Dear Bill,
The past 6 months, waiting on Wn to open sale dates has been more frustrating than I can recall in many years. I have a group that travels with you to LAS every year in March. On the morning you opened for sale, I was on hold for 7HRS with the group desk to get in and make a reservation. While I held I had my agents calling anyone we could think of at WN to see if there was any other way in to book this group. By the time my call was answered, fare was almost up to full fare. We could not book group online or via fax or email.
Your strategy of opening in blocks of time worked for awhile after Sept 11 but in the past year we have seen a shift to many people planing vacations much farther in advance.
Because of this, hotels, cruise ships etc are booking up more quickly, and people cannot wait around for Wn in order to firm their vacation plans.
We have seen this to be a particular problem in the Orlando market for summer 2007 for our Disney packages.
Families who wish to stay on site at Walt Disney World are having to book with other airlines. Normally we would have booked them all with Southwest Vacations.
It is difficult to see how this much lost revenue can be offset by your having to manage less schedule changes. Please reconsider working with at least a 6 month block of time now that people seem to be booking farther inadvance.
Thank you
Kathy Smith
KC MO
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