What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

Southwest Airlines fiasco (1 Viewer)

Manster said:
Pretty sad what's happening with SW. Back in the day (2000's) used fly Reno to Portland all the time...cheap. The flight attendants would joke around over the PA. Get a beer, and some pretzels....it was about as enjoyable as you could imagine for air travel. Sounds like they are strugglin.
Click to expand...
It was the the only airline you could "trust". Owner, forget his name, was a good dude. But that was the 90's. Even their stock wasn't that bad (for and airline).

No idea what happened but I've had 3+ total jokes flying with them of late, and heard **** stories abound about them. Who's running the joint now?

What happened and why?
 
Joe Bryant said:
belljr said:
Normally I love SW...they are a little more expensive but by the time you add pick you seat fees, checked bag fees for spirit it's really not much more.
Click to expand...

I thought SW was one of the less expensive airlines.
Click to expand...
I priced flights from Midway to Vegas after seeing this post. There are 25-30 flights/day on this route. The cheapest is $550-600 one-way and that’s on Jan 1. It seems awful expensive, but I don’t fly much.
 
culdeus said:
Joe Bryant said:
belljr said:
Normally I love SW...they are a little more expensive but by the time you add pick you seat fees, checked bag fees for spirit it's really not much more.
Click to expand...

I thought SW was one of the less expensive airlines.
Click to expand...
Varies on routes. Also early stage tends to be priced cheaper, so buy 180+ days early and you see a price maybe half of 60+.

Getting a companion pass makes alot of sense. A 2xCP family can save some serious cash.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That's been my experience.
 
the moops said:
Joe Bryant said:
belljr said:
Normally I love SW...they are a little more expensive but by the time you add pick you seat fees, checked bag fees for spirit it's really not much more.
Click to expand...

I thought SW was one of the less expensive airlines.
Click to expand...
Dont think so anymore. They are nowhere near the super cheap Spirit. Last I saw SWS was up with the like of the big boys in terms of price now
Click to expand...
We were looking to get two tickets from Chicago to Cancun. Southwest was over 700 a ticket. The big guys were in the 4-500 range and the cheapos were in the 250-300 range. Consider my mind blown since I thought they were supposed to be a cheaper option as well.
 
Just saw on CNBC that Southwest has cancelled something like 2300 flights today and have already cancelled 2500 for tomorrow. Crazy that it wasn’t long ago when the airlines were motivating their employees to take retirement packages. So many of them (Southwest included) were guilty of doing hundreds of millions of dollars in stock buybacks not long before the pandemic started—instead of improving their systems and operations. Yet another case of big businesses taking care of their CEO’s, and shareholders at the expense of their customers and tax payers.
 
jvdesigns2002 said:
Just saw on CNBC that Southwest has cancelled something like 2300 flights today and have already cancelled 2500 for tomorrow. Crazy that it wasn’t long ago when the airlines were motivating their employees to take retirement packages. So many of them (Southwest included) were guilty of doing hundreds of millions of dollars in stock buybacks not long before the pandemic started—instead of improving their systems and operations. Yet another case of big businesses taking care of their CEO’s, and shareholders at the expense of their customers and tax payers.
Click to expand...
They just reinstated their dividend within the last few weeks, too.
 
Brunell4MVP said:
had to fly international on Lufthansa recently. US based airlines and airports should be ashamed. German airport runs like a Rolex. Down to the cafeterias. US ones must be managed by 12 year olds with an etch-e-sketch.
Click to expand...

Germans are a different breed. Lack of precision confuses and offends them.

Spent some time out there working with some colleagues and their expectations were on another level. Always fair and clearly stated expectations... but their patience ran out fast with errors.
 
Can we call a spade a spade here? Southwest has ten executives earning $3-$10m annually each over the past several years while its stock has tanked, prices skyrocketed and the customer experience is a completely alien topic, seemingly not even on their radar. This is corporate malfeasance funded by taxpayers, labor and squeezing customers. The airline Industry is broken. I can’t stand to take commercial flights anymore- avoid it at all costs. The entire experience is a constant humiliation.
 
Human systems are what they are. It's never seems to be one big thing that causes the problem, but rather incremental errors cascade over time. And are compounded by the thinking of "it's such a short shortcut it won't matter".

The Titanic had too small of a rudder to go with too few lifeboats. As to the latter, the number was governmentally compliant - so who cares if it doesn't match the number of passengers?

The 2008 economic collapse. Sure people are buying houses they can't afford to pay back. But there's plenty of money around so let's just keep don't it anyway.

Deepwater Horizon, Chetnoby, Bhopal, 9/11...small flaws initiate ripples that lead to big, big problems.

