Southwest and their issues

[JediBonas]

My experiences aside we had some friends visiting last week that tried to fly Orlando to Albany, NY Saturday but flight got cancelled when they were at the gate. We picked them up and they flew today, although they were 3 hours late getting to Albany. First they were short 1 pilot and then when they got out to the runway they returned to the gate to de-board a disruptive passenger.

I'm not scheduled to fly again until November 24.

Yikes, we fly out of Albany and haven't had an issue yet. Starting to get worried about our flights next month - our flight down has already been changed once and the usual morning non-stop is gone.

 

[ScubaCat]

EDIT: Moved my little story to it's own thread.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/m...nture-home-friday-10-8-21-mco-to-mdw.3855786/

 

[dcfromva]

I was originally scheduled to fly home from MCO-DCA on Friday 10/8 at 7:40pm, but the day before I decided to change to the morning flight at 10:35am (on 10/8). My morning flight was delayed about 1/2 hour.

I didn't find out until the next day that my original evening flight had been cancelled (and that was just the first round of cancellations). Holy Toledo!

The troubling thing is I still don't know what exactly caused all these delays, so it is difficult to make a decision about future flights.

One interesting theory is that SWA pilots were getting vaccinated in compliance with company policy (and then they are not allowed to fly for 48 hours). Ref: https://www.faa.gov/coronavirus/guidance_resources/vaccine_faq/

So, if this were the case--maybe we will be okay until 3 weeks from this weekend (for Pfizer) or 4 weeks (for Moderna) when they get their second shot?...

If they don't have enough staffing in general, I don't think that is something that is going to be solved quickly. But, strange--over this whole past summer time there weren't more major disruptions like this one brought on by weather events and so on.

 

[Dakota731]

Two days after the pilots’ union at Southwest Airlines asked a federal judge to block the company’s vaccine mandate, the airline canceled 27% of its planned flights for Sunday, CNBC reported, citing issues with weather and air traffic control that have not resulted in widespread grounding at other airlines.

 

[rangerxenos]

From what I've seen on the news, the main problem is that they were cutting margins way too thin. Too many passengers, not enough staff, and *just* enough planes in service. It's not just SW, Spirit dealt with this over the Summer as well, but SW really seem to have been caught with their pants down this time.

SW is our first choice, and will continue to be, especially for MCO as the only other airlines that go direct for us are other lower cost airlines like Jet Blue and Spirit, and we have friends with many horror stories. Honestly, pre pandemic we flew two or three times a year with SW and never had any issues.

They're inevitably almost always our cheapest choice to fly anywhere, and we get two free checked bags each, saving us hundreds of dollars every flight. It's going to take more than this one mess for us to stop using them.

 

[PrincesCJM]

I'm scheduled to fly on them Saturday to MCO. Fingers crossed for me.

 

[smallworldnh]

How long would you wait before you would be confident enough to fly them? I know they have been having problems for a while. Due to flight changes for our recent trip we purchased tickets on Delta, and are now sitting on Southwest credits. Do you think they will be ok by February? Next July? Any ideas?

I had my return flight to MHT booked a year ago and was getting very nervous with all the news about their issues. We flew home on Saturday afternoon and other than a 40 minute delay, we were able to board and actually arrived home on time. I hope things straighten out with them soon.

 

[JimMIA]

Southwest just seems to be coming unglued. Another 350+ cancellations, hundreds of additional delays. https://www.axios.com/southwest-air...hts-6842c867-178a-43a9-9839-5091a9498e71.html

 

[Colattu]

Yes I may try another airline for our Dec trip. Too risky when they are cancelling one out of every three flights now

Yes rebook with anther airline
The employees are note happy with the vaccine mandate so they are doing old fashion sickout

 

[MDIME]

Just the beginning. Most people are not ok with having mandated vaccines!

 

[JimMIA]

Yes rebook with anther airline
The employees are note happy with the vaccine mandate so they are doing old fashion sickout

Southwest says that is not the reason. So does the head of their pilot's union:

"Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said pilot sick calls were in line with averages seen over the last few months as were the numbers of crews picking up open shifts, but declined to provide specifics."

