Question

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Southwest Airlines?

Answer 1

Strengths:

Southwest Airlines is the low cost airlines because of its route management and low cost operations. This sets Southwest Airlines apart from the competition. It becomes more appealing to customers that fly on a regular basis. Because of this, Southwest airlines carried more customers than other US airlines.Southwest operates more than 3500 flights daily. They are known for utilizing their resources to reduce the cost of operations better than any of their competition. Business travelers who are more time-sensitive than price-sensitive and wanted weekday flights at times suitable for conducting business, price-sensitive leisure travelers who wanted lower fares and had more flexibility about when to fly find this airline more suited to their needs. Customers are able to make flight, car, hotel, cruise, and complete vacation package reservations.

Southwest Airlines is the third largest Airlines in the industry on basis of revenue and profits. According to Money Now magazine, Southwest Airlines is in good financial position because of its high market share and brand reputation. They are known for providing a relatively inexpensive but quality service. They have better relations with their customers as well as their employees. Employees are hiredbased on their attitude, training, and skills. Each job category determines the specific behaviors, knowledge, and motivations that job holders have. A trait common to all job categories is teamwork. Southwest’s supervisory positions are filled internally developing trust among employees. This in turn leads to better service for the customers which then in turn leads to repeat business. Southwest has incorporated the internet as one of their marketing strategies. Southwest.com is the largest airlines in terms of unique visitors.Southwest.com is the largest airlines in terms of unique visitors. Their website has become a one stop shop for everything travel related. A user can book a flight, hotel, and rental car at one location and be billed one time as opposed to having to book each item separately and having to be billed individually. This is very convenient for the customer who is planning a last minute vacation of business trip.

Weaknesses:

Southwest Airlines not attract business class people because there are no bifurcation of seats such as business and economy class. A lot of business people fly with Southwest only because of their low cost airfare. Most companies that book flights for their employees find this very useful in terms of saving the company money, however, Southwest does not have a business class. They seat the business people with the economy or coach class. This is a major turn off to business people who plan on doing some work while on their flight. They say that not much work can be completed because most of the times they are seated across from a family of five with noisy children, and therefore cannot concentrate. Southwest also lacks diversity in services such as freight and cargo. This means that the majority of dependency on passenger revenues. This can pose a serious threat if the passenger volume decreases.

Southwest Airlines is well known to the United States, but it lacks international presence. Unlike most airlines, Southwest does not usually travel outside of the U.S. so any international fairs go elsewhere. According to their website, Southwest states that they provide quality service to the U.S. and surrounding territories for the convenience of the passenger, if international fairs were offered the price of tickets would have to rise. They say that they are working to make Southwest Airlines more accessible internationally. As a result of only operating in the U.S. Southwest has had many problems in the overbooking of tickets. They have a projected number of passengers in either class but tend to over sell the economy class more often than not. When this happens passengers become frustrated because they have to wait for another flight or, they get “bumped” up to first class which is good for the customer but bad for the company which loses money.