[Carlsondm]

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.

This is a weather event, not climate change. Logistics and location of the airline hub caused further problems. Major headache.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by talonip

I am an ex American airline pilot. Retired after 33 years. Those of you that think SWA is the problem are wrong. Some of you have commented that American and all the other other airlines are on time and doing a great job. Nothing could be more false. I m in STL trying to get back to mco. on any airline including American. Everything is either cancelled or overbooked. I finally found a ticket on Frontier Friday. You have no idea of the complexity of the airline business the airlines don’t just have extra airplanes sitting around and air crews. They are scattered around the system. Schedulers are pulling their hair out trying to rebuild the system. Folks it is the weather, closed airports and many other factors that have created this. It’s not Southwest and it’s baggage policy. I fly SWA all the time. Love them.

The public just doesn’t get it though, do they? They couldn’t figure out that they should just stay home for this holiday due to a huge threatening weather front. They’d rather blame the airlines for their own poor judgment.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by dnobles

We got canceled 2xs from Albany NY. There were several families trying to get to Disney sad. Kids crying. We at least could go back to our sons. We can’t get home until Monday.

One has to wonder what kind of parents would subject their children to flying while the states were facing this dangerous storm front. Disney is supposed to be there for a while yet.

[contiki98]

Originally Posted by NoMo50

A check of the SWA website showed ZERO flights leaving Orlando until Saturday, December 31st.

That is interesting because I flew Southwest out of Orlando on Tuesday, 12/28. There were many flights coming and going. And yes, I know, I was one of the lucky ones.

[justjim]

Originally Posted by Aces4

The public just doesn’t get it though, do they? They couldn’t figure out that they should just stay home for this holiday due to a huge threatening weather front. They’d rather blame the airlines for their own poor judgment.

Last time we flew during the Holidays was about 10-12years ago. Parking lots at the airport were full so had to park miles away and shuttle. We thought we might miss our flight. Nope, it was cancelled. We were lucky got another one hours later. Not much fun. From that miserable experience we learn not to fly just before a holiday. Prior to retiring I was stranded in Chicago O’hare during a snowstorm and I can identify with those travelers stranded this past weekend. No fun at all.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by talonip

I am an ex airline pilot and your summation is excellent. Most people think every airline has extra airplanes just sitting around. Weather is the culprit here not the airlines. Flight crews are scattered around the system at closed airports and airplanes are too. Airlines are part of one of the most complicated businesses in the world

Back when I was a "professional temp" (long-term Kelly Girl), I had an assignment working for the Chief Pilot at USAir at BOS (Logan Int'l in Boston). One of my daily tasks was putting the daily flight change sheet in the mail slots in the attendants' room, and replacing the previous with the new in each pilots' binder.

You learn a lot being the CP's secretary for four months.

[keepsake]

Did one plane crash in the last week ? Did anybody die ? There is much to be thankful then.
So many regulations come from GOVT. It is more than ever before, no bureaucrat ever cancels a regulation. The minute the weather gets bad and travelers max out, there will be dissatisfaction galore.

[pokeefe45@aol.com]

I think I might have a unique perspective on this topic. I am a very frequent flier on Southwest for more than 20 years, an 'A' lister and have a companion pass that allows my wife to travel free with me wherever and whenever I fly Southwest-Which is quite a bit.
I was booked to fly from Manchester, NH to Orlando to return home to TV on the 26th. Drove 2 hours from Mount Washington to the airport on the day after Xmas to catch our flight home.
No text or status update was sent to me (which happens all the time on SW to me)-no emails-no notification-just had to show up at the airport to find my flight cancelled. Not typically the way SW operates.
To those of you who are 'blubbering' on about the weather and why didn't we know or understand-that's 'smallmindedness' at it's best. The weather was cleared by the 26th in most parts of the country-with some exceptions like Denver and Buffalo-And I WILL always travel to see family at Xmas-no matter what the weather-so factoring in a delay or disruption here and there is normal. But NEVER have I been exposed to SW Air not being able to give me ANY alternatives for 4 days to get back to Florida. Nothing till the 30th they told me. Not from Manchester or Boston, or Providence or even New York. Finally after about an hour of continually asking different questions, my wife and I were booked on a plane from Baltimore to Orlando the next evening. NO flight from Manchester to Baltimore existed with availability, so we rented a car and DROVE 9 hours to the Baltimore airport-stopping at a hotel to grab a few hours of midday sleep. Quite a taxing ordeal, to say the least. AND we are one of the lucky ones who were able to take matters into our own hands and come up with a viable solution-Even if it did mean an all night drive down the East Coast (The Vince Lombardi Turnpike near NYC on the NJ Turnpike at 2 AM is an amazingly scary experience).
To say I am disappointed with my airline of choice is an understatement. To say I was let down is mild. I am beyond belief at the way they handled the whole fiasco. I believed in their culture-the fun aspect of their company-the philanthropy-THIS WAS NOT A WEATHER issue-As many have stated prior-It was a failure of SWA to invest in technology that was sorely needed to update their scheduling process. People scheduling, flight scheduling, crew scheduling and plane location scheduling. SWA bought back over $5 billion of their own stock in the recent years, rather than reinvesting in their business, according to reports. They will now pay DEARLY for that. They have lost my confidence-They owe me money-and my $500 will only a drop in the bucket compared to what Buttigieg will go after them for in total. I'm not even sure they will survive this period in their company's history. My only hope is that they survive till the end of 2023,which is when my companion pass will expire, because I'm not spending another dime of real money with them!

