Southwest is aquiring Airtran Airways

[tlcoke]

I just saw this announced on Southwest's facebook feed. The following link contains the information on the buy out:

http://www.lowfaresfarther.com/

 

[ADP]

Wow! Big news Tracy if it's true. Probably won't help the Indy market since Southwest and Airtran are/were the 2 low cost carriers at the airport.

 

[tlcoke]

Wow! Big news Tracy if it's true. Probably won't help the Indy market since Southwest and Airtran are/were the 2 low cost carriers at the airport.

I agree with you Aaron on the Indy Market, as some of my best flight deals have come from the competition between those two carriers. It will help the east coast airports that have Airtran only in their market.

 

[jeanigor]

Wow! Big news Tracy if it's true. Probably won't help the Indy market since Southwest and Airtran are/were the 2 low cost carriers at the airport.

It may be beneficial to me, as AirTran is the 'major' carrier out of Flint, my alternate airport.

 

[Cherinva]

I'm not sure Airtran flys out of my airport, but SW does....hmmmm

 

[TheBeadPirate]

Love it, Love it, Love it... SW is my favorite airline (over 200 one ways a year!). Just think Atlanta! It would be great if they maintain the Air Tran "island" route!

 

[bear_mom]

It may be beneficial to me, as AirTran is the 'major' carrier out of Flint, my alternate airport.

They are who we usually use out of there too.

I am now worried about the changes this may have on the flights I have booked for our Dec. trip. Any speculation, I've never paid attention before when an airline bought out another one? Southwest's information page won't load anything beyond the main page so there isn't any information available there........

Emily

 

[mdvlprof]

Might help us. I think AirTran services our airport.

 

[jeanigor]

They are who we usually use out of there too.

I am now worried about the changes this may have on the flights I have booked for our Dec. trip. Any speculation, I've never paid attention before when an airline bought out another one? Southwest's information page won't load anything beyond the main page so there isn't any information available there........

Emily

I don't think this will affect flights until after the new year. The FTC needs to approve it and all the paperwork needs to be done. And I can't imagine SW trying to open up the proverbial can of worms that messing with people's holiday flight plans would even if it was a done deal by the end of the month.

 

[Dodie]

This will be bad for the number of direct flights from Indy, especially to Orlando. AirTran and Southwest are the choices. We so prefer AirTran - cheap business class, ability to choose seats, easy to earn upgrades and/or free companion fares.

Dislike.

 

[MinnieMe67]

This will be bad for the number of direct flights from Indy, especially to Orlando. AirTran and Southwest are the choices. We so prefer AirTran - cheap business class, ability to choose seats, easy to earn upgrades and/or free companion fares.

Dislike.

We feel the same, flying out of Chicago Midway. The only direct flights will now be on Southwest, and I need to be able to pick seats in advance. Sigh.

 

[DUHgreg]

This will be bad for the number of direct flights from Indy, especially to Orlando. AirTran and Southwest are the choices. We so prefer AirTran - cheap business class, ability to choose seats, easy to earn upgrades and/or free companion fares.

Dislike.

We feel the same way. We started flying AirTran out of Lehigh Valley International (ABE for you airport geeks) last year. Low cost, easy to deal with at the airport, easy upgrades when available, etc. This may not be good news for us.

 

[omghidanielle]

These are both fantastic airlines. I hope this is a good thing!

 

[yitbos96bb]

I just saw this announced on Southwest's facebook feed. The following link contains the information on the buy out:

http://www.lowfaresfarther.com/

This is worrisome actually.... While it will be great to see Southwest break into some new markets like Atlanta, the big issue I have is that as Southwest gains a dominant position in a market, pricing tends to increase due to lack of competition. It's happened in Chicago as their presence has grown and now it looks like Orlando might fall victim, given the already strong share Southwest has of the market.

I wonder if it will eventually be cheaper to fly into Delta Dominated Atlanta on an Aggressive SWA fare war and rent a car to drive the last 6 hours or so?

 

[yitbos96bb]

I don't think this will affect flights until after the new year. The FTC needs to approve it and all the paperwork needs to be done. And I can't imagine SW trying to open up the proverbial can of worms that messing with people's holiday flight plans would even if it was a done deal by the end of the month.

I'm not an AIrline merger expert, but I'm pretty certain there are laws in place to protect passengers in this type of situation.

But yes this won't happen until Spring or SUmmer of 2011. The deal needs federal AND stockholder approval. While I'm sure Airtran's holder will go for it, it will be interesting to see SWA's stockholders feelings about accumulating 1.4 billion in debt for this merger.

Then again, Southwest's lack of a presence in Atlanta might make it worth it. Chicago is the biggest domestic market in the country with more domestic flights going in and out than any other area (We are both airports). It's one of the most important cities in air travel and Southwest has a stranglehold on Midway Airport. To get a good foot into Atlanta and increase growth on the coasts will be big....

So we'll see if the Shareholders feel the price is worth it. I'd vote yes, but then again, I can understand those afraid of the economy.

 

[Danibelle]

I live near SAV airport which has neither. Our fares are usually fairly high, no matter how short the flight. I envy you with SW as a choice. The only way I can use SW is to drive to JAX which is 2 hrs. away. I am looking at this as a win/win. SW's safety record is very good and I have had few cancelled flights with them (they were my fav carrier when I lived on the west coast). They also have a very liberal policy when you have to switch/cancel flights. You have a year to use up the funds from your cancelled flight with no cancellation fee. There is EBCI when you need to keep families together. I LUV SW!!

 

[Sphyrna]

I got an email from SW 2 hours ago about this. Figured there was already a thread on it. I like SW, I prefer to use them. I looked at using AirTran for my F&W trip in 2 weeks but with the bag fees it ended up being more than SW. I wonder if AirTran will drop the bag fees once the merger is approved. Or worse, will SW add bag fees?

 

[Willow1213]

Living in Atlanta this is a big deal for us. Up until now our two major choices have been Delta and Airtran. I would always choose Airtran since my company offers a discount including waiving bag fees. I just hope that the merger will include carrying over some of those benefits. I can't wait to get some cheap fares to Orlando!

 

[GaRain]

So, wonder if one company will keep the bag fees of one or drop like the main one? Also, I like how you can pick your sear on airtran (for afee now, of course), and I haven't understood how SW's boarding works. I have read a couple of trip reports and just don't get it.

Also, had a bad experience with them flying home to Atlanta from San Diego and was going to miss my connection in Vegas and they didn't care at all....


Hmmmm

 

[NancyIL]

All the gains seem to go to Southwest fans. The FAQ on Southwest's site explains that there will still be no bag fees, no change fees, and no business class: http://www.lowfaresfarther.com/frequently-asked-questions/