Jump to content

Holiday travel woes? Done with Southwest?


Guest

Recommended Posts

Well, this Christmas I drove from LA to Oakland as usual (up the 23rd, down the 26th). The way up wasn't too bad. Only jam was leaving LA around 11 AM. Total 6 hrs 15 mins including a lunch stop and 2 other stops (gas, pee). The way back was a total nightmare, though. I left later, since I had an early lunch with my brother and sister-in-law (left 1 PM). It took over 8 hours, and I don't want to ever have to go through that again. Unfortunately, I'm not sure about the alternatives, either. There are only two airlines which fly nonstop from BURbank to OAKland. One is Southwest, but I can't imagine trusting them after they cancelled 70% of their flights on the 26th (10 times the cancellations of the 3 biggest US airlines combined). The other is JSX, but they charge $600 round trip. I guess I could take United/United Express to SFO, then take BART/mobile homeless shelter to Oakland. 😬 Amtrak has good service from Oakland to Bakersfield, but then one has to take the bus over the difficult portion of the trip: Bakersfield to Burbank. LAX is no solution, since the news was reporting needing 1 hour to get from the LAX exit of the freeway to the closest terminal (Terminal 1--and I'd need to get to Terminal 4 to take American Airlines). Since it'd take 2.5 hours to get from my house to LAX on a day like that, not a solution either. I guess I'll have to figure things out next year. Either leave early on the 26th, or maybe the UA BUR--->SFO option.

Any of you care to share your holiday travel nightmares?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I gave up on Southwest a long time ago.  It used to be a special business model and a special experience.  Now, they are proof that big isn’t better. I’m not a fan of American either.  Delta has been my “go to” for about 15 yrs with good experience.  I’m surprised that some boutique semi private jet service hasn’t filled a niche for the SoCal/Bay Area trek…

Link to comment
Share on other sites

SW is now the biggest airline at PSP (it used to be Alaska). A friend's father came from Tulsa to visit her here for the holiday, and was supposed to fly back home on SW Xmas night. After numerous cancellations, he is still here. He has finally got a ticket on American via Denver tomorrow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For years I had top status with Delta and mid-tier status with United. Southwest and Spirit were extreme last choices. Southwest always seemed unprofessional, from the jokey FAs to the festival seating to the too casual uniforms. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These days you have to go with the bigger airlines because they can adapt easier to delays and other issues.  I always stayed away from Southwest since I don’t like not having a swat assigned especially when traveling with others.  Yes you save money over time but if you stick to an airline overtime you can get status which makes things a little more comfortable.  Sorry for those on Southwest reminds me of the Jet Blue issues years ago (anyone recall that situation) that led to new regulations like you can’t be in the plane in the tarmac for more than 3 hours.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sadly, Southwest is still my go-to. My closest airport is one of their major hubs. I got disillusioned with United after they devalued their miles and stratified their loyalty program. 

Meanwhile, Southwest feels honest about the process.  Everyone is equally worthless. You want to cash in miles, corresponds to real time pricing.  You want to fly standby or change plans no change fees.  No bag fees.  

Yes it's the Greyhound/Megabus of the sky.  Let's face it though most of the big airlines are the same experience if you don't have ongoing spend/status.  If you want to upgrade to Economy Premium Plus Super, it'll cost you but you will still be on the same plane as everyone else.  

About the only thing I'll say... I'd pay to have an empty seat next to me on most longer flights on Southwest, but that's the same for any other airline unless you are flying business or first(if there still a first class cabin) 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a flight scheduled with Southwest for Tuesday, fingers crossed. It’s refundable fare…so I also booked a refundable fare on AA. I’ll see how Southwest is doing and cancel one of them.

The whole “done with…” (enter your airline here) is usually just the heat of the moment. Yes, Southwest has a lot of apologizing and catching up to do…but when you need to fly somewhere their routes go to…you’ll likely be back on them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

luckily, I didn't have to fly during the holidays.......