[Caymus]

Originally Posted by pokeefe45@aol.com

I think I might have a unique perspective on this topic. I am a very frequent flier on Southwest for more than 20 years, an 'A' lister and have a companion pass that allows my wife to travel free with me wherever and whenever I fly Southwest-Which is quite a bit.
I was booked to fly from Manchester, NH to Orlando to return home to TV on the 26th. Drove 2 hours from Mount Washington to the airport on the day after Xmas to catch our flight home.
No text or status update was sent to me (which happens all the time on SW to me)-no emails-no notification-just had to show up at the airport to find my flight cancelled. Not typically the way SW operates.
To those of you who are 'blubbering' on about the weather and why didn't we know or understand-that's 'smallmindedness' at it's best. The weather was cleared by the 26th in most parts of the country-with some exceptions like Denver and Buffalo-And I WILL always travel to see family at Xmas-no matter what the weather-so factoring in a delay or disruption here and there is normal. But NEVER have I been exposed to SW Air not being able to give me ANY alternatives for 4 days to get back to Florida. Nothing till the 30th they told me. Not from Manchester or Boston, or Providence or even New York. Finally after about an hour of continually asking different questions, my wife and I were booked on a plane from Baltimore to Orlando the next evening. NO flight from Manchester to Baltimore existed with availability, so we rented a car and DROVE 9 hours to the Baltimore airport-stopping at a hotel to grab a few hours of midday sleep. Quite a taxing ordeal, to say the least. AND we are one of the lucky ones who were able to take matters into our own hands and come up with a viable solution-Even if it did mean an all night drive down the East Coast (The Vince Lombardi Turnpike near NYC on the NJ Turnpike at 2 AM is an amazingly scary experience).
To say I am disappointed with my airline of choice is an understatement. To say I was let down is mild. I am beyond belief at the way they handled the whole fiasco. I believed in their culture-the fun aspect of their company-the philanthropy-THIS WAS NOT A WEATHER issue-As many have stated prior-It was a failure of SWA to invest in technology that was sorely needed to update their scheduling process. People scheduling, flight scheduling, crew scheduling and plane location scheduling. SWA bought back over $5 billion of their own stock in the recent years, rather than reinvesting in their business, according to reports. They will now pay DEARLY for that. They have lost my confidence-They owe me money-and my $500 will only a drop in the bucket compared to what Buttigieg will go after them for in total. I'm not even sure they will survive this period in their company's history. My only hope is that they survive till the end of 2023,which is when my companion pass will expire, because I'm not spending another dime of real money with them!

So, the government will punish them, and they will raise ticket prices to survive. That will allow other airlines to follow suit and raise prices. The result will be higher prices for the average passenger.

[blueash]

Southwest per the CNN link above is still using technology for its phones, IT etc that are well out of date and has caused issues in the past. A few years ago there was a large tax cut for corporations so they could invest in new products and modernization. What did they do with this windfall? Many US corporations chose to use this new money to buy back their own stock which pushes the stock price up and rewards investors only, no benefit to consumers.

As travelers and airline workers reel from mass flight cancellations, a corporate watchdog noted Wednesday that Southwest spent nearly $6 billion on stock buybacks in the years ahead of the coronavirus pandemic instead of devoting those resources to technological improvements that unions have been demanding for years.

According to Accountable.US, the crisis Southwest has experienced in recent days amid a massive winter storm is "a problem of its own making." The organization pointed out that the airline opted "to spend $5.6 billion on stock buybacks in the three years leading up to the pandemic rather than making investments in infrastructure to be better prepared for extreme weather events like this week."

Quick now, who made this highly critical comment about airlines using tax cuts to push up their stock price instead of investing in workers and infrastructure:

“When we did a big tax cut, and when they took the money and did buybacks, that’s not building a hangar, that’s not buying aircraft, that’s not doing the kind of things that I want them to do. We didn’t think we would have had to restrict it because we thought they would have known better. But they didn’t know better, in some cases.”

Many had in fact predicted that the huge tax cuts would go right into the pockets of corporations and stay there rather than be used to benefit the non-stockholders. Surprising fact:

The huge 'blackout' that may be deepening market turbulence | CNN Business

The biggest buyer of stocks between 2009 and 2018 was not individual investors, was not institutional investors... it was corporations buying their own stocks, 4.3 TRILLION dollars in buybacks.

