One would hope that the market could work this out, and when people went looking for options, would keep this in mind.
Instead what people do is find the lowest fare possible, all other considerations be damned. It’s not like this is the first time this has happened to SW.
We do mandate safety in general. (Probably less so in some countries than others.) So you mostly can't choose to fly an airline that defers maintenance to cut costs.
Presumably the consequence of regulators making canceling and delaying flights expensive is that airlines pay more to reduce the likelihood of that happening and fares go up as a result.
Whether that's good or bad is a matter of perspective I guess. Regulators could implement a lot of rules that would make flying more pleasant. But prices would go up.
Trouble with the free market here is that starting a new airline is all but impossible. Only so many slots available at airports and they’re all taken.
Yes, you can choose a more expensive airline but let’s not pretend Delta, United etc don’t also have huge delays and failures from time to time. Up until now Southwest’s reputation really hasn’t been bad, they’re no Frontier. No matter, there should be avenues for compensation.
> One would hope that the market could work this out
Southwest did lose 10% of its market value overnight, so it seems the market is punishing them. Given how much executive compensation is in stock, a lot of senior level folks at Southwest are likely feeling some pain (or, least, as much pain as any very rich person ever feels).
> Instead what people do is find the lowest fare possible, all other considerations be damned.
That's an over-simplification. Yes, passengers are very price sensitive. But whenever I talk to friends and family about travel, it's become increasingly clear that they factor predicted quality of service in to their choice.
I don't fly United and try to avoid American. I'm certain that many many people will hesitate to fly on Southwest after this. People aren't stupid and no one wants to roll the dice on an entire vacation just to save twenty bucks.
I don't totally agree with this. Prices between airlines and routes can vary dramatically to the same destination so it's not like saving 20$ will usually be the difference between the cheapest option and a more preferred option. Also if you look at situations like Volkswagen, it seems to me that neither governments nor consumers hit them very hard after their massive scandal a few years ago. I see new VWs all over the place.
I love my Volkswagen. In theory I care about emissions test cheating but in practice it wouldn’t affect my decision to buy in the future. It’s the best designed and built car I’ve ever had and so Volkswagen group brands will always be on the top of my list of cars to look at.
A couple of VW execs went to prison and it cost the company 30 billion, that feels like getting hit hard enough by governments. What more do you want?
In practice when you need to fly from one city to another at a specific time there is often only one option available. So customers have no ability to pay more for higher reliability even if they want to.
Well, in my case I had a really bad experience with United in 2011, connecting at LAX. After that I just never fly United or fly to/from LAX. My sanity is worth more than a few hundred bucks.
Instead what people do is find the lowest fare possible, all other considerations be damned. It’s not like this is the first time this has happened to SW.