News Cut: November 6, 2008 Archive

Will Southwest Airlines make a difference?

Posted at 8:46 AM on November 6, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Southwest Airlines officials are holding a news conference this morning to announce the details of their entry into the Minneapolis St. Paul market. Included will be details on fares for the airline's long Twin Cities-to-Midway(Chicago) route.

This is a route News Cut has been tracking since last winter when a competitor -- AirTran -- dropped the route. At the time, the round-trip fair was $114.

With presently no significant competition, Northwest is now charging $634 for a late November flight with a Saturday-night stayover. It's $661 with the taxes and that doesn't include the baggage fees, which Delta has now adopted.

Cracking the MSP market has always been hard; not just because Northwest has so many more flights, but because Northwest was "us." It was a hometown airline. Now that it's an Atlanta airline, it'll be an interesting experiment to see if local passengers have any loyalty to the soon-to-be-wiped-out Northwest brand.

Southwest will enter the local market in March.

We'll update the post after the news conference.

Update 10:55 a.m. From fareccompare.com and USA Today:

"We are likely to be in for some serious fireworks on prices out of Minneapolis in the coming days for Spring travel" Seaney wrote on his blog. He said the new Southwest route from Minneapolis to Chicago is priced at $69 one-way with a 21-day advance purchase.

He wrote that the cheapest fare on that route for Northwest, American and United is $426 one-way. They offer round trips for $376, which works out to $188 each way.

"The legacy airlines will quickly have to restructure their airfares, by offering one-way fares instead of the two-night minimum stay roundtrip fares they currently file _ likely matching Southwest's new price points," Seaney wrote.

Update 11:07 a.m. Here's the Southwest press release:

Southwest Airlines today announced the carrier's low fares and flight schedule from Minneapolis-St. Paul beginning on March 8, 2009. During a media conference at the landmark Mall of America, Southwest Airlines Executive Vice President of Corporate Services Ron Ricks announced that the airline will begin service with eight daily nonstop flights to Chicago Midway with 21-day advanced purchase fares as low as $69 one-way. To view a complete list of Southwest's flights from MSP, visit: http://www.southwest.com/?src=PRPRPRNGENR000000080808.

"Southwest Airlines is famous for increasing traffic and decreasing fares when we enter a market, and it already appears that 'the Southwest Effect' is alive and well in Minneapolis-St. Paul," Ricks said. "The people of Minnesota have been asking for Southwest Airlines service for many years, and we can't wait to introduce them to our legendary Customer Service, as well as our low fares, ontime flights, and no hidden fees."

In addition to the eight daily nonstop flights to Chicago Midway, Southwest Airlines will offer direct or connecting service to more than 30 destinations, including: Las Vegas, Denver, Los Angeles, Houston, and Baltimore/Washington, just to name a few. Southwest Airlines will operate from Gate 7 in the Humphrey Terminal and will have about 35 full-time Employees.

"For over a decade we've worked diligently to attract Southwest Airlines to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport," said Metropolitan Airport Commission Chairman Jack Lanners. "Southwest's new service beginning March 8, 2009 will provide Minnesotans a low-cost alternative accessing the Southwest Airlines route system. For many years there has been a strong interest in having Southwest Airlines serve our community. Our airport's low-cost operating structure is one factor that helped make it possible for Southwest to enter the Minnesota market. We look forward to a successful partnership with Southwest Airlines providing new low-cost air service meeting our travel needs."

To view a blog post on this news, visit: http://www.blogsouthwest.com.

After 37 years of service, Southwest Airlines, the nation's leading low-fare carrier, continues to stand above other airlines -- offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service with no hidden fees. Southwest Airlines is the most productive airline in the sky and offers Customers a comfortable traveling experience with all premium leather seats and plenty of legroom. Southwest recently updated its gate areas and improved its boarding procedure to make flying Southwest Airlines even more convenient. Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), the nation's largest carrier in terms of domestic passengers enplaned, currently serves 64 cities in 32 states. Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,400 flights a day and has more than 34,000 Employees systemwide.

Fare Rules

The $69 fare between Chicago Midway and Minneapolis-St. Paul is available for purchase today through the end of the schedule, currently May 8, 2009. Fares are one-way and do not require an overnight stay. All tickets must be purchased 21-days in advance. When combining fares, all ticketing restrictions apply. Seats are limited. Fares may vary by day of travel and will not be available on some flights that operate during very busy travel times and holiday periods. Fares do not include a federal segment tax of up to $3.60 per takeoff and landing. Fares do not include airport-assessed passenger facility charges (PFC) of up to $4.50 one-way and U.S. government- imposed September 11th Security Fees of $2.50 one-way. Fares are subject to change until ticketed. Tickets are nonrefundable but, if unused, may be applied toward the purchase of future travel on Southwest Airlines. Fares are valid on Southwest-operated published, scheduled service only and are not available through the Group Desk.

(3 Comments)

The drip, drip, drip of election returns

Posted at 1:04 PM on November 6, 2008 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)

The recount of the U.S. Senate election in Minnesota may not start until later this month, but some rejiggering must already be underway. That much was made clear this afternoon when one vote was taken from Norm Coleman and given to DFLer Al Franken, on the Secretary of State's Web site. Early in the afternoon, Dean Barkley picked up 33 votes.

	Barkley	Franken	Coleman	Total	Diff
9:20 AM	437,345	1,211,083	1,211,520	2,859,948	437
12:41 PM	437,345	1,211,189	1,211,527	2,860,061	338
12:45 PM	437,378	1,211,189	1,211,527	2,860,094	338
1:03 PM	437,378	1,211,190	1,211,526	2,860,094	336
1:24 PM	437,378	1,211,190	1,211,527	2,860,095	337
1:48 PM	437,376	1,211,189	1,211,527	2,860,092	338
1:54 PM	437,376	1211,197	1,211,538	2,860,111	341
3:54 PM	437,377	1211,206	1,211,542	2,860,125	336
4:29 PM	437,187	1,210,487	1,211,077	2,858,751	590
Interesting here how 1,500 votes were removed.
4:54 PM	437,377	1211,206	1,211,542	2,860,125	336
And then put back. I think they're toying with us.
8:50 AM Fri	437,377	1211,306	1,211,542	2,860,225	236
10:20 AM	437,378	1211,305	1,211,543	2,860,226	238

I checked with a few auditors in small counties in Minnesota to see if they could haul the ballots out again and take another look. None seemed tempted to do so. "I believe that state law requires that we wait for the SOS to give direction. If it doesn't, I would wait for the SOS direction anyway," Wayne Bezenek of Wilkin County told me this afternoon. .

Since 9:30 this morning, Franken has shaved 100 votes off Coleman's lead. This process is obviously going to be like watching your retirement fund during a bad market. It's better to just forget about it and come back later. But if you insist, here's my little rinky-dink spreadsheet if you'd like to divide the labor.
If you want to make some popcorn and spend the evening sitting in front of your computer for hours of vote-counting fun, you can follow the conversation via Twitter.

(h/t: Braublog) (11 Comments)