board a plane and cancel flight with no intention of flying it

[dflaxbart]

I was on flight 1457 scheduled to depart PHX for AUS last night (4/13) at 8:55.  The flight was delayed early on, to 10:15, with some business about lacking a crew.  We boarded and sat a full hour on the plane while the crew laughed and joked about stuff (I was in the first row).  The pilot clearly knew they weren't going anywhere and the cabin crew thought that was hilarious, I guess.  They made up some nonsense about a low oxygen tank and stalled about 45 minutes, then made a cancellation announcement because the pilot had "timed out" which was obviously the intention all along.  By then it was after 11 pm, and the passengers were just SOL until the next morning.  We finally got to AUS after noon the next day. 

I just think this is despicable behavior on the part of the airline.  If you know you're not going to fly, don't d*** around with the passengers for hours in a jammed airport.  The plane was only about half full, so that's why SW didn't want to fly it - save the money and jam the passengers onto full flights the next day.  Normally I am loyal to SW, but this is ridiculous.  Shame on you jerks.

[TheMiddleSeat]

So many assumptions here clearly shows you don't have much of a clue about how these things work.  Yes, perhaps once the crew found out there was a mechanical issue they knew the likelihood of departing was low, but what you didn't see were the people trying to fix the problem.  What if they had actually fixed the issue?  You would have been all upset that the flight was cancelled despite the issue being fixed.  If the plane had never been boarded there would have been zero chance of departure.  If the issue got resolved before timeout, a boarded plane can be on its way in minutes.

Additionally, this old line of "airlines don't fly empty planes" is ridiculous and 100% incorrect.  That plane was needed in the next city for flights the next morning.  It may have flown completely empty just to get it in the correct position so why would an airline cancel a half full flight just to later fly it empty?

All airlines have mechanical issues and I'd prefer one that attempts to fix them over one that chooses to ignore them and fly the plane anyways.  If you find an airline that doesn't ever have mechanical issues and never cancels flights please let me know.

--TheMiddleSeat

[CupCrusher40]

voucher?

[jksobonya]

You clearly haven't flown at all during the pandemic aka the past 2 years - planes have been nowhere close to full and Southwest still flew them.

--Jessica

[PDFelter]

I was on a flight Tuesday of this week that went from MCI to AUS.  Plane was a 737-MAX 8 and only had 47 people on it.  They clearly don't cancel because it is not full.  

Not having a full oxygen tank would be reason enough for me to keep that plane grounded!  

[waterweber]

I had a similar experience the other day out of Hobby. Plane was nearly full though. The truth is that todays SW is not the SW of 2 years ago. Cynical, poor communication, poor planning, zero customer sympathy or service. So sad! I almost exclusively fly SW (companion pass) and regularly pay more or don't even search other airlines fairs. Why? Because SW does the right thing and doesn't waste peoples time. I guess Ill just go back to flying whoever is cheapest now. 

Sorry for the experience. You're not the only one and you not nuts as others on here would have you believe.