Confessions of a Would-be Gourmand and Jetsetter

I was working on another article about the glories of street meat in New York and Chicago, when upon my twitter, a tweet from Christi Day (better known to the world as @SouthwestAir) popped up announcing that Southwest was entering a bid for Frontier Airlines! Given that I’ve yet to read any tweets by street vendors in either city, I shoved those thoughts in to my drafts folder and turned my attention to the more exciting prospect of a new Frontier Airlines, piloted by Southwest.

It may be relevant that I get worked up about travel industry news, especially when I feel that it is something that would be beneficial to me, and certainly I’m excited about this. First off, Frontier operates direct flights out of DFW. The thought of being able to book codeshare flights on southwest would be amazing, along with the fact that the number of two-leg flights would go up, instead of the fair few flights that southwest offers as three legs right now. Second, consolidating Rapid Rewards and EarlyReturns would be great for customers – and me. Third, and this is the most personal: it would make getting to Denver when booking through Southwest, as it’s already a straight shot on Frontier.

What does this really mean? Well, it means that in a way, Southwest is pre-empting JetBlue out of the Dallas market. If the acquisition goes through, then Southwest will be operating out of Love Field, as always, but also have a presence in the form of Frontier at DFW – and those people connecting through Denver would have a choice of departure points. Finally, it could give Frontier customers much broader, easier access to the east coast.

All of this is just speculation, and I’m sure there’s a mergers and acquisitions team at Southwest that has studied the business implications of this bid up, down, and sideways – but I’m all for supporting the home teams, especially when it comes to making my travel arrangements easier.

So pardon me while I go do up a baseball pennant with the Southwest logo on it, set up my lawn chair and my sippy-hat and cheer for Mr. Kelly to hit one out of the park.