Is Southwest Airlines saving you money?

Metro Atlanta travelers hoped for better fares and more options when Southwest Airlines came to town.

But some fliers, including Channel 2 consumer adviser Clark Howard, believe the airline never delivered.

Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh spoke exclusively with Southwest's director of operations, Jack Smith, who says north Georgians are flying more places and saving money.

"I think the population of Atlanta has found a great travel product with Southwest Airlines," Smith said.

Smith told Kavanaugh that Atlanta-based travelers are saving money and have more destinations to choose from.

"At Airtran, we served 56 destinations out of Atlanta. Now with Southwest, we are at 85, either on a non-stop or one-stop basis," Smith said.

There are more options but since Southwest-Airtran merger, there are far fewer direct flights.

Southwest cut 24 direct routes from Atlanta including to Flint, Michigan, Buffalo, Washington, D.C., and Miami.

They have added six including San Diego, Austin, Oklahoma City, Hartford, Norfolk and Louisville.

"Southwest doesn't connect passengers, they don't need as many flights and so the raw number of discount seats in Atlanta has gone way down," said Clark Howard.

Howard says that's costing fliers money.

"It's been absolutely a disappointment for people of Atlanta because the fares have gone up a whole lot," Howard said.

According to a federal airfare report, Atlanta saw the third highest airfare increase in the country of 11.3 percent.

The average price of a ticket was $435 in the second quarter of this year, up from $391 last year.

Southwest says competitively, they're offering some of the lowest fares in the market and customers save through perks like two free checked bags, no change fees, and no cancellations penalties.

But the airline is making money, seeing record profits this last quarter.

"So when will customers see those lower fares, when you guys are making record profits?" Kavanaugh asked Smith

"The lower fares are here. They're here," Smith said.

Southwest plans a new non-stop service to Dallas starting Monday.

The final Airtran flight will be Dec. 28 from Atlanta to Tampa.

Source: southwest - Yahoo News Search Results http://ift.tt/1vm4eyv