Southwest to buy Airtran

I saw the news story this morning on Google. This is good news in a way and possibly bad news in another. I am happy to see the god awful excuse for an airline (Air Tran) go away and be replaced with one that knows what it is doing. On the same note flying Southwest tends to be a bit of a mad house at check in and on the plane.

The good points I see is that Delta, the other major player here in Atlanta, may have to stop charging baggage fees. Southwest has never charged baggage fees and Delta would lose a lot of business to this. Also it could mean lower fares on domestic Delta flights for more or Southwest would simply raise fares. That is yet to be seen. Southwest would be handy if they offer the really good sale fares out of Atlanta.

The down sides are Southwest does not assign seats on their flights. They also have much less comfortable planes. I have flown Southwest a couple of times and you get what you pay for. A madhouse at the gate and during boarding since everyone makes a mad dash for the seat they want. I think this is ok for short flights but long haul flights I prefer Delta, the chance (or even option!) of first class and of course the miles I can use to go overseas. Southwest is domestic only.

We shall see how this will turn out! I hope it is for the better.