Southwest Airline Meltdown....personal viewpoint

[PSU Soupy]

I have been a business traveller for over 30 years and have never seen a travel meltdown like what ocurred to me and my family in California due to Southwest Airlines incompetency. I know many of the tricks of the travel game on changing airlines, changing locations etc.....and I could not get home.

Had a great week of vacation in California and was flying out of Fresno to Vegas to Nashville on 12/23. Flight gets cancelled, we rearrange get a flight out of LAX and change the drop off location for the rental car and drive to LAX. Plane had been pushed back to 8:27 pm and was finally cancelled at 8:00 PM....(5 hours in airport). Retrived our bags, rented a hotel could not get any confirmed flight on any airline until Christmas day. Booked a flight out of Long Beach to Dallas then to Nashvile on Christmas Day. Stayed with my sister in San Diego (lucky break) for Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning.

Drove to Long Beach to attempt to fly to Dallas then to Nashville. Dallas trip left 8 hours late.....Nashville trip cancelled. Tired of trusting Southwest, book a hotel for the night and a rental car. Got 4 hours sleep and got to Budget Rental Car at 6:00 am when they opened got a car and drove the 9 hours to Nashville. Now still waiting on confirmation of where our luggage is, when we are going to get our luggage, but everyone is home. Today Southwest cancelled 67% of their flights in USA. No one to talk to, no one answering their phones.... complete chaos.

Southwest may have to declare bankruptcy over their handling of this past week.......thousands of travellers are stranded.......luggage stranded...........

merry christmas.

 

[PSU Soupy]

If flying to California on Southwest for bowl game, I would change airlines or get driving or call your friend of a friend who has a private plane. 😀

 

[Obliviax]

I have been a business traveller for over 30 years and have never seen a travel meltdown like what ocurred to me and my family in California due to Southwest Airlines incompetency. I know many of the tricks of the travel game on changing airlines, changing locations etc.....and I could not get home.

Had a great week of vacation in California and was flying out of Fresno to Vegas to Nashville on 12/23. Flight gets cancelled, we rearrange get a flight out of LAX and change the drop off location for the rental car and drive to LAX. Plane had been pushed back to 8:27 pm and was finally cancelled at 8:00 PM....(5 hours in airport). Retrived our bags, rented a hotel could not get any confirmed flight on any airline until Christmas day. Booked a flight out of Long Beach to Dallas then to Nashvile on Christmas Day. Stayed with my sister in San Diego (lucky break) for Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning.

Drove to Long Beach to attempt to fly to Dallas then to Nashville. Dallas trip left 8 hours late.....Nashville trip cancelled. Tired of trusting Southwest, book a hotel for the night and a rental car. Got 4 hours sleep and got to Budget Rental Car at 6:00 am when they opened got a car and drove the 9 hours to Nashville. Now still waiting on confirmation of where our luggage is, when we are going to get our luggage, but everyone is home. Today Southwest cancelled 67% of their flights in USA. No one to talk to, no one answering their phones.... complete chaos.

Southwest may have to declare bankruptcy over their handling of this past week.......thousands of travellers are stranded.......luggage stranded...........

merry christmas.

I am also a well-traveled businessperson and won't touch SW no matter how cute and funny their employees are.

As I understand it, their employee technology is by far and away the worst in the industry. The size of the storm front caused it to overload so employees can't even get into the system. Without employees knowing where to be and what flights to show up for, more flights are being canceled due to a lack of crews. So when there is a plane and decent weather, there are no crew members.

I do have to ask, "WTF were you thinking checking luggage?" Never, never, never check luggage. I went to europe for 9 days with only overhead luggage once. I'll package clothing up and ship it UPS to my destination before checking luggage. The only exception being my golf clubs, which I rarely take.

I once bought a hotel room for two little old ladies who were connecting in Dallas and got stranded for a weekend. SW gave these two women, who appeared to be well into their 80s, cots to sleep in on a Friday night and told them they had a noon Sunday flight out. Because the delay was weather, the airline didn't have to supply food or a place to sleep. I also Ubered them to the hotel. Why? After I made the hotel reservation I told the hotel manager that it wasn't me but two unrelated and stranded g-mas who were going to stay on my room reservation. He comp'ed them.

