Things in the Sky

This week, Southwest celebrates four years in Denver – and it has certainly been an interesting market to follow. While there has been interesting discussion (especially during Southwest’s bid for Frontier) about how profitable the city has been for the carrier, Southwest has nevertheless grown it operation there very quickly. In a relatively short time period, Denver has become one of the airline’s biggest markets with over 130 daily departures.

It’s not uncommon for Southwest to have special promotions for events like anniversaries, and Denver is no different. But while a large number of Southwest’s city-specific promotions have involved bonus Rapid Rewards credits, Southwest is instead promoting its Business Select product by offering a free roundtrip for Colorado residents that purchase a Business Select roundtrip from Denver.

For those who don’t recall, Business Select is a fully refundable fare that includes other perks such as priority boarding, a free drink (whatever isn’t complimentary, i.e. alcohol), extra Rapid Rewards credit, and priority check-in and security screening where available.

Clearly, Southwest is trying to build a loyal base of business travelers from Denver and the surrounding metro. But, personally, I see this primarily as a shot at Frontier, specifically its Classic Plus fare.

Photo credit: Chris Weyer.

Classic Plus is part of Frontier’s relatively-new AirFairs program and is certainly similar to Business Select. Like Southwest’s offering, Classic Plus is fully-refundable, offers priority boarding, a free premium beverage, and bonus EarlyReturns credit. But Frontier’s product is superior to Southwest’s in a couple of ways – those who buy Classic Plus now sit in Frontier’s new STRETCH seating (a regular seat, but with a few extra inches of legroom) and receive complimentary DirecTV service.

Meanwhile, if you’re a Southwest flyer, it might be worthwhile to price things out. While I usually think that Business Select isn’t worth the money (unless if it’s a last minute booking), it could be worthwhile here.

For example, let’s say I live in Denver and need to get to Albuquerque, and then Baltimore later on.  I could buy a Business Select roundtrip to ABQ for $324, and then get to BWI for free. With cheap fares, I would pay $118 roundtrip to ABQ and $256 for BWI – a total of $374. So this promotion would save me $50 and give me the Business Select perks on one flight.

Travelers must register and book by the end of this month to participate, and travel must be completed by the end of February to receive a free flight. More details here. You can find Cranky’s take on the promotion here.