Comments on: The Wright Amendment

By: FLYHIGHLUV

FLYHIGHLUV — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 03:04:57 +0000

The Wright Ammendmant is anticompetitive. This is plain and simple logic. As far as the Ft. Worth market goes, bring the low fares, and people will drive a little farther for them.

By: Tarrant Co Resident

Tarrant Co Resident — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 13:05:43 +0000

OK...now that Dallas, Ft. Worth, AA and SWAir have come to agreement ... JetBlue is questioning the result. They are concerned that they won't be able to acquire a gate at Love Field.

Southwest Airlines spokesman Ed Stewart said the objections to the Love Field agreement were "bewildering."

"Any airline that wants to serve the Metroplex can go to D/FW today and fly anywhere they want," he said. "No one is being locked out of the market."

Now.....wait a second....isn't that what Southwest was told the entire time of negotiations?

By: Dallas Memory

Dallas Memory — Thu, 18 May 2006 13:59:55 +0000

Gary Kelly, chief executive of the Dallas-based carrier, said in order to â€œbreak the log jamâ€ in negotiations, heâ€™d be willing to keep any flights from Dallas Love Field inside the U.S. border and be open to decreasing Loveâ€™s 32-gate capacity.

â€œInternational (flying) is something that is very important to D/FW Airport and Fort Worth, and itâ€™s not to us,â€ Kelly told reporters after the companyâ€™s annual shareholder meeting in Dallas.

Wait a second...wasn't it Southwest that stated 'flying outside of Texas is not important to us?' in the 70s. And wasn't it Southwest that later stated 'flying outside of our 4 state region is not important to us?'

Dallas.....wake up.... this IS the definition of LOVE without the kiss!!

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 16:38:44 +0000

I work for the airlines and you guys are FOOLS if you think that repealing the Wright Amendment won’t lower fares. AA WON’T HAVE A CHOICE IN THE MATTER! And they are scared to death of Southwest! They have been lining their pockets for years, and when this ban is lifted, they are going to suffer from their greed. JUST LOOK AT THE FARES FROM HOUSTON!!! ITS COMMON SENSE!!

By: Lissa

Lissa — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 03:15:37 +0000

"What percentage of SWA's customers are from Ft. Worth? Do they not care about these customers? Wouldn't moving to DFW open up a whole new market for them?"

I live minutes away from DFW and I fly American because Love Field is further away and, even though everyone says American charges an arm and a leg for a ticket - and American does - I still find good ticket deals online.

It's convenient. And if Wright is appealed and prices go down for every consumer... I'd probably still fly American because then not only would I getting a cheap fare without going through a dot com, I'd getting airline miles. (Does Southwest have a frequent flier campaign?)

If Southwest wanted to fly long haul flights out of Love Field, it could. They'd just have fly a plane that isn't part of their uniform fleet and they don't want to buy new planes. (But then... why should they? Their current method of using a one type plane fleet have helped them become the senstation they are.)

On a personal level, there is no pressing need for Wright to be appealed (repealed?). On a philosophical, economic level, the purpose of Wright is clearly to restrict interstate air travel from anywhere other than DFW effectively giving DFW a monopoly... and as capitalists, Americans vote no on monopolies. It's principle.

By: Bruce H

Bruce H — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 19:26:23 +0000

I have enjoyed the comments on this blog, however, I am sitting on the fence and would like to ask a few questions.

What percentage of SWA's customers are from Ft. Worth? Do they not care about these customers? Wouldn't moving to DFW open up a whole new market for them?

Lets face it. This is a money issue. If we are to decide on money alone, then the only answer is to scrape Love Field and get an economic development project going. The property taxes, for the Love Field property alone, would be 10 fold what SWA is paying today. The properties outside the airport would skyrocket and bring in more tax dollars. What does SWA do when the City of Dallas decides that the best use of Love Field is to shut it down?

By: j. morgan

j. morgan — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:08:17 +0000

Southwest is responsible for 97% of the flights out of Love Field. If I’m not mistaken, American is responsible for 80% of the flights out of DFW. I’m no rocket scientist, but both airlines seem to hold a monopoly over these airports.Also,fact is now that it is obvious that SWA is going to fly to St. Louis and Kansas City, American has adjusted their air fares. Instead of charging approximately 600.00 non stop from DFW to these destinations they are now going to charge approx. 300.00. Amazing!!! Think thats a good deal? SWA is going to charge 129.00. Above quotes are one way. Call me crazy but I,m choosing SWA. There crews are more friendly anyhow.

