Southwest or every other airline in the history of the world?

[Brisketexan 105037]

i have to fly southwest in september
i'm not happy about it.....
++++
 
This comes less than a month after a Southwest Airlines flight descended to just over 500 feet while still 9 miles out from the Oklahoma City airport. In April, a Southwest Airlines flight in Hawaii came within 400 feet of the Pacific Ocean. Last month a Southwest Airlines flight took off from a closed runway in Maine (the story 5 posts up).

That story makes no sense. Why divert to an airport on the other side of the state?

[Aqua Buddha 14581]

1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said:

i have to fly southwest in september

i'm not happy about it.....

++++

 

This comes less than a month after a Southwest Airlines flight descended to just over 500 feet while still 9 miles out from the Oklahoma City airport. In April, a Southwest Airlines flight in Hawaii came within 400 feet of the Pacific Ocean. Last month a Southwest Airlines flight took off from a closed runway in Maine (the story 5 posts up).

Wanted to buzz the tower?

 

[Aqua Buddha 14581]

[Gil Bang 25907]

5 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

i have to fly southwest in september

i'm not happy about it.....

++++

 

This comes less than a month after a Southwest Airlines flight descended to just over 500 feet while still 9 miles out from the Oklahoma City airport. In April, a Southwest Airlines flight in Hawaii came within 400 feet of the Pacific Ocean. Last month a Southwest Airlines flight took off from a closed runway in Maine (the story 5 posts up).

I though "why the fuck is this guy posting a month-old tweet" then I read it.  Oh shit. 

[Gil Bang 25907]

5 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

That story makes no sense. Why divert to an airport on the other side of the state?

agree.  It would make sense if FLL was a major hub for SWA, but I don't believe it is.

Don't we have a Southwest pilot on this board?

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

On 7/20/2024 at 9:36 AM, Hagbard Celine said:

i have to fly southwest in september

i'm not happy about it.....

++++

 

This comes less than a month after a Southwest Airlines flight descended to just over 500 feet while still 9 miles out from the Oklahoma City airport. In April, a Southwest Airlines flight in Hawaii came within 400 feet of the Pacific Ocean. Last month a Southwest Airlines flight took off from a closed runway in Maine (the story 5 posts up).

I recall when I was teen back in the mid 80's taking a flight from Dallas Love to Harlingen and upon approach to Harlingen it seemed like we were flying just above cotton fields not far from the ground for a significant distance before landing.    I made a remark to passenger next to me and he just kind of laughed and said something to the effect that most of SWA pilots were former military and that was nothing for them.    But that was then and this is now where software has taken over more of the cockpit and pilots are not necessarily being turned out in large numbers from the Air Force and Navy like they were during the Cold War era.   Oh and Boeing planes kind of have issues too...   

[Chopper 17228]

On 7/20/2024 at 8:36 AM, Hagbard Celine said:

 

This comes less than a month after a Southwest Airlines flight descended to just over 500 feet while still 9 miles out from the Oklahoma City airport. In April, a Southwest Airlines flight in Hawaii came within 400 feet of the Pacific Ocean. Last month a Southwest Airlines flight took off from a closed runway in Maine (the story 5 posts up).

One Mile At a Time linked to a pilot's youtube analyzing why that happened. At about 7 minutes in he presents the theory that based on the plane's altitude and heading, the Southwest pilots had mistaken a causeway 3 to 4 miles from the airport for the runway, and that they probably weren't using the required backup instrumentation. He says it's similar to 3 other recent, near accidents by Southwest pilots.

 

Edited July 23 by Chopper

[PilotsError 2286]

Also, fuck Southwest for not giving you the whole can of Coke.  You're not a budget airline anymore, disphits.  

[blacklab 11926]

Ask nicely and they'll give you a whole can. 

[HenryJames 66031]

https://apnews.com/article/southwest-assigned-seats-earnings-6869dbe31934c87e049c9e428eae7761

[Tailgate 3021]

Definitely past time for a revamp. Glad they’re doing it and hope they pull it off. I went from a big fan to a no go in 20+ years.

[Upgrayedd 5810]

As an A List preferred who normally gets assigned A 16-19, I hate this.

[Chopper 17228]

2 hours ago, HenryJames said:

https://apnews.com/article/southwest-assigned-seats-earnings-6869dbe31934c87e049c9e428eae7761

Big fan of this Bob Isom quote

Quote

American “did not perform to our initial expectations” because of a since-abandoned sales strategy and an oversupply of domestic flights, CEO Robert Isom said. He said the airline was responding with a strategy that boosts profits and “makes it easy for customers to do business with American.”

"First we tried the strategy where we'd drive down profits and cause our customers tons of grief. That didn't work so we're going to go the opposite direction."

45 minutes ago, Upgrayedd said:

As an A List preferred who normally gets assigned A 16-19, I hate this.

Admit it, you're one of those hundred or so fucks sitting in a wheelchair for boarding who miraculously struts off the plane after landing.

[royiv 9236]

Given their IT challenges in the past, I’m predicting that the change to assigned seats is going to cause another operational meltdown. I would be very cautious about booking a flight on WN in the days leading up to and the days after this implementation.

[Biff Tannen 45660]

1 hour ago, Upgrayedd said:

As an A List preferred who normally gets assigned A 16-19, I hate this.

I am not A list, but I have a system that works great and I too am not a fan of this new development.  

[Biff Tannen 45660]

Are they also getting new planes after the Boeing debacle?

[royiv 9236]

21 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

I am not A list, but I have a system that works great and I too am not a fan of this new development.  

Everyone knows about the wheelchair trick. 

[kevwun 15757]

Boarding takes so damn long on Southwest flights that I am in favor of it just for that reason.

[Brisketexan 105037]

1 hour ago, Chopper said:

Admit it, you're one of those hundred or so fucks sitting in a wheelchair for boarding who miraculously struts off the plane after landing.

God that's so fucking annoying.  Have flown SWA a few times recently, and the fucking wheelchair boarding (and don't forget, the passenger's WHOLE FAMILY gets to board with them) ends up being 25-30 people.  And yes, on at least one of those flights, after we landed, I saw one of the "wheelchair" passengers walking around the terminal and talking on her phone.

They really need to do something to vet that bullshit, because it's just become a fucking scam.

[Aqua Buddha 14581]

37 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

God that's so fucking annoying.  Have flown SWA a few times recently, and the fucking wheelchair boarding (and don't forget, the passenger's WHOLE FAMILY gets to board with them) ends up being 25-30 people.  And yes, on at least one of those flights, after we landed, I saw one of the "wheelchair" passengers walking around the terminal and talking on her phone.

They really need to do something to vet that bullshit, because it's just become a fucking scam.

Beat me to it.

Since they board first, they're always at the front and it takes them forever to get off the plane.  If they used the same boarding system they have now, just put them all on the back rows and see how many people do it then.

[hornbri 1390]

2 hours ago, Chopper said:

Admit it, you're one of those hundred or so fucks sitting in a wheelchair for boarding who miraculously struts off the plane after landing.

Jetway Jesus is real and powerful

[Biff Tannen 45660]

1 hour ago, kevwun said:

Boarding takes so damn long on Southwest flights that I am in favor of it just for that reason.

I don't see why assigned seats would speed up the process.  United, Delta, and American all seem slow as shit to board when I fly them too.

[PilotsError 2286]

Increased leg room for new seats means less legroom for the other seats.

Great.

[MrBig 5367]

I would go even further and assign specific spaces in the overhead bins so people can stop bringing excess luggage on the plane. If your shit doesn’t fit into your slot in the overhead it’s going under the plane. 

[rage-a-holic 4369]

For those of us with Chase SW Visa cards, this makes the 4 free annual boarding upgrades worthless.

[Chewbacca 7765]

6 hours ago, Tailgate said:

Definitely past time for a revamp. Glad they’re doing it and hope they pull it off. I went from a big fan to a no go in 20+ years.

Hopefully they'll reign in the preboarding as well.  Jetway Jesus lives on SWA.

[kevwun 15757]

20 minutes ago, MrBig said:

I would go even further and assign specific spaces in the overhead bins so people can stop bringing excess luggage on the plane. If your shit doesn’t fit into your slot in the overhead it’s going under the plane. 

Yep, people that are several seats away from their overhead luggage creates a clusterfuck while boarding and deplaning.  Especially when it seems like half the fucking people who have luggage in the overhead aren't willing or able to place or retrieve their own bags.

Edited July 25 by kevwun

[TxTower 650]

Yep, people that are several seats away from their overhead luggage creates a clusterfuck while boarding and deplaning.  Especially when it seems like half the fucking people who have luggage in the overhead aren't willing or able to place or retrieve their own bags.

They need to make the “strength challenged” evidence that they can lift their bag over their head to qualify for carry on.

[tx 3 putt 76859]

All this hits close to home, flew southwest last night and paid $40 for A8. Front row baby, all the leg room !!!!!

[closetohumping 17431]

7 hours ago, HenryJames said:

https://apnews.com/article/southwest-assigned-seats-earnings-6869dbe31934c87e049c9e428eae7761

I started this thread stating I don't like their boarding procedure.  I stand by that.  But now, what separates them from the other airlines?

[kevwun 15757]

A free checked bag and lots of direct flight options to places I want to go.

[tx 3 putt 76859]

7 minutes ago, kevwun said:

A free checked bag and lots of direct flight options to places I want to go.

I’d bet that a free checked bag will soon change 

Edited July 25 by tx 3 putt

[Mother mopar 3318]

Also, fuck Southwest for not giving you the whole can of Coke.  You're not a budget airline anymore, disphits.  

