You Might Not Be Able To Use Your Southwest Airline Mile Credit Card
Southwest Airlines came out yesterday and said that it will be cutting 6% of its daily scheduled flights this up coming winter. Southwest said it is due to less people travelling, the economy and high fuel prices. It does not plan to pull out of any airports it is currently at but has to stop flying as many flights that are half full. Instead, the company plans on only taking one flight a day that is full when it use to take two half full jets. This makes great sense because it will reduce the amount of gas consumed between the two planes.
Southwest Airlines did not want to do this because they wanted to be different the other airlines who are cutting work forces along with flights. The amount of flights Southwest Airlines estimates to be cut is around 200 over the year. Southwest has about 3,400 flights on any given day and the winter months are usually a slower time period for them so it gives them a time to be flexible already.
Southwest had been the only airline to post any profit at all this year. They did this by buying options on jet fuel at below market prices. They have had to raise prices to offset the rising cost of fuel but are still below the fares of other airlines. To stay competitive they are retiring some of their older planes and will be introducing newer Boeing 737s which are better on fuel.
So what does this mean for the person who has a Southwest Airline Mile Credit Card? If you travel a lot it means that you are going to have the chance of not getting to use your rewards on a normal flight. There could be over bookings or no flights to choose from at all. The amount of flights Southwest is cancelling is not a whole lot but now you can expect to have less options on when you can go on a vacation or what time of the day you plan to leave. When you get an airline mile credit card you really put yourself at the mercy of the airline that you choose. As you can see, the airlines have to react to whatever is going on in the market. If this means cutting flights than that is what they do. They still value your business and believe you have the best airline miles credit card out there by going with them. Sometimes its better to get a air mile credit card that is backed by a bank because then you are not at the mercy of a particular airline.
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