[arbeiter]

I'm surprised that Southwest is continuing to do so well. I think part of this is due to its brand image - the name is synonymous with a fair price and reliability. To be honest, I haven't flown them in years. I think the last time was an Austin - Long Island flight in '04.

Other than their hyper-competitive California and Texas short hops, they aren't exactly the cheapest. I would naturally go to them first when bargain hunting, only to find out that their cheaper fares were always sold out - sometimes even their mid-priced ones were, too, and I was checking well in advance. Add the pain of their point-to-point route network and their cattle call seating arrangements, and I really question their future.

All of the other mainstream airlines, plus JetBlue and others, have essentially narrowed their brackets of pricing and taken the best of Southwest's business practices without also adopting the worst. I have a bit of contempt for Southwest in general, since they have a pretty smug image as a populist, cheap, reliable airline that is a total smokescreen compared to their anti-competitive back end behavior.

Also, their fares are not usually able to be compared on the mainstream sites like Kayak or Expedia - that has to represent some kind of disadvantage, however marginal.