By: Edward

Edward — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 19:23:35 +0000

Southwest tries to come off as the victim here, but they’re not. Know the history of the Wright Amendment before complaining about free enterprise. SWA portrays Wright to be some kind of conspiracy against them. In fact Southwest Airlines profitted through the Wright Amendment, a compromise to allow commercial flights to continue out of Love Field while giving room for the new DFW Airport to grow. Otherwise the whole blasted Love Field airport would have been shutdown. At that time SWA did not have to worry about the Wright Amendment restrictions since it was a regional carrier. Meanwhile, housing development has increased tremendously in the Love Field area because of homebuyers believing that the Wright Amendment would prevent an increased amount of traffic, both air and land. Southwest can fly whereever they choose from DFW Airport, just as they do at LAX and Sea-Tac. Furthermore, DFW Airport offered millions of dollars in incentives to take over the now defunct Delta Terminal and they refused. The only reason Southwest cannot fly long haul flights out of Dallas is because of childish stubborness on Southwest’s part. Now that they’re a major player in the airline industry they feel they have enough clout to influence politics.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 21:59:46 +0000

In response to PlanoDallasOne. You must be an American employee to live in the Dallas area and not want the Wright Ammendment repealed. You ARE crazy. Even with fuel prices on the rise, American is still the dominant carrier in D/FW. If you look at the number of flights out of Love Field compared to American at D/FW, they still have more flights. Even if the Wright Ammendment is repealed they will still have more flights. Southwest does not mind competition. That’s what they are fighting for, to promote competition which lowers air fares. It’s a proven fact in many markets as shown by James referencing multiple markets with multiple airports. Quoting Herb Kelleher the Chairman of Southwest. For them to move to D/FW would be like the spider asking the fly over for lunch. They don’t mind competition, but they are not stupid. American’s take on the The Wright Ammendment is like Goliath saying that he is afraid of David and won’t fight him if he has his sling and rock. They are also using lame tactics saying that if the Wright Ammendment is lifted that they will have to shift flights to compete and cancel hundreds of flights to smaller markets as a result. The fact is that it’s BS. For one, American has been threatening to close flights at smaller markets long before Southwest made attempts to repeal the Wright Ammendment. Two, fuel prices are what is causing them to cancel flights and they are using the Wright battle to as a plea and cry for help it doesn’t need. If American could, it would crush Southwest the first opportunity it had which is why it is trying to get Southwest to go to D/FW. If anyone doesn’t like competition it’s American. It’s been proven and you can ask any AirTran employee of American’s tactics at LAX. American does everything it can to try and crush it’s competition.
As far as the woman that was kicked off the Southwest plane, if you read the articles, she was asked to take it off first because of complaints from other passengers. She did so, but then put it back on, and that’s why she was kicked off. Freedom of speech or not, when it offends people, and you are asked to remove it or turn it inside out, then you comply, only to revert back to deviant behavior, you deserve to get kicked off the plane. I don’t know about you but I have 3 kids, and that’s the last thing I want my kids subjected to is someone else’s offesive personal propaganda and would have complained as well. Freedom of speech is also the freedom to complain. It’s no different than some moron screaming obscenities in the vicinity of your kid.

By: deanCase

deanCase — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 22:11:00 +0000

OOh. I disagreed with the experts. I must be crazy. The fact is fuel demands are on the rise while the supply isn’t. It doesn’t take an expert to tell you fuel prices are never coming down. In fact, what I hear from my “expert” friends in the Texas oil industry, is that very soon we’ll all be paying what the europeans are paying. Thats about $4-8/gallon. Granted, airplanes use something more like kerosene. That’s a little cheaper, but not much. I will always choose more people employed over one company’s quest to maximize profits.
Do I need to show examples of how SW raises fares as soon as they become that city’s dominant carrier. Gee, what’s happening in Seattle right now. Is Southwest once again demonstrating how they don’t like competition.
With all this jingoistic propaganda about Freedom, I was shocked today to learn that a women was kicked off a SW flight because of her T-shirt. I don’t care what it said. This is supposed to be the United States of America, where you have the God given right to freedom of expression, unless your on a (“An Example of Freedom”) Southwest Airplane. Southwest’s idea of Freedom is one where your choice is made for you.