't have to take any risks at all or incur any costs associated with flying airplanes. We haven't even tested the waters with WestJet and you are already proclaiming it a success. Absolutely amazing!!! Employee wishing Herb was still at the helm....
Anonymous3702
Explorer C
They are hundreds of negative reactions to this FIASCO. The overwhelming majority is against this mess. Please don't let them fool you. They're filtering a cascade of angry letters from employees and customers.... This is the end of Southwest as we know it!
Anonymous1474
Explorer C
Gary, Please stop all this and post something on SWAlife for us. Clearly the negativity on this forum is outweighing the positives and people are scared. They are the frontline employees who deal directly with the customer and if they aren't informed then we will lose customers in droves. If they are unhappy then the customer will be unhappy. Doesn't matter how many cheerful "desk operators" we have here in Dallas. We aren't the ones who make it all happen. They, the frontline employees, are clearly scared for their jobs, future advancement possibilities, and most of all scared you are tearing this airline down from all that it was built to be. I don't believe it to be true but we need you now more than ever. Please, get out and inform those who work hard for you everyday. If there was any time in our history that SWA needed heartfelt leadership it is now. If you truly believe the employees are the heart and soul of this airline and dollar signs aren't as important as they are then please speak out and lead us.
Samuel__MCO
Explorer C
We kind of goofed off when they made the WestJet announcement, but this is too much! One new destination in years with only a couple of flights a day and all this friggin' outsorcing!!!! Enough! Give us back our airline. Don't treat us like IDIOTS! We are good enough to fly overseas with our own resources... I don't believe anything you say Gary Kelly... None of your vitriolic announcements (us flying internationally, WI-FI, new unforms, corporate image, new destinations) have materialized. Meanwhile, JetBlue hasn't made any of these announcements and have increased presence in Mexico and the Caribbean, improved their inflight entertainment, etc, etc. Enough of the "whatever we can get by with culture" WE ARE SICK OF THIS CRAP!
pberg
Frequent Flyer B
Dear Very Concerned Employee - Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and concerns here on the blog. I apologize if I was unclear in my previous comment. If you reread it, I think you will find that I did not make any claims of success regarding our not yet active codeshare with WestJet. My claim of success was regarding the relationship and financial benefits of the ATA codeshare. Of course, I don’t want to see a single Southwest Employee laid off. While we may disagree on the virtues of codeshares, I hope we share the same since interest in our Company’s longevity and solvency.
Anonymous638
Explorer C
For All of you that think Volaris has inexperienced pilots and f/a's you are WRONG! Volaris is VERY WELL maintained and employs experienced crew. I would say better than most US carriers. Needless to say employs Mexicans only which makes it unique. To be a pilot as well as a f/a for the airline you have to go through a very very intense hiring process and training. They do not just hire of the street like the US did for a while. Not that its a bad thing. I congratulate SWA for choosing Volaris as a codeshare, because they both offer great and unique customer service to their passengers. You should all try flying Volairs someday. Its in a way Mexico's Virgin America!
Anonymous3228
Explorer C
PAULA, Why is it so many airlines are successful flying internationally but we have to codeshare our airline out? JetBlue now has a strong presence in the Caribbean and while they aren't making hundreds of millions they are successful. We will be soon announcing another codeshare to the caribbean and Hawaii also. Priceless... While flying to Hawaii has historically been a money loser we easily could make money flying to the caribbean but we won't. We are the only airline who can't make international flying happen. Wait....we can but we won't because codesharing will be able to bolster a few million in our pockets without risking a dime. Well, congrats I guess everyone has their price. Unfortunately the price here is the frontline employees career advancement by job creation. While you are wooping it up at the Friday deck parties drinking the kool-aid we are seeing the culture of our airline erode right before our eyes. Yes the culture is in each of us but that only goes so far because viruses spread fast. Unless you aren't reading the postings on this blog then you can see how fast our airline is about to be compared to AA and United all in the same breath. The answer to all of this is Gary is a bean counter. If he can make 100 million codesharing then he doesn't care that we could make 5 million doing it on our own. I don't believe he has weighed out the negative effects of codesharing. Your explanation doesn't hold water.
Anonymous3320
Explorer C
PRINT THESE LETTERS! THEY ARE ERASING SOME OF THEM. THE NUMBER OF COMMENTS HAS BEEN DECREASING DURING THE LAST 30 MINUTES!
Anonymous2674
Explorer C
An annoymous poster states, "To be a (Volaris) pilot as well as a f/a for the airline you have to go through a very very intense hiring process and training." Really? I was a flight instructor for many years and one of my students went from flying piper aircraft with 300 hours to being a First Officer for a well known Mexican airline. Every SWA pilot is a qualified captain and SWA has the best safety record in the industry. No airline flying 2 years can claim anything. If you aren't a pilot then don't post about pilot hiring or flying. You don't get it no matter how much you think you do.