Chaos theory in action, I suppose.
 
culdeus said:
IsIs this your flight? This is the only one I see on flightaware not cancelled tomorrow from your area to DC.
Click to expand...
culdeus said:
culdeus said:
flightaware.com

WN3373 (SWA3373) Southwest Flight Tracking and History 28-Dec-2022 (KABQ-KBWI) - FlightAware

Track Southwest (WN) #3373 flight from Albuquerque Intl Sunport to Baltimore/Washington Intl
flightaware.com flightaware.com
Click to expand...
Still not sure this is you but in good news wn1972 took off from love this morning on the way to lax and ultimately to pickup this route.
Click to expand...
Sorry - Got busy packing and have not checked back in. I’m on a different one connecting through. Currently sitting at gate and showing on time departure. Connection showing the same. Hopefully I get lucky and stays that way.
 
FairWarning said:
Joe Bryant said:
belljr said:
Normally I love SW...they are a little more expensive but by the time you add pick you seat fees, checked bag fees for spirit it's really not much more.
Click to expand...

I thought SW was one of the less expensive airlines.
Click to expand...
I priced flights from Midway to Vegas after seeing this post. There are 25-30 flights/day on this route. The cheapest is $550-600 one-way and that’s on Jan 1. It seems awful expensive, but I don’t fly much.
Click to expand...
that’s because all their cheap flights require to be booked 3 weeks in advance :shrug: i just did 1/24 - 1/27 with your airlines and the cheapest is $156 roundtrip
 
CGRdrJoe said:
belljr said:
leaked memo allegedly true


So yeah lets threaten to fire everyone - that will fix the shortages
Click to expand...
This actually seems pretty reasonable; it came out on the 21st and they tried to get a hold of a problem with everyone trying to take the same days off and leaving themselves short :shrug:
Click to expand...
I'm sick - I cant return to work without a doctors note and telehealth doesn't count. Oh I cant see my doctor until tomorrow to get a note so I guess i wont be working again - oh i can work but no note so I'll be fired. I understand trying to clamp down on abusers but some of that is overboard imo
 
CGRdrJoe said:
that’s because all their cheap flights require to be booked 3 weeks in advance :shrug: i just did 1/24 - 1/27 with your airlines and the cheapest is $156 roundtrip
Click to expand...

That's been my experience too.

I don't book many cross country flights on 3 days notice so maybe that's why I haven't seen the prices others are seeing.
 
belljr said:
CGRdrJoe said:
belljr said:
leaked memo allegedly true


So yeah lets threaten to fire everyone - that will fix the shortages
Click to expand...
This actually seems pretty reasonable; it came out on the 21st and they tried to get a hold of a problem with everyone trying to take the same days off and leaving themselves short :shrug:
Click to expand...
I'm sick - I cant return to work without a doctors note and telehealth doesn't count. Oh I cant see my doctor until tomorrow to get a note so I guess i wont be working again - oh i can work but no note so I'll be fired. I understand trying to clamp down on abusers but some of that is overboard imo
Click to expand...
the sick part was unreasonable for sure; but telling people they would be fired for taking the day off without approval seems standard to me. I'm also curious what their definition of sick is, my employer only sees the Flu and Corona as illnesses that require me to miss work and both of those need tests to be determined so I have to show a positive test before I can take a sick day.

On a more positive note, I told my parents last night that they are going senile and deaf (both 69 and probably not senile) and that my max number of days of staying with them is 6 nights because they are now driving me crazy! my dad said I needed to start drinking during the week and you know what, he probably isn't wrong. Tonight I'm heading to my sisters to stay, f'n southwest is gonna cause me to get written out of the family will. :wall:
 
One SWA pilot's account:

***In case anyone is traveling this week with Southwest Airlines… you might want to proactively make alternative plans. The below was shared in a travel group about the meltdown that the airline is currently going through:



My friend’s husband is a pilot with Southwest. He just posted this an hour ago. I’m not including his name or the photos he shared of packed SWA employee rooms at the airports over the past couple of days (in case his post comes back to bite him with the company—even though he’s stating facts.) He also posted a screenshot of a fellow pilot on hold with SWA Scheduling for over 22 hours. Anyway, here’s some insight for those wondering if this massive round of SWA cancellations is really all due to weather and staffing issues:



“I don’t know what to say. Southwest Airlines has imploded. Their antiquated software system has completely fried. Planes are parked. Crews are stranded in the airports with the passengers, volunteering to take the passengers in the parked planes but the software won’t accept it. Phone lines are overwhelmed for both passenger and crews. I personally spent over two hours trying to get ahold of anyone in the company last night after midnight. A Captain and I did manage to get the one flight put together on Christmas night and got people home. Kudos to the ops agent and dispatcher for making it happen. We had to manually input a lot of the data and it took over an hour to coordinate with dispatch going back and forth running numbers.