They're budget, lol

[conVINCEd 21469]

1 minute ago, Mother mopar said:

On 7/23/2024 at 11:49 AM, PilotsError said:

Also, fuck Southwest for not giving you the whole can of Coke.  You're not a budget airline anymore, disphits.  

They're budget, lol

They ain’t budget to my semi-frequent destinations.

[Upgrayedd 5810]

I guess I need to look at options on status matches.  
 

Alaska (MVP Gold 76k) or Delta (Gold)?  A List Preferred with a Companion Pass.  

[billfromlaketravis 11444]

On 7/23/2024 at 11:49 AM, PilotsError said:

Also, fuck Southwest for not giving you the whole can of Coke.  You're not a budget airline anymore, disphits.  

Fucking this. And they don’t keep anything cold. So after you run out of your tablespoon of ice, you’re on your own. 
 

I believe Miller Lite is only beer they serve now. Just pretty shitty. 

[mycox 582]

1 hour ago, Mother mopar said:

On 7/23/2024 at 11:49 AM, PilotsError said:

Also, fuck Southwest for not giving you the whole can of Coke.  You're not a budget airline anymore, disphits.  

They're budget, lol

They are budget if you want a 7am flight at 10pm flight, otherwise is pretty much the same as other airlines

[Murfdogg21 4412]

Flew out of IAH this morning and back tomorrow, probably for the final time (although SWA had a few flights at IAH  in the early 90s so maybe they will return for a third time). 

[royiv 9236]

3 minutes ago, Murfdogg21 said:

Flew out of IAH this morning and back tomorrow, probably for the final time (although SWA had a few flights at IAH  in the early 90s so maybe they will return for a third time). 

It’s really surprising to me that they couldn’t make IAH work this time around.  There are tons of people in the northern suburbs and they’ve been successful serving multiple airports in S California and the Bay Area. I can’t figure out why it didn’t catch on.

[Murfdogg21 4412]

9 minutes ago, royiv said:

It’s really surprising to me that they couldn’t make IAH work this time around.  There are tons of people in the northern suburbs and they’ve been successful serving multiple airports in S California and the Bay Area. I can’t figure out why it didn’t catch on.

I fly every ~6 weeks and most of the IAH to DAL, DEN, LAS are usually close to full, or not much different than flights I take out of AUS or HOU. I wondered if they were playing chicken with IAH management on rent or gate location and lost. IAH put SWA down in a dungeon area at the end of Terminal A, about what you’d expect for Spirit or Allegiant. My family is fairly loyal to SWA, but we live north of Houston now and won’t make the trek to Hobby very often. 

[closetohumping 17431]

2 hours ago, Mother mopar said:

On 7/23/2024 at 9:49 AM, PilotsError said:

Also, fuck Southwest for not giving you the whole can of Coke.  You're not a budget airline anymore, disphits.  

They're budget, lol

Fuck that.  More often than not they're  every bit as expensive.

[Ghost of LL 15531]

27 minutes ago, royiv said:

It’s really surprising to me that they couldn’t make IAH work this time around.  There are tons of people in the northern suburbs and they’ve been successful serving multiple airports in S California and the Bay Area. I can’t figure out why it didn’t catch on.

It's fucking Boeing.  They can't get enough airplanes.  So it's not that they can't make IAH work.  It's that they don't make as much money out of IAH as they can make flying those planes out of DCA or BOS or FLL.

[4th&Five 41506]

57 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Fucking this. And they don’t keep anything cold. So after you run out of your tablespoon of ice, you’re on your own. 
 

I believe Miller Lite is only beer they serve now. Just pretty shitty. 

Had 2 Lagunitas IPA’s coming home last week. They had at least a few beer options. 

[BurntOrange&White 39930]

Need to change thread title to “Southwest is just like every other airline in the history of the world”

[Mother mopar 3318]

Fuck that.  More often than not they're  every bit as expensive.

Just because they got some consumers fooled don't mean they have us all.

[Gil Bang 25907]

So, CA issues handicap placards for your car.  You need a doctor's letter to get one.

 

SWA should have required something like that for pre-boarding. 

[PilotsError 2286]

.wrong thread.

Edited July 25 by PilotsError
.

[Carl Spackler 3479]

On 7/23/2024 at 10:19 AM, blacklab said:

Ask nicely and they'll give you a whole can. 

Yep, all you gotta do is ask for the can.  Never had an issue with that - on SW or any other airline. 

[PilotsError 2286]

I asked for the can, they said no.  They didn't bring the trolley down the aisle.  They came and took orders like a waiter.  Then they brought out the individual cups row by row like waiters.

Well, technically they didn't say no.  They just never brought it.  

[Deej 76748]

2 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Need to change thread title to “Southwest is just like every other airline in the history of the world”

Herb Kelleher ain't walking through that door.