Hearing a lot about Southwest canceling thousands of flights in the past few days. I’m wondering why people continue to book flights on all budget airlines. I know money is the key issue, but why take the risk?
OT: Southwest and other budget airlines
- Thread starter hahnenkampf
- Start date
I despise SW and Spirit! Maybe for a short hop flight, but long flights they’re awful! I normally go for Delta.
My last vacation I flew Frontier. I get such a good deal being military so the bags are free.
But they cancelled our flight and offered to reschedule it a week later on like the second to last day of the vacation. Just not worth the deal for the discount anymore.
But they cancelled our flight and offered to reschedule it a week later on like the second to last day of the vacation. Just not worth the deal for the discount anymore.
Even if they don't, they tend to have quicker turnarounds so even one cancellation can have a bigger trickledown effect than on the major airlines.
Not sure if OP was implying this, but SWA is not a budget airline.
They have not upgraded a lot of their system operations and are now paying for it.
They have not upgraded a lot of their system operations and are now paying for it.
I don’t fly often but when I flew Southwest for the Final 4 they were fine.
Having said that, whatever is happening right now is obviously a cluster screw to put it message board friendly.
Having said that, whatever is happening right now is obviously a cluster screw to put it message board friendly.
Southwest is no longer a "budget carrier", and hasn't been for a while. Sometimes they have lower fares than United, Delta and the other big boys, but not as often as they used to.
That said, I've always liked SWA. They've seemed to have a greater customer service focus than the other carriers, and they just make things easier (no change fees, free checked bags, non-expiring credits, etc.), and that's been a common impression of them. Which is why the events of the last few days have been such a shock. Hope they can get their act together and fast, or else this will cost them dearly in the marketplace.
That said, I've always liked SWA. They've seemed to have a greater customer service focus than the other carriers, and they just make things easier (no change fees, free checked bags, non-expiring credits, etc.), and that's been a common impression of them. Which is why the events of the last few days have been such a shock. Hope they can get their act together and fast, or else this will cost them dearly in the marketplace.
They have good ratings. But Alaska Airlines & Delta have been pushing SWA with equal or better customer service.
Seems SWA assigns seats so you can't pick them? And having hubs in winter storm areas (Denver/Chicago) isn't helping.
True, but where I live (Houston), Alaska and Delta aren't viable options. SWA and United are the main options from here, and it looks like United will get more of my business, at least in the immediate future.
Correct, SWA seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, with no assigned seats.
I haven’t flown Southwest in over 20 years. My one experience back then was enough for me to never fly them again — it was worse than any flight I’ve taken on RyanAir. I like your point about Denver and Chicago. After spending numerous nights at the Chicago Airport Hilton due to missed connections, I now refuse to make reservations with connections through Chicago or any other northern cities — Denver included.
Their hubs got blasted by winter weather we haven't seen in a while. They got exposed. At the same time, this hasn't happened before. Not by a long stretch.
I flew them a lot when I lived out west - not since I moved back east. They aren't a bad airline in my experience - they'll bounce back from this as they've always been about customer service.
I flew them a lot when I lived out west - not since I moved back east. They aren't a bad airline in my experience - they'll bounce back from this as they've always been about customer service.
"On a call with employees Tuesday, Southwest Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson explained that the company’s outdated scheduling software quickly became the main culprit of the cancellations once the storm cleared, according to a transcript of the call that was obtained by CNN from an aviation source."
That can definitely add to it. Though if the stock dips because of this, I'm definitely buying. That's one of the best run airlines in history. 2020 (to no fault of their own) broke their streak of 47 consecutive years of profitability. They've figured out the right balance of "budget airline" vs standard airline.
I only fly Delta for the last decade. I definitely feel like they are the best in terms of flying experience (comfort, price and very few delays, at least where I fly).
I like Delta as well. Almost always on time and the planes on their longer flights have TVs on the seat in front.
Regardless, all of them have struggled with post-covid manpower/scheduling issues.
Major shortage of pilots. Huge numbers took packages to retire during covid. SW route system is completely different than the traditional hub and spoke system the majors have used for decades, creating a scheduling nightmare when there is a hiccup in the system. It is compounded by not having enough pieces in the right places to move when there is a disruption. If I was 20 again, pilot would be a sure bet career choice. Name your price.
I fly SWA frequently and all the time going to Nashville. BNA is a SWA hub so the rates are cheaper. But they messed a lot of people up with these last cancellations.
Flew American this week and will again returning to Charlotte Saturday (flight landed 44 minutes early - you can’t beat that). Fly American to MIA since MIA is an American hub.
I’ll fly any of them if they have a flight scheduled when I want it. I just just want to get there … until I don’t, I guess. I haven’t taken any long flights across the country where my long legs need room. I can stand 2 to 2 1/2 hr flights with no trouble since the time flying seems to go fast for me.
Flew American this week and will again returning to Charlotte Saturday (flight landed 44 minutes early - you can’t beat that). Fly American to MIA since MIA is an American hub.
I’ll fly any of them if they have a flight scheduled when I want it. I just just want to get there … until I don’t, I guess. I haven’t taken any long flights across the country where my long legs need room. I can stand 2 to 2 1/2 hr flights with no trouble since the time flying seems to go fast for me.
Which airlines had the most on-time flights in 2022?
- DAL
- ASA (Alaskan)
- UAL
- AAL
- SWA
Which airlines had the most on-time arrivals in 2022? Here are the Cirium rankings
Cirium, an aviation analytics company, released rankings of North American airlines from its annual On-Time Performance Review for 2022 on Thursday.
www.usatoday.com
I understand the criticism that Southwest is getting and rightfully so. Should the FAA be on the receiving end of some condemnation also? I thought the FAA oversee the airlines operations.
Not how an airline manages its flights, scheduling, admin. FAA is about what happens when you get onto an aircraft.
The FAA should be held accountable for how they’ve allowed airlines to overbook and cancel flights with ease.
I have no problem when my flight is cancelled due to weather — I can easily look at websites to get an idea of flight conditions (NOTAMS, Flightaware, etc), but I hate it when an airline cancels my flight for reasons other than mechanical or weather and claim it’s due to weather.
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