The latter catch-phrase is "very simple," Shurz says -- and this straightforwardness stands in contrast to Frontier's pitch, which he sees as "more nuanced.
"In our case, our cheapest fare gets you an assigned seat -- and there are clearly customers out there who don't find Southwest's boarding process to be the most fun thing in the world. And if other things are meaningful to you, we give customers the option to buy them," including STRETCH seating, which provides more legroom than in most standard passenger sections.
Even so, Shurz maintains, "we essentially have the lowest prices in the market. We have a lower cost of operation than Southwest, and over time, we will have net lower fares. Today, I'd say most of the time, we're equal on the lowest fares, so if you want cheap travel, we're very competitive. You can great great value from Frontier -- better value, I would argue, than you can get from Southwest a lot of the time."
Getting local travelers to grasp this information hasn't been as easy as it was back in the days when United was Frontier's primary target, Shurz concedes.
