Southwest Airlines Television Show on A&E

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I've been hooked on this show since I found out about it a few months ago. One thing's for sure; it's given me a new appreciation for some of the stuff airline employees (especially gate agents) have to put up with.

For example, the guy on last night with the glasses who was denied boarding. I love Colleen, the blonde in Chicago. She doesn't put up with ANY crap. I'm sure there was more to his story than what was shown or even filmed. Even so, there's no excuse for yelling and cursing at the gate agents, especially when a delay is caused by severe weather (and bad weather may be 200 miles away, but it can have a ripple effect nationwide).

I do wonder something -- why would people who act like that sign the release to air the segment (and I'm sure they have to sign a release; they've had some people where they blurred their faces)? Do they want their 15 minutes of fame that much, or do they not realize exactly how bad their behavior was? Probably a combination of the two.

Last night was the second time they've had problems with overbooking. One time they had a flight overbooked by something like 50 people. I can understand the concept for overbooking (people miss flights due to traffic, catch an earlier or a later flight, etc.), but overbooking by that much seems excessive to me.

But they do balance the show with segments like the guy who proposed to his girlfriend and the bodybuilder from last night, the couple adopting a baby, the retiring pilot on his last flight, and one employee training to drive the tug vehicles by pushing one off from a precarious gate at LAX.

 

[Lorix2]

I felt horrible for the Liberatore family trying to get back to Buffalo. The family with 4 kids.

They had overbooked their last segment and were stranded. Does this mean no reservation is guaranteed anymore?

 

[Deb T.]

I fly a lot, and see overbooking a lot. Evidently, the airlines all book a certain percentage of seats more than what they actually have on an airplane, based on how many people typically don't show up for their flight for whatever reason. As long as you have a boarding pass for your flight, you are considered checked-in and are guaranteed a seat. However, if you happen to be one of the last few people to check-in, then you are considered on the stand-by list and bumped if everyone else shows up, even though you might have purchased your ticket months ago. The gate agents will ask for people to voluntarily be bumped for extra compensation, (usually a travel voucher for an amount between $200 and $400 depending on the airline) and a seat on a later flight (which is not always a guaranteed seat!). Southwest also refunds that leg of the ticket. It's not a fair system for the customer at all, but it helps to keep planes full for the struggling airlines. However, as long as you get to the airport in the 1-2 hour time period prior to your flight's departing time, as the airlines now require, then you should be fine. It's the people who show up at the last minute who have problems.

I agree with minniecarousel - a lot of Southwest's problems stem from no seat assignments. It creates a "gotta grab my seat" mentality at the gate with people lining up in the A-B-C lines as soon as they get there. It also separates families, as aprilgail2 states. But, as long as Southwest is making money, I doubt they'll change their policy on that. Sad.

 

[Lorix2]

thanks DebT, I wasn't sure how things went since I haven't flown since '89.

 

[Pugdog007]

Originally posted by aprilgail2
I agree!! Soutwest flys out of an airport 15 minutes from my house but I choose to go 50 minutes the other way to fly jet blue where the employees are the best I have ever experienced and they actually assign you seats!! I called southwest for a flight to orlando and I could not believe what they told me....they told me that even though they do preboard families with small children that since I was goign to Orlando and everyone would be a family with small children they could not gaurentee I would be seated with my child....HELLO???SHE IS 4 YEARS OLD!!! There is no way in heck I am going to be seated anywhere that is not right next to my child....their system STINKS!!!

You would have no problem being seated next to your child as long as you're checked in 1 1/2 hrs before your flight leaves. Usually the A-B tickets have no problem... it's the C's that typically don't get to choose because they are the last one's on. Some people actually like the open seating on SW. You can book your flight the day before... but as long as you're at the airport early you will have no problem getting a good seat. FYI you can now print your boarding pass from home too (from southwest website). I'll never have B-C passes again!

 

[Cruise04]

I just came upon this show yesterday and was fascinated by it.

 

[4greatboys]

Originally posted by DMickey28
Meeko was the stuntman, Mimi was the girlfriend he was waiting for.

Did you notice that his girlfriend was the really drunk girl they wouldn't allow to fly? The one saying she was supposed to be getting married the next day. When she took out a picture of her boyfriend, you could see it was the stuntman waiting for her.

I didn't notice that. I thought that drunk girl was going to Cleveland and she was in Midway. The stuntman was in LA and his girlfriend was coming in from Orlando. hum???

