Southwest Airlines in a nationwide meltdown
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
We have also had that experience multiple times with United, as recently as Christmas 2021, when we ended up buying last minute replacement tickets through SWA. United was going to take 5 flights to get us home, versus the 2 we had originally booked. I’d be happy to hear that United is improving. I do truly think that the SWA problem was almost entirely the software collapse. I saw it happening in real time as we were sitting at the airport all day—the gate agents were very honest about what was going on. They had planes and crews but couldn’t fly because no one at HQ would pick up the phone to just enter the crew change into the system. The fact that it needed to be done manually was a disaster. A fully crewed plane sat for 6 hours because the telephone line was busy — and I’m sure that happened all over. They couldn’t use the resources they had because of a small hitch in the system. I kept thinking “for want of a nail….the war was lost.” |
Anonymous
|
We live in DC and never utilize SWA because I have never found the flights to be competitively priced or even applicable to us. I guess if you fly to Texas or Florida a lot, SWA might make sense. But we only really fly to Los Angeles (family) or overseas (business & leisure), or quick flights to NYC that leave DCA hourly. I feel that SWA only makes sense if you’re doing the companion pass game AND you book the cheapest fares that become available when SWA releases their schedule far in advance.
I’ve never found a date to Souther California on SWA from BWI that was competitively priced or didn’t involved multiple stops. Whereas I can fly direct out of DCA or IAD with American, Alaska, or United for $300-400 RT (assuming not Xmas or Thanksgiving). In fact, I think SWA prices a lot of their economy fares as if the customer does have the companion pass. So sure, maybe $600 RT for one economy ticket makes sense if the other is free. But if you don’t have the Companion Pass, you’re better off just going with one of the major airlines. |
Anonymous
That's a fair point -- it's very destination dependent. My family lives out West (not SoCal) and SWA usually works best for us. It's also great for Florida, and some spots in Mexico or the Carribean. It used to be that the Wanna Get Away fare were really well priced, but they have definitely increased in the past few years, and also make fewer seats available at that low price. I often use it for work, as does my husband, because it is just so darn easy to rebook when something gets rescheduled or cancelled or runs late -- which happens so often with work things, and it has good flights to a lot of cities where my clients are based or where the conventions are. Some of the other airlines are finally getting smart about making rebooking a lot easier, though -- if the other airlines can really get that down pat, I think they will substantially cut into SWA business. One of SWA's major advantages has always been the transparency and clarity of its flight search web interface, which was really revolutionary 20 years ago. |
Anonymous
This is our experience right now with United is IMO, it's not improving. We booked for spring break and have gotten about three flight changes thus far, each necessitating a call to make sure we still have the seats we purchased. Managing our flights should be a one and done, not an ongoing job. |
Anonymous
My flight still has not been assigned a plane. Time to start worrying? |
Anonymous
It is supposed to take off in four hours. Looks like SWA does not have a plane available for this flight right now, but is trying to scramble to see if they can come up with something. |
Anonymous
Probably fly United more, which has always been my preference. We don’t fly a ton, but I like the options for United in terms of selecting seats, Economy Plus (couple inches make a huge difference), and their global network. SW wins with free checked bags, but I have a Mileage Plus credit card, which gets you free bags on United flights. It might be awhile before people check bags on SW flights. United is by no means perfect, but I have always preferred them over SW. I don’t have a lot of experience flying American- the other dominant carrier in the area. Driving the GW Parkway and 270 to and from National is not a good bookend to a flight. |
Anonymous
|
Making the rounds on social media - sorry if it has already been posted;
A source inside Southwest Airlines recently passed this on and gave me permission to share. This is worth reading: “What happened to Southwest Airlines? I’ve been a pilot for Southwest Airlines for over 35 years. I’ve given my heart and soul to Southwest Airlines during those years. And quite honestly Southwest Airlines has given its heart and soul to me and my family. Many of you have asked what caused this epic meltdown. Unfortunately, the frontline employees have been watching this meltdown coming like a slow motion train wreck for sometime. And we’ve been begging our leadership to make much needed changes in order to avoid it. What happened yesterday started two decades ago. Herb Kelleher was the brilliant CEO of SWA until 2004. He was a very operationally oriented leader. Herb spent lots of time on the front line. He always had his pulse on the day to day operation and the people who ran it. That philosophy flowed down through the ranks of leadership to the front line managers. We were a tight operation from top to bottom. We had tools, leadership and employee buy in. Everything that was needed to run a first class operation. When Herb retired in 2004 Gary Kelly became the new CEO. Gary was an accountant by education and his style leading Southwest Airlines became more focused on finances and less on operations. He did not spend much time on the front lines. He didn’t engage front line employees much. When the CEO doesn’t get out in the trenches the neither do the lower levels of leadership. Gary named another accountant to be Chief Operating Officer (the person responsible for day to day operations). The new COO had little or no operational background. This trickled down through the lower levels of leadership, as well. They all