Southwest to Buy AirTran
 

Just released - Southwest will gain Atalanta and Mexico and Carribbean!

"Our new, broader national presence will benefit many markets as a result of increased competition stimulated by Southwest's low fares and well-known brand. This includes significant opportunities to and from Atlanta, the largest domestic market we do not serve. It expands our presence in key markets, like New York LaGuardia, Boston Logan, and Baltimore/Washington, as well as enables us to serve Washington D.C. via Ronald Reagan National Airport. Also, it presents the opportunity to provide access to key international leisure markets in the Caribbean and Mexico, and extend our service to many smaller domestic cities that we don't serve today."

Won't happen immediately, but hopefully sooner rather than later.

Lets hope this is another wise move on SW's part.

I think this is great news! We fly Southwest whenever we can and take advantage of all their frequent flyer opportunities. Always nice to have more options - I'm especially excited about Atlanta.

Read in Wall Street Journal that deal is expected to close first half of 2011.

Hope it works out for all. It would be great to have more SW hubs available so long as they don't change anything!

Will AirTran now cancel seat reservations?

I'm not sure I'm happy about this. I fly AirTran out of PHF a lot and have always been pleased with their service.

Agree with Birdie. Fly Air Tran out of Boston a lot. Never take SW bcs they are always way more expensive. It has never seemed like a "discount" airline to me. Even Delta is cheaper. I would imagine SW will honor AT reservations but flight times may change and would guess they will allow you to cancel if the change doesn't suit.

That's what I find, Irish. I always look at SW and Airtran. Airtran always beats out SW by a lot.