[justjim]

Originally Posted by keepsake

Last time I checked Southwest was the only airline to give its travelers two free pieces of luggage. Could this be their undoing.
When you use another airline you downsize to maybe take one checked (paid for) piece of luggage. Or shove stuff in a carry on.

It seems ironic the airlines that charge an arm and a leg for baggage, don’t have the luggage issue from all the weather delays?

Spot on. A poor management decision SW made regarding luggage IMHO. Their stock has crashed too.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by keepsake

Last time I checked Southwest was the only airline to give its travelers two free pieces of luggage. Could this be their undoing.
When you use another airline you downsize to maybe take one checked (paid for) piece of luggage. Or shove stuff in a carry on.

It seems ironic the airlines that charge an arm and a leg for baggage, don’t have the luggage issue from all the weather delays?

Ironic? Wouldn’t common sense tell us that other airline travelers couldn’t bring the luggage they wanted? How many of those other airline travelers had to ship and pay extra to move their luggage contents where they wanted them?

This was one of those freak weather events combined with some of the biggest flying days of the year. It will all be sorted out and be something our children and grandchildren will remember. I’m amazed how people packed their medications in luggage.

They can go after Southwest and fold them, but then look at the mess we’re left with afterward.

[NewtoFL]

I understand weather plays a big part in the problems with flying but it’s more than that. Two of my kids had two flights cancelled trying to fly home from here. Then Delta put them on a flight with two stops when the original flight was non stop. I spent 2.5 hours on hold with Delta on Christmas Eve. I finally hung up. We went in to the airport in Orlando to try to get a ticket agent to help. They had no flights available in the next four days. They threw their hands up. Nothing they could do. Told me to call for a refund as they can’t issue them. My kids are flying home today on Spirit. I never thought I would see the days when Spirit did a better job than Delta. All airlines need to quite overselling their flights. There is no option when flights get cancelled. I wish the Transportation Secretary would do his job and hold these airlines accountable.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by NewtoFL

I understand weather plays a big part in the problems with flying but it’s more than that. Two of my kids had two flights cancelled trying to fly home from here. Then Delta put them on a flight with two stops when the original flight was non stop. I spent 2.5 hours on hold with Delta on Christmas Eve. I finally hung up. We went in to the airport in Orlando to try to get a ticket agent to help. They had no flights available in the next four days. They threw their hands up. Nothing they could do. Told me to call for a refund as they can’t issue them. My kids are flying home today on Spirit. I never thought I would see the days when Spirit did a better job than Delta. All airlines need to quite overselling their flights. There is no option when flights get cancelled. I wish the Transportation Secretary would do his job and hold these airlines accountable.

I can't imagine why there would be any problem at all on the busiest weekend of the year, during massive nationwide storms. And with Christmas being on a Sunday - it means most "christmas visiting" travel will be on a Friday or Saturday - already the busiest days of the week, even when there's no holiday and perfect weather.

And all of this - hitting a particular airline that offers the most popular flights to Orlando from - everywhere that airline comes FROM, to get to Orlando.

Nah it can't possibly be a COMBINATION of things. It must - absolutely - be Southwest's fault, and no other possible factor added in.

/sarcasm

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by NewtoFL

I understand weather plays a big part in the problems with flying but it’s more than that. Two of my kids had two flights cancelled trying to fly home from here. Then Delta put them on a flight with two stops when the original flight was non stop. I spent 2.5 hours on hold with Delta on Christmas Eve. I finally hung up. We went in to the airport in Orlando to try to get a ticket agent to help. They had no flights available in the next four days. They threw their hands up. Nothing they could do. Told me to call for a refund as they can’t issue them. My kids are flying home today on Spirit. I never thought I would see the days when Spirit did a better job than Delta. All airlines need to quite overselling their flights. There is no option when flights get cancelled. I wish the Transportation Secretary would do his job and hold these airlines accountable.

I’m not trying to be mean here, but what the heck…do people live under rocks? The possibility of the severity of this storm was forecasted over seven days before it hit. We weren’t flying anywhere but thought we’d change plans in a hurry if we were.

Where is the personal responsibility for poor planning? Airlines offered to reschedule flights to another time for no charge. This whole mess is because of the poor decision of travelers not to postpone their party.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

I can't imagine why there would be any problem at all on the busiest weekend of the year, during massive nationwide storms. And with Christmas being on a Sunday - it means most "christmas visiting" travel will be on a Friday or Saturday - already the busiest days of the week, even when there's no holiday and perfect weather.

And all of this - hitting a particular airline that offers the most popular flights to Orlando from - everywhere that airline comes FROM, to get to Orlando.

Nah it can't possibly be a COMBINATION of things. It must - absolutely - be Southwest's fault, and no other possible factor added in.

/sarcasm

All true, EXCEPT.......

It wasn't just Orlando, Southwest cancelled over 3,000 flights Monday representing half of all cancellations GLOBALLY. Meanwhile, American Airlines had 17, yes 17 cancellations that day (but they had over 700 delays). The son of a friend of ours is a pilot for Southwest, apparently, they weren't in the locations they needed to be, but hours of flying time was not an issue. He also stated there was a rumor among employees that they had been hacked. So there may be more to the story

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

All true, EXCEPT.......

