SouthwestAirlines' Meltdown Shows How Corporations Pit Consumers Against Workers

Some do.

A few years ago I flew with $EAST_ASIAN_AIRLINE and had some complications with my checked baggage. The gate agent was courteous and patient in understanding and resolving my issues. After everything's sorted out, she gave me the typical "if you're satisfied with my service, please write or call ..." As the interaction was positive, and I've got nothing else to do on the flight, I wrote a brief e-mail expressing my satisfaction with the earlier service.

Maybe a week later, I received a reply stating that they were pleased that I had good service, and said gate agent would be commended. Of course I have no way of telling for sure, I don't believe that it's a canned automated response, given that it was sent days later, the reply's formatting's simple, and that the reply's grammatically correct but stilted.

In contrast, I flew with $US_AIRLINE last year, in first class. I went to the airport early and requested if I could be re-booked for an earlier flight. The agent "helpfully" re-booked me, but in economy. It was clear that the agent had overlooked that I was flying first class. It couldn't be re-booked and I got a look of "well it's not my fault and you shoulda told me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" Fine, I thought, but at least I still get express security lane and lounge access, right? I was assured that they'll call ahead so there shouldn't be any problem. That turned out to be a lie. The security agent didn't know what I was talking about when I got there. