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<p>Once they expand beyond the borders of The Republic, they become subject to competitive pressures like everyone else. (Econ 101, was that advanced Econ at your Junior University? hahahaha)</p>
<p>I fly Southwest most of the time, and like them a lot. Their employees hustle and seem to like their jobs for the most part, unlike the crews on most of the other mainline carriers I used to fly. </p>
<p>They’ve added a lot of flights to areas in the east and midwest, and I’d guess that their ops has not yet caught up to reality on some of those. </p>
<p>But I flew Southwest out of LaGuardia last winter on a Friday during the onset of a blizzard – we were one of the last flights out before the airport was closed, and required de-icing three separate times – and the following Monday morning I got an unsolicited email from Southwest Proactive Customer Care with a discount code for my next flight and apologies for the long delay in NY. During a blizzard, with sleet. </p>
<p>If I routinely had the problems Xiggi was having, I probably would look elsewhere. I mostly haven’t had those issues, and have had enough good experiences with Southwest to believe that they will figure out their ops problems and resolve them.</p>
<p>I rarely fly SW (don’t care for the cattle car, don’t collect miles on them), but when I have, it’s only been single legs, never a delay, painless. Except I always end up with a center seat. For right now, though, I think I’d avoid them.</p>
<p>From what I’ve read, there are some serious issues going on with the Air Tran merger. Mix that together with issues with ground ops and weather, and it’s not good. Transition is always tough, and they have not dealt well with it. Unhappy employees, tough times. I’d stay away if I could, if it is important to avoid delays, for awhile. I would be so irritated if I had to experience what Xiggi did. Perhaps a SW pilot or employee, or family member will comment.</p>
<p>I’m glad Xiggi posted this, as I really hadn’t though about it, and was considering flying SW pretty soon. Maybe not.</p>
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<p>Not sure how advanced that concept is for others at the JU, but for me … it is. I have been trying to fire my abacus up all morning, and it is not cooperating! </p>
<p>Now, you should note that the first rule of the Republic is that there are none. The Republic invents his own set of economic pressures. :)</p>
<p>I’ve flown Southwest for years, and almost exclusively since moving to TN 7 years ago, even though I’m lifetime platinum on American. Southwest works great for me and I’ve had very few problems. I usually board in the A group or low Bs (by checking in right at 24 hours in advance) and get my aisle seat. Most of the employees (an occasional exception- usually out of Phila) are friendly and helpful. I find the planes much more comfortable than the regional jets we seem to be stuck with on most of the other carriers these days. I do accumulate miles (points) on SW and don’t have trouble using them.</p>
<p>Things are a little different now, MOWC. This is recent:</p>
<p><a href=“The Desert Sun | Palm Springs and Coachella Valley news”>The Desert Sun | Palm Springs and Coachella Valley news;
<p>An excerpt:</p>
<p>"Southwest Airlines, once the most on-time airline in the industry, has lately been the least on-time, according to an analysis by the Chicago Tribune.</p>
<p>The Dallas-based airline, the dominant carrier at Chicago’s Midway airport, placed at the bottom of monthly on-time statistics reported to the Department of Transportation for two consecutive months.</p>
<p>It’s the first time since at least 1995, when the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics started collecting data, that Southwest ranked last for any month, the
Tribune reports."</p>
<p>I fly Southwest at least once a month, and my flights from Phila to BNA tend to arrive early, so I’m glad I’m the exception! We just don’t have many problems out of here unless there is a significant weather event.</p>
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<p>To be clear, the above post reflects the position of many, many travelers across the US. There is a reason why Southwest has garnered such a loyal stable of followers. This will be especially true for people with Dallas connections. Many who traveled extensively between Dallas and other close cities in the Southwest liked the proximity of Love Field over trekking to the massive DFW and its Manhattan-sized airport. </p>
<p>Many were happy to forget the luxury of upgrades, preboarding, reserved seats for the ease of catching the SW Bus. This was especially true for short hauls or for people who loved to be able to change planes after finishing early meetings. </p>
<p>At our home, I remember hearing debates between my parents and their friends. My mother loved Southwest and my father did everything to avoid them and use the same privileges described by MOWC on that other airline that rewarded his 2,000,000 miles account in the 90s. It was a matter of choice and the joke was on him for travel to Austin or Houston! </p>
<p>As far as personal experience, I also enjoy the AA perks that accumulated from plenty of travel abroad. I did, however, fly mostly on Southwest as it was the most convenient airline to my colleges destination. While the service was much better on Alaska Air (an AA partner) on certain routes and especially on Virgin in California, it remained that SW offered a more than decent compromise. Its (old) Rewards program was simple and efficient and … generous. The more recent one is quite pathetic for people who fly short routes, and many benefits have eroded. It is easy to use, but the credits to free travel has gone from generous to expensive. The credit for unused flights remains tops. Changing reservations works great, but again it does come at a cost. No free lunches anymore! </p>
<p>All the above does, however, not explain what has happened recently. I wish it would be part of a temporary issue, but it is has simply gotten worse in the past 2 years. At least on the routes I fly. </p>
<p>I have few reasons to doubt that it works better in other regions. But, again, I cannot complain about the experiences of others. Only what I experience in my region. And the story is simple: it ain’t what it used to be and it is deliberate. Southwest will become more AirTran than Muse Airlines! ;)</p>
<p>My wife and I have been huge fans of Southwest ever since it entered the Philadelphia market a year before our kid started college in Chicago. (Plus . . . Herb Kelleher was my dad’s college friend and fraternity brother, and they spoke on a regular basis until my father died last year.) My wife used to have a job where she traveled constantly, with elite status on three or four airlines, and we still preferred the Southwest “bus”. As someone else said, they seemed to hustle more, but more importantly they lied a lot less. When they didn’t know something, they said they didn’t know, and when they did know they told you what they knew. They didn’t pretend to treat passengers other than as cattle, but they were respectful and good-humored towards their herd, so I never minded. And I really liked the price transparency.</p>
<p>So . . . last week we flew Southwest to Chicago, then Chicago to Minneapolis, then Minneapolis back to Philadelphia through Chicago.</p>
<p>On the way there they lost my luggage. On the way back, they lost EVERYONE’s luggage, on a flight that was 5+ hours late. At Midway, they kept us off the plane for an hour, from 12 midnight to 1 am, supposedly waiting for a crew to come help load the luggage. When we finally got on, and went through de-icing, and takeoff, and landing at 4:00 am, everyone hiked to the luggage carrel and waited 15 minutes or so for the luggage to come. Finally, the belt started, and 15 bags showed up. That was it. Ten minutes later a voice told us to form a line to talk to a baggage agent if we didn’t have our luggage. There were over 50 people waiting for luggage, and all of two luggage agents. The people at the end of the line must have waited 90+ mins., past 5:00 am, to give their particulars. As of right now, the luggage still hasn’t shown up (although they have been calling daily to tell us they haven’t found it yet).</p>
<p>On top of that, they were deceptive and un-helpful at every step of the way, on what was admittedly a disastrous day for them. It was really contemptuous of their customers – something I never thought I would say about Southwest. They burned through years and years of goodwill</p>
<p>The new FAA pilot fatigue rules that went into effect Saturday are also messing things up a bit right now (not that has anything to do with Xiggi’s problems over the past 6 weeks):</p>
<p>[New</a> pilot fatigue rules go into effect this weekend](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2014/01/03/pilot-fatigue-mandatory-rest-new-faa-rules/4304417/]New”>New pilot fatigue rules go into effect this weekend)</p>
<p>That’s discouraging about the luggage. My brother in law’s luggage was lost Friday night (Ft. Myers to PHL) and it hasn’t been found yet. Not good. I’m sorry to hear these experiences. I always felt secure and that my luggage would be fine. Now I’m nervous. I’m flying up to PHL in a couple of weeks with a cat- but the cat will be in the cabin with me at least.</p>
<p>One thing I like about SW is it tends to fly to the smaller terminals in large cities. I would far rather fly out our small terminal in Minneapolis (used to be hideous, but was refurbished several years ago and is now much nicer and quieter than the big terminal). Also would rather go through Midway than O’Hare any day… they are having a rough spell here, but it will take a lot of issues before I consider it to be as bad as most of our other airline options. Delta has lost my baggage and been snotty about it more than once… was thrilled when SW gave us another good choice out of our city.</p>
<p>They’re about to get hit with a big fine for leaving planes on the tarmac too long.</p>
<p>[Southwest</a> Airlines faced its worst nightmares Thursday at Midway Airport - Chicago Business Journal](<a href=“http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2014/01/03/southwest-airlines-faced-its-worst-nightmares.html]Southwest”>http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2014/01/03/southwest-airlines-faced-its-worst-nightmares.html)</p>
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<p>I have flown Southwest for years with no problems. I will be flying with them in @2 weeks but have a non-stop flight. Hope they don’t lose my luggage on a non-stop! :eek:</p>
<p>I haven’t read all the previous posts but it sounds like SW started having problems when they merged with Midway? Hope they work them out…</p>
<p>Honestly I do prefer having an assigned seat now a days. SW has made it more difficult by having people pay for A seats or whatever it is…and I’m never in a convienient place to check in 24 hours ahead of time so I’ll end up in the C section, oh well…</p>
<p>They still offer very inexpensive (direct) flights, free luggage and usually on-time…unless that’s changing now…</p>
<p>I go through great lengths to avoid checking luggage, on any airline.</p>
<p>You can easily check in from your phone at the 24 hour mark. It couldn’t be easier.
They do lose baggage on non-stop flights. That was the case with my brother in law’s bag. It simply doesn’t make the plane and then…</p>
<p>Do you mean merged with Air Tran?</p>
<p>^^Yes, merged with Air Tran! Thank you! :)</p>
<p>MOWC-glad your cat will not be among the lost bags. </p>
<p>But as an animal lover, (more of a dog lover, but cats are cute from a distance) who happens to be highly allergic to cats, I hope I never have to sit near a traveller with a kitty or even a shedding short haired dog. I’ve seen so many dogs on flights lately…most with vests proclaiming “therapy animal”. I feel badly for those 2 legged passengers who have difficulty tolerating proximity to animals. I wonder if there is a solution to such a situation, that allowed Fluffy to travel in the main cabin, but not directly near other passengers? Probably not… Or maybe it’s just not that big a deal to most people.</p>
<p>Sorry for the high jack. I just got a little distracted by the thought of sitting near kitty ;-)</p>
<p>Well, Southwest lets them fly in the cabin under the seat for $80 or so, and this kitty has to make his move back to Philadelphia to be with his person, my son. He’s certainly not a therapy cat but I doubt he will shed outside of his carrier.</p>
<p>BWI airport - there is some problem there. Every Southwest flight I have been on has landed relatively on time, but then we sit waiting (for airport/gate personnel?) to unload us. We are at the gate waiting, waiting. I don’t get it. Everyone on the plane goes from being content to being very angry at Southwest. SW needs to get involved to solve this problem.</p>