It wasn't just Orlando, Southwest cancelled over 3,000 flights Monday representing half of all cancellations GLOBALLY. Meanwhile, American Airlines had 17, yes 17 cancellations that day (but they had over 700 delays). The son of a friend of ours is a pilot for Southwest, apparently, they weren't in the locations they needed to be, but hours of flying time was not an issue. He also stated there was a rumor among employees that they had been hacked. So there may be more to the story

The bolded underlined part is - pretty important. If they're not where they need to be, then they can't get to where they're supposed to go. That's basically the underlying problem in this current situation. The planes weren't where they needed to be, in order to get where they were going. A plane can't just take off from wherever it happens to be and go to whatever destination the airline wants it to go to, spontaneously.

It requires flight plan changes, which change the entire pattern in the skies of ALL planes flying in any given area at any given moment. One plane taking off from the wrong place at the wrong time can spell disaster. It is a very carefully coordinated process.

[Babubhat]

Crews and planes out of position. That will never change. Crews need rest but to time them out for sitting in airport idle for delays needs to be resolved. They have private rest areas to recharge which could dramatically improve performance

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

The bolded underlined part is - pretty important. If they're not where they need to be, then they can't get to where they're supposed to go. That's basically the underlying problem in this current situation. The planes weren't where they needed to be, in order to get where they were going. A plane can't just take off from wherever it happens to be and go to whatever destination the airline wants it to go to, spontaneously.

It requires flight plan changes, which change the entire pattern in the skies of ALL planes flying in any given area at any given moment. One plane taking off from the wrong place at the wrong time can spell disaster. It is a very carefully coordinated process.

Agree. And apparently Southwest has a somewhat outdated system for accomplishing this, which therefore might also have some security vulnerabilities. We may learn more, and then again, we might not. Meanwhile my wife had a flight back from New England this evening, which was cancelled YESTERDAY morning. She is now looking at Saturday, if all goes well. Less than an hour after she grabbed that Saturday flight, Jan 3 became the earliest available.

[tophcfa]

Southwest used to be our go to for many years before Covid. All the airlines obviously suffered during the early Covid times, but unlike the other airlines that seemed to get their act back together, Southwest never got back to anywhere close to where they were before. They used to always have more non stop flight options, very competitive prices, and a decent cancellation/delay record versus other airlines. These days Southwest seems to have way fewer non stop flight options, very expensive fares, and a horrible on time/cancellation record. In my opinion, JetBlue eats Southwests lunch these days. It sucks for us as we have about a quarter million unused Southwest travel points that we are reluctant to use. We stopped using our Southwest credit cards a couple years ago as the points no longer have much value to us. We actually preferred Southwest’s no seat assignment boarding policy when flying to/from Orlando. We liked boarding AFTER Southwest allowed families with kids to board, that way we could select seats that weren’t close to screaming and kicking kids wearing mouse ears. Southwest has gone sooooo far downhill their performance is beyond excuses, it’s got to be BAD MANAGEMENT.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

Agree. And apparently Southwest has a somewhat outdated system for accomplishing this, which therefore might also have some security vulnerabilities. We may learn more, and then again, we might not. Meanwhile my wife had a flight back from New England this evening, which was cancelled YESTERDAY morning. She is now looking at Saturday, if all goes well. Less than an hour after she grabbed that Saturday flight, Jan 3 became the earliest available.

I have a friend trying to get from Georgia to Colorado, and his flight was cancelled. He got a new flight, and THAT one was cancelled. The earliest he can get home by air, now, is Saturday. So he's decided to rent a car and drive. He'll be home by Thursday night.

[justjim]

Heads should roll at Southwest Airlines starting with the CEO and on down the line.

[djlnc]

Originally Posted by justjim

Heads should roll at Southwest Airlines starting with the CEO and on down the line.

There is a relatively new CEO at SW and he is not very popular. SW management may be partly to blame for this mess. When there is a weather event like a major hurricane coming they act proactively to shut down airports. They knew this blizzard was coming...I don't whether they could have done a better job to prepare for it.

[WharfRat]

Originally Posted by NoMo50

Southwest Airlines has cancelled about 3,000 flights during the post-Christmas travel rush. This included a Thursday flight family members were on leaving out of Orlando. A check of the SWA website showed ZERO flights leaving Orlando until Saturday, December 31st. Of all airline cancellations, Southwest is accounting for nearly 75% of the total.

Calls to Southwest "customer service" number were met with either busy signals, or immediate disconnection. We could not even get the privilege of being placed on hold for hours. Fortunately, we were able to book our family members on an American Airlines flight before the inevitable price gouging kicked in. The same flight we booked our kids on 3 hours ago is now showing fares SIX TIMES what we booked for.

Southwest has made press comments with a wide variety of excuses for these mass cancellations. However, I have not seen "bad management" mentioned a single time by the airline. I feel bad for the thousands of travelers stuck around the country who are trying to get home. Southwest Airlines truly is the Grinch who stole Christmas.

Good analysis here:

Flight cancellations: Why Southwest Airlines is melting down | CNN Business

[Harold.wiser]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

While management of communications is a big problem they need to fix, I have heard "reasons" rather than "excuses."

Logistics is a huge deal.

In order for planes to leave out of Orlando, there has to be planes IN Orlando. Those planes were coming from the north - where airports have been shut down. No planes = no flights out. Some planes went out of Orlando, but some were supposed to go to airports that were shut down due to the "climate change that doesn't exist" - not existing again in the north. So those planes couldn't leave Orlando.

You have planes NOT coming from shut-down airports, and planes NOT going to shut-down airports, and you have an entire airline that is blocked from travel.

Yeah, because before the media invented "climate change" we never, ever had snow storms. Gimme a break!