Here is a good write up by NCC

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/27/business/southwest-airlines-service-meltdown/index.html

 

[Lion84]

I also will not fly on Southwest - never liked the seat assignment and boarding BS. I also never check a bag and can pack for 2 weeks in a carry on but the rest of my family will always check bags ( wife and 2 daughters ). I am in Philly so its all American which I am close to 1,000,000 mile flown on and knock wood, have had pretty good luck with overall - when they have issues with one plane many times they can get another one - connections are another matter - hate them and avoid at all costs but have had to do it going to smaller cities a few times a year and that is when I usually get screwed - does a plane ever leave Philly on time?

 

[The Spin Meister]

Have seen all the news stories about people stranded in airports because of the weather all across the country. And have to say hard to feel very sorry for them as this massive storm had been predicted for a week in advance. People should have either cancelled their trips all together or extended their trip beyond Christmas weekend. Sure the kids will be disappointed but that is better than playing Trains, Planes, and Automobiles desperately trying to get home.

Just reschedule for later. Maybe do a local car vacation for a few days instead. Find something crazy and exotic to do in a day’s drive.

It would have been a good lesson for the kids…..reality sucks. Sometimes you have to roll with punches, adapt, and make the best out of a bad situation.

 

[Obliviax]

Have seen all the news stories about people stranded in airports because of the weather all across the country. And have to say hard to feel very sorry for them as this massive storm had been predicted for a week in advance. People should have either cancelled their trips all together or extended their trip beyond Christmas weekend. Sure the kids will be disappointed but that is better than playing Trains, Planes, and Automobiles desperately trying to get home.

Just reschedule for later. Maybe do a local car vacation for a few days instead. Find something crazy and exotic to do in a day’s drive.

It would have been a good lesson for the kids…..reality sucks. Sometimes you have to roll with punches, adapt, and make the best out of a bad situation.

i understand what you are saying but it isn't that easy when scheduling around jobs and such.

more importantly, this is a SW issue. The other carriers are having problems but pale in comparison to SW. For example, 54% of today's canceled flights are SW. Yesterday was 70% of all canceled flights were on SW.

So it has certainly been inconvenient for other airlines but it is a total and complete systemic failure for SW. And those people have since booked on the other airlines which have created problems there too (communications systems, seating, availability).

Southwest cancels 70% of its flights as travelers try to get home

The airline acknowledged that it had been crippled by winter weather and said it plans to fly about one-third of its schedule in the coming days as it recovers.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[PSU Soupy]

I am also a well-traveled businessperson and won't touch SW no matter how cute and funny their employees are.

As I understand it, their employee technology is by far and away the worst in the industry. The size of the storm front caused it to overload so employees can't even get into the system. Without employees knowing where to be and what flights to show up for, more flights are being canceled due to a lack of crews. So when there is a plane and decent weather, there are no crew members.

I do have to ask, "WTF were you thinking checking luggage?" Never, never, never check luggage. I went to europe for 9 days with only overhead luggage once. I'll package clothing up and ship it UPS to my destination before checking luggage. The only exception being my golf clubs, which I rarely take.

I once bought a hotel room for two little old ladies who were connecting in Dallas and got stranded for a weekend. SW gave these two women, who appeared to be well into their 80s, cots to sleep in on a Friday night and told them they had a noon Sunday flight out. Because the delay was weather, the airline didn't have to supply food or a place to sleep. I also Ubered them to the hotel. Why? After I made the hotel reservation I told the hotel manager that it wasn't me but two unrelated and stranded g-mas who were going to stay on my room reservation. He comp'ed them.

Here is a good write up by NCC

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/27/business/southwest-airlines-service-meltdown/index.html

Agree on the checking bags. Problem was that we were hiking in different temperatures and so checking luggage was needed. For business I never check bags.

