The question of how far air travelers will go to save money moved to the forefront this past week as Southwest Airlines began flying into the New York area, one of the nation's busiest and most competitive markets.
New Yorkers who want Southwest's low fares will have to go about 40 miles -- that's the distance to Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, N.Y.That's a familiar pattern for those who fly the cut-rate carrier. For instance, Southwest flies not into Boston, but to T.F. Green Memorial in Warwick, R.I., 60 miles away. In Chicago, it flies into Midway, not O'Hare. And although it has a few flights into San Francisco, the bulk of the flights fly into Oakland, across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Still, many are willing to put up with a little inconvenience to save money.
Michael Reynolds said the hour-and-a-half drive from his home in Meriden, Conn., to Warwick was never a consideration when he decided to take his fiancee for a week of sightseeing in San Francisco.
"I didn't really shop around much because I saw the ad on TV -- $99 coast-to-coast. I called and made the reservation," he said.
And the savings can be substantial.
Take the round-trip scoot from Boston to the nation's capital, a habit for many business travelers. With 24 hours notice, Southwest will fly them from Warwick to Baltimore for $130. It will cost $582.50 to fly from Boston's Logan International Airport to Washington's Ronald Reagan Airport on US Airways.
With two-weeks advance planning, Southwest's fare drops to $102, while US Airways stays at $582.
And that's just a sampling of the bargains to be had in the 52 cities and 26 states Southwest now serves.
Catherine and Kevin Kidd, of Waltham, Mass., drive more than an hour to Warwick -- Boston's Logan Airport is half that far -- three or four times a year to take advantage of the cheap Southwest rates to Baltimore, where Kevin's family lives.
"The fare is worth it. It's no issue," Catherine Kidd said. "And they treat you much more like a person than just a seat number."
In fact, Southwest doesn't even assign seats. That's one of the drawbacks.
The cheap fares also come without meals and without luggage transfers to other carriers. Say somebody flies Dallas to Los Angeles on Southwest and wants to catch a United flight to Hawaii. That means picking up baggage at Southwest and rechecking it onto United. And Southwest is strictly no pets, no skis and no golf clubs.
There are other downsides.
For instance, while the advance purchase fare on Southwest from Long Island to Los Angeles is $99 each way (based on a round-trip purchase) during a current fare sale, none of the four daily flights flies nonstop. At a minimum, they all land in Nashville. Two of the flights involve two stops and a change of planes, one involves of change of planes and one has two stops, but no change of planes.
Still, the restrictions are no deterrent to Los Angeles resident Ernie Spargur, who makes a habit of flying Southwest.
On a February business trip from Los Angeles to New Orleans to Attleboro, Mass., and back to Los Angeles, Southwest saved him $800 over the next best fare.
"On a long cross-country flight, it's not the best thing if you don't plan ahead," he said, referring to Southwest's no-food, no-assigned-seating policies. "And I'm a little big to fit in that center seat, but for $800 savings, you can deal with fewer frills."
Yet for others, there are limits. "Some people say that even for $100 it's not worth it to them," said Barbara Catz, who works for American Express Travel in Boston.
Southwest spokeswoman Christine Turneabe Connelly said Southwest doesn't so much steal passengers from competitors, as it makes air travel affordable for people who might not otherwise fly.