I am from RNO - where WN holds around a 40-50% market share. I personally flew WN last week and I have nothing but the utmost respect for the ladies and gentlemen that run Southwest.
Let's look at the other airlines that are currently in or have left Reno recently.
American... bought out Reno Air, closed the Reno hub and countless jobs were lost. In the meantime, their connections now to places that used to be non-stop on Reno Air (QQ) are a joke. Las Vegas? Ha! Portland? Ha! Seattle? Ha! San Jose (another QQ hub)? Ha!
The only connections left on this dinosaur are to DFW and ORD; both of which I will avoid the plague!
ExpressJet: They didn't last very long... I think the experience with the jet up in Minnesota should be "enough said" about these guys
Continental: I don't want to waste my breath on how horrid this airline is. The IAH connection is a joke... and news flash, it's going away!
Delta / Northwest: I hope you like Salt Lake City and Minneapolis, cause that's all you get! Their fares are also higher than a kite.
United: Denver and San Fran... their fares are higher than ever!
Aloha: Nice while they lasted
US Airways: If they were as bad as I remember them, yikes! I'm suprised American West bought these guys out...
Frontier: It was nice while you lasted, but your fares were too steep when WN was almost 200 bucks cheaper!
Basically, that leaves us with Southwest. Southwest is one of the few bright spots at RNO. I can get anywhere in the region inexpensively and without delay with their multiple flights out. Yes, connections can be a pain sometimes, but with the legacy carriers pulling out (and they have made this choice voluntarily - look at the AA buyout of QQ) Southwest is one of our few hopes.
I had some issues with WN at LGA on the 30th... our flight was supposed to land at 7 PM on the 29th but didn't arrive until 3 AM on the 30th. WN had a voucher for the inconvenience the next day because there were some issues with the gate because they could not open a second gate to get us off our plane. I also got pretty ill on the flight back. Not only was I rescheduled, but got a cheaper flight back!
Now, that's the Southwest Spirit!
F9 employees, I understand your feelings of frustration. I worked for a school here that went through a merger and nothing seemed to be clearly communicated by management on either side of the aisle. I think that WN is doing the best they can given the restrictions of the BK process. I hope that you are able to find jobs either in the larger WN or elsewhere in the industry.
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