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Massive Southwest Airlines disruption leaves customers stranded

cnn.com

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Re: Massive Southwest Airlines disruption leaves customers stranded

#31

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

tareqak wrote: post #4

From the article: > If you've been left in the lurch and your efforts to reach a customer service agent are going nowhere, the founder of Scott's Cheap Flights suggests trying an international number. > "The main hotline for US airlines will be clogged with other passengers getting rebooked. To get through to an agent quickly, call any one of the airline's dozens of international offices" Scott Keyes said. > "Agents…

this is good advice, let me extrapolate to a simpler heuristic.

When landing at an airport when you know several connections are lost due to local issue with your airline, always get on the phone as soon as you get out of the aircraft. certainly call before heading to the kiosk and lining up for the lone agent to support you

Because, by the time the sole agent gets to listen to your issue, the next flight will be fully booked, and your hopes of getting out quickly will be gone.

Re: Massive Southwest Airlines disruption leaves customers stranded

#32

Post by midoridensha »

miguelazo wrote: post #9
rhaway84773 wrote: post #2

It feels like SouthWest has been at the center of every scheduling disaster in the US over the past few years. Even if it’s out of their control (many of the issues were within their control), it seems Southwest fails way worse than every other US airline.

That period also included a massive expansion of Southwest’s footprint— something like 18 cities. I fly a lot and never had much trouble with them until this last week. United and American have been far worse for me in terms of delays and cancellations, not to mention their disgruntled staffs.

>not to mention their disgruntled staffs.

Isn't this just normal for all American customer-service people? I guess it's relative though.

Re: Massive Southwest Airlines disruption leaves customers stranded

#33

Post by mathattack »

yellow_lead wrote: post #27
miguelazo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn’t doubt this, although a friend stuck at Denver yesterday told me he ran into a Southwest employee who couldn’t figure out where he was supposed to be for hours. WSJ mentioned it could be due to their call-in scheduling system being totally overwhelmed.

It's crazy that airlines can't keep their internal tools working.

Underinvestment. Part due to a lack of demand the past 3 years, part due to a race to the bottom on pricing and quality that predates the pandemic.

Re: Massive Southwest Airlines disruption leaves customers stranded

#34

Post by alexeichemenda »

harrisonjackson wrote: post #18
samename wrote: post #3

I have a Southwest flight on Friday I am now very nervous about. For the first time ever I bought a fully refundable flight as a backup option through American Airlines. Looks like Southwest might allow free cancellations too so I might ditch that flight entirely to avoid undue travel headaches. Either way, I don’t ever remember a worst traveling season than this.

The right credit card, if you have one or can get one, usually includes "insurance" for travel delays, lost luggage, cancellations etc. I always forget about the benefits other than "points" but there are some great ones. Recently, I was glad I used the right card to book an airbnb which we had to cancel day of check-in. Full refund on a non-refundable airbnb.

What CC is that?

Re: Massive Southwest Airlines disruption leaves customers stranded

#35

Post by silisili »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #5
samename wrote: post #3

I have a Southwest flight on Friday I am now very nervous about. For the first time ever I bought a fully refundable flight as a backup option through American Airlines. Looks like Southwest might allow free cancellations too so I might ditch that flight entirely to avoid undue travel headaches. Either way, I don’t ever remember a worst traveling season than this.

> I don’t ever remember a worst traveling season than this Even during COVID?

Pre COVID and especially during COVID wasn't bad, as long as you didn't mind wearing a mask.

Post COVID you have everyone and their mom trying to make up for 2 years of missed vacations and being stuck at home. And they're angry as hell - the post COVID population seems wreckless and short fused, for reasons I don't exactly know.

Re: Massive Southwest Airlines disruption leaves customers stranded

#36

Post by beambot »

miguelazo wrote: post #13
giantrobot wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've flown Southwest dozens of times. While I like their lower costs it's pretty easy to see where they are cutting costs with operations. In "normal" conditions their cost cutting is just functional. In any sort of exceptional situation their entire system fall apart.

On what other occasion has their entire system fallen apart? Most every other passenger I encountered during this debacle said something to the effect of “this never happens on Southwest”. I do agree that they’ve been squeezing the system (especially labor) the last few years during their covid expansion, however. This weather was apparently the final straw.

Weather... or Chris Johnson.

https://twitter.com/AtSouthwest/status/1606543397996855296

Re: Massive Southwest Airlines disruption leaves customers stranded

#37

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

m348e912 wrote: post #7

There's an unsubstantiated rumor that 120 Southwest ramp agents walked off the job at Denver International Airport after the VP of operations out of Dallas sent a demanding (and possibly unreasonable) memo to the Denver staff banning sick time without a doctors note and requiring mandatory overtime. https://twitter.com/AtSouthwest/status/1606543397996855296 If true, it could account for a majority of SW's cancellatio…

Currently at another airport waiting to fly into DFW, and this is the current word among the airport crew as well: that Southwest is uniquely impacted right now because a bunch of the Southwest staff at Dallas just quit.

Re: Massive Southwest Airlines disruption leaves customers stranded

#38

Post by morganw »

rhaway84773 wrote: post #2

It feels like SouthWest has been at the center of every scheduling disaster in the US over the past few years. Even if it’s out of their control (many of the issues were within their control), it seems Southwest fails way worse than every other US airline.

This one affected a lot of people traveling to the 2021 US Grand Prix in Austin & it supposedly didn't affect Southwest [my Alaska flight was cancelled after four hours of "any minute now"]:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2021/10/2...

Re: Massive Southwest Airlines disruption leaves customers stranded

#39

Post by akiselev »

m348e912 wrote: post #7

There's an unsubstantiated rumor that 120 Southwest ramp agents walked off the job at Denver International Airport after the VP of operations out of Dallas sent a demanding (and possibly unreasonable) memo to the Denver staff banning sick time without a doctors note and requiring mandatory overtime. https://twitter.com/AtSouthwest/status/1606543397996855296 If true, it could account for a majority of SW's cancellatio…

> after the VP of operations out of Dallas sent a demanding (and possibly unreasonable) memo to the Denver staff banning sick time without a doctors note and requiring mandatory overtime

IANAL but that’s not just unreasonable, it’s downright illegal according to Colorado labor laws. Southwest can only ask their employees for a doctor’s note after four consecutive days of absence and that’s according to a post-COVID law.

I’m not sure about the mandatory overtime but that’s probably governed by a union contract (4/5ths of SW is unionized). Evidence shows that this ~moron~ VP didn’t know the specifics of the former so he probably fucked up the latter too.

I’m guessing Denver employees aren’t the only ones to walk out. Union solidarity, baby!

Re: Massive Southwest Airlines disruption leaves customers stranded

#40

Post by symlinkk »

m-ee wrote: post #28
m348e912 wrote: post #7

There's an unsubstantiated rumor that 120 Southwest ramp agents walked off the job at Denver International Airport after the VP of operations out of Dallas sent a demanding (and possibly unreasonable) memo to the Denver staff banning sick time without a doctors note and requiring mandatory overtime. https://twitter.com/AtSouthwest/status/1606543397996855296 If true, it could account for a majority of SW's cancellatio…

I don’t know about majority. Looking at pilot forums their scheduling system seems to be in complete disarray. Hours long wait times to get through on the phone, no awareness of where crews are even located.

What forums?
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