 

[Obliviax]

Agree on the checking bags. Problem was that we were hiking in different temperatures and so checking luggage was needed. For business I never check bags.

Pro tip for SW. If you get on and snag a window/Isle with an empty middle seat, pretend you have the flu when people get on and have to select a middle seat.

 

[PSU Soupy]

I had a Japanese colleague who would look for another Japanese flier and then speak Japanese between an aisle and window seat.

 

[Obliviax]

Here is a little blurb about a woman who has been on the phone with SW for six hours!

What’s behind Southwest Airlines’s nightmare meltdown?

It's not just the weather.

www.based-politics.com

 

[bison13]

A guy I work with has a kid who is supposed to travel to Florida today with his high school basketball team to play in a tournament. They got to the airport in Baltimore and after waiting for three hours. Southwest canceled their flight.

 

[jbenedict]

I have been a business traveller for over 30 years and have never seen a travel meltdown like what ocurred to me and my family in California due to Southwest Airlines incompetency. I know many of the tricks of the travel game on changing airlines, changing locations etc.....and I could not get home.

Had a great week of vacation in California and was flying out of Fresno to Vegas to Nashville on 12/23. Flight gets cancelled, we rearrange get a flight out of LAX and change the drop off location for the rental car and drive to LAX. Plane had been pushed back to 8:27 pm and was finally cancelled at 8:00 PM....(5 hours in airport). Retrived our bags, rented a hotel could not get any confirmed flight on any airline until Christmas day. Booked a flight out of Long Beach to Dallas then to Nashvile on Christmas Day. Stayed with my sister in San Diego (lucky break) for Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning.

Drove to Long Beach to attempt to fly to Dallas then to Nashville. Dallas trip left 8 hours late.....Nashville trip cancelled. Tired of trusting Southwest, book a hotel for the night and a rental car. Got 4 hours sleep and got to Budget Rental Car at 6:00 am when they opened got a car and drove the 9 hours to Nashville. Now still waiting on confirmation of where our luggage is, when we are going to get our luggage, but everyone is home. Today Southwest cancelled 67% of their flights in USA. No one to talk to, no one answering their phones.... complete chaos.

Southwest may have to declare bankruptcy over their handling of this past week.......thousands of travellers are stranded.......luggage stranded...........

merry christmas.

Sounds like a nightmare. Happy New Year

 

[WIP2001]

Similar. Over 1 million freq flier miles on real airlines for work. Flew SW for easy cheap west coast (good weather) direct route. Return Flight delayed 5 mins at a time for 3 hours before cancellation bc they couldn’t get the plane in.

Earliest rebook 3 days later. Rented car and booked flight on another airline hoping to get home late tonight or make a 16hr drive.

Nothing but what’s in our backpacks.

40k checked bags at PHX airport from cancellations so they will not return them. Put on trucks for final destination in 3-6 days.

Never again.

 

[Online Persona]

I've personally had more issues with delta but everyone has their own experiences

 

[PSU Soupy]

Similar. Over 1 million freq flier miles on real airlines for work. Flew SW for easy cheap west coast (good weather) direct route. Return Flight delayed 5 mins at a time for 3 hours before cancellation bc they couldn’t get the plane in.

Earliest rebook 3 days later. Rented car and booked flight on another airline hoping to get home late tonight or make a 16hr drive.

Nothing but what’s in our backpacks.

40k checked bags at PHX airport from cancellations so they will not return them. Put on trucks for final destination in 3-6 days.

Never again.

I have heard from 10 family or friends who are in same situation......... they reached out to me asking what I did to get home......I got lucky on my plane getting to Dallas and driving 9 hours..........with no luggage. Southwest is so screwed over this.....

 

[LafayetteBear]

Never had any real problems flying Southwest Airlines until today, when my youngest son, who lives and works in San Diego, was scheduled to take an evening flight home. His flight from Oakland to San Diego was cancelled. No rebooking onto another flight. Just cancelled. We tried rebooking him onto another flight, and the best we could get was a flight on Alaska Airlines (from Sacramento to San Diego) at a one way price of $850.