disengaged the operation, disengaged the employees and focused more on Return on Investment, stock buybacks and Wall Street. This approach worked for Gary’s first 8 years because we were still riding the strong wave that Herb had built. But as time went on the operation began to deteriorate. There was little investment in upgrading technology (after all, how do you measure the return on investing in infrastructure?) or the tools we needed to operate efficiently and consistently. As the frontline employees began to see the deterioration in our operation we began to warn our leadership. We educated them, we informed them and we made suggestions to them. But to no avail. The focus was on finances not operations. As we saw more and more deterioration in our operation our asks turned to pleas. Our pleas turned to dire warnings. But they went unheeded. After all, the stock price was up so what could be wrong? We were a motivated, willing and proud employee group wanting to serve our customers and uphold the tradition of our beloved airline, the airline we built and the airline that the traveling public grew to cheer for and luv. But we were watching in frustration and disbelief as our once amazing airline was becoming a house of cards. A half dozen small scale meltdowns occurred during the mid to late 2010’s. With each mini meltdown Leadership continued to ignore the pleas and warnings of the employees in the trenches. We were still operating with 1990’s technology. We didn’t have the tools we needed on the line to operate the sophisticated and large airline we had become. We could see that the wheels were about ready to fall off the bus. But no one in leadership would heed our pleas. When COVID happened SWA scaled back considerably (as did all of the airlines) for about two years. This helped conceal the serious problems in technology, infrastructure and staffing that were occurring and being ignored. But as we ramped back up the lack of attention to the operation was waiting to show its ugly head. Gary Kelly retired as CEO in early 2022. Bob Jordan was named CEO. He was a more operationally oriented leader. He replaced our Chief Operating Officer with a very smart man and they announced their priority would be to upgrade our airline’s technology and provide the frontline employees the operational tools we needed to care for our customers and employees. Finally, someone acknowledged the elephant in the room. But two decades of neglect takes several years to overcome. And, unfortunately to our horror, our house of cards came tumbling down this week as a routine winter storm broke our 1990’s operating system. The frontline employees were ready and on station. We were properly staffed. We were at the airports. Hell, we were ON the airplanes. But our antiquated software systems failed coupled with a decades old system of having to manage 20,000 frontline employees by phone calls. No automation had been developed to run this sophisticated machine. We had a routine winter storm across the Midwest last Thursday. A larger than normal number flights were cancelled as a result. But what should have been one minor inconvenient day of travel turned into this nightmare. After all, American, United, Delta and the other airlines operated with only minor flight disruptions. The two decades of neglect by SWA leadership caused the airline to lose track of all its crews. ALL of us. We were there. With our customers. At the jet. Ready to go. But there was no way to assign us. To confirm us. To release us to fly the flight. And we watched as our customers got stranded without their luggage missing their Christmas holiday. I believe that our new CEO Bob Jordan inherited a MESS. This meltdown was not his failure but the failure of those before him. I believe he has the right priorities. But it will take time to right this ship. A few years at a minimum. Old leaders need to be replaced. Operationally oriented managers need to be brought in. I hope and pray Bob can execute on his promises to fix our once proud airline. Time will tell. It’s been a punch in the gut for us frontline employees. We care for the traveling public. We have spent our entire careers serving you. Safely. Efficiently. With luv and pride. We are horrified. We are sorry. We are sorry for the chaos, inconvenience and frustration our airline caused you. We are angry. We are embarrassed. We are sad. Like you, the traveling public, we have been let down by our own leaders. Herb once said the the biggest threat to Southwest Airlines will come from within. Not from other airlines. What a visionary he was. I miss Herb now more than ever.” #southwestairlines |
Anonymous
| Great post by the pilot and reflects everything I’ve seen as a frequent and long term SW flier. The employees are still fantastic. |
Anonymous
+1 It captures why so many of us became loyal to SW in the first place and how as consumers, we have witnessed a great business fraying at the seams for some time. |
Anonymous
yes - my father is a retired pilot (different airline). going through something like this would have made him absolutely disgusted. |
Anonymous
| I try always to stick only with UA and AA as I never was attracted to flying with SW. the last thing I need is no assigned seating making it necessary to arrive even earlier to not sit in a crap seat!! To me, their model is very much if the low budget one and you do get what you pay for in a way. I've also experienced horrible things flying on AA of course but in context of this past week, I think flying with SW was going to be risky as their ops is run so you are totally screwed relying on only them. There's a reason why they are a better financial deal. |
Anonymous
Posted this on Tuesday morning. Happy to say that he took off on-time this afternoon (Friday) and landed safely at O’Hare. 🙏 |
Anonymous
| All my SW flights were fine. Flew Christmas Day and back yesterday. No problems at all. |
Anonymous
| Thank you to the last two posters for the update; appreciate it! I am flying SW from BWI to Indianapolis in late January. I’m hoping things are sorted out by then. What a nightmare. I always enjoy SW and have had so many positive experiences with them over the years. I feel for their employees. |