At one time Southwest Airlines used to be good. They used to be reliable. Okay… sort of reliable. Reliable enough. I’ve flown Southwest quite a bit because I go up to San Jose to see my son and his family. I also fly out of Burbank rather than LAX. Longer drive to get there but a much less crazy airport. Burbank Airport (formerly Bob Hope Airport — how soon they forget) is reminiscent of the airport in WINGS. No jetways. You still walk onto the tarmac and up ladders to get to the planes. Think: the last scene in CASABLANCA.
I’d like to think it’s the pandemic, but whatever. Southwest has become a fucking nightmare. Cutting corners and losing loyal customers. And seemingly not giving a shit.
A few weekends ago they cancelled 2,000 flights, blaming it on air traffic control and weather issues. Uh… no other carrier had to cancel flights. That four-day meltdown cost them $75 million. And how many irate customers?
They were also in the news recently for one of their pilots saying some anti-Biden remark to the passengers. And just last night a Southwest flight attendant falsely accused a bi-racial mother of human trafficking when it was in fact her daughter. Oops. That'll be a fun lawsuit.
Now that people are starting to fly again, wouldn’t the best policy be to make them feel welcome and make them feel glad they chose your airline?
I see no evidence of this with Southwest. None. Nor do I see any effort made to be on time. And here's the thing: If you can't depend on an airline they're worthless to you. We'll live if we don't get peanuts, but if we miss connections, if we can't get where we're going -- we fucking HATE YOU. No, not annoyed by you -- HATE.
Halloween weekend I flew up to San Jose on Southwest from Burbank. A 45 minute flight leaving at 10 AM. It was two hours late. Coming home the next night it was an hour late taking off, and then when we got to Burbank we sat on the tarmac for close to an hour until there was a gate. There was a gate available but since our plane was staying the night and another plane was arriving and taking off again, we had to wait. This is the same route they fly every day. They haven’t worked this out yet? Plus, when we got to the gate I noticed four or five empty gates. We couldn’t deplane via one of those? Even if they then moved the plane to the eventual gate later? Better to inconvenience 150 people after taking off an hour late for a 45 minute flight. Like I said, they don't give a shit.
And at least our flights weren’t cancelled. They were up to old tricks and a number of flights were cancelled from Burbank that Saturday morning. Stranded passengers had to leave the boarding area, try to get stand-by, then go through TSA security again. We’re not talking Thanksgiving weekend. This was a Saturday morning at sleepy Burbank Airport.
I’m also looking at prices and seeing you can go round-trip from LA to Chicago on decent airlines cheaper than what I paid to fly to San Jose. Spirit Airlines is the world’s worst but at least they’re cheap.
A few years ago I had to fly from Indianapolis to Minneapolis (my all “apolis” trip). Thank God I flew Delta. We boarded the plane and they discovered there was some mechanical problem. But instead of just cancelling the flight they pulled some strings and got another plane out of the hanger and we were on our way only an hour late. Do you think Southwest would do that? Not a chance.
I bet there’s not a single person reading this post who doesn’t have at least three airline nightmare stories. (Feel free to share) I know there’s a practice where the airlines purposely try to make you uncomfortable so you’ll pay be better seats, blankets, etc. But it just seems it’s getting worse. Southwest says “We know you have a choice, thanks for flying with us.” They’re right. From now on I’m flying Alaska. Waiting on the tarmac for an hour at 10:30 on Sunday night to get to a gate while other gates were wide open was the tipping point. Not that they give a shit, I'm sure.
from By Ken Levine
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