My son bailed on flying and rented a car to drive back to San Diego. The drive down I-5 is heinous (8-9 hours), but he needs to get back to San Diego for work.

A friend tells me that a big part of Southwest's problem is that they do not have more than skeletal aircraft maintenance crews in some airports (San Diego included), and try to do the bulk of the maintenance on each plane in a limited number of airports where they have larger crews and more equipment. It apparently saves them considerable money under normal circumstances. But this storm shut down some of the airports that do the maintenance, and planes apparently require a minimum amount of maintenance every 25 flying hours, so some planes had to be grounded. Moving flight crews around was also problematic. To top it all off, word is that Southwest is under considerable financial pressure. All news to me, but now I'm wondering if this fiasco might push them into bankruptcy. I certainly would not book and pay for future flights on Southwest at this point. I'd be worried about becoming an unsecured creditor in a bankruptcy proceeding.

 

[ValentinoRossi]

I booked flights to LA for the Rose Bowl with AA, and return flights on Southwest. With the crap that’s going on with them now I canceled the Southwest flights today and got flights home on AA instead. I’ve always liked Southwest in the past, but I’ll think twice about using them in the future until they prove they’ve got their act in order.

 

[junior1]

i understand what you are saying but it isn't that easy when scheduling around jobs and such.

more importantly, this is a SW issue. The other carriers are having problems but pale in comparison to SW. For example, 54% of today's canceled flights are SW. Yesterday was 70% of all canceled flights were on SW.

So it has certainly been inconvenient for other airlines but it is a total and complete systemic failure for SW. And those people have since booked on the other airlines which have created problems there too (communications systems, seating, availability).

Southwest cancels 70% of its flights as travelers try to get home

The airline acknowledged that it had been crippled by winter weather and said it plans to fly about one-third of its schedule in the coming days as it recovers.

www.nbcnews.com

apparently, from news reports, SW doesn't run a hub system, so they have a real problem in getting both people and planes to where they need to be.

 

[MacNit07]

I booked flights to LA for the Rose Bowl with AA, and return flights on Southwest. With the crap that’s going on with them now I canceled the Southwest flights today and got flights home on AA instead. I’ve always liked Southwest in the past, but I’ll think twice about using them in the future until they prove they’ve got their act in order.

There was a time - a long time - where SW led the industry…not so much anymore.

 

[ouirpsu]

I was once booked on a 5:00 pm American flight to Newark that was “delayed” until noon the next day due to weather. Not cancelled and rescheduled, but “delayed.” For those of you who are math-challenged, that’s a 19 HOUR delay!

And, because it was weather-related, we were all SOL regarding any compensation. It was pretty early when they decided to cancel, uh…I mean delay… the flight, so I got a cheap hotel room and had fun exploring the city I was in.

 

[Obliviax]

Prior to Covid, I was booked on a 5:00 pm American flight to Newark that was “delayed” until noon the next day due to weather. Not cancelled and rescheduled, but “delayed.” And, because it was weather-related, we were all SOL regarding any compensation. It was pretty early when the decided to cancel, uh…I mean delay the flight, I got a cheap hotel room and had fun exploring the city I was in.

There is a lot of noise about class action law suits. Of course, the initial problem was caused by the weather but the other airlines are not being affected anywhere nearly as bad as SW. So is it weather or SW? BTW, reports are that they canceled every single flight from Philly for today!

As Southwest flight cancellations continue, Buttigieg vows to hold airline accountable

Relief is still a few days away for passengers booked with Southwest Airlines this week, as the beleaguered airline continues to grapple with what US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is referring to as a complete meltdown of the system.

www.cnn.com

 

[The Spin Meister]

Back in 2001, way back when MSNBC was a news network, they did an investigative report on the airlines that was broadcast in August, IIRC. They had people book flights and go to the airport and track flights. As an example…..they booked an afternoon flight from Chicago to Dallas and they knew the plane was coming from Boston and verified it by its tail number. They had people in Boston at the gate watching the plane that was late departing and people in Chicago waiting to board the next leg of the flight.