Your right. At first I thought they were bf/gf but then I remembered she was trying to get to Cleveland and he was in LA.

Originally posted by aprilgail2
I agree!! Soutwest flys out of an airport 15 minutes from my house but I choose to go 50 minutes the other way to fly jet blue where the employees are the best I have ever experienced and they actually assign you seats!! I called southwest for a flight to orlando and I could not believe what they told me....they told me that even though they do preboard families with small children that since I was goign to Orlando and everyone would be a family with small children they could not gaurentee I would be seated with my child....HELLO???SHE IS 4 YEARS OLD!!! There is no way in heck I am going to be seated anywhere that is not right next to my child....their system STINKS!!!

Do you mean they were not preboarding anyone on your flight? We always get to preboard here in Houston and in Orlando. And yes, especially in Orlando there is a big preboard line. They wanted us to preboard 1 parent and the 2 little ones (we also have 2 teens) but I told them both of us needed to preboard with the little ones. My 2 yr old alone is quite a handful. We just saved seats for my 2 teens. We did see a family in front of us preboarding with big kids, around 8 and 9--way over the 4 yr old mark.

 

[4greatboys]

Originally posted by Lorix2
I felt horrible for the Liberatore family trying to get back to Buffalo. The family with 4 kids.

They had overbooked their last segment and were stranded. Does this mean no reservation is guaranteed anymore?

Yes it looks that way. They know how to take the reservation, they dont know how to keep the reservation
They had one flight overbooked by 50 people Thats just ridiculous.

 

[AirForceRocks]

I watched this on and off all day yesterday, and my personal favorite was the lunatic mother that insisted that if both she and her DH didn't go to the boarding area, her kids might be kidnapped because "I can't watch and handle two kids". What a loser. I hated that they gave into her and issued another security pass.

 

[jrydberg]

I was watching that same one AFR. I was REALLY hoping they'd deny her. If she can't handle two kids, why does she have two?

 

[MHopkins2]

Originally posted by AirForceRocks
I watched this on and off all day yesterday, and my personal favorite was the lunatic mother that insisted that if both she and her DH didn't go to the boarding area, her kids might be kidnapped because "I can't watch and handle two kids". What a loser. I hated that they gave into her and issued another security pass.

OMG, me too!!!! What a moron that woman is.

 

[minniecarousel]

It's so unfair that people flying on the same airline, but having to change planes are penalized for "not checking in early enough" when the previous leg of their trip is what kept them from checking in on time. Kinda hard to check in 1-2 hours early when you are on one of their other planes!

 

[Belle1962]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22276-2004Jul1.html


They filmed at BWI. Here is an article from the Washington Post--they do get people to sign a waiver.

 

[jrydberg]

Does Southwest not check you in for your entire trip? Every other airline I've flown does this. You get your boarding passes for each flight when you check in at your departure airport.

 

[Pugdog007]

Originally posted by jrydberg
Does Southwest not check you in for your entire trip? Every other airline I've flown does this. You get your boarding passes for each flight when you check in at your departure airport.

Most times, yes. There have been a few times that my originating airport could not give me a boarding pass for my connection but it is rare. However, I would surmise that these are the times when the connecting flight is overbooked.

 

[psupple]

I really think the woman who got dressed, did her hair and makeup right in the terminal was very funny...not funny, haha, but funny, odd.

She had the guy next to her hold her mirror and hold up a towel while she changed in her chair. And she says to him, "Thank you for your work on Mars. That's so nice!"

Her disposition was so nice (although crazy) until she found her mother...then she started swearing and telling her to get out of the wheelchair.

Boy, some people are really strange.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Does anyone know when the next showing will air? Will you PM me? I hate missing all of these good shows!!

 

[allieoop]

There is one good thing about Southwest not having "assigned" seats. It gives DH and me a chance to watch people in the waiting area and decide who we do NOT want to sit near.

 

[Deb T.]

Stepharoonie - a pm is on the way.

Allieoop - lol You cracked me up with that post because it's soooo true!

 

[4greatboys]

How about the lady who was mad because her suitcase was "lost". It was on the belt right behind her going round and round and she was giving the cs rep a bunch of grief. She was never flying SWA again!! Then someone brought her suitcase to her and she said it wasnt hers and they said well isnt your name Oliver?? And she said yes and looked again and low and behold it was her suitcase