Colleague INSISTS SW will transport luggage on their own! ?

[goofy4tink]

Someone did post to the effect that SW was giving it a try at POP in the very near future. But.....other than that one person, we haven't heard boo about it. We need to wait and see on this one. If that does happen, believe me, we'll hear about it.

 

[Lewisc]

People don't want to hear this but the best chance of SW particpating with RAC may be an end to it being free. In this environment none of the parties (Disney, BAGS or SW) may be interested in paying for whatever is necessary for SW to come on board.

SW partipates with a remote check in service in Las Vegas, but not the same service Disney uses.

 

[seashoreCM]

There was a known problem of system interaction and handshaking for Southwest. As far as costs go, there is already a provision for guests to pay baggage charges (imposed by some other airlines) in advance and use Resort Airline Check-in.

 

[goofy4tink]

People don't want to hear this but the best chance of SW particpating with RAC may be an end to it being free. In this environment none of the parties (Disney, BAGS or SW) may be interested in paying for whatever is necessary for SW to come on board.

SW partipates with a remote check in service in Las Vegas, but not the same service Disney uses.

And that may be the most definitive post yet...have to agree with that. SW isn't going to do something that is going to cost them money, that they won't want to have to turn around and charge customers for. They like that they have no baggage fees. They have plenty of bookings as it is..it ain't broke, SW isn't going to fix it.

 

[Lewisc]

There was a known problem of system interaction and handshaking for Southwest. As far as costs go, there is already a provision for guests to pay baggage charges (imposed by some other airlines) in advance and use Resort Airline Check-in.

A competing vendor can handle multi-airline, including SW, remote check in at various locations in Las Vegas. RAC is cost free to guests, passengers pay the same airline charges they'd pay if they checked their bags at the airport. I'm not sure Disney would like to have a system where SW guests had to pay to use RAC but can continue to check bags at the airport cost free.

It's not a reach to assume an airline charging $15 to check a bag might be willing to allocate $1-$2 as payment to the RAC vendor but SW might be reluctant to add a new cost.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

It's not a reach to assume an airline charging $15 to check a bag might be willing to allocate $1-$2 as payment to the RAC vendor but SW might be reluctant to add a new cost.

The launch of DME and RAC was four years ago, which was long before airlines such as United and American had fees for normal checked bags.

However, airlines such as United and American were desperately cutting expenses. United was operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, while American was doing everything they could to avoid the same fate (they were successful). American even eliminated pillows in domestic economy!

If United and American had faced any net increase in the cost of providing checked baggage, they would not have signed up for RAC. Anyone who really thinks that United and American are subsidizing Disney's RAC program is unaware of the state of the airline industry in 2005.

Please note that I wrote, "any net increase." United and American might have been willing to pay a small cost to BAGS Inc., if, and only if, it corresponded to savings elsewhere that exceeded that cost.

In contrast, Southwest Airlines made a healthy profit in 2005.

The big difference is that the legacy carriers who participated in RAC from day one all used industry-standard software systems and networking that allowed interline connections and interline baggage transfers. BAGS Inc. leveraged that system. Southwest had its own proprietary system, built around how Southwest does business.

Even if neither BAGS Inc. nor Disney expected any per-bag fee from the airlines, Southwest faced an interface issue (and associated costs) that the other airlines did not.

Saying that the current carriers who participate in RAC are willing to pay a per-bag fee, while Southwest is too stingy, is giving the other carriers too much credit.

Arguably, Southwest is more committed to quality service than any other U.S. domestic airline.

This reply is not meant as a criticism of Lewisc. I'm just trying to provide some perspective so that Lewisc's comments are not misinterpreted.

 

[eeyoregon]

If we have an early arrival on SWA then we let them deal with our baggage and just hop on DME.

If we have a late arrival on SWA we don't put the DME tags on our suitcases and instead pick up our own luggage as I don't want a knock at 2:00am when our suitcases have arrived...been there and don't care to do it again!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Just so you know... you won't be getting that 2 AM knock at All Star Sports, or any Value resort.

Luggage Assistance is closed from midnight to about 6 AM

 

[eeyoregon]

Just so you know... you won't be getting that 2 AM knock at All Star Sports, or any Value resort.

Luggage Assistance is closed from midnight to about 6 AM

During peak seasons they must operate later based on the amount of late night flight arrivals as I can assure you that our knock on the door was well after midnight...1:45 AM if I remember correctly. We are from the West Coast so it wasn't a huge deal on our body clocks. Just sort of startling, especially if you are already in bed.

Now we just plan accordingly, plus we don't want to have to pack our PJ's and toiletries in our carry-on's = we'll need our luggage for bed.