Scott, a native of Boston and graduate of Duke University, is the author of four books, including Th

To some extent, it obviously does. But the bigger question is whether the merger would reduce access phoenix arizona hotels to low fares for consumers? It's the key issue regulators will look at. And it's the issue Southwest phoenix arizona hotels is most concerned about. After all, the airline named its merger website, www.lowfaresfarther.com .
Southwest and AirTran have for years been pretty rational in the pricing department, and conflagrations between the two that produce incredible deals for consumers are rare. Instead, both have maintained consistent fare structures ranging from low-priced sales to moderately priced business travel.
Today, they consistently offer low prices where they compete and were they don't. So when they don't compete, why would that change? The reality is that Southwest's operation of AirTran shouldn't result in higher prices longterm, coast-to-coast. And it could even make for tougher competition in some markets, from Atlanta, where Delta Air Lines will face a bigger phoenix arizona hotels No. 2 with deeper pockets, for example, and from New York's LaGuardia, where Southwest and AirTran, both relatively small there, can combine into something bigger.
The two routes where Southwest and AirTran compete the most are both out of Baltimore. Between Baltimore and Orlando, Southwest averages more than seven flights a day and AirTran more than five per day. Between Baltimore and Boston, AirTran averages more than seven flights a day in each direction and Southwest three flights a day. (That's a route jetBlue Airways also serves.) Orlando-Philadelphia also is hotly contested by the two discounters (and US Airways), with nearly six flights a day on average phoenix arizona hotels for Southwest and nearly four per day for AirTran.
As always in airline mergers, there are tradeoffs for consumers. On overlapping routes, travelers may get more complete schedules phoenix arizona hotels with flights spread out more when two airlines aren't battling head-to-head. But the 9 a.m. or 5 p.m. flights phoenix arizona hotels may get more expensive if there's only one plane departing instead of two. For some, airfare will do doubt rise. Others phoenix arizona hotels may find a bigger Southwest can reach even further and bring low-fare competition to new markets that don't now have it.
One thing to remember. If the incumbent airlines are going to get bigger, and they have with Delta-Northwest and United-Continental, then the challengers probably need to get bigger, too. Profitable, phoenix arizona hotels stable low-fare airlines are the best bet to keep the supply of low-priced seats plentiful and domestic competition strong.
phoenix arizona hotels Error message Name We welcome thoughtful comments from readers. Please comply with our guidelines . Our blogs do not require the use of your real name. Comment Comments (1 of 1) View all Comments 3:59 pm September 29, 2010 Rich wrote :
It s pretty evident that Southwest will be the driving force behind all of this. They routinely leave money on the table when it comes to competitive pricing and the lack of fees being charged to travelers.
Scott McCartney writes The Middle Seat every Thursday. The Wall Street Journal s Travel Editor, Scott has been on the airline beat since 1995 long enough phoenix arizona hotels to see it go from bust to boom and back to bust. He also writes a blog on travel at The Middle Seat Terminal.
Scott won the Online News Association phoenix arizona hotels award for online commentary in 2003 for The Middle Seat, the George Polk Award for transportation reporting in 2000, and has been honored by the Deadline Club and New York s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Before joining the Journal phoenix arizona hotels in 1993, he spent 11 years at The Associated phoenix arizona hotels Press.
Scott, a native of Boston and graduate of Duke University, is the author of four books, including The Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel: How to Arrive with Your Dignity, Sanity, and Wallet Intact, which was published in 2009. He s also an instrument-rated private pilot.
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