Any Southwest Issues in CA?

[TikiTikiFan]

I'm flying Southwest Thanksgiving week for our Disneyland trip and I'm extremely nervous after this weekends cancellations and chaos.... Seems like it's been mostly happening in Florida though. Any reports of the same occurring in CA airports? I'm debating switching carriers because this whole thing makes me so nervous.

This new airline Avelo just began running service to Burbank airport and prices are extremely affordable... and fly out of our town so we could skip the stress of the Denver airport. Any feedback on the Burbank airport? I've never used it, seems about the same distance as LAX?

 

[Becca1007]

I'm flying Southwest Thanksgiving week for our Disneyland trip and I'm extremely nervous after this weekends cancellations and chaos.... Seems like it's been mostly happening in Florida though. Any reports of the same occurring in CA airports? I'm debating switching carriers because this whole thing makes me so nervous.

This new airline Avelo just began running service to Burbank airport and prices are extremely affordable... and fly out of our town so we could skip the stress of the Denver airport. Any feedback on the Burbank airport? I've never used it, seems about the same distance as LAX?

Burbank is a small airport, very easy to navigate. However, one thing to remember is that with a small airline there is likely only one flight per day. If that flight gets delayed or cancelled you may not have many options to adjust.
Southwest has lots of flights and although this weekend sounds like it was a cluster there are many many more days where their system operates flawlessly.
Thanksgiving week will be a mad crush of people on any airline and flying from Denver area there is always a chance of storms.

 

[sophy1996]

We flew out of SNA to DEN on Saturday. We were delayed about an hour. Passengers transferring at DEN to Ft Myers were informed that their flight had been canceled and were given the option to deplane, and their luggage had to be taken off.

I read on another thread that Avelo has a total of FIVE planes. If they have a problem with schedules, how are they going to make that back up with so few planes? It could easily be days!

 

[TikiTikiFan]

I read on another thread that Avelo has a total of FIVE planes. If they have a problem with schedules, how are they going to make that back up with so few planes? It could easily be days!

Good point! It's hard not to be tempted because we don't live close to DIA and this one uses the airport in our town. Might be better to experiment with it when they're more established.

I know this may be a fluke with Southwest but they had a similar issue in August and I'm getting real nervous seeing this happen again... We always fly Southwest so know it's not a typical thing but these aren't typical times.

Maybe switching to United is the way to go... Sucks to give up the cheap fare we have with Southwest though!

 

[gelatoni fan]

Southwest may have delays but at least you have options if anything happens. You could fly into Santa Ana or Long Beach. But if there's some horrible delay, Ontario, LAX and Burbank are also options. For this reason, I'd still recommend going with Southwest.

My experiences with United lately have been worse than Southwest. In the past few months, I got cancelled on United and also delayed for several hours with no compensation. With Southwest, I also had a pretty seriously delayed flight a couple months ago but I managed to switch to the next flight to the same destination and was compensated with a $150 voucher.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Southwest may have delays but at least you have options if anything happens. You could fly into Santa Ana or Long Beach. But if there's some horrible delay, Ontario, LAX and Burbank are also options. For this reason, I'd still recommend going with Southwest.

My experiences with United lately have been worse than Southwest. In the past few months, I got cancelled on United and also delayed for several hours with no compensation. With Southwest, I also had a pretty seriously delayed flight a couple months ago but I managed to switch to the next flight to the same destination and was compensated with a $150 voucher.

Those are great points, thank you! That does help mellow me out a bit. There are so many more airport options in CA.

 

[lalasmama]

I have a few thoughts:

I've flown multiple times since June. PDX-DEN-OKC-MCO. On the way back, it was an impressive cluster. It was supposed to be MCO-ORD-SJC-PDX and take about 7 hours. It took something like 16 hours. It became MCO-OKC-ORD (orginally a stop but no layover, but cancelled while they were counting us)-PHX-PDX. Apparently there were computer issues, pilots hitting their day-max hours, shortage of flight attendants, and bad weather.

August was HNL-OAK-PDX. We had a 90 minute delay at SJC, as they changed it last minute. I had a close connection at OAK on my way to SNA (yay!). On the way back, there was a 90 minute delay. Annoying, but not a huge thing.

Now, about flying into BUR. If you don't have other LA destinations first (Universal Studios, Burbank Disney Animation xampus), I'd avoid BUR. We flew in there 3 years ago on a great SW flight. It took nearly 3 hours to get to out motel on Harbor. Rush hour starts at 3:00 pm. It took 20 minutes to get an Uber, then nearly 3 hours in a car with a stranger. I was ridiculously hangry when we finally got there, and it was worse for my 7yo grandson who actually started begging for food because it was past dinner time. It put a definite damper on out arrival day, and I'll never fly into BUR again.

