Unofficial SWA holiday meltdown thread

[Cosmo]

I recently switched to an American Airlines rewards card mostly due to the free miles promotion and the fact that those miles can be used on British Airways. American also has a lot of flights out of my city so it made sense. I haven't had any real issues with them.

 

[I Should Coco]

Having lived in the PNW for a while, most of my flights run through SeaTac, and that means Alaska Airlines.

Alaska has taken a bunch of PR hits this year, but they managed to get my wife home — eventually — for Christmas from Chicago on Friday, on a day there was an ice storm in Seattle and only 4 of 16 O’Hare-SeaTac flights actually arrived.

Alaska did a good job keeping her informed of new departure times and switched her connecting flight so she was still able to fly over the Cascades. She was very fortunate not to be stuck in Chicago over the holiday weekend.

 

[playthrough]

I don't fly much anymore, but I've never had a bad experience on Delta, and I've never had a good experience on American, which is a shame because I always had good experiences with USAir until it was bought by American.

I've always been a Delta guy too, back to when we'd pick up our traveling-salesman Dad every Friday at Hartsfield. Back when it was just "Hartsfield" and you could meet someone at a gate. Ancient times.

 

[maumann]

I'm certain other financial wizards could debate the topic more eloquently than me, but eternal damnation to those greedy souls who think mergers and acquisitions are good for anyone but shareholders and corporate executives. The deregulation of the airline industry (like everything else in this world) only made for a shoddier product with fewer options.

You don't like getting squished into a tiny seat with no leg room? Tough. Pay a premium to get what used to be a normal cabin seat or shut up, because everybody's the same.

Putting almost all major travel in the hands of a handful of conglomerates continues to be a stupid idea, whether individual fares are better off in the short term. Lousy experiences shouldn't be the norm. You shouldn't have to beg for little more than a flying city transit bus. I joked on the last flight that installing subway handles might be the next step to shove another 100 people on board.

I long for the days of Piedmont, PSA, Western and other GOOD regional airlines that actually paid attention to customer service because of competition. Hell, Air Florida was exciting because it seemed like most of their pilots were former naval carrier guys (or used to short runways), because I can honestly say every landing they made was touch the tarmac, full reverse and full brakes. They made sure your seat belts were fastened!

 

[BTExpress]

You don't like getting squished into a tiny seat with no leg room? Tough. Pay a premium to get what used to be a normal cabin seat or shut up, because everybody's the same.

But before deregulation, that "normal" seat came at a "premium" price anyway.

Deregulation offered a choice (that most people take): Cramped and cheap instead of spacious and expensive.

in 1970, a return flight between New York and London was retailed for $550. With inflation, that's around $5,350 in today's money. With low-cost airlines abound, tickets between New York and London can range from $300 to $1,000 in economy.

Moreover, the rise of low-cost airlines means passengers with flexible dates can fly for rock-bottom fares, a feat impossible in the small and regulated market of the 1970s.

https://simpleflying.com/50-years-airfares/

 

[Woody Long]

Putting almost all major travel in the hands of a handful of conglomerates continues to be a stupid idea, whether individual fares are better off in the short term. Lousy experiences shouldn't be the norm. You shouldn't have to beg for little more than a flying city transit bus. I joked on the last flight that installing subway handles might be the next step to shove another 100 people on board.

Didn't RyanAir try to do that over in Europe?

 

[Azrael]

But before deregulation, that "normal" seat came at a "premium" price anyway.

Deregulation offered a choice (that most people take): Cramped and cheap instead of spacious and expensive.



https://simpleflying.com/50-years-airfares/

great job, I guess

https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviation

 

[Roscablo]

I'm certain other financial wizards could debate the topic more eloquently than me, but eternal damnation to those greedy souls who think mergers and acquisitions are good for anyone but shareholders and corporate executives. The deregulation of the airline industry (like everything else in this world) only made for a shoddier product with fewer options.

You don't like getting squished into a tiny seat with no leg room? Tough. Pay a premium to get what used to be a normal cabin seat or shut up, because everybody's the same.

Putting almost all major travel in the hands of a handful of conglomerates continues to be a stupid idea, whether individual fares are better off in the short term. Lousy experiences shouldn't be the norm. You shouldn't have to beg for little more than a flying city transit bus. I joked on the last flight that installing subway handles might be the next step to shove another 100 people on board.

