Is Southwest losing its character, or was it a facade all along?

Southwest airlines has always promoted itself as a fun-loving, "we care about our passengers" attitude. Now here comes the CEO protesting the full-fare advertising rule. He protests the proposed rule that requires airlines to provide customers the actual fare information they would be paying when advertising the "sale" fares. This should be obvious to any good marketer- providing information to a customer that adds value and saves customer time, but is raising protests in the industry. No wonder the airline industry ranks among the bottom of the stinking pile in customer satisfaction.

On the Call: Southwest CEO Gary Kelly - Yahoo! Finance: "During a Southwest Airlines Co. conference call Thursday, an obviously sympathetic analyst asked CEO Gary Kelly what impact the proposals would have on his company. Kelly said the surcharge would cost Southwest $140 million a year. And he also took a swipe at a U.S. Transportation Department rule that will make airlines disclose the full price of a ticket, including taxes and fees, in their advertisements.

KELLY: We are already overtaxed. We are already over-regulated, which comes at an enormous cost. Every year we get more regulations ... the so-called full-fare advertising rule, that's just one example. Then you layer on top of that taxes which have nothing to do with aviation. Much of the proceeds of the taxes were proposed to go to the general fund and reduce the deficit.
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