September was fairly easy. PDX-OAK-SNA, then back 2 days later.

 

[BrookeMQ]

We are driving to Disneyland today. We were supposed to pick up my mother in las vegas. Her flight was cancelled. It was from Pittsburgh. All flights in salt lake were cancelled and some in ca too

 

[tlovesdis]

I am flying to DL this coming Friday from Oakland and have been watching what is going on. It's giving me anxiety. All the flights today from Oakland to Long Beach were either delayed or cancelled! I hope by Friday they get it together!

 

[djmeredith]

We are at DLR now and fly out Wed. Hoping we make it home, but I built in a one day buffer after getting stuck an extra in Orlando last month. As PP said, Southwest does give vouchers of $150. I just emailed them when we got home. They even gave me one for my companion pass traveler who was free.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

ping we make it home, but I built in a one day buffer after getting stuck an extra in Orlando last month

Do you just book an extra night at your hotel, just in case?

 

[djmeredith]

Do you just book an extra night at your hotel, just in case?

I meant I built in an extra day off for myself. If we get stuck overnight I’ll have to get a hotel room. It worked out great last month because they cancelled the flight before we left the Universal resort, so I was able to add an extra night at our hotel. I just hope if they do cancel us again that it happens before we check out.

 

[Bigmace]

We are flying to SNA on Wednesday on southwest. From Portland to Vegas and Vegas to Orange County. Hopefully no issues. Will report back.

 

[Bigmace]

Decided we didn't want to risk it, just cancelled our SW flight for Wednesday and booked us a flight on Delta for tomorrow night.

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

Yeah, it was a mess. Sunday flight from SNA (Orange County/John Wayne) to Denver was supposed to be 2:05. Sunday morning it was canceled and changed to 9:00 pm. Then delayed a couple of times.. and finally around 7:30 they just canceled it. We had to return the rental, so we went back to SNA, and spoke with the gal at the SW counter. They had automatically rebooked us for Monday at 8:00 pm something. She looked at LAX - nothing earlier. We had her book the 5:30pm out of Long Beach.

It was late at this point, and we were the only ones standing there at the SW counter at SNA. She gave us a voucher for the Hilton Irvine Airport hotel that is literally across the street. I kept checking my app, and at like 11:00pm, an earlier flight popped open. It was a miracle - 12:10 pm departure at LGB. We had to pay for an Uber to LGB and arrived around 10am, the 5:30 one we were supposed to be on was already delayed. We were SO lucky our 12:10 flight took off a little before 1. They had to ask 3 people to wait and gave them a $600 voucher plus cost of the flight.

I love SW, and really hope things get better. I think this may have been a coordinated thing with the pilots . I had never flown out of LGB, and really liked it. It reminds me a bit of Burbank.

 

[MillauFr]

I have a few thoughts:

I've flown multiple times since June. PDX-DEN-OKC-MCO. On the way back, it was an impressive cluster. It was supposed to be MCO-ORD-SJC-PDX and take about 7 hours. It took something like 16 hours. It became MCO-OKC-ORD (orginally a stop but no layover, but cancelled while they were counting us)-PHX-PDX. Apparently there were computer issues, pilots hitting their day-max hours, shortage of flight attendants, and bad weather.

You must not mind connections. Why not just fly the non-stop on Alaska between PDX and MCO?

 

[lalasmama]

You must not mind connections. Why not just fly the non-stop on Alaska between PDX and MCO?

There's lots of reasons we don't always fly direct.

We love seeing new airports.

I get antsy after like 3 hours in a plane, and my anxiety gets bad, so a layover is really helpful for me; I can walk concourses, stretch out, not feel so claustrophobic, eat a meal, and prepare for another 3-ish hour trip.

Brand loyalty. Each trip gets me much closer to my A-list boarding! And each trip gets me double points on my credit card.

Price! Alongside that brand loyalty, SW is usually the cheapest non-commuter-plane option.

No paying extra for emergency row exits. *That should have said "Emergency exit rows" but it made me giggle to read it, picturing an airline charging an upgrade $25 for getting to use the mid-cabin emergency exits options, so I'm leaving my oopsie-typing just like it is

Planes used to be only half full pre-pandemic; I'm immunocompromised, so I appreciated rarely having someone immediately next to me, and occasionally no one else even in my row!

To each their own, different strokes for different folks and all that!