[blueash]

Originally Posted by keepsake

So many regulations come from GOVT. It is more than ever before, no bureaucrat ever cancels a regulation.

Yes sir, it is the darn government that won't allow those airlines to operate without so many regulations. Somehow every other airline but Southwest managed this storm with far greater competence and skill. Somehow only SWA has completely failed. But you blame government regulations???

Time to rethink your ability to analyze cause and effect.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by pokeefe45@aol.com

I think I might have a unique perspective on this topic. I am a very frequent flier on Southwest for more than 20 years, an 'A' lister and have a companion pass that allows my wife to travel free with me wherever and whenever I fly Southwest-Which is quite a bit.
I was booked to fly from Manchester, NH to Orlando to return home to TV on the 26th. Drove 2 hours from Mount Washington to the airport on the day after Xmas to catch our flight home.
No text or status update was sent to me (which happens all the time on SW to me)-no emails-no notification-just had to show up at the airport to find my flight cancelled. Not typically the way SW operates.
To those of you who are 'blubbering' on about the weather and why didn't we know or understand-that's 'smallmindedness' at it's best. The weather was cleared by the 26th in most parts of the country-with some exceptions like Denver and Buffalo-And I WILL always travel to see family at Xmas-no matter what the weather-so factoring in a delay or disruption here and there is normal. But NEVER have I been exposed to SW Air not being able to give me ANY alternatives for 4 days to get back to Florida. Nothing till the 30th they told me. Not from Manchester or Boston, or Providence or even New York. Finally after about an hour of continually asking different questions, my wife and I were booked on a plane from Baltimore to Orlando the next evening. NO flight from Manchester to Baltimore existed with availability, so we rented a car and DROVE 9 hours to the Baltimore airport-stopping at a hotel to grab a few hours of midday sleep. Quite a taxing ordeal, to say the least. AND we are one of the lucky ones who were able to take matters into our own hands and come up with a viable solution-Even if it did mean an all night drive down the East Coast (The Vince Lombardi Turnpike near NYC on the NJ Turnpike at 2 AM is an amazingly scary experience).
To say I am disappointed with my airline of choice is an understatement. To say I was let down is mild. I am beyond belief at the way they handled the whole fiasco. I believed in their culture-the fun aspect of their company-the philanthropy-THIS WAS NOT A WEATHER issue-As many have stated prior-It was a failure of SWA to invest in technology that was sorely needed to update their scheduling process. People scheduling, flight scheduling, crew scheduling and plane location scheduling. SWA bought back over $5 billion of their own stock in the recent years, rather than reinvesting in their business, according to reports. They will now pay DEARLY for that. They have lost my confidence-They owe me money-and my $500 will only a drop in the bucket compared to what Buttigieg will go after them for in total. I'm not even sure they will survive this period in their company's history. My only hope is that they survive till the end of 2023,which is when my companion pass will expire, because I'm not spending another dime of real money with them!

“I WILL always travel to see family at Xmas-no matter what the weather“

Your quote makes me laugh, like you are the ONLY person with this mindset. Then why the whining about delayed travel after a horrendous winter storm? Sit down and wait for the mess you helped create is sorted out.

Southwest apparently needs an update in their systems and there will be hell to pay for that. However, Southwest was not the only airline that suffered huge delays and no one is reporting on all the other fiascos. Read back through the posts on here and acquire some knowledge of the other airlines failures.

I guarantee that if they don’t fold Southwest and it installs the required computer changes, the next horrendous winter storm during the week of Christmas will have almost the exact same effect across all airlines. But people have their mantra with which they live…

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by blueash

Yes sir, it is the darn government that won't allow those airlines to operate without so many regulations. Somehow every other airline but Southwest managed this storm with far greater competence and skill. Somehow only SWA has completely failed. But you blame government regulations???

Time to rethink your ability to analyze cause and effect.

Not far greater competence, somewhat better because of updated computer systems. As I said Southwest will be thrown in the fire but it simply was the perfect storm; horrendous weather, Christmas week and people’s mindsets. All of the airlines were overwhelmed.

[msilagy]

On the news they showed a graph of how Southwest routes their flights which is different than other airlines. It's a back and forth scenario which was their downfall in the severe weather days and it just got worse with cancellations day by day. The CEO said there are definitely some changes that need to be made.

[Two Bills]

Originally Posted by Tvflguy

OBB respondent is like a broken record on Leftie matters. Very Woke and as she says very proud of that. So be it but the continual harping on Climate Change is irritating. Spoken from the Dem playbook.

Has the earth ever had winter storms as this one? Of course. I will not expound on this as it is a waste of my time. She is stuck on that Side - so be it.

I’m tired of it all, especially the Climate Change crap which is costing our country dearly.

Same could be said of your 'Rightie Matters,' and attempts to politicize many threads.
Alright!