Encore: Southwest vs American Airlines | Dogfight Over Dallas | 2

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Baniff and Southwest battled in court for domination over the skies. Southwest came out on top for a little while, but Baniff pushed back with prices Southwest just couldn't beat. The only way Southwest could fight back was to give the mostly male, mostly businessmen clientele something they couldn't refuse: free booze. For the first time ever, Southwest is in the black. With Baniff tamed, there's more turbulence. This time, it's a national airline. American Airlines is here to play.

Please note, this episode originally aired in 2018.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars, add free on Amazon music.
0:04.6	Download the app today.
0:07.0	A listener note, this episode originally aired in 2018.
0:19.8	It's February 1st, 1973.
0:22.8	Lamar Muse, the CEO of Southwest Airlines, sits down to breakfast at his Dallas home.
0:28.7	He unfolds a copy of the Dallas Morning News, headlines about the Vietnam War dominate
0:33.6	the front page.
0:35.4	Muse reads the first page, then opens the paper.
0:38.5	On page 3, there's a full page ad that stops him cold.
0:43.4	Just four lines take up the whole page.
0:47.6	Braniffs get a quainted sale, half priced to Houston's hobby airport, $13 coach, $17
0:55.8	first class.
0:58.0	Muse nearly spits out his coffee.
1:00.0	Those bastards!
1:02.4	Braniff, a Dallas-based carrier, has been suing everyone it can think of since 1967, just
1:09.0	to keep Southwest Airlines from competing with it inside Texas.
1:13.5	But since Southwest won the last round, Braniff is now ready to fight its competitor using
1:19.0	Southwest's best weapon against it.
1:22.2	Sheep fares.
1:25.0	This is the first volley in a price war that promises to be bruising.
1:31.1	One aimed at sinking Southwest.
1:34.1	Braniff's $13 coach price is half of Southwest's $26 fair from Dallas to Houston.
	...

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