They were told in Chicago that the flight would be a half hour late and when asked, the person at the desk said the plane was in the air and would arrive shortly. But the person in Boston confirmed it hadn’t even taken off yet. A half hour later, they announced another half hour delay….repeated same scenario again another half hour. When the person in Chicago confronted the gate worker she said ‘That’s the information I have’.

They did this with numerous flights from different airlines. The airlines wouldn’t give honest and accurate info because they knew if they told people in Chicago the plane hadn’t even left Boston they would all cancel their flights and book on other airlines. Was hoping for some interesting followups but 9/11 happened a few weeks later.

 

[psulongago]

I have been a business traveller for over 30 years and have never seen a travel meltdown like what ocurred to me and my family in California due to Southwest Airlines incompetency. I know many of the tricks of the travel game on changing airlines, changing locations etc.....and I could not get home.

Had a great week of vacation in California and was flying out of Fresno to Vegas to Nashville on 12/23. Flight gets cancelled, we rearrange get a flight out of LAX and change the drop off location for the rental car and drive to LAX. Plane had been pushed back to 8:27 pm and was finally cancelled at 8:00 PM....(5 hours in airport). Retrived our bags, rented a hotel could not get any confirmed flight on any airline until Christmas day. Booked a flight out of Long Beach to Dallas then to Nashvile on Christmas Day. Stayed with my sister in San Diego (lucky break) for Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning.

Drove to Long Beach to attempt to fly to Dallas then to Nashville. Dallas trip left 8 hours late.....Nashville trip cancelled. Tired of trusting Southwest, book a hotel for the night and a rental car. Got 4 hours sleep and got to Budget Rental Car at 6:00 am when they opened got a car and drove the 9 hours to Nashville. Now still waiting on confirmation of where our luggage is, when we are going to get our luggage, but everyone is home. Today Southwest cancelled 67% of their flights in USA. No one to talk to, no one answering their phones.... complete chaos.

Southwest may have to declare bankruptcy over their handling of this past week.......thousands of travellers are stranded.......luggage stranded...........

merry christmas.

Wish you the best, we will do anything not to fly, I know in so many cases flying is a must. From FL to PHL we take three days to drive, no rush, site see or the auto train, Good Luck!!

 

[Sooner Lion]

I have been a business traveller for over 30 years and have never seen a travel meltdown like what ocurred to me and my family in California due to Southwest Airlines incompetency. I know many of the tricks of the travel game on changing airlines, changing locations etc.....and I could not get home.

Had a great week of vacation in California and was flying out of Fresno to Vegas to Nashville on 12/23. Flight gets cancelled, we rearrange get a flight out of LAX and change the drop off location for the rental car and drive to LAX. Plane had been pushed back to 8:27 pm and was finally cancelled at 8:00 PM....(5 hours in airport). Retrived our bags, rented a hotel could not get any confirmed flight on any airline until Christmas day. Booked a flight out of Long Beach to Dallas then to Nashvile on Christmas Day. Stayed with my sister in San Diego (lucky break) for Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning.

Drove to Long Beach to attempt to fly to Dallas then to Nashville. Dallas trip left 8 hours late.....Nashville trip cancelled. Tired of trusting Southwest, book a hotel for the night and a rental car. Got 4 hours sleep and got to Budget Rental Car at 6:00 am when they opened got a car and drove the 9 hours to Nashville. Now still waiting on confirmation of where our luggage is, when we are going to get our luggage, but everyone is home. Today Southwest cancelled 67% of their flights in USA. No one to talk to, no one answering their phones.... complete chaos.

Southwest may have to declare bankruptcy over their handling of this past week.......thousands of travellers are stranded.......luggage stranded...........

merry christmas.

Sorry to hear this crazy story. That said, I LOVE flying Southwest Airlines. 99.9% of the time, they are great. Their problem was two fold. 1. They fly a lot of shorter hops between cities. 2. Their flight scheduling software is out of date. They did not have crews in the correct cities, which led to the mass cancellations. I do believe that Jordan should step down due to this incident.

