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Southwest, ATA to sell each other's tickets

DALLAS - Southwest Airlines will sell seats on ATA Airlines flights to Hawaii and other U.S. locations starting next month, the carrier said Thursday.

All connections between the two airlines would be made at Chicago's Midway Airport, leaving travel to the islands inconvenient for West Coast customers. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said his airline would consider adding connecting cities in the West, mentioning Las Vegas as a possibility.

The airlines will start selling seats on each other's flights Sunday under a so-called code-sharing agreement. The code-share flights are to begin Feb. 4.

St. Petersburg and Sarasota will be two of the other ATA destination linked with some Southwest flights through Chicago. The others: New York (LaGuardia and Newark) Boston, Washington (Reagan National), Fort Myers, Minneapolis, Denver and San Francisco.

Importantly, the deal does not allow use of frequent-flier rewards on the other airline. For example, members of Southwest's Rapid Rewards loyalty program won't be able to use those credits on ATA flights to Honolulu.

Kelly said Southwest had fielded inquiries about customers eager to cash in their credits for Hawaii travel. However, the airlines feared the Hawaii-bound planes would be filled with nonpaying customers.

The code-share deal was part of Southwest's acquisition of six gates at Midway Airport from ATA, which is under bankruptcy protection.

Kelly said the deal could mean $30-million to $50-million in new revenue for each airline. The deal covers 243 Southwest flights a day in Chicago - less than 10 percent of its schedule. The airlines will split the revenue when travelers fly on both carriers, with each keeping the fare from its leg of the trip.

Both airlines have escape clauses from the code-sharing deal if the on-time performance of the other is unsatisfactory, Kelly said.

[Last modified January 14, 2005, 00:30:19]