Southwest Pulling out of Dulles and Chicago - cancelling all connecting flights

[Anonymous]

What is wrong with BWI. Easy to get there on MARC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with BWI. Easy to get there on MARC.

Not from Nova

[Anonymous]

When Southwest shut down for a week after a storm a few years ago they revealed themselves to be not a legitimate operation. Customer service at the legacy carriers may be surly but they'll at least get you where you need to go within a day of their original promise.

[Anonymous]

We have been planning to move away from them anyway as soon as we use up our remaining points. I’m guessing they are going to eliminate or greatly change companion pass soon because it’s not profitable enough for them. Our current companion pass expires 12/31/26 and I’m guessing we’ll be mostly out of points by then too. I’ll also cancel my CC that gives me checked baggage.

Delta? American? United? Who should we switch to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have been planning to move away from them anyway as soon as we use up our remaining points. I’m guessing they are going to eliminate or greatly change companion pass soon because it’s not profitable enough for them. Our current companion pass expires 12/31/26 and I’m guessing we’ll be mostly out of points by then too. I’ll also cancel my CC that gives me checked baggage.

Delta? American? United? Who should we switch to?

Free agent. But each flight based on what works best for that one flight. Even look at buying 2 one ways on different airlines if it makes sense. They have no loyalty to you, no reason to have any to them. Buy whatever works best for schedule and price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been planning to move away from them anyway as soon as we use up our remaining points. I’m guessing they are going to eliminate or greatly change companion pass soon because it’s not profitable enough for them. Our current companion pass expires 12/31/26 and I’m guessing we’ll be mostly out of points by then too. I’ll also cancel my CC that gives me checked baggage.

Delta? American? United? Who should we switch to?

Free agent. But each flight based on what works best for that one flight. Even look at buying 2 one ways on different airlines if it makes sense. They have no loyalty to you, no reason to have any to them. Buy whatever works best for schedule and price.

The problem with this strategy is all the bag fees and crappy boarding numbers. If you don’t keep a fee credit with your main airline, you have to pay for checked bags or if you carry on, you get a crappy boarding number. It’s better to pick the least of the evils for your situation and have at least one airline credit card.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When Southwest shut down for a week after a storm a few years ago they revealed themselves to be not a legitimate operation. Customer service at the legacy carriers may be surly but they'll at least get you where you need to go within a day of their original promise.

I have no love for SW, but plenty of stories of legacy carriers not doing the bold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a exagerated post title. Sky is falling, losing 2 flights from Dulles. Whoop.

Well we had a flight booked with them out of Dulles, and the whole “your flight is cancelled because we are leaving” was very distressing.

They don’t just auto book us to a flight out of BWI and let us cancel or change it, just saying act in mere minutes or will be canceled. Why not just stop booking those flights, finish current ticketed flights, and then pull out of airports? Is this how airlines usually wind down service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been planning to move away from them anyway as soon as we use up our remaining points. I’m guessing they are going to eliminate or greatly change companion pass soon because it’s not profitable enough for them. Our current companion pass expires 12/31/26 and I’m guessing we’ll be mostly out of points by then too. I’ll also cancel my CC that gives me checked baggage.

Delta? American? United? Who should we switch to?

Free agent. But each flight based on what works best for that one flight. Even look at buying 2 one ways on different airlines if it makes sense. They have no loyalty to you, no reason to have any to them. Buy whatever works best for schedule and price.

The problem with this strategy is all the bag fees and crappy boarding numbers. If you don’t keep a fee credit with your main airline, you have to pay for checked bags or if you carry on, you get a crappy boarding number. It’s better to pick the least of the evils for your situation and have at least one airline credit card.

+1, we also have a Southwest card and this is why mostly fly Southwest domestically. Plus being able to use points. It makes travel a lot more economical and less stressful.

We have also considered moving away from them, ever since they announced assigned seating which makes them far less appealing when traveling as a family. I just booked spring break travel and normally I'd buy the cheapest ticket level because we don't care where we sit on the plane or even when we board for a short domestic flight. But we have an 8 year old who still needs to sit with an adult and we don't want to risk being separated so I wound up buying half our tickets at basic and half at upgraded so I could put an adult next to the 8 year old. Which is what I have to do on most other domestic carriers and was one of the main advantages of Southwest, not having to do that and thus saving a couple hundred dollars on every trip just to not have to select seats.

But I still have no idea who to shift to. I already burned all our points, so that's not holding me, but I just feel ambivalent about other airlines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been planning to move away from them anyway as soon as we use up our remaining points. I’m guessing they are going to eliminate or greatly change companion pass soon because it’s not profitable enough for them. Our current companion pass expires 12/31/26 and I’m guessing we’ll be mostly out of points by then too. I’ll also cancel my CC that gives me checked baggage.

Delta? American? United? Who should we switch to?

Free agent. But each flight based on what works best for that one flight. Even look at buying 2 one ways on different airlines if it makes sense. They have no loyalty to you, no reason to have any to them. Buy whatever works best for schedule and price.

The problem with this strategy is all the bag fees and crappy boarding numbers. If you don’t keep a fee credit with your main airline, you have to pay for checked bags or if you carry on, you get a crappy boarding number. It’s better to pick the least of the evils for your situation and have at least one airline credit card.

Then get a card if you need to, but to me those issues aren't worth adding a stop or taking a flight that's much earlier or later than I want to go. AA, Delta and United all have cards with no fee the first year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live near Dulles and have had a SW companion pass for many many years. We almost always end up flying out of DCA so this isn’t much of a loss. There was barely anything out of IAD anyway. IAD-DEN is probably the only real loss.

We fly that route 3-4x a year. It is cheap and quick. I have flown round trip for $180 a few times. Will miss this route.

[Anonymous]

We have tix booked w SW in May out of IAD. Haven’t gotten any emails. When is this effective?

[Anonymous]

They're on their last legs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're on their last legs.

Well if so, they are hardly the first company to be destroyed by a hedge fund/private equity and they won’t be the last.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're on their last legs.

That's an absurd statement- this isn't Spirit Airlines we are talking about.

Yes they are diminished but still a big airline with a huge network that is very useful to a ton of people.