Southwest Air Debacle

[Marrila]

If the crew (Pilot or Co-pilot or Flight Attendants) didn't arrive last night as originally scheduled then this mornings flight would be delayed or canceled. You have to remember that the FAA dictates the number of hours that a crew member can be "on duty".. not necessarily in the air. The Domino affect can go on for a couple days because of it is all I am saying.

I'm familiar with the concept of crew rest.
I agree Southwest currently has concerning personnel issues.
Hopefully Southwest will find a fix soon.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

That's crazy, SleepngBeauty. I wonder why they just don't but her on a competing airline. Over a week of food, hotel and a car must be more expensive than an airline ticket.

Southwest does not have interline agreements that allow them to move passengers to flights on other carriers. They also do not list their flight schedules with the online travel agencies like Expedia. All part of their “do it different” culture going back to their founding as a small, low-cost regional airline (even though they now originate a significant share of daily domestic flights).

 

[kathi]

My friend's mom missed a cruise due to the delays over the weekend (and she was flying in the day before). We changed our flight down for our Christmas cruise to American, just to be safe. It was more money, but rather safe than sorry. SW clearly has some management issues right now and as much as I enjoy flying with them, going to take a SW break.

 

[wfjny]

I think, but have no obvious proof, that events like this are assisting with the downward spiral of travel.

Three years ago, we went to Disney with friends. We live eight hours away by car, and our trip was basically 8 hours door to door. Our friends that were meeting up with us choose to fly. Their trip only took 6 hours door to door. To make life easier for them to return home, we took some of their baggage including some big box items they bought back home in our car.

For various reasons (TSA, Cost Increases, Baggage Policies, Flight Delays, Mask Policies, Flight Cancellations, Fights), I "think" more people are choosing not to take to the friendly skies. Traveling in your own car seems to be a better way to go, if it is an option.

Many people that I talk to are choosing to vacation closer to home. but again, this is my very unscientific observation. However, i think it makes sense.

 

[MomOTwins]

I think, but have no obvious proof, that events like this are assisting with the downward spiral of travel.

Three years ago, we went to Disney with friends. We live eight hours away by car, and our trip was basically 8 hours door to door. Our friends that were meeting up with us choose to fly. Their trip only took 6 hours door to door. To make life easier for them to return home, we took some of their baggage including some big box items they bought back home in our car.

For various reasons (TSA, Cost Increases, Baggage Policies, Flight Delays, Mask Policies, Flight Cancellations, Fights), I "think" more people are choosing not to take to the friendly skies. Traveling in your own car seems to be a better way to go, if it is an option.

Many people that I talk to are choosing to vacation closer to home. but again, this is my very unscientific observation. However, i think it makes sense.

I told my husband that if Southwest cancels us we could drive rather than miss the cruise, but I do NOT want to. Not only is it riskier (have lost love ones to car accidents), it's exhausting, and it has the possibility of things going wrong too. We did a 7-hour road trip for fourth of July that turned into an 11-hour one because there were so many accidents on the road freezing up traffic, as well as slowdowns from roadside construction. I remember a road trip with my parents when I was young where our car broke down on a mountain in the middle of the Rockies in Colorado, and we had to spend the night at a random dive-y motel while it was repaired. Travel of all kinds has its ups and downs.

 

[Kwami]

I told my husband that if Southwest cancels us we could drive rather than miss the cruise, but I do NOT want to. Not only is it riskier (have lost love ones to car accidents), it's exhausting, and it has the possibility of things going wrong too. We did a 7-hour road trip for fourth of July that turned into an 11-hour one because there were so many accidents on the road freezing up traffic, as well as slowdowns from roadside construction. I remember a road trip with my parents when I was young where our car broke down on a mountain in the middle of the Rockies in Colorado, and we had to spend the night at a random dive-y motel while it was repaired. Travel of all kinds has its ups and downs.

For sure. I don't like driving when I don't have to. It might be more convenient sometimes, but it's also very dangerous and unpredictable. If I'm going somewhere that requires more than a 3-hour drive, then I'll find a different way to get there.

 

[mmouse37]

Not SW but United....we recently had bad weather come through NY and were supposed to get 8 or 9 inches of rain overnight. We had a Friday early AM flight and I had visions of flooded runways so when I woke up Thursday and saw the weather for that night I switched our flight to Thursday PM, hoping we got out before the storm hit. We we got to the airport and the sky kept getting darker and darker...I had hope that we would get out but after two delays and then checking and finding out the plane coming into EWR was just diverted to Cleveland I know our flight would be cancelled momentarily.....and yep it was. Could not get a flight on that Friday at all so had to take a 7 am flight on Saturday therefore missing 2 days at WDW. So glad I booked WDW before our cruise instead of after.

We tried to get our checked luggage back but that was not happening....found out on Friday that our bags were already in Orlando so it was super easy to just pick up our bags from the corral at MCO when we landed on Saturday.

This ramble was just to say that yes, bad weather can cause a ripple effect and disrupt flights for a day or two after.

MJ

 

[Snowwhyt]

We're booked for WBPC, and flying Southwest, in March and its got me a bit concerned, even though it is still 4+ months out. Mainly because it shows us just what could happen.