Canadian_Travel
Explorer C
The mentality of the majority of the comments here is frightening and typical fear mongering. The fact is that WN would be lucky to survive on their own doing flights into Canada. Canadians have no history with WN and furthermore have had the luxury of 2 fierce competitors that have competed on price and product. The end result is very affordable air travel with service and amenities that WN could not compete with. With price being equal, few Canadians would choose WN (with the cattle call) when they can travel on WestJet or Air Canada for the same price and get LiveTV/AVOD, pre seat assignment, etc... As for north bound US originating traffic, WN would only have the benefit of O/D traffic. Anyone looking to connect in Canada would be still be much better suited traveling on Star Alliance carriers to connect inter-Canada with Air Canada. All WN would accomplish by competing as a stand alone into Canada would be a reduction of fares that the others would obviously match as they always do. End result would be low loads at reduced yield. The code share with WestJet is the best possible options. Canadians love WestJet and will drive revenue to WN with none of the downside of operating as a stand alone. The benefit is huge as the only other full option from the US to a network of Canadian cities is a monopoly via the Star Alliance. Now there is a second robust option with a WN/WS code share. This would not exist if WN were to do point to point to a select group of Canadian cities. Furthermore, Canadians just don't have that connection with WN. For many, they see WN as the same as all the other US legacy airlines that Canadians love to hate. Ask them about WN and the first thing they'll do is groan about the cattle call! To be honest, I'm sure WS is slightly concerned about how their Guests will adjust to the transfer from a WS flight to a WN flight. Canadians connecting to WN will be appalled that they'll have to stand at the gate for a few hours to get a decent seat with their friend. Where's my TV is what others will gripe! As a previous posted noted, WS started with a WN business plan and had to evolve to stay successful in the Canadian market place. If they still mirrored the WN service model, they would be dead in the water. instead, they have kept the WN style focus on costs and have evolved their product into a solid product, allowing them to have some of the best operating margins in the airline industry while rating alongside some of the most respected organizations in the world for their product and service. Check your ego's at the door and recognize the WN/WS deal for what it is...mutually beneficial for all.
pberg
Frequent Flyer B
Regarding the following comment: PRINT THESE LETTERS! THEY ARE ERASING SOME OF THEM. THE NUMBER OF COMMENTS HAS BEEN DECREASING DURING THE LAST 30 MINUTES! Anonymous — Tue, 11/11/2008 - 01:47 That is simply not an accurate statement. Not a single comment has been deleted from this strand, nor has there been a single comment that has not been posted.
Customer1
Explorer C
It would take a long time for Southwest to expand into these markets on their own and you have no brand recognition in either to speak of at this point in time. So why not go ahead and get the full monetary benefit of being there right now with two reputable carriers in those markets and use that to build your market share and recognition and keep yourself financially healthy while you slowly expand on your own for what would undoubtedly be a more successful venture than had you done it on your own to start out with. It's incredibly disappointing to hear so much about and see your culture over the years and then find this happening(depressing).
SWA_Employe_who
Explorer C
So let me get this straight. You think you are going to lose job because of a codshare. I think most people should worry about technology taking over your job and not a codeshare. I can not see in any way how this hurts our company. The only thing that can happen is that we make even more money so we do not have to finaly start laying off people. As an ops agent I am way more worried about my departmet going away. Can anyone give a good reason why this is bad? Sorry I just do not see it.
Canadian_Travel
Explorer C
Regarding safety, consider that WN would have to come up with a whole new set of ramp procedures to turn a flight in Canada. 95% of the processes currently used would be considered to be unsafe labour practices in the employee friendly country of Canada. The right to refuse unsafe work would be invoked by the time the first flight had the nose gear chocked. Also (and this is more of a joke), there would need to be a new WN Canadian uniform as no Canadian would frequent an airline (or any other business for that matter) that styles itself with khaki shorts and white runners as a uniform. White runners don't exist in Canada...for good reason!!
OPNL
Explorer C
On top of it we held off on the SWAlife news as if it were supposed to be some great news everyone was going to cheer for like opening another city. This is truly the saddest day in my tenure at SWA. ******** Indeed
Employee3
Explorer C
To ALL Customers--- As an employee of Southwest Airlines, I feel it important to apologize for all the negativity on this particular topic. We ALL appreciate your business and get great joy out of getting you to all of your important life events - safely. This codeshare is and will be an exciting time in our Company's history and we hope we'll still see you on board either in Tulsa or Toluca, Cleveland or Cancun.
Anonymous4106
Explorer C
The idea that Southwest Airlines can't start its own international service because it doesn't have the name recognition, marketing prowess, and international experience of Volaris is a cruel hoax on Southwest employees. Using Southwest Airlines assets to grow another airline is outsourcing. Southwest's website is every bit as much of an asset as airplanes, and it will now be used to sell tickets for passengers that will not step foot on a Southwest Airplane. I wonder if it's possible to outsource management to Richard Branson?
Ken18
Explorer C
How can Volaris go International to the U.S. BUT we can't afford to go intl to Mexico?? We have billions (with a B) in the bank, do they? We OWN most of our airplanes, do they? If the economy is so bad, how do they figure it out? We were told the reason for codeshare w/ ATA was for the Midway gates, which we got. $40M of revenue is a drop in the bucket. If we need extra cash, how bout a surcharge on unattended minors who we baby sit ALL day w/ a huge risk to us for ABSOLUTELY FREE! I even pay my babysitter $10/hr per kid! We already do the work, let's take in the money like every other airline does and like we do w/ business select.