Escalating a promotional war for travelers at Dallas Love Field, Southwest Airlines on Thursday said it will provide free drinks on all of its North Texas flights between Friday and Memorial Day.
The offer comes in response to Fort Worth-based American Airlines, which gave out free round-trip tickets to all 20,350 Dallas Mavericks fans at Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
American said it doled out the tickets -- good for any of the four cities it flies to from Love Field -- as a way to generate publicity and increase demand for its flights.
But Southwest is not in the same position, said Gary Kelly, chief executive of Southwest Airlines, who announced the free drink offer on a morning conference call with reporters after the company discussed its quarterly earnings.
He said American, which operates out of three gates, has not taken any business away from the low-cost carrier, which flies out of 14 gates.