Southwest - Does this freak you out?

[misslissa]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/06/southwest.planes/index.html?iref=newssearch

DH sent me this today. Does it completely freak you out?

We have flown 14 times with SW and are beyond thrilled that we found a better rate with another carrier for the first time!

 

[CDNmouse]

I was just watching CNN and saw this news story. No great news since we are flying to Orlando on Southwest this weekend.

Perhaps the news came at a good time as SW wouldn't consider flying unsafe airplanes right after this news story.

Gary

 

[misslissa]

bump

 

[Kazzy1548]

Our first trip in 2005, we flew with Jets go. A few weeks after our trip they declared bankrupcy and we later found out that the planes were unsafe...

 

[Ham Ham]

Just landed in my in box from Southwest.

Southwest Airlines: We take Safety Seriously
You may have heard that Southwest Airlines was fined by the FAA regarding recent aircraft inspections. First and foremost, we want to assure you this was never and is not a safety of flight issue.

From our inception, Southwest Airlines has maintained a rigorous Culture of Safety—and has maintained that same dedication for more than 37 years. It is and always has been our number one priority to ensure the Safety of every Southwest Customer and Employee. “We’ve got a 37-year history of very safe operations, one of the safest operations in the world, and we’re safer today than we’ve ever been,” said Southwest CEO Gary Kelly.

Receipt of the FAA letter of penalty gives us the chance to present the facts which we feel will support our actions taken in March 2007. The FAA penalty is related to one of many routine inspections on our aircraft fleet involving an extremely small area in one of the many overlapping inspections. These inspections were designed to detect early signs of skin cracking.

Southwest Airlines discovered the missed inspection area, disclosed it to the FAA, and promptly reinspected all potentially affected aircraft in March 2007. The FAA approved our actions and considered the matter closed as of April 2007.

The Boeing Company has stated its support of Southwest's aggressive compliance plan. Southwest acted responsibly and the safety of the fleet was not compromised, Boeing said.

Former National Transportation Safety Board Inspector-in-Charge Greg Feith said after a review of the available data and information that it’s apparent that there was no risk to the flying public in March 2007 while Southwest Airlines performed their program to re-inspect the small area of aircraft fuselages identified.

Southwest consistently maintains a Leadership role in developing maintenance programs for the Boeing 737 aircraft.

As always, we commit to keeping you informed. Please check southwest.com for periodic updates.

More inf0 from Southwest here.
http://www.southwest.com/swamedia/stmt_20080306.html

 

[trivial]

Between this news and the fiascos over dress code in the last year, I'm not keen on flying with Southwest ever again. Although our flights with Southwest went fine, JetBlue is by far my airline of choice.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Doesn't bother me at all. Still love Southwest.

 

[iluveeyore]

I actually heard this story on Mar. 6 on CNN while sitting at the gate waiting for my flight on SW from Orlando! Plus, I had a connecting flight, so had to ride on two planes. However, no problems, smooth flights, and very entertaining flight attendants. I love SW for their cheap flights and ease of changing flights without penalty. I flew down on Airtran, and ended up paying $175 extra on my $79 flight to change to a day earlier out of necessity - yikes! My flight home was $69 with SW and would have stayed that if I had changed it to another day, as long as the flight I was changing it to was the same price. I'll stick with SW and my ding fares.

 

[wee-haggis]

I think this is a case of the press getting a hold of a story and exagerrating it for sensationalism. Its common knowledge that SWA has an exemplerary safety record and folk should stop freaking out over these exagerated stories.
JMHO

 

[minnie56]

Well it bothers me! Guess because I used to work for a great airline and they all fall short anyways..
Think I will sit on the fence- and watch-for awhile anyways.

 

[pinkerbell]

I think this is a case of the press getting a hold of a story and exagerrating it for sensationalism. Its common knowledge that SWA has an exemplerary safety record and folk should stop freaking out over these exagerated stories.
JMHO

yea, the news doesn't report stories anymore.. it makes them... then it's difficult to tell what the real stories are

 

[tigger2on]

Our first trip in 2005, we flew with Jets go. A few weeks after our trip they declared bankrupcy and we later found out that the planes were unsafe...

We flew on their last flight out of Sanford in 2005 and they had to send a completely different plane!

WE however have flown on SWA in May 2007 and SEpt. 2007 and am flying again with them in May 2008... but I am not worried. There is more of a chance of me getting in a car wreck than a plane wreck.

 

[Kurby]

wow -

i stop watching MAYDAY and listening to the news months before any flights i take - i can't handle knowing......