File for bankruptacy? LMAO. They have the strongest balance sheet in the industry.

 

[Obliviax]

Sorry to hear this crazy story. That said, I LOVE flying Southwest Airlines. 99.9% of the time, they are great. Their problem was two fold. 1. They fly a lot of shorter hops between cities. 2. Their flight scheduling software is out of date. They did not have crews in the correct cities, which led to the mass cancellations. I do believe that Jordan should step down due to this incident.

File for bankruptacy? LMAO. They have the strongest balance sheet in the industry.

I think you nailed it. The size of this made it a nationwide event. Even cities, like San Diego, that were unaffected, had heavy fog which caused cancellations. As I understand it, even employees can't get into the system to see where they should be and when. That means no crews even when there is a plane. They were also slow to react to let their crews fly on other airlines to get in place. So deadheading crews would show up at other SW flights and have that flight get canceled too. I've got a friend who is a SW pilot who is semi-retired...he takes overflow flights. He lives in FL and told me he can't get to airports to help take flights. So here is a ready and able guy who can't get to the airports to help out.

 

[LBCnova]

Wish you the best, we will do anything not to fly, I know in so many cases flying is a must. From FL to PHL we take three days to drive, no rush, site see or the auto train, Good Luck!!

Just spent hours sitting at the gate for an AA flight in Phl last night waiting to takeoff for San Diego. They boarded us and we waited more. Flight crew surpassed their allowed hours and they were trying to get a replacement crew. At 11:30pm, they said it was cancelled and the next available flight is Saturday.

 

[WIP2001]

SW cancelled 70% of their flights over a 3 day span. All other carriers cancelled 5%. The mismanagement is shocking.

I hope there’s a way to hold SW accountable for the true cost of their incompetence. For my family it’s thousands. Rebooking on another airline last minute, extra days of hotels, food, airport parking, taxis, buying clothes and essentials because luggage is gone for days if we get it back at all.

And we fared better than most.

 

[Ian]

The bloom is off the SW rose and has been since before CoVid. They are as they are advertised…. A cheap airline and always have been. Their cute advertisements hid the warts which are now exposed. They never should have gone “big” but they couldn’t resist the urge.

Anybody booking a SW flight travels at their own peril. Honestly, you’d be insane to do so as they are sinking.

Oh, by the way, where is Mayor Pete during all of this?

 

[Obliviax]

The bloom is off the SW rose and has been since before CoVid. They are as they are advertised…. A cheap airline and always have been. Their cute advertisements hid the warts which are now exposed. They never should have gone “big” but they couldn’t resist the urge.

Anybody booking a SW flight travels at their own peril. Honestly, you’d be insane to do so as they are sinking.

Oh, by the way, where is Mayor Pete during all of this?

And, BTW, they are no longer the "cheap" airline. United often has had lower-cost flights, for me at least. And I'd venture companies like Spirit and Breeze (plus regionals) are better if they serve the locations to which you travel.

 

[PSU Soupy]

SW cancelled 70% of their flights over a 3 day span. All other carriers cancelled 5%. The mismanagement is shocking.

I hope there’s a way to hold SW accountable for the true cost of their incompetence. For my family it’s thousands. Rebooking on another airline last minute, extra days of hotels, food, airport parking, taxis, buying clothes and essentials because luggage is gone for days if we get it back at all.

And we fared better than most.

Same.....I got home 2 days later than scheduled, but stayed with my sister in Carlsbad for 1 day and drove the other day 8 hours from Dallas to Nashville. Got a call from SW and my bags are being sent by FEDEX to my house tomorrow. So I did better than most, but am out at least $1500 for multiple car rentals, 2 hotels, meals, paid for extra dog sitting......... so far I have been offered $1000 in SW vouchers.......I will outline all of my expenses and press them for more money.....not to mention wasted time.....

 

[PSU Blue]

apparently, from news reports, SW doesn't run a hub system, so they have a real problem in getting both people and planes to where they need to be.

