Denver Too Costly for Southwest Airlines

The Albuquerque Journal (subscription required) ^ | July 31, 2003 | Winthrop Quigley

[CedarDave]

Thursday, July 31, 2003

Denver Too Costly for Southwest Airlines

By Winthrop Quigley Journal Staff Writer

    Southwest Airlines is likely to expand service to Colorado Springs, but flying into Denver is too costly, the airline's president said in Albuquerque on Wednesday.
    Denver is only one of three markets from which the low-fare carrier has ever withdrawn, said Colleen C. Barrett in a question-and-answer session with 592 attendees of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce annual meeting.
    The old Stapleton airport in Denver was so crowded, "we were spending more time on the taxiways than in the air," Barrett said. "Denver (International Airport) is absolutely astronomical in terms of cost, and it's getting worse by the minute."
    "I think one day we'll probably be" in Colorado Springs, she added.
    Barrett, the keynote speaker at the meeting, was accompanied by a crew that is filming a new "reality" television series about Southwest.
    "I said, yes, we will do this, with great faith in our people and with great nervousness they'll capture the real world," she said.
    Southwest is famous for its fun-loving employees. Finding the right employees "is really not complex, but we know what we want, we know what we respect," Barrett said. "We honor and celebrate the individual."
    In screening applicants, Southwest looks for people with a sense of humor who show warmth and caring.
    "We tell our employees they're in the customer service business. It just happens that we fly airplanes," she said.
    Barrett was a secretary in Southwest co-founder Herb Kelleher's law firm when the airline was founded in Dallas. She became Southwest corporate secretary in 1978, then moved up the ranks to president and chief operating officer in 2001.

Copyright 2003 Albuquerque Journal

[goldstategop]

Southwest is great. I had to get home a day early and they changed my flight to acommodate me at no extra charge. Its one of the few profitable airlines with a bright future.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The stand in line airline.

[Froggie]

They ought to petition to get into Centennial airport is Southern Denver - they don't have passenger service now, but if they could expand the facility to accomodate SWA it would be a sure winner...as DIA is 17 miles from Denver, and is a real hassle.

[Columbine]

I really hope they do expand to Colorado Springs. We have a great airport and people here would love to have a discount airline.

[KellyAdmirer]

Excellent, DIA is a royal pain to get to from the Springs, and for once I will be able to get some nice fares here rather than having to trek up to the Great White Elephant. Always liked Southwest, no labor trouble, good company.

[Dog Gone]

Good. Denver needs to lower its landing fees. It's outrageously expensive to fly there, and the airport is to blame.

[thinktwice]

I'm about to use some American Airline miles for a "free" trip ...

It will cost me $100 for any change, there didn't seem to be any Sunday flight seats available for my AAdvantage trip home, no direct flights seemed to be available, and I've not received my confirmation papers to present at the check-in counter -- all I have is my penciled copy with my comfirmation code. In short, I'm not impressed with American Airlines any more.

Go Southwest ...

[mil-vet]

"Stand in line", for sure - "combat seating" - impossible to get a reserved seat, so ya gotta get there MUCH earlier than normal and fight for the seat you want (IF that is important to you).

I hate combat seating, but they fly REALLY well, and at a decent cost!

[boxerblues]

Its not bad, all I want from an airline is to get from point A to point B with as little $$ leaving my hands, and I want leave on time, Southwest does this 99% of the time for me.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I won't fly SW because of this stupidity

[justlurking]

I won't fly SW because of this stupidity

This "stupidity" is one of the reasons why Southwest is one of the few airlines that are profitable.

Southwest has studied reserved seating, and found that unreserved seating cuts about 10 minutes off the time it takes to board a plane.

That's 10 minutes for every stop. When you remember they don't use a hub-spoke system and make stops more frequently, that quickly adds up to a lot of time that the plane is flying instead of sitting on the ground.

[mewzilla]

Gee, I bet Barrett's plane gets into and outta ABQ on time. Grrrrr...

[r9etb]

They'll do great here.

[OrioleFan]

If Southwest flew into Centinnial, I would drive the 2 hours to Indianapolis to fly to Denver instead of flying out od Dayton. Southwest is a great airline.

[mewzilla]

It's a great airline some of the time.

[Paleo Conservative]

...as DIA is 17 miles from Denver, and is a real hassle

It is 17 miles north of downtown Denver while much of the population that uses it lives in the southern part of Denver like Aurora and Littleton.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Barrett, the keynote speaker at the meeting, was accompanied by a crew that is filming a new "reality" television series about Southwest.

Eh? A reality series about an airline? How interesting could that be?

Or are they talking about what used to be called a 'documentary'?

[sinkspur]

and I've not received my confirmation papers to present at the check-in counter -- all I have is my penciled copy with my comfirmation code.

You don't need "check-in papers." All you need to do is show your ID, if you're checking bags.

Do you have your seats? If you don't, you should. When you get them, you can print out boarding passes on your computer from "aa.com."

American is not Southwest, but you shouldn't have any trouble checking-in.

As for not getting the Aadvantage seats you wanted, the earlier in advance you can book, the better. Unless you do an "AAnytime" award, there are limited seats on every flight for Aadvantage travel.