January 21, 2012

Assistant Secretary Susan L. Kurland

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE

Washington, DC 20590 Docket ID: DOT

- OST

- 2012

- 0001

Subj: Public c omment s regarding service proposals between Chicago and Cancun by Frontier & Southwest

Airlines / dba Airtran

.

Dear Secretary Kurland :

I have read the proposals with great interest from Southwest and Frontier Airlines submitted in consideration to fly

the single available route from Chicago to Cancun Mexico

. All the inf ormation provided make s the decision

difficult. So I have examined the proposals carefully and extracted the most important attributes b etween the two

offerings. I have developed an attribute ranking matrix below to more clearly show both the proposals side by side

.

Unfortunately the weighted ranking above shows the two proposals are equal. To break the impasse I decided to

concentrate on the small cities with service to O’Hare which would be excluded if the route was awarded to

Southwest. I selected all the cities that have modest airline service. In many cases these cit i es only have servi ce to

O’Hare. It is not likely that these cities would have access to Cancun low cost air service if it is not available at

O’Hare. The cities meeting this criteria are listed as follows : Burlington, IA ; Decatur, IL ; Dubuque, IA ; Eau

Claire, WI ; Hancock, MI ; Muskegon, MI ; Paducah, KY ; Watertown, NY ; Champaign, IL ; Kalamazoo, MI ; La

Crosse, WI ; Manhattan, KS ; Marquette, MI ; Saginaw, MI ; Traverse City, MI ; and Wausau, WI

. Even if

Southwest were to fly out of O’Hare they would not provide Interline ticket ing and baggage transfer, making use

of the flights improbable. Half of these cities are Essential Air Service connections

, making this decision even

more important. I feel the best way to judge this situation would be to poll the Congressional Representa tives of

these small cities. If the Congresspersons feel their constituents would not be interested in low cost air service to

Cancun

, Mexico the route could easily be awarded to Southwest for the privileged Chicago market . To assist you

in contacting th e affected Representatives

, I have listed their names and addresses below.

Congressmen and Congresswomen of Districts A ffected by

Selection of MDW and Non

- Interline Airlines

**Burlington, IA Decatur, IL**  **Dubuque, IA Eau Claire, WI** 

The Honorable David Loebsack

125 South Dubuque Street

Iowa City, IA 52240 The Honorable Robert T. Schilling

8 S Main St Suite 200

Canton, IL 61520 The Honorable Bruce L. Braley

1050 Main Street

Dubuque, IA 52001 The Honorable Ron Kind

131 S. Barstow St. Suite 301

Eau Claire, WI 54701

**Hancock, MI Muskegon, MI**  **Paducah, KY Watertown, NY** 

The Honorable Dan Benishek

307 S. Front St., Ste 120

Marquette , Michigan 49855 The Honorable Bill Huizenga

900 Third St., Ste. 203

Muskegon, MI 49440 The Honorable Ed Whitfield

100 Fountain Avenue, Room 104

Paducah, KY 42001 The Honorable William L. Owens

120 Washington Street, Suite 200

Watertown, NY 13601

- 3370

**Champaign, IL Kalamazoo, MI**  **La Crosse, WI Manhattan, KS** 

The Honorable Timothy V. Johnson

2004 Fox Drive

Champaign, IL 61820 The Honorable Fred S. Upton

157 South Kalamazoo Mall, Suite 180

Kalamazoo, MI 49007 The Honorable Ron Kind

205 Fifth Avenue S., Suite 400

La Crosse, WI 54601 The Honorable Lynn Jenkins

3550 SW 5th Street

Topeka, KS 66606

**Marquette, MI Saginaw, MI**  **Traverse City, MI Wausau, WI** 

The Honorable Dan Benishek

307 S. Front St., Ste 120

Marquette , Michigan 49855 The Honorable Dale E. Kildee

515 N. Washington Ave., Suite 401

Saginaw, MI 48607

- 1370 The Honorable Dave Camp

121 East Front Street, Suite 202

Traverse City, Michigan 49684 The Honorable Sean P. Duffy

208 Grand Avenue

Wausau, WI 54403

I hope my review of the facts and research surrounding this decision is helpful in making the best choice for the

flying public at large.

Regards,

PB Goodrich **Southwest Airline Frontier Airlines** 

**Attribute Score**  **Attribute Score** 

Aircraft size 0 Aircraft size 1

Availability of interline passengers

- serving the

greatest number of the flying public 0 Availability of interline passengers

- serving the

greatest number of the flying public 1

Onboard entertainment 0 Onboard entertainment 1

Best Airport for Int

ernational operations MDW 0 Best Airport for Int ernational operations ORD 1

Availability of food onboard 0 Availability of food onboard 1

Endorsement of Chicago Elected Officials 5 Endorsement of Chicago Elected Officials 0

Total 5 Total 5