R.I.P. Southwest, at least as we know it

The stereotype of the world’s most popular airline in the US is that it is “no frills.” Discount prices. So consider this:
 

Their average ticket price has increased 39 percent over the past five years, according to the US Department of Transportation.
 

So what? Other airlines have also increased their ticket prices, of course.
 

But the DOT says on average, that increase was only 10 percent.
 

Southwest admits their reputation has been damaged by these kind of facts. But they defend themselves by arguing they choose not to charge the fees of other airlines.
 

But it appears obvious that passengers can’t expect to get the lowest fares at Southwest anymore.
 

In a spot check of 24 markets for travel over the Fourth of July weekend, Southwest had the lowest prices in only 11, the Wall Street Journal found in a recent article.
 

“Percentages can be confusing though and since Southwest’s fares started out much lower, there are still many routes where Southwest is the cheapest option. This is most likely true if you live near a Southwest hub airport,” writes blogger Aaron E. in “Below Your Means…a money blog for the rest of us.”
 

It’s a long-time assumption that Southwest fares were often lower in the past than other airlines because visionary former CEO Gary Kelly locked the airline into fixed fuel prices. But that has clearly changed since contracts ran out. And higher fuel prices add up to increased ticket prices at Southwest.
 

“Southwest Airlines is looking more and more like the big airlines it loves to needle” writes the AP, saying it is “no longer the king of Cheap.”
 

It flies to busy airports it used to shun. And it even lets travelers cut in front of the boarding line — for a fee.
 

Southwest still has “maverick” elements. The airline doesn’t charge for the first two checked bags or for changing a reservation. It doesn’t assign seats or have first-class cabins or airport lounges.
 

But some airline analysts say all airlines on average are costing about the same these days.
 

“They are becoming more of your classic airline, though they don’t want to admit it,” said airline analyst Ray Neidl. But he acknowledges that consumers still associate Southwest with low fares.
 

But Southwest is clearly not the lowest-cost operator anymore.
 

Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air, among others, have lower costs per mile. One reason is that they pay employees less, but also because Southwest’s maintenance costs have risen as its fleet has aged.
 

Diana L. Moss, vice president and director of the American Antitrust Institute, testified in Congress that AirTran is a more aggressive discounter than Southwest on average.
 

"The pricing data … reveals that AirTran’s discounts are some of the deepest in the industry; in fact, higher than Southwest’s, which has been considered the industry ‘maverick’ for many years," Moss was quoted as saying in the Dallas Morning News.
 

Perhaps with all this in mind, Southwest is spending more than US$1 billion to acquire Frontier Airlines.
 

When the deal is done between Southwest and Frontier, the new airline will rival Delta and the combined United and Continental as the biggest airline by passenger-carrying capacity within the US, according to aviation data firm OAG. It already flies more than 100 million domestic passengers per year, the most of any airline, but most of them are vacationers who pay lower fares than corporate travelers.
 

All these changes are designed to help Southwest compete for high-fare business travelers, say industry observers.
 

But will Frontier Air go the way of Southwest: more mainstream, with prices in line with the other traditional airlines?
 

Who knows, but in the meantime, perhaps flyers should heed the advice of blogger Aaron R.
 

That’s very simple. Always shop around and don’t assume anymore that you will always get the lowest price from Southwest Airlines.
 

By David Wilkening