If the merger goes through, then AirTran will quit flying out of DFW. Southwest would have to give up gates at Love Field, because of the "Wright Amendment" (which ends in late 2013 or early 2014) and they don't want to do that. This will affect airfares from DFW to where ever AirTran flies. Atlanta is one of those. Since AirTran is a low cost carrier it will likely raise rates as a whole for any place that AirTran flys starting/ending at DFW. The good thing about it for some people is that Southwest does not charge bag fees. It has no plans at present to change this, so some people around the nation will get to fly with no bag fees. Southwest also has no plans at the moment to change their seating policy (no assigned seats). By the way, it takes regulators a long time to make decisions on things like this. It could easily be 6 months to a year before a decision one way or the other is made. Larry
I am not familiar with the "Wright Amendment" so I need a little clarification. Air Tran and Southwest have gates at DFW. The only thing that changes is the ownership of Air Tran. So can you give more details on "... AirTran will quit flying out of DFW. Southwest would have to give up gates at Love Field" ? The sale is not scheduled to take place until 2012. So Southwest and the regulators have over a year to make various decisions. My best guess - and I stress "guess" - is that in the years to come, the Air Tran name will disappear. It makes no sense to me to carry on the Air Tran name over the long term.
Southwest does not have any gates at DFW. They only use Dallas Love Field. I had another post about the Wright Amendment in this same forum. Larry
I find this whole thing about the Dallas area airports confusing - I like simple. Glad I don't live there. My main concern is Memphis since Air Tran has a gate or 2 in Memphis and Southwest presently has none. I assume Southwest will eventually start flying into Memphis which will make access to Tunica much more economical. Watch out United and American. You both deserve to be put out of business at Memphis because of your outrages fairs and baggage fees. Not to mention never leaving on time and long delays to retrieve baggage.
Money thing.... When DFW airport was being built revenue was to be split between Dallas and Tarrant counties (Ft. Worth). Since Dallas already had an airport (Love field), Then I believe he was speaker of the House and Ft. Worth resident (Jim Wright) pass the agreement that certain flights leaving from Love field (such as to Las Vegas) were not allowed to fly non-stop. therefore making trip from DFW more appealing to travelers and helpping to make more money for Tarrant county. The Wright ammendment was finally changed, but will not go into effect until 2014 sometime. I am sure that Hoppinglarry is correct that prices will be going up at DFW by other airlines to certain distinations because of the lost of low cost AirTrans departure.
You may be right. I may be crazy. But as I understood various analysis, SW would gain the gates at DFW as well as other airports they currently don't fly to, Laguardia, Newark, Reagan in DC, putting a downward pressure on fares. Hey, they're the best run airline out there. Customers are happy, employees are happy. It's happy, happy, happy.
Southwest will not gain any gates at DFW. The gates that AirTran has at DFW will be lost if the regulators allow the merger. Southwest will not give up gates at Love Field to have a gate at DFW. They have been quite adamant about that. Considering the length of time involved, I guess we don't really have to think about this for at least a year. I see in today's paper that the Wright Amendment ends on 10/16/2014, then Love Field can become a non-stop destination to and from, I would imagine some of the bigger airports they go to. Larry
