Gary Kelly travel tips

Could Southwest Hawaii service make way for the ‘Southwest Effect’—increased competition and lower fares for travel to the islands? We’re closer to finding out.

Delta and Southwest sought to reassure investors Thursday, following negative commentary from several airlines earlier in the week. All of them are confronting a spike in fuel prices, with labor and other costs up as well. And that’s going to hit the bottom line – though some will be impacted more than others.

Shareholders filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines Co on Thursday, accusing the carrier of fraudulently concealing problems that led last month to an operational meltdown and more than 15,000 flight cancellations.

Southwest is getting out of the overbooking game. Following the recent “incident” involving United Airlines, Southwest will heretofore only sell as many tickets as it has seats.

Basic economy fares may be sweeping through the industry, but one airline says it’s staying out.

United’s forcible ejection of a paying passenger from flight UA3411 earlier this month was a perfect storm of bad decisions, both leading up to the incident and in its subsequent handling by company chief Oscar Munoz. The airline’s image, less than sterling to begin with, was deeply tarnished.

Did you feel that? Did the earth just move below our feet?

It wasn’t that long ago that Southwest’s self-proclaimed identity as the Love Airline was a credible bit of branding, reflecting a virtuous circle of contentment among the airline’s customers, employees, and shareholders. For now, however, the love fest appears to be over.

Southwest is quietly raising fares for thousands of flights to combat what it calls “cost pressures” it expects will impact its business into 2019. And while these increases are indeed minor—said to be only $2 to $5 one-way—the move by the low-cost line could signal the possibility that airfares will rise across the board.