Our contingency if something like this happens is to rent a car and drive the 16+ hours to New Orleans from Omaha. Our flight is scheduled for 2:45pm that Thursday, hopefully we would know several hours beforehand that there is going to be a problem.

Also our plan. But it’s 24hr drive with luggage for 5 adults (my parents @78, me, and my daughter & boyfriend) switching drivers and every 3 hour bathroom break starting from Green Bay WI. And we would have to leave as soon as the flight would have taken off. A 3:15 flight the day before gets us a good night sleep before the cruise. A canceled 3:16 flight gets us an uncomfortable ride with no time to spare. Maybe they would find us a later flight just a little south for us? I’m thinking I may have to use Disney travel this year for airfare.

 

[MrBellatrixLestrange]

For sure. I don't like driving when I don't have to. It might be more convenient sometimes, but it's also very dangerous and unpredictable. If I'm going somewhere that requires more than a 3-hour drive, then I'll find a different way to get there.

Any method of transportation can be risky, I actually had several friends, one of whom was a movie star and another that was a millionaire with his wife, that went on a boat trip that was only supposed to last three hours but they were never heard from again.

 

[MrBellatrixLestrange]

Southwest pilots are using up their unused sick and vacation time before they are fired next month. Funny how southwest is saying weather cancellations when every other airline wasn’t affected by the supposed weather delays.

I'm not a Southwest customer but if I was it would really bother me that they seem to be blatantly lying to the their customers. There seems to be a lot of speculation as to what the real cause is but it doesn't seem like the reason they're giving holds up to even the most minimal level of scrutiny.

 

[a1tinkfans]

It’s just PLAIN ( should be plane) awful
Have family stuck in nashville trying to get back to the east coast
Flight canceled outright

other family DELAYED… tho that’s iffy in Lauderdale headed north
so many plans upended.
I used to fly them most often and have a LOT of mikes left
But their cut back on non stops coupled with less and flights that were removed, turned us to Jetblue!
And what a pleasure that’s been.
No seat nonsense. Plenty of non stops and available flights

good luck all, hope u All get where u need, as soon as possible with limited headaches.

 

[DCLMP]

I would expect this problem to continue for many months and not just Southwest. Pilots can shut the airline down if they want. The unions will always deny any culpability. You see this kind of stuff during contract negotiation. This is same thing different reason.

 

[DCLMP]

Southwest pilots are using up their unused sick and vacation time before they are fired next month. Funny how southwest is saying weather cancellations when every other airline wasn’t affected by the supposed weather delays.

I don’t think that is what they are doing at all.

 

[Marrila]

I don’t think that is what they are doing at all.

Your thoughts?

 

[Kwami]

Your thoughts?

The FAA seemed to corroborate Southwest's position. Anything else seems to be wild speculation.

 

[Marrila]

The FAA seemed to corroborate Southwest's position. Anything else seems to be wild speculation.

In a small limited way, yes. But amazingly, the rest of the airlines were doing business as usual. Southwest's cancellation and delay numbers are sky high vs their competition.
Hope they recover soon.

 

[MrBellatrixLestrange]

The FAA seemed to corroborate Southwest's position. Anything else seems to be wild speculation.

The fact that Southwest doesn't utilize a hub-and-spoke system like the other major airlines makes widespread issues caused by weather more unlikely. It's more plausible that they could have minor issues that impact flights downstream more often than their competitors while a major issue like this would be less likely.

 

[Kwami]

The fact that Southwest doesn't utilize a hub-and-spoke system like the other major airlines makes widespread issues caused by weather more unlikely. It's more plausible that they could have minor issues that impact flights downstream more often than their competitors while a major issue like this would be less likely.

Southwest has major weather disruptions all the time. I used to regularly fly to/from Texas and New England and I very often had to stay longer than planned because of snow, hurricanes, and other weather problems. Sometimes, I've had to stay for multiple days because there weren't any available flights due to the cancelations.

Regardless, Southwest, the SW pilot union, and the FAA all seem to agree that the cancelations were a combination of weather and air traffic control problems. Random people on the Internet can say whatever they want to without evidence, but that doesn't make them right.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Any method of transportation can be risky, I actually had several friends, one of whom was a movie star and another that was a millionaire with his wife, that went on a boat trip that was only supposed to last three hours but they were never heard from again.

Exactly! A 3 HOUR TOUR!
Hey, it could happen.

 

[erik3dis]

Come on folks, it wasn't a weather problem that caused one airline to cancel 1800

Southwest has major weather disruptions all the time. I used to regularly fly to/from Texas and New England and I very often had to stay longer than planned because of snow, hurricanes, and other weather problems. Sometimes, I've had to stay for multiple days because there weren't any available flights due to the cancelations.

Regardless, Southwest, the SW pilot union, and the FAA all seem to agree that the cancelations were a combination of weather and air traffic control problems. Random people on the Internet can say whatever they want to without evidence, but that doesn't make them right.

You have to ask yourself why "weather and air traffic delays" affected Southwest so much harder than other airlines. Their inability to manage whatever issues they were facing, resulting in over 2,000 cancellations, is a huge red flag over their dependability.