> Although Southwest was once considered a pioneer amongst low-cost carriers, it has remained just that; a dated, bonnet-wearing airline. If Southwest ever hopes to offer it's customers lower rates or increase their profit margin, they are going to have to ditch the sweet tea and start drinking some of Ryanair's killer Kool-Aid.
Last I checked, Southwest doesn't care a whit about Ryanair. They care about competing in the US and here they have the lead.
But it is interesting to note that Southwest's "low-cost" reputation is, at this point, mostly based on memory and advertising, not reality.
Southwest often isn't the lowest fare on a given itinerary anymore, for example, and airports where Southwest is the dominant carrier are also, mostly, those which have seen the largest fare increases over the past decade.
And that's without getting into the fact that Southwest is now experimenting with ancillary-revenue programs through things like buying into Group A, etc.
It depends on the flight... SWA's strength remains low-cost, last-minute fares. SWA doesn't reward you for planning ahead like other airlines does, but they really shine when you're buying less than seven days in advance.
If the flights are still available. I usually end up booking on United (for an SFO -> somewhere east of the Mississippi flight) if I have to do something last-minute, because I can often still get direct or 1-stop flights to my destination, while Southwest will often have only 2-stop+ ones that take 12 hours and cost more.
I find that very often United fares are lower than Southwest anyway. Perhaps it's because SFO is their hub.
Virgin is another surprise - a couple times I've ended up getting SFO -> BOS or SFO -> JFK flights that are cheaper than anything else on Virgin America, even though it's supposedly a "premium" airline. I think they may be offering specials to build up repeat customers on the route, though.
True, they care about local competition. But they also care about growing stockholders' equity, of which one method is improving profitability.
Since RyanAir has shown some prowess in this regard (admittedly through solicitation of subsidies, but also with an aggressive model), Southwest would certainly have some interest. We're talking almost 50% greater net profit on a third of the revenue. Sure that exact comparison is debatable, but the contrast is nonetheless interesting, even if done with a novel approach.
Last I checked, Southwest doesn't care a whit about Ryanair. They care about competing in the US and here they have the lead.