Nashville International Airport

[smeagolsfree]

The price on SWA tickets have been rising ever so steadily over the past several months. They purchased a lot of fuel hedges that are finally running out. They will have to pay the same for fuel the other airlines pay before long. That will make for a more even playing field.

[Lexy]

Maybe someday, BNA will be a SWA hub. That just doesn't sound right.

Lexy, heard anything else about Frontier's growth plans? Are there any?

Oh they are growing, but it is primarily in California at the moment. They have a bunch of new point to point routes starting out there next year. As for Nashville, I haven't heard anything yet, but that means nothing, LOL!!!

[Jonny11788]

News from AA: American Airlines Announces Re-Opening Of Admirals Club Lounge At Nashville International Airport

Hopefully this indicates that they will be increasing their presence here again, even if just a little bit. It'd be nice to see some of those empty gates they have on C be used again...

[Lexy]

Well this is fantastic news!! And most welcomed as I see it. Great find Johnny.

[frankliner]

News from AA: American Airlines Announces Re-Opening Of Admirals Club Lounge At Nashville International Airport

Hopefully this indicates that they will be increasing their presence here again, even if just a little bit. It'd be nice to see some of those empty gates they have on C be used again...

Wow, this is GREAT NEWS!!! Now we have 2 clubs in Nashville again. I really missed not having the Admiral's Club there, it was a pretty good location. Thanks for the find!!

[BrandonTO416]

Quite a SWA discussion we have going here since last time I checked.

My opinions on SWA are mixed, I've historically not liked them. However, they really don't seem to be much different from other airlines. My biggest problem is the fact that they don't assign seats. That, and they used to not offer any amenities except peanuts.

In the modern airliner world, all airliners have stopped serving anything but a cola, water, or peanuts. So the service level isn't really an issue anymore.

The last complaint I have about SWA is the non-seating issue.

Other than that, they offer the same room as everyone else's coach, they offer mainline jets to every market (a plus in my opinion), plus the fare is comparable.

I wouldn't say SWA is a value leader, they offer competitive rates at non-hub airports. What SWA does do is offer extremely low rates on specific routes. For example, SWA has done breakneck pricing between Chicago and Nashville. You can find many times throughout the year where they push the price down to $80 to $100 round trip. Even on average you don't see prices above $120-150 for a round trip to Chicago unless you book less than 2-3 weeks in advance.

SWA does do breakneck pricing to specific markets, although I think they offer comparable rates to most their markets rather than bringing prices WAY down.

In other words, having SWA is a positive more than negative, but in the airliner industry I don't feel connected to any one individual company. They all offer a service that is relatively comparable. I go wherever the connections are the shortest and flying the aircraft I want to fly in.

For example, if American is offering mainline service to O'Hare over United's CRJ service, I'll take that at the same price. That's how you really get more room.

[BrandonTO416]

Here's how I feel about US Airliners.

United, American, Northwest somewhere near the top. All three of these airliners have perks that make me feel better flying with them than the competition.

JetBlue, SWA, Continental - somewhere in the middle; SWA's big deal for me is seating that isn't assigned and lack of major airports to key markets. At least you get mainline jet service to every market they service instead of a cramped Embraer that you have to carry your luggage to. LOL

Delta, US Air, Air Tran near the bottom

Edited October 27, 2006 by heckles

[ATLBrain]

I don't know about most of those airlines as the names of them only appear on the commuter lines that I've flown when I haven't flown the hometown airline. Unfortunately, I agree with you about Delta. It used to be great. Those were the days

I have been satisfied with SWA. My expectations weren't very high.

Used to hate American, but my experiences in recent years have not been bad. Service sucked on USAir. NWA, I just remembered the Memphis airport looking so drab and a lack of places to eat. Continental wasn't bad that I remember.

Edited October 27, 2006 by ATLBrain

[northernbizzkit1]

Used to hate American, but my experiences in recent years have not been bad. Service sucked on USAir. NWA, I just remembered the Memphis airport looking so drab and a lack of places to eat. Continental wasn't bad that I remember.

You need to come back through MEM...the concessions expansion/renovation has made it much better than it used to be!

As for Continental, I also keep it in the middle...it's a great airline for international routes, etc...but they are so political and seem to not like any form of competition (they are major opposition to Virgin America).

[Jeeper12]

Does anyone know when they will get rid of that dreadful 8"x8" tile and install some decent carpet in the Southwest terminal ? A peoplemoving escalator in the center of the aisle would be helpful too. I always dread being in the last gate.

[Lexy]

Does anyone know when they will get rid of that dreadful 8"x8" tile and install some decent carpet in the Southwest terminal ? A peoplemoving escalator in the center of the aisle would be helpful too. I always dread being in the last gate.

I don't think concourse C is really big enough for a people mover though. Seems like that would be a waste in the long run, but who am I. As for the tiles and stuff, I don't know specifics. But I would imagine something will happen to them at some point. At least I hope it does.

[splash]

News from AA: American Airlines Announces Re-Opening Of Admirals Club Lounge At Nashville International Airport

Anastasia Brown's comment was pretty cool:

[Lexy]

^ You know, I thought that too when I read that. LOL!!

[ATLBrain]

What's flicka and pink spiders? I know who billy ray cyrus is... he's singing the anthem at the WS game tonight.

Edited October 28, 2006 by ATLBrain

[Lexy]

"Flicka" is a movie that Tim Mcgraw was in recently, the "Pink Spiders"....I have no clue.

