Southwest Airlines Community

No other place to put this, but, way to go SW in getting the grandfather to his grandson on time. ... View more

He wants his two minutes of fame. Who cares. SW - you will do more damage to your customer base if you change rules for this guy. Heck, he knew he needed two seats..he bought them. this is just his chance to try to get noticed. ... View more

He wants his two minutes of fame. Who cares. SW - you will do more damage to your customer base if you change rules for this guy. Heck, he knew he needed two seats..he bought them. this is just his chance to try to get noticed. ... View more

where is the article about how you kicked a 2 year old off. smart move! kick a kid off for saying go plane go and i want daddy. what a friendly place. ... View more

No, not a reaffirmation that your changes were positive, just reaffirmation that every other carrier's program is worse. Unfortunately, with award programs these days, it is not the best that wins, simply the least worst that wins. ... View more

Just wondering how much more it costs to operate a paint scheme as opposed to the normal scheme. I know that unpainted aircraft are cheaper to fly due to the weight of the paint required. Any idea as to the increase in costs for you, especially since prices will rise due to fuel costs, etc. ... View more

Hahahahahahaha You people are simply great. A company, not southwest, goes bankrupt. Southwest has already turned your money, or your revenue in the form of RR credits over to ATA, and you moan when you get them back. If you bought direct from ATA you may never have gotten them back. Instead of you moaning about how terrible life is, you should be thanking SW for digging into their own pocket to refund your money. People, I know this is a surprise, but when a company goes bankrupt, that means they HAVE NO MONEY. That means they have already spent your money. Where is your refund coming from....SW bank account. You should be thankful. But, all I hear here is how bad SW is because my trip is effected. Tell me, if you rent a car through Budget, on the SW site, and the car is not there, whose fault is it? If you rent a hotel through the SW site, and it is not there, whose fault is it.....It is not SW fault. This is the same thing. ... View more

Why do you believe Boeing would say anything different. Do you believe they are going to say that they have built a defective product? That their product cannot go longer for inspection? Boeing has nothing to do with the implementation of the AD. Boeing may have helped come up with it, but they do not institute it. When the FAA set the AD, it did with the probable advise of Boeing. But, Boeing is not the authority to allow extra time. Plus, extra time on top of what, several months. To those of you who claim to be in the know, the inspection time frames are there for a reason. Whether it be 100 hours, 400 hours or 4500 cycles, they are in place due to a study of the appearance of a defect within that time frame. The inspections are not designed to identify a catastrophic failure, but instead are designed to identify the warning signs of a coming failure. In this case the eddy current tests are designed to see things that you cannot see with the naked eye. The defect is there, you just can't see it. However, with the right load, the defect makes itself known, and the rudder is lost, the fuselage is lost, the wings fissure, etc. If you really do your homework, you will see that a large number of catastrophic incident have dealt with some sort of failure with inspections and or maintenance, and a mistake or failure to follow the requirements. ... View more

Will check and see what the FAA requires. Once an aircraft is past the time for an inspection, it is unairworthy. It cannot fly. Mistake or not, they flew. It is not difficult to keep track of an aircrafts inspection history and the requirements. Even worse, SW continued to fly even after identifying the problem, according to the news reports. The airworthiness directives that were likely missed are ones that were issued because of incidents and casualties involving the &737. Not something that should be missed. what do you mean innocent until proven guilty. SW has already admitted they missed the inspections. ... View more

how much will it cost southwest in customers, business and good will. I wonder if that is why the airline cracked down on skimpy outfits--easier to blow off once the convertable top is off.... yea, i know, bad color......but, flying me in unairworthy aircraft is worse. ... View more

btw, I would have bet against Southwest cutting maintenance corners. I had always heard from inside the industry that your schedule was nearly 30% quicker than the cards required. I guess the MBA's that are running the show saw the chance to save a couple of pennies. Sad day. ... View more

$29 to fly an unairworthy plane? what would it cost to fly one that complied with the FAA inspections? $39? How do we believe that you are doing proper maintenance now? ... View more

Brian, stop the corporate line already. let me tell you about my flights this weekend. I have A list, so I was A 17. My two sons were A34 and 35 on the flight out. It didn't matter since all A's were called together anyway. So much for your first class attempts at boarding. On the way back, I was again A 17 but the boys were a 59 and a 60. I guess I should have just let two boys less then 10 years old hang out in the waiting area until the numbers were called and about 40 people passed before them. Of course, I could have already been on the plane waiting for them. If I would have checked in myself, all the numbers would have been together. BTW, they boarded with me. But, the problem is, your new system does not take into account the other flyers on the same reservation as a A list. Oh, I fogot, kids, wait outside until your number is called. Brian, are you going to ensure their safety--Can I get Southwest's corporate promise on that--if not, your A list is worthless when traveling with others on the same reservation. Brian--You don't have kids do you, or if you do, you don't buy tickets for them so you haven't had this dilema yet. ... View more

b. p heiss: Do you think anyone is drinking the sw kool-aid? besides those who are trying to sell it? ... View more