They do have a bit of a hub system, not like Delta for instance, but some airports are packed with Southwest. I fly out of BWI quite a bit, Southwest has an entire wing of the airport built for them (after the old US Air dropped Baltimore to focus on Philly and Charlotte).

 

[Sooner Lion]

The bloom is off the SW rose and has been since before CoVid. They are as they are advertised…. A cheap airline and always have been. Their cute advertisements hid the warts which are now exposed. They never should have gone “big” but they couldn’t resist the urge.

Anybody booking a SW flight travels at their own peril. Honestly, you’d be insane to do so as they are sinking.

Oh, by the way, where is Mayor Pete during all of this?

You are clueless about Southwest Airlines. Go back and learn some history of this great airline.

 

[Obliviax]

You are clueless about Southwest Airlines. Go back and learn some history of this great airline.

Agree. A different airline for sure but not bad. I quit flying SW when they started charging for "class" of service. Basically, the ability to shortcut the line get a better seat.

As a biz traveler, I couldn't be "first in line" when my previous SW was late. Plus, as a frequent flier, I want to spend as little time as possible on layovers between my first and second flight. So I was penalized for that choice by SW. So they, then, decided you could buy premium seats to get a better place in line. the problem was my company had a subcontractor that managed our expenses and expense reports. I had to tell them that this was not "first class" and it was worth the additional $25 or so. They weren't buying it. "Fly coach" they said. So i quit looking at SW as an option and just started booking Delta, Unite or American. At the time, United was Continental here in CLE. So I just started booking Continental, which was a great airline until acquired by United. Now I am lifetime platinum on United and they treat me very well.

Once I took the family on a cruise and we flew into and out of Orlando. On the way back, there was a power outage at the airport I was to connect into. I walked into the airport and saw a line of over 100 people. I pulled out my phone to call the 800 number when I heard someone call my name. It was a United rep. When I said who I was, she said "are you ready to go? come with me?" She walked me through the airport, through security, and headed me off to the gate. The flight left within a few minutes of me getting there (I think they held it). I actually got home earlier than if I had kept my original flight.

 

[PSU Blue]

Agree. A different airline for sure but not bad. I quit flying SW when they started charging for "class" of service. Basically, the ability to shortcut the line get a better seat.

As a biz traveler, I couldn't be "first in line" when my previous SW was late. Plus, as a frequent flier, I want to spend as little time as possible on layovers between my first and second flight. So I was penalized for that choice by SW. So they, then, decided you could buy premium seats to get a better place in line. the problem was my company had a subcontractor that managed our expenses and expense reports. I had to tell them that this was not "first class" and it was worth the additional $25 or so. They weren't buying it. "Fly coach" they said. So i quit looking at SW as an option and just started booking Delta, Unite or American. At the time, United was Continental here in CLE. So I just started booking Continental, which was a great airline until acquired by United. Now I am lifetime platinum on United and they treat me very well.

Once I took the family on a cruise and we flew into and out of Orlando. On the way back, there was a power outage at the airport I was to connect into. I walked into the airport and saw a line of over 100 people. I pulled out my phone to call the 800 number when I heard someone call my name. It was a United rep. When I said who I was, she said "are you ready to go? come with me?" She walked me through the airport, through security, and headed me off to the gate. The flight left within a few minutes of me getting there (I think they held it). I actually got home earlier than if I had kept my original flight.

Same experience and all factual. I used to travel quite a bit (a lot actually) and was a US Air guy because I live in Annapolis and BWI is so easy to get too. When the merged with American, I inherently stayed even though my flying has dropped (especially since Covid). I will say I never had a bad customer service issue with Southwest, that is, something that someone at the desk or on the flight could actually control themselves.

 

[LafayetteBear]

File for bankruptacy? LMAO. They have the strongest balance sheet in the industry.

I was merely repeating what I had been told. I had previously thought Southwest Airlines was doing fairly well in comparison with other airlines, as most news stories about the airlines indicated that large, long-haul carriers like United, American and Delta were hit harder by the Pandemic than domestic, short-haul carriers like Southwest. But I never felt sufficiently invested in the issue to investigate it.