[splash]

"Flicka" is a movie that Tim Mcgraw was in recently, the "Pink Spiders"....I have no clue.

http://www.thepinkspiders.com/java script:emoticon('', 'smid_24')

[Nashvillain]

The Pink Spiders are a local pop-punkish band that signed to a major label and released an album this year. I think their single made it on TRL at some point. They wear pink clothes, but no spider costumes or anything.

[Lexy]

^ Thanks! I honestly had no clue.

LOL!!!

Oh, BTW, the Texans are in town now. This was their ferry to the city today.

One of the first 757's Delta had in its fleet. It was a treat to see this older livery (1990's) fly into here. Now, if we could just get the pink Breast Cancer awareness 757 to fly into here sometime.

Not my picture, but it's the new Pink Breast Cancer Awareness 757 that Delta has unveiled......http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1117489/L

Edited October 29, 2006 by Lexy

[BrandonTO416]

I don't know about most of those airlines as the names of them only appear on the commuter lines that I've flown when I haven't flown the hometown airline. Unfortunately, I agree with you about Delta. It used to be great. Those were the days

I have been satisfied with SWA. My expectations weren't very high.

Used to hate American, but my experiences in recent years have not been bad. Service sucked on USAir. NWA, I just remembered the Memphis airport looking so drab and a lack of places to eat. Continental wasn't bad that I remember.

Northwest has considerably more traffic at Detroit and Minneapolis, both airports are very modern. Detroit's airport is super modern as it is has only been open a few years, and the old NWA terminal is being destroyed for an expansion yet again. Minneapolis is a modern airport.

Memphis, while admittedly dated with fewer amenities, has one thing going for it: absolutely fantastic on time performance.

While I'm not devout to any air carrier in particular, these are my general preferences.

United impressed me when they gave me a full refund on a non-refundable ticket to Chicago last year even during their time of crisis. Maybe I was an exception to the rule and my CSR agent was more willing than most, but it still happened. This hasn't been my only experience with United exhibiting superior customer service, but then again I was also a United Mileage Plus member so maybe that had some sway. Well, that, and my insistence on certain things. I had bought the ticket early enough at such a breakneck price on a flight that was already sold out, they obviously had the option of giving me a refund and upselling the ticket to a very high price on a flight where the ticket would most certainly be able to be sold. I suppose I just had to point this out to the CSR so they were more willing to work with me.

American hasn't done anything particularly interesting to make me love them, but they did give me a $50 upgrade to first class on a ticket that only cost me $120 to begin with. And the flight was using a mainline jet that most carriers would use commuter jets on.

When I flew with NWA I was always told of how they have horrible service, but on the contrary the airline was able to transfer my baggage on a delayed flight where there was only 15 minutes between the connection without having the baggage come in on a later flight. Maybe that's supposed to be standard, but US Air has lost my luggage more than any other carrier. I'm convinced US Air understaffs its company in order to turn a profit these days.

NWA also had some other perks customer service wise that I have found, and they have fantastic on time performance since the three airports they operate hubs out of are efficient in their own ways. The new Detroit terminal really complete's NWA's capacity to offer on time performance way above industry average.

These little itty bitty things (each of which can be shattered with a bad experience LOL) combined with the fact that United, American, and NWA offer a lot of mainline jet services as well as serving a lot of markets make me like them. They are the best of the legacy/mature carriers.

Edited October 30, 2006 by heckles

[AmandaHugginkiss]

^ Very unbiased comment and I totally agree. Unbiased comments don't happen often here.

[tennreb]

I've flow NWA hundreds of times, and I rarely have a problem. Their commuter division is a different story, although they are getting better. I have flow SWA a few times and my flight has always been late. I hate the cattle call. I got to the gate an hour early to get my spot in line one time. Then they decided to switch gates on us. A 150 people were running as fast as they could through the airport. You would have thought it was Pamplona. I wouldn't be suprised if little children got trampled. Also, call me elitist, but the customers of SWA generally aren't the most desirable people to sit next to. I think they used to ride the bus before airfare got so cheap.

[AmandaHugginkiss]

I am 23 and I have flown NWA all my life. My luggage got lost one time and they retrieved in within an hour. And lets not even talk about their prompt arrivals. For the many years I have flown on this airliner, they always seem to arrive atleast 5 minutes early.. I never had any problems connecting to another flight because of this..And I fly nonrev.

[BrandonTO416]

^I concur, Northwest has among the best on time performance of any airliner.

[memphian]

That and you have to respect a carrier that flies mostly mainline jets to/from BNA. I believe maybe only 1 flight is on a regional. Of course I am biased b/c we have NWA here in Memphis.

[frankliner]

That and you have to respect a carrier that flies mostly mainline jets to/from BNA. I believe maybe only 1 flight is on a regional. Of course I am biased b/c we have NWA here in Memphis.

I've been a loyal NWA customer all my life. Never had lost luggage and usually have had very professional service. Although flying their partner KLM kinda takes some of the shine out of their luster, lol, but I think KLM has absolutely extraordinary service (and some REALLY hot flight attendants, but I digress). I also think the Detroit hub is one of the best in the nation. Memphis has gotten quite a bit better too after their renovations.

On another note, I kinda wish some carrier would implement a shuttle system (hourly daytime flights) like the large Northeast cities mantain between Nashville and cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, and Memphis. The market probably isn't there yet (except I really could see it for Atlanta) but it would be a cool option to have