Midwest Airlines Customers to AirTran: Go Away

So what if the shrimp is gone and the free wine is gone and the cookies are not as plentiful; the seats are still leather and only four across.  The staff is still friendly and accommodating, and the flights don't route you through Atlanta or O'Hare. AirTran has increased its hostile takeover offer and is waging a media campaign to convince anyone who will listen that Midwest Airlines is too small and will not last.

It's not so much the airplanes or the business, it's the Milwaukee landing slots and their proximity to the massive Chicago market. The Chicago Trib has the story:

AirTran, which was outmaneuvered by Southwest in its bid for additional gates at Midway in late 2004, is pursuing a hostile takeover of Midwest Airlines that would give it a major hub in Milwaukee. If the bid succeeds, AirTran says it would operate 151 flights from that airport in 2007, increasing to 183 departures within two years.

"We think we would be fairly effective in competing for the consumers north of O'Hare," said Bob Fornaro, AirTran's president and chief operating officer. "In essence, we would be serving Chicago from both the south side and way north side."

Andrew Wagner tells them to "Buzz Off:"

...obviously, for all your concern about serving the "good people of Milwaukee," you've failed to recognize one major character trait of our population.

We can smell a steaming pile from a mile away.

We've read your rhetoric, we've heard your impassioned pleas, and what we can only assume are sincere promises, but we're not interested.

While AirTran has even promised that it will add cookies to its flights, nearly everyone who has ever flown Midwest tries to book its flights over any other airline, even if the cost is somewhat higher.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Dennis McCann did a direct comparison, and found that while Midwest's seats are two important inches wider, it was, indeed, the cookies, and, more importantly, the service ethic of Midwest's people that make the difference.

Flying used to be fun; now it's an ordeal.  Except on Midwest Airlines.

- Barry Orton

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