Consumer revenge: did Southwest start new airfare wars?
Southwest Airlines’ low fares starting at US$40 one-way are called “blockbusters.” They celebrate the airline’s 40th birthday but could they turn into more tearful occasions because they may reflect a summer start-up of air fare wars?
Very possibly, say travel experts.
Consumers already angered over rising airline fees and continuing poor customer relations may take some comfort in knowing that airlines facing lower demand may have even greater problems with a new emerging price war.
“A summer airfare war is heating up as one of the worst downturns in travel is leaving airlines scrambling to fill seats,” reports the AP.
“It’s only a three-day sale, but a move by Southwest Airlines to sell one-way flights for as little as $40 is sending a big message: A new round of fare wars may be on the way,” says the Christian Science Monitor.
Southwest Airlines announced bargain rates on tickets for hundreds of its US routes, with one-way prices of $40 up to $120 for flights taken between Aug. 23 and Nov. 16. The sale lasts through Thursday at midnight.
The Southwest move seemed to reflect the softening airline ticket market, industry analysts said. Bing predicts midsummer airline rates will fall whether or not there are price wars.
Tom Parsons, chief executive of Bestfares. com, called Southwest’s move a “whopper of an airline sale.”
"This is the first time that I can remember in my 30 years of tracking airfares that I have seen airfares from over 100 US cities as low as $40 one-way," Parsons told the AP.
Southwest's sale extends to every city in its network and includes routes flown by its new subsidiary AirTran.
For $40, fliers can go one-way from Cleveland to Newark, or from Seattle to Boise, among many other examples.
The offers include deals for travel any day of the week except Fridays and Sundays, which are times airlines often exempt for lower fares.
Another reason for possibly falling prices and price wars, said The LA Times:
“With the recession hitting virtually all sectors of the economy and spreading across the globe, travel demand has been falling faster than the pace at which airlines have been cutting flights.”
The number of passengers traveling on first-class or business-class tickets worldwide fell by nearly 17 percent in January compared with a year earlier, according to the International Air Transport Association.
"Business passengers are trading down to cheaper tickets," said the trade group.
The airlines are also facing a time when more corporations are cutting back on travel expenses. Business travelers are more frequently told to buy economy-class seats rather than business-class or first-class tickets.
Airline passenger satisfaction rates dropped again this year, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Their average satisfaction score dropped to 65 from 86 last year. Passengers who were surveyed pointed to airline mergers, increased fees for bags and other services, and rising air fares from higher jet fuel prices as reasons for discontent.
By David Wilkening
David
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