Southwest Airlines Cancelled 2/3rds of flights

This is one of the several reasons I hate flying. If I never set foot on a plane again, I'd be perfectly happy.  Too bad train travel is not a really a viable option in this country (believe me, I've tried). 

When I worked for Boeing, SWA was a customer of mine. They epitomized American Capitalism: squeeze every possible dime out of your equipment and staff without cutting corners, leaving very little margin for hiccups. 

It was equally incredible and a shitshow waiting to happen.

Its moments like these where who I truly feel bad for, aside from the thousands of families that are just stuck with no way of getting home, are the ticket agents, customer service phone reps, the flight attendants, and all the other Southwest employees who had absolutely nothing to do with this disaster, but they are going to be the ones dealing with the brunt of everyone's frustration.

The holidays are already a stressful enough time with traveling, especially if you are traveling with kids, and there are going to be a lot of Southwest employees who are going to get raked over the coals by angry customers who have no one else to vent their frustrations to, so they will take it all out on people who are just doing their jobs as best they can.

If I'm on Southwest's executive team, I'm getting my ass on the phones and helping my customer service reps out. I'm heading over to the airport, walking straight up to the ticket counter and asking "What can I do to help you?" They are going to have a lot to answer for when this is all said and done, but right now what's probably most important is for them to be showing their employees "Hey, I'm in this with you and I've got your back."

I have lived in the PHX area for 20+ years, we used to be big fans of SWA but they have really lost it over the past 5 years. No longer a bargain to fly them, but they still act like a bargain airline. We take them occasionally for short hops, but this past weekend was the last straw. Our 12/23 flight PHX->LAS (Vegas) was more than 2 hrs delayed for a 45 minute flight, but the return 12/26 was cancelled without ANY notification whatsoever either email, app or text. We were barely able to rent a car at the last moment, and drove back last night. Only problem- there were no one-way rentals available (lines were hours long at rental center) so we opted for a 5-day rental, and will be making a 24-hr trip back to Vegas end of this week. At least my wife will get to see Carrot Top at the Luxor...

We gave up SWA for American a few years ago, and now agree that next year we'll just drive.

Why is anyone booking SW for anything more than a 500-mile flight?

They cancel, you drive.

Depending on them to deliver you across the country, while stopping here and there, is just silly.  They are not “that much cheaper” to justify what’s happening now.

I’m pretty loyal to SW just because I very frequently fly out of Chicago Midway and DC’s Regan and they have super fast terminals. I seem to have dodged a bullet with only a few hours of delay this holiday but not gonna lie, it’s sucked seeing all the other airlines get out on time 

I have learned the hard way to exclusively fly Delta whenever possible. Especially since DTW is a hub. Asia (multiple points) and Amsterdam and much of the US, they are so solid. 

No, not perfect. But the best I've found. An occasional bad experience, but few and far between.

They definitely upgraded the Northwest service in Detroit.

Learned my lesson last December. Our flight to Florida was cancelled 4 hours before departure because of "staff issues". I didn't bother to rebook which worked out because our return flight was cancelled too. I'll drive to my desired destinations for a few years 

It's not too much more to fly privately.  You need to coordinate (book and resell to buddies/family), think it out, and book judiciously but some outfits are selling individual seats even. I have flown privately three times during Covid just for safety sake (and the bill was a whopper), but my eyes were opened to the added utility.

JSX - has one way flights Denver to Phoenix for $299. It's getting close to worth it. Net Jets is adding many jets to their fleet to keep up, its a year wait or more to get in with them. Other than JSX none of these are going to approach affordable, but it's getting there.

I’m surprised this sort of thing happens considering how much regulation is put up on this industry.

/s

I miss Eastern Airlines, TWA, and Pan-Am.

My sister's SWA flight from Seattle got canceled so she has two tickets to sell.  Section 446 Row 13.  Face value is $195 each.  Post here and I can get you in touch if interested.

We're worried about our southwest flight Jan 2nd. Indy to Orlando. Guessing this mess takes a while to get fixed.. 

Company went to sh*t when Herb Kelleher stepped down

Yes, I can and do understand how bad SWA can be. They were one of the few zero flights into Vegas from my local airport years ago when I had to be there one week out of five for several years. Many frequent flier miles were gathered. I would only fly zero stop to avoid mid trip problems. At the time, the only things I hated were their refusal to assign seats, the prevalence of peanuts (family member allergy), and the experience resembling being in a Greyhound bus.

Once, they stopped the zero stop flights, I dumped them. Hooray! Had to drive to a more distant airport but was lucky enough to find zero stop flights.

Now? It's whoever will get me there zero stop, *excepting* SWA. They have been "fired" by my booking team.

Assigned seats, leg room upgrades, guaranteed storage bins. Nice!

“Issues”

Only flew SW once, from Chi to Philly, and it was a pain. Felt like the old days getting stuffed in the far back of old style planes with 3 seats on each side.

Long time Delta customer and enjoy them. Flying to Orlando for a week at Disney in mid-Jan. Hopefully, wearing a NC shirt! I've had Delta Sky Club membership for years. Has made travel much more relaxing.

Hope all of our fans get there on time!