Your statement that Southwest has "the strongest balance sheet in the industry" seems pretty unqualified. What do you base that on?

 

[PSU Blue]

I was merely repeating what I had been told. I had previously thought Southwest Airlines was doing fairly well in comparison with other airlines, as most news stories about the airlines indicated that large, long-haul carriers like United, American and Delta were hit harder by the Pandemic than domestic, short-haul carriers like Southwest. But I never felt sufficiently invested in the issue to investigate it.

Your statement that Southwest has "the strongest balance sheet in the industry" seems pretty unqualified. What do you base that on?

Southwest does have one of the best balance sheets and has never filed for bankruptcy. During the pandemic, airline bond yields spiked, but the bigs were yielding twice as much as Southwest which means the bond traders (focused on cash flow and balance sheets) suspected if things were to continue to get worse, Southwest had the best chance to survive. Some of there strength is due to being smaller, in addition to only having one type of plane (737, less training and qualification, etc). As I mentioned, just objectively pointing it out, I still avoid them based on my experience (same as Obli) and the fact that my miles are with American.

 

[Obliviax]

Southwest does have one of the best balance sheets and has never filed for bankruptcy. During the pandemic, airline bond yields spiked, but the bigs were yielding twice as much as Southwest which means the bond traders (focused on cash flow and balance sheets) suspected if things were to continue to get worse, Southwest had the best chance to survive. Some of there strength is due to being smaller, in addition to only having one type of plane (737, less training and qualification, etc). As I mentioned, just objectively pointing it out, I still avoid them based on my experience (same as Obli) and the fact that my miles are with American.

I've got friends that love them. Apparently, they give frequent fliers "vouchers" that you can trade in on any flight. So instead of worrying about miles made and spent, you just get vouchers that you can easily use to pay for a flight for you and anyone else you'd like.

I just found out I've got 400 United "PlusPoints". I didn't know what these were. Apparently, you use 20 of them to go to the front of the line for first-class upgrades on domestic flights. I don't normally want them because first class for a two hour flight is meaningless. However, I am trying to use them for my flight back from the Rose Bowl: A 787 that is in the air for 4 hours. We'll see if I get it. But my point is that they make this stuff so confusing it is hard to keep up and take advantage of what you earned.

 

[Sooner Lion]

I was merely repeating what I had been told. I had previously thought Southwest Airlines was doing fairly well in comparison with other airlines, as most news stories about the airlines indicated that large, long-haul carriers like United, American and Delta were hit harder by the Pandemic than domestic, short-haul carriers like Southwest. But I never felt sufficiently invested in the issue to investigate it.

Your statement that Southwest has "the strongest balance sheet in the industry" seems pretty unqualified. What do you base that on?

Current ratio
Debt ratio
Debt-to-equity ratio

vs

the other airlines

 

[Cletus11]

southwest will suffer dearly for this. the Feds are going to look into this and hand out some hefty fines and they will eventually have to refund a whole lot of money. and they are going to lose a lot of customers over this. I suspect it will take them most of January to actually get their house in order, these 3-5 days things will be fine reports are outrageous. they will need weeks of time to get their planes in order, crews back to normal, and then get things back to their normal flight schedule.

i will say i dont like SW. they came into Philly years ago, made it their second biggest HUB outside of BWI, bankrupted USAir, drove all the other airlines out of Philly, and then pulled almost completely out of Philly a few years later (still have never found out why) and now Philly airport sort of stinks as it is a one airline airport.

 

[WIP2001]

They literally cancelled all flights and told passengers they can offer zero assistance at the airport. All assistance must be handled on phone or online. Their service line didn’t even ring. Their app swirled busy forever. They offered no vouchers for food, transit, lodging (which I believe they’re required to do).

Then to not even attempt to return baggage? People were screaming about needing medicine etc (shouldn’t pack that but SW needs to get it)

Just pathetic. You can’t brag about service… but only when it’s not a holiday or weather is bad.

Luckily I had all the airlines and car rental apps open in a heartbeat and booked multiple contingencies. Still lost almost 2 days.