Midwest Express Airlines (1999)

Nunca volé con esta compañía, pero recuerdo leer hace años las loas que le dedicaban en rec.travel.air (cuando en vez de un vertedero de spam era un foro muy interesante) ... Midwest Express (luego pasó a llamarse simplemente Midwest Airlines) era una rara avis incluso antes del 11S. En el reñido panorama doméstico de los EEUU destacaba por la excelencia y calidad de su servicio a bordo. Recuerdo que había gente que aseguraba desviarse un poco y pasar por el hub de Milwaukee (que además de excéntrico tampoco tenía tantos destinos) con tal de volar con ellos ... aunque tampoco faltaban los que decían que la calidad de esta empresa estaba sobrevalorada.

En cualquier caso, es un buenísimo ejemplo de que no puedes competir en calidad cuando lo que busca el consumidor es precios baratos. A partir del 11S las cosas empezaron a ir cada vez peor para la compañía, que empezó a reducir su servicio a bordo intentando aun asi diferenciarse de la competencia. Finalmente acabó siendo fusionada con Frontier, que acabó cerrando el hub de Milwaukee y que opera actualmente como una low cost. 

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I never flew this airline, but I do remember reading tales of praise on rec.travel.air some years ago (when it was worth reading and not a playground for spammers like it is today)  ... Midwest Express (later renamed just Midwest Airlines) was a quite different kinf of animal  in the complicated domestic US market. They were all about providing better onboard service and it seems they did. Some of the reports I read claimed it was worth to fly via its Milwaukee hub (with had fewer choices and slightly oddly located) just to fly this airline, even if there were some voices that also claimed that there was too much  hype about this airline and that the "Midwest Experience" was overrated ...

You can't compete giving a better service when all your costumers care about is lower ticket prices, and this airline was a very good example. After the 11S they faced very rough times and kept lowering their service standards, while trying all the same to keep a distance from other rival airlines. Eventually, Midwest was merged with Frontier, a low cost airline that closed down the Milwaukee hub.