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Southwest and the fallacy of "No Hidden Fees"

Southwest has this ongoing ad campaign on TV where they talk all about their no hidden fees model.  They promote the fact that they do not charge check-in, phone reservation or window/aisle seat fees.  I cannot vouch for any of these except the last.

Southwest is correct when they say that they do not charge for window/aisle seats.  They cannot do this since they don't assign seats!  That said, IMO experience, they do something very close that in my opinion is only marginally different from charging for premium seats.

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Tags: southwest
Permalink 11/19/08 09:34:09 pm , by admin Email , 185 views, General, Leave a comment »Send a trackback »

Manchester Airport

I was recently traveling on Southwest through Manchester, NH.  They fly out of two airports in the Boston area, Providence and Manchester.  In the past, I have always chosen Manchester due to its proximity to where I live and its ease of parking and short security lines.  In many respects, it was a hidden gem of an airport if you could get a direct flight.

Unfortunately, I have decided that Manchester is no longer a hidden gem.  The problem is that its popularity has increased and the airport has not improved its security layout commensurately.  The result is that security lines are now bad.  (Logan has many more passengers, and is better designed to handle them.)

I have two datapoints to support this finding.  The last two times I have been there, the wait was about 45 minutes the first time and about 30 minutes last time.  This is not what I expected especially since the wait used to be non-existent.  These wait times are much worse than those I typically experience in Boston.  At this point, my recommendation is to avoid Manchester in favor of Boston unless the fare price is so compelling that you are willing to tolerate the added annoyance.

Permalink 11/11/08 09:15:09 pm , by admin Email , 226 views, General, Leave a comment »Send a trackback »