Link:https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/11/southwest-airlines-shares-tumble-after-mass-flight-cancellations-.html

 

[Marrila]

Southwest says that is not the reason. So does the head of their pilot's union:

"Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said pilot sick calls were in line with averages seen over the last few months as were the numbers of crews picking up open shifts, but declined to provide specifics."

Link:https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/11/southwest-airlines-shares-tumble-after-mass-flight-cancellations-.html

That is exactly what I would expect him to say.

 

[JimMIA]

That is exactly what I would expect him to say.

He's their union president, so I don't know.

OTOH, SWA tried to blame a bunch of their cancellations on weather and air traffic controllers, but the FAA said that wasn't true.

I have a feeling there is more to it than the weather, air traffic controllers, and upcoming vaccine mandate. This seems more like a systemic organizational problem that's been bubbling below the surface for a while.

 

[joxer1014]

Flying out of PHL in mid Nov. and cant afford to switch flights since if I cancel my SW flight I only get a credit and the other airlines are more expensive. I dont have that luxury. Our flight is first thing in the morning so hoping things level off by then.

 

[JimMIA]

Flying out of PHL in mid Nov. and cant afford to switch flights since if I cancel my SW flight I only get a credit and the other airlines are more expensive. I dont have that luxury. Our flight is first thing in the morning so hoping things level off by then.

The business news story I linked above says they will continue to reduce flights in November and December if they have to. At least with an early morning flight, you will have a better chance of getting same day service.

 

[MMSM]

We have round trip Southwest tickets booked to Disneyland for Thanksgiving week and I've been debating all morning canceling to another airline after the fiasco this weekend. Flying a holiday week makes things a bit extra stressful because good luck rebooking a flight with short/no notice. I'm probably going to ditch them for United but haven't made up my mind yet...

I would not travel with Southwest for Thanksgiving. I just saw on news that the end date for vaccine mandate for employees is the day before thanksgiving. It could get worse before better. I would plan a back up if can.

 

[Marrila]

.

 

[cel_disney]

I’ll try them spring or later of next year. This is obviously a labor issue since no other airlines are having the same issues and Southwest doesn’t have enough work force to even handle a few airports having bad weather. Maybe by Spring they’ll have more trained hires and will be able to weather a few thunderstorms without having an operational meltdown. I know the other airlines are short staffed as well but Southwest seems to be short staffed to an extreme the others aren’t.

I have friends that were flying delta this weekend from MCO and were also significantly impacted. Their 7am flight out of Tampa was “delayed” at 1am until 7:30pm.

then they had to wait for a pilot and flight crew to drive from MCO to TPA!! Wheels up was near 10pm.

the problems are everywhere- just not everyone is making the news about it.

I have a SWA flight booked for Nov 3/6th…hoping for the best…

 

[EACarlson]

I have friends that were flying delta this weekend from MCO and were also significantly impacted. Their 7am flight out of Tampa was “delayed” at 1am until 7:30pm.

then they had to wait for a pilot and flight crew to drive from MCO to TPA!! Wheels up was near 10pm.

the problems are everywhere- just not everyone is making the news about it.

I have a SWA flight booked for Nov 3/6th…hoping for the best…

The difference being how quickly thing go fixed for other carriers. Yes, your friends' flight was delayed for 15 hours, but it did take off and get them where they were supposed to go. But on Delta, I don't think I saw a single delay or cancellation out of MCO for a flight scheduled after Noon on Saturday. There were very real weather issues in central Florida friday night, there were ATC issues at JAX friday night, but you shouldn't be having to cancel flights 60 hours later and telling customers that you aren't doing anything for them and we're not giving you your bags back like SW is. 25% of SW's schedule Saturday was cancelled, 10% on Sunday.

 

[BillFromCT]

BTW, American and United already had vaccine mandates in place for all their employees. So if you're going to hang your hat on Southwest's problems being a vaccine mandate, you better switch your flights to Delta, since they're the only major airline without one.