We spent hours trying to get the company to answer and get us a hotel when we landed as they’re all sold out. We were only put in a call que for hours before hanging up. I found one hotel with 4 rooms and we bought our own rooms at 2:30am. I even paid for a Flight Attendants room. We literally have crews sleeping on the airport floors all over the country with nowhere to go. Crews have been calling to fly anyone, anywhere, but the company says the system needs a reset. They have effectively shut down the operations for the rest of year, running 1/3 of the flights so that they can let the computer find and locate the crews and aircraft. Gate agents are in tears. They’ve been yelled at, cussed at, slapped and spit on. Flight attendants have been taking a beating. The frontline employees have had little support or communication. Terminals are standing room only with people having been there for days. Pilot lounges are packed with pilots ready to fly and nowhere to go.



Embarrassing is an understatement. I’m going on my second of three days off, still stuck on the east coast and still expected to show up in the morning with no schedule. And I’m willing to fly all day if needed. Because that’s nothing compared to the passengers needing meds in bags that are lost and mothers traveling with kids, having been stuck for the same amount of days in the terminal. In 24 years, I’ve never seen anything like this. Heads need to roll! Rumors on media are floating that there is a lack of crews and pilots are staging sick calls. Absolutely not true at all. This is a computer system meltdown. Thousands of crew members are sitting in hotels and airports with nowhere to go. This airline has failed miserably.”
 
eoMMan said:
Nice to see Spirit not getting pooped on for once. :thumbup:
Click to expand...
I once had a spirit flight where the crew left when the plane arrived and 30 minutes later the guy comes on the speaker and says that they were supposed to be our flight crew, but they left. They called them back and enough came back to man the flight I guess so we boarded 2 hours late. This was in Vegas. The captain was probably already two gin tonics deep from the cosmopolitan bar when they called him back. And the whole crew was incredibly pissed and the service was awful. I’d be pissed too if I were them.
 
Dang. I've been trying to increase my Southwest Airlines miles by using my SWA credit card more often. I only fly like once a year, but it has been nice not paying much, if anything for flights for the last five years or so.

Hope they don't completely implode before I need to fly somewhere again.
 
My worst Spirit experience was flying back to Minneapolis from Phoenix (9 years ago or so). Flight was super delayed, we didn't get in until after midnight. Was travelling solo with my 9 month old and almost 3 year old. Waiting at luggage carousel for car seats to come. No car seats. In fact, only about 1/2 the luggage for all passengers arrived. Angry mob strolls down to the only Spirit employee in the whole airport. People are pissed and yelling at her. My turn comes, I calmly try and offer some condolences, for I know it is not her fault at all that **** went sideways. I explain that my luggage also didn't arrive, but more importantly, two car seats, that I need to take an uber home have also not arrived. They gotta have spare car seats in the back, right? Nope - her solution - I somehow get down to the 24 hour Walmart (8 miles away) and buy two new car seats, and Spirit will reimburse me for the expense. I stood there completely in awe of the ignorance. How the **** was I supposed to get 8 miles away to a Walmart with no car seats? Was I to leave my kids at the airport while I went? Fortunately, the car seats showed up like 20 minutes later - somehow, so we avoided me having to figure that **** out.

A year later we flew Delta. They lost our car seats. You go into baggage issue place, and Delta has free coffee and snacks. They immediately bring out two loaner car seats and asked where we were staying and that they would drop off our car seats when they arrived. Simple
 
Jayrod said:
Dang. I've been trying to increase my Southwest Airlines miles by using my SWA credit card more often. I only fly like once a year, but it has been nice not paying much, if anything for flights for the last five years or so.

Hope they don't completely implode before I need to fly somewhere again.
Click to expand...
Same, I have a lot of CC bonus miles and a Companion Pass I was planning on using more of in 2023. SW is usually the cheapest for me but I always book well in advance and I rarely travel around the holidays. Traveling is stressful enough and my wife is a terrible flyer (lots of anxiety) so I do everything I can to not add more stress on top of that.

I’ve tried Spirit and some other budget flyers when it’s just me and never again, horrible experiences every time for me.
 
Joe Bryant said:
belljr said:
Normally I love SW...they are a little more expensive but by the time you add pick you seat fees, checked bag fees for spirit it's really not much more.
Click to expand...

I thought SW was one of the less expensive airlines.
Click to expand...
Same. I've flown them A LOT the past 15 years or so. I think their prices have increased a bit the last year or two where they are on par with other carriers. But they've never been the most expensive option for me...ever.
 