I long for the days of Piedmont, PSA, Western and other GOOD regional airlines that actually paid attention to customer service because of competition. Hell, Air Florida was exciting because it seemed like most of their pilots were former naval carrier guys (or used to short runways), because I can honestly say every landing they made was touch the tarmac, full reverse and full brakes. They made sure your seat belts were fastened!

I am barely old enough to remember but we used to travel yearly to Indiana to see my grandparents my mom loved Piedmont and we used them for that as long as we could. Before Frontier sold out to become a nickel and dime operation and it was a Denver company, it was fantastic, and it is what I always used. When that went away is when I went to Southwest for the most part. We'll see where I go from here. Living in Colorado if Southwest doesn't get its crap together it almost has to be United, which, ugh.

 

[Azrael]

 

[Azrael]

hmmmm

Bullet Train Failed Once, but It's Back for Another Go | The Texas Tribune

Will Southwest Airlines Join the Opposition to Texas High-Speed Rail?

https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1383&context=jalc&httpsredir=1&referer=

 

[Batman]

hmmmm

Bullet Train Failed Once, but It's Back for Another Go | The Texas Tribune

Will Southwest Airlines Join the Opposition to Texas High-Speed Rail?

https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1383&context=jalc&httpsredir=1&referer=

Does this person think there would never be weather-related delays, or scheduling snafus, or any other system failures with high speed rail? That that form of mass transportation would be on some plane of existence where it's immune to the same exact things that plague every other form of transportation?

 

[TigerVols]

All three of my kids got caught in the Southwest fiasco on their visit to their mom in Florida for the holidays. Two of them ended up getting home via Allegiant, but one is stuck in Florida, apparently indefinitely.

When Allegiant is flying and SWA ain't, you know the Apocalypse is nigh!

 

[playthrough]

Every time I see Piedmont I don't think of the airline first ...

 

[User 11148]

Let's assume that Congress doesn't do one damn thing in response to this Southwest ****show (I'm inclined to believe that doing nothing is probably the best course of "action," but your mileage may vary). I'd wager a modest sum that the buying patterns of Southwest's customer base (to include all flying "types") will remain essentially unchanged.

 

[Driftwood]

Every time I see Piedmont I don't think of the airline first ...

Close, but not quite.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Does this person think there would never be weather-related delays, or scheduling snafus, or any other system failures with high speed rail? That that form of mass transportation would be on some plane of existence where it's immune to the same exact things that plague every other form of transportation?

Can't remember reading a lot of stories about trains cancelling their runs because the crews can't get there.

Are there SWA-type problems in countries that have high-speed rail? I mean, if those socialists in Europe and the Japanese can do it, shouldn't Texans be able to? I mean, "Mericun exceptionalism! They're brilliant with power grids!

 

[Roscablo]

Can't remember reading a lot of stories about trains cancelling their runs because the crews can't get there.

Are there SWA-type problems in countries that have high-speed rail? I mean, if those socialists in Europe and the Japanese can do it, shouldn't Texans be able to? I mean, "Mericun exceptionalism! They're brilliant with power grids!

I also don't think this has to do with weather as much as it has to do with options/competition. What the person was saying was Southwest has crushed any attempt to get some other transit option going because it wants to be the only option. Regardless of what it is doing outside.

 

[HanSenSE]

Let's assume that Congress doesn't do one damn thing in response to this Southwest ****show (I'm inclined to believe that doing nothing is probably the best course of "action," but your mileage may vary). I'd wager a modest sum that the buying patterns of Southwest's customer base (to include all flying "types") will remain essentially unchanged.

If there's anything we can trust the GQP in Congress to do, it's criticize whatever Biden does.

 

[goalmouth]

Can't remember reading a lot of stories about trains cancelling their runs because the crews can't get there.

Amtrak Staffing Issues Could Persist Into 2024 Even as Travelers Return

"Amtrak operated only about 80 percent of its 2019 schedule during fiscal 2022, or about five points less than the recovery in passengers."

https://skift.com/2022/12/01/amtrak...d-persist-into-2024-even-as-travelers-return/

 

[micropolitan guy]

Amtrak Staffing Issues Could Persist Into 2024 Even as Travelers Return

"Amtrak operated only about 80 percent of its 2019 schedule during fiscal 2022, or about five points less than the recovery in passengers."

https://skift.com/2022/12/01/amtrak...d-persist-into-2024-even-as-travelers-return/

So, about 70 percent better than Southwest this week?

And let's compare apples to apples. Compare the number of flights in 2019 vs. the number in 2022. I'd bet there's a corresponding decline, since airlines have cut back considerably.