BWAHAHAHAHA So much for making it better. You just opened past March 7 today. I go and try to book a flight on March 16 within hours of it opening up, I can book a flight for less than $100, but when I go to use awards, i am told no go, but we will gladly take two awards for one flight. ADIOS SOUTHWEST. I really really hope you get that business traveler you are after, because it just cost you one. How do i send back the A-list email you sent to me today? You can, "quite literally", take this new plan and shove it....I ain't flying here no more...... Brian, I hope you report you lost a customer instead of gained one! I have some reqard flights at the end of the year, I have some flights already booked, and will probably have another free ticket (big deal), but after today, all of revenue flights are with Continental, my other hometown airline! Within a couple of years, you will have your first layoffs ever, you will see your first loss, you will see a decrease in seat miles, and you will struggle like the other majors. HELLO, you got to be number one worldwide for a reason--great idea to throw away what made that happen. ... View more

BWAHAHAHAHA So much for making it better. You just opened past March 7 today. I go and try to book a flight on March 16 within hours of it opening up, I can book a flight for less than $100, but when I go to use awards, i am told no go, but we will gladly take two awards for one flight. ADIOS SOUTHWEST. I really really hope you get that business traveler you are after, because it just cost you one. Kevin, I hope you report you lost a customer instead of gained one! ... View more

Kevin: Thanks for the response. I appreciate the fact that you came back on. The main thing that gets me is what gets Scott above. I understand that tickets are expensive to give out, but, it seems like a planned deal, to get "in line" with CO, AA, etc. Give them rewards, give them a carrot (even 50% more credit)to get more rewards, but, in order for them to use it, have them pay double. Hence, a 50% benefit to you. I have used rewards over the upcoming holidays for (I think 3), and did use three or so at Spring Break earlier, and have 1 or 1.5 in the hopper. I use my rewards to travel with the family. My last half of the year and some of the start goes to Spring Break, the rest goes to New Years type travel. I can usually get these tickets, but have tio get them on the day the schedules open up. If I decided to go to San Francisco within the next month or two, I wonder if I could go on awards? That is a question that I know how to answer on the legacy carriers, i.e. pay double miles; I guess the answer is now across the board. I should be an "A List guy, so you could free up all of my problems by really giving me a benefit--let me use my rewards, when I want to, for the normal price that it has been for something like 15 - 20 years now. If it is to expensive, and there are to many awards, reduce the credit card awards(which I do not have), etc. Off the rant. I will say, however, that SW is the only airline that even responds to complaints about the FF program. To that, Kudos ... View more

This is BS. You charge higher fares, you devalue your Frequent Flyer miles. I had 110 credits in the past 2 years with you all. I am one of the "business travelers" you so desperately want. I think it is the wrong direction to ask me to make a "double payment" to use my credit awards, when just a couple of years ago, you only had a couple black out dates. YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO BROUGHT YOU TO THE DANCE! Instead, you dot to the dance, and have decided to ditch your date. ... View more

JEEZ shut up you whiny people. Those of you who think this is the end of the qworld, wake up. I have had more problems with assigned seating and kids than I have with non-assigned seating. If you are at B, with kids, you still have 2/3 of the aircraft to sit in. Plus, I have never seen a toddler not sit next to a parent. Get a life people. Southwest is now the No. 1 airline, worldwide, for a reason. To the tall people, guess what, seats are the same on other airlines as well. To SWA, you did a good thing by keeping open seating. ... View more

maybe, but why close flights on nov 19 to florida. I guess you don't want people flying dal to florida in nov. dec. ... View more

In the late 1990's, I flew continental extensively. I did, and still do, live North of IAH, and IAH is north of Hobby. In fact, flying out of Hobby, adds about 45 minutes from home, each way. In the late 1990's, I was a Platinum member of Continental's One Pass system. I enjoyed the special perks, upgrades, etc. However, Continental quietly changed their system. Upgrades become infrequent, mileage awards became "more expensive", and they alienated me as a result of their attempt to gain new customers. I changed to Southwest, and, although my travel has diminished, I still earn a couple or three tickets a year, which I guess is about two round trips per month. About half of my trips I can plan ahead, but, the other half is last minute, fairly close, if not at, full price. I am in favor of the non-assigned seating. Why, I really don't know, but, at least when I am on Southwest, I know I am in charge of where I sit. If I forget to check in early, that's my fault, not Southwest's. I, like others above, can attest to the fact that seating is usually quicker, and less probalematic. Further, during boarding, you do not have the "one pass" envy that arrises when half the plane boards due to one pass membership. I also second the poster who qouted Darryl Royal. I use the qoute all the time. I will dance with the one who brought me. In other words, I will not give up the person who made it possible for me to get where I am simply because there may be something better on the horizon, if that would mean I would have to foresake the person who helped me at the start. Continental did not do this, and, they lost me. Continental, with the exception of International Flights, does not have a real chance of getting me back to using them for everyday domestic flights. There is one way, however, for them to regain my business. That one way is for Southwest to turn into Continental. The easiest way for Southwest to turn into Continental is assigned seats. One of the best posts above is from Chris at Holiday Inn. If you are willing to loose my business, to gain new business, so be it, but, keeping my business does not take advertising, does not take gimmiks, does not take much. However, once lost, you will have a heck of a time, and need a whole bunch of marketing money, to get me back. Dennis Sullivan ... View more