Shame to see this happening again.....they *** the bed around the early summer too, right?

We are loyal SW customers, I use their CC exclusively for my business, etc. Plus they are the only carrier at my local regional airport—10 mins away from my house vs slugging into JFK or LaGuardia. :sick: Plus they are the only ones who seem to still give you free bags vs paying for every damn sock you bring with you.

They use to have so many directs from our airport to Orlando, but now its 1 or 2 a day and at crummy times. So they are losing a bit of flavor for us already as that's our main family travel route.

Unless they come up with a major change, then I'm switching my card for other benefits and will fly them only when its me and not my whole family. We might be planning a Christmas trip next year and No F'in way am I chancing dealing with this garbage.
 
Love the videos all over Twitter now of SW sending the cops in to threaten to arrest people waiting in lines at the Nashville airport. Should work out for them.
 
Capella said:
Hate this company so much. Hope they go bankrupt from this and they are never seen from again.
Click to expand...
See below
Jayrod said:
Dang. I've been trying to increase my Southwest Airlines miles by using my SWA credit card more often. I only fly like once a year, but it has been nice not paying much, if anything for flights for the last five years or so.

Hope they don't completely implode before I need to fly somewhere again.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Used it a ton last year paying for our flights to NY, wife took a trip to texas with a friend as the companion pass…then again to Chicago with our daughter.

May be switching cards.
 
Buckna said:
Jayrod said:
Dang. I've been trying to increase my Southwest Airlines miles by using my SWA credit card more often. I only fly like once a year, but it has been nice not paying much, if anything for flights for the last five years or so.

Hope they don't completely implode before I need to fly somewhere again.
Click to expand...
Same, I have a lot of CC bonus miles and a Companion Pass I was planning on using more of in 2023. SW is usually the cheapest for me but I always book well in advance and I rarely travel around the holidays. Traveling is stressful enough and my wife is a terrible flyer (lots of anxiety) so I do everything I can to not add more stress on top of that.

I’ve tried Spirit and some other budget flyers when it’s just me and never again, horrible experiences every time for me.
Click to expand...
It's a little silly but @Buckna and I both are so point rich that I book two flights on the same day and I bet he does as well. The sw cancel policies as well as AA both let you get refunded up until boarding.
 
CGRdrJoe said:
FairWarning said:
Joe Bryant said:
belljr said:
Normally I love SW...they are a little more expensive but by the time you add pick you seat fees, checked bag fees for spirit it's really not much more.
Click to expand...

I thought SW was one of the less expensive airlines.
Click to expand...
I priced flights from Midway to Vegas after seeing this post. There are 25-30 flights/day on this route. The cheapest is $550-600 one-way and that’s on Jan 1. It seems awful expensive, but I don’t fly much.
Click to expand...
that’s because all their cheap flights require to be booked 3 weeks in advance :shrug: i just did 1/24 - 1/27 with your airlines and the cheapest is $156 roundtrip
Click to expand...
You’re correct, speaks to how little I fly. Maybe in 2023…
 
the moops said:
High speed rail sure would be nice
Click to expand...
I remember in the early 2000s one of my professor was lobbying hard in the legislature just to get a decently fast rail from like St. Cloud to the cities with the idea then of extending it to Chicago.

Yeah, that went nowhere.
 
Andy Dufresne said:
BeTheMatch said:
Love the videos all over Twitter now of SW sending the cops in to threaten to arrest people waiting in lines at the Nashville airport. Should work out for them.
Click to expand...
Seems like a "there's more to that story" scenario.
Click to expand...
Not really. It's all on video. Cop kept saying "your tickets are cancelled, you no longer have a ticket. If you don't leave this area you'll be arrested."

He specifically said that SW had called them. They were apparently trying to move people to the non-secured side of the airport using this made-up BS. Point is, not a good look for SW, which probably goes out of business soon. Why would anyone ever fly with them again?
 
Mitchie said:
I have family stuck in NYC trying to get to Florida for past 4 days. They couldn't get a SW flight until Sunday but booked another airline for Friday. They have a relatively pricey rental at a place in Florida that they're paying for and not able to use. I'm sure there are worse stories but pretty crappy situation.
Click to expand...

That's a 16 hour drive. I'm not waiting 4 days for a flight.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

GroveDiesel
Southwest Airlines Flight Change Policy?
Replies
8
Views
616
GroveDiesel
GroveDiesel
R
Hurricane Travel Advice
Replies
3
Views
277
belljr
belljr
gianmarco
Why you don't leave your car idling at the airport
Replies
32
Views
1K
msudaisy26
msudaisy26

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top