Southwest has a huge number of very loyal customers who will stick with them....and those loyal customers probably did NOT fly on SW over the holidays (or fly at all)......

the open seating suits me and I usually get early-bird or check in 24 hrs before to make sure I can choose my seat......compared to the AA/UAL/Delta triad, there's just a non-fussy, efficient feel to the entire operation.....

they apparently have some huge upgrades needed for their computers and that contributed, in part, to this mess......this was talked about a year or more ago and I don't know why it wasn't done.....there is also some sort of staff morale problem at the Denver station, according to one article I read......

Southwest is the primary (or next to the) carrier at the airports I most use......they'll be under huge pressure to get things right again and I'm sure they'll figure it out..... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm with you on this @MikeBiDude. Fares and direct flights govern much of the decision process when booking, and this will largely be forgotten, or at least discounted, once things are back to normal.

Smarter minds than mine over at OMAAT have observed that SW's point-to-point route structure made recovering from these disruptions harder than it was for hub-and-spoke airlines as the hubs provide focus points for them to regroup. Their quick turnaround times also meant delays amplified and begat more delays. SW also apparently has poor crew management systems, which made an already difficult recovery more so. A couple of days in, and SW was still at 60% cancellations while AA was, almost unbelievably, at 0%.

So some caution is probably in order for SW in peak travel times (or when bad weather is likely) but mostly you'd be safe. It seems that SW is viewed as either really good when it's good or a disaster when it's not, with not much in between. They'll probably have a giant sale in January and the Christmas meltdown will be largely forgotten.

Qantas a few months ago is instructive. After a string of service failure issues with flights, terminal chaos and baggage arrival, you'd have thought no one would consider flying them ever again. As I commented here at the time, they issued perks to FF members including a $50 voucher, and their website crashed with all the 'never agains' trying to book flights to use their vouchers. It helps that there are few alternatives to QF of course.

I recall a Redgum song from the 80s when aviation was regulated and we had two domestic airlines, TAA, or Trans Australia Airlines, and Ansett. The lyric was something like, 'There are two airlines, one which stands for 'Try Another Airline' and the other which is why you were on Try Another Airline in the first place'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel bad for the people that got really screwed by SW during this whole mess. It does sound like not only did they fuck up their flights but they made it very hard to get the refunds and compensation that was due to customers.

Fortunately I stay local for the holidays but several friends had horrible experiences and a lot of them are now saying they are done with SW.

I already have basically a free flight through Rapid Rewards and still like SW quite a lot since they have a ton of direct flights from Denver.

The good news is that they're going to be discounting fares pretty hard in order to get people back on their flights. I think we'll be seeing lots of sub $200 fares coast-to-coast. Take advantage of the cheap flights while they last.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WN will never be the airline of choice for me as they don't have interline agreements.  No go.

They're not as shitty as Spirit or Frontier, I'll give them that. 

Their ops are usually pretty smooth.  This latest break was bound to happen sooner or later.  It's a numbers game.

I just prefer flying an airline who has a program that more widely rewards frequent flying.

Bottom line:  Everyone's done with their airline at some point...  Until the next sale or the schedule just clicks.

People are people.  Fickle as fuck with very short memories.  A traveler understands that this will happen to everyone at some point and be prepared.  Screaming and shouting at the overworked frontline or going scorched earth on social media won't fix the issue.

Edited by BenjaminNicholas
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/6/2023 at 11:28 AM, Thomas_Belgium said:

Even if you pay for two seats you pay 336 US$ on SW, not that bad in my opinion.

WN doesn't allow someone to purchase a second seat to remain empty.  

One pax, one seat, unless you take up two seats...  And then they require you to buy a second at the gate.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/buy-second-airplane-seat/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Southwest is the largest airline at Las Vegas Airport (LAS, formerly McCarran).   Therefore Southwest is often the only airline to offer nonstop flights to my destination.  Because I'm a passenger of size, Southwest's policy let's me buy an extra seat and board first.  But even with this accommodation, I still would rather pay extra and fly first class nonstop on another airline and only use Southwest when they are the only nonstop flight available.  (And forget Spirit, Allegiant, and Frontier.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...