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Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

Southwest has been ultra-competitive for many reasons, the biggest probably being its fuel hedging program. But it's only a matter of time before this competitive advantage asymptotically approaches zero, so it needs new strategies to maintain its advantage.

As a frequent flier and raving fan of Southwest, I've wondered what would change when they once again paid the same price for fuel as the legacy carriers. Today I stopped worrying. This acquisition ought to buy Southwest at least 10 more years as #1.

I'm also a frequent flier of Air Tran. AFAIC, except for Jet Blue, no other carrier is in the same class as Southwest and Air Tran. I have little doubt they will figure out how to make this work.

Now if only the feds don't fuck this up...

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For the past 2-3 years or so, its fuel hedging has actually had a net negative effect on profit, as their hedged prices were higher than market price for Jet A.

While not good, that is part of hedging. It's basically an insurance premium for a policy they never had to collect on.

Except for Jet Blue, no other carrier is in the same class as Southwest

I greatly prefer Virgin America to Southwest, Jet Blue or any other domestic airline.

As long as <10 airports satisfies your domestic needs, more power to you ;)

Those ten airports serve, just guessing here, 1/3 of the US population.

1/3rd might be high, but easily 1/4th. The only major metro areas they're missing are Denver, Chicago, and Atlanta.

Am I going to have to figure it out? Fine.

JFK: 19M

SFO: 4.3M

LAX: 13M + 4.5M (adding Riverside, San Bernardino, Ontario for charity's sake)

San Diego: 3M

DFW: 6.5M

SEA: 3.4M

BOS: 4.6M

DC: 5.5M

Orlando: 2M

LAS: 2M

FTL: 5.5M (counting Miami)

That's 73.3 million people, so adding in the few we underestimated (eg you can drive to SFO from San Jose if you feel like it) then 1/4 is actually pretty good.

They have 14 airports so far, only 3 of which are international, so >10 domestic :)

In all seriousness, they've only been flying for three years. Give 'em time.

I haven't looked into JetBlue or Virgin America, but a big part of why I use Southwest over others simply due to their frequent flier program. I take a flight from SF to LA about once a month, meaning I can spend as little as $1,300 to rack up enough credits to get a free round trip, which I use on flights to the east coast that would have cost me $400.

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