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Airline Open Thread: Is Midwest Airlines Still Worth Paying a Premium For?

September 5, 2008 at 11:50 AM | by pbb | 7 Comments

So far this year, Midwest Airlines has laid off more than 1,000 employees, trimmed its fleet, announced plans to add smaller seats and checked bag fees--and the carrier even started cutting back on the number of cookies it hands out. When will it all end?!

All the changes led us to wonder if it's worth booking a Midwest seat anymore. When the seats were large, the service terrific and the cookies copious, we'd pay a premium to fly the carrier, as long as we were headed to a city it served. But now? The airline is so focused on the bottom line it hardly seems different than any other out there. (Admittedly, a recent cash infusion has the threat of bankruptcy at bay for the moment.)

But what say you? Is Midwest still worth booking--even at a fare premium? Or have the glory days gone the way of its MD-80s? Spill your thoughts in our open thread.

Related Stories:
· Midwest Airlines coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas]

7 Comments

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  1. BS

    Jaunted Contributing Editor

    Can't See Why

    No cookies and no bigger seats...I wouldn't NOT fly them, but I certainly don't see why you would pay more for it.
    September 5, 2008 at 11:54 AM
  1. pbb

    Jaunted Member

    Nope

    I really enjoyed flying Midwest back in the good ol' days, but I can't imagine paying a premium for it now.
    September 5, 2008 at 12:20 PM
  1. kjb

    Jaunted Contributing Editor

    Nope (again)

    I've never had the chance to fly Midwest, but with the way things are now I just look for the best deal that will get me to where I am going.  If they have the best rate they're mine, if not, I'm going somewhere else.
    September 5, 2008 at 12:27 PM
  1. zups

    Jaunted Member

    still a superior airline

    Jaunted has been pretty hard on Midwest since it announced its financial troubles (See the various "death watch" articles, as example.)  But Midwest is the little airline that keeps coming back from the brink. Yes, it's hard to run an airline while strapped for cash, but if you live in the midwest, what is your alternative, Northwest?  (Seriously!?!)  Midwest will always be a superior airline to the competition, whether they offer two cookies, one cookie, or no cookies.  It is the quality of their service that makes them worth paying for.
    September 5, 2008 at 12:35 PM
  1. xyxemployee

    Jaunted Member

    YX

    Why bother... Hokesema has done nothing but destroy this company. Im a former employee and he has destroyed anything that was YX to save his own azz.
    The service is going downhill...  he is outsourcing all the crews to regional carriers, fuloughing almost 50% of everyone else. Airtran now looks like it would have been a better deal for MKE.

    Hopefully Tim will choke on a damn cookie

    September 5, 2008 at 2:25 PM
  1. egw

    Jaunted Editor

    Yes

    Zups hits the nail on the head: If Midwest goes under a large part of the country will be inconvenienced AND anyone trying to get there. Admittedly I am biased from living in Milwaukee for 18 years, but when choosing among nonstop options I always pick Midwest because I have found their service overall to be superior. I could fly to Milwaukee on Delta and be redirected to Detroit for an unplanned layover; I could fly to United and fight for a seat in the crowded terminal for a 45-minute commuter flight that will leave at least an hour late, or I could fly Airtran, who once stranded me overnight in Atlanta and refused to give me my checked luggage. Given all that, I'm willing to pay the $50 or so more for a Midwest ticket, even if they only give me one cookie (or none). Not all of my Midwest experiences have been perfect -- we were once stuck on the ground in Ontario, CA for 4 hours because the visibility in L.A. was too poor to land, and en route to Boston Logan they once misplaced one of my bags for a whole weekend. But both times, the airline staff was incredibly helpful and more importantly apologetic when things went wrong. That kind of cheerful patina, mocked by Coen brothers movies, leads me to forgive the occasional screw-up. (Airtran, I'm still waiting for the apology.)
    September 5, 2008 at 3:18 PM
  1. milwaukeedad

    Jaunted Member

    I try to avoid Midwest right now

    When and if they get over their financial difficulties, I will start taking them again.  I don't want to get stranded somewhere if they go under.  Being a private company now, we have no idea how dire their situation is because they don't have to publicly report financial statements.  Midwest was great in their heyday!  Free champagne, gourmet meals on real china.  I miss those days.  I can fly nonstop with a number of other airlines out of mitchell to the cities I go so I really don't need them.  If they do fail, I'm confident we will see Airtran and others ramp up service to fill in the hole.
    September 5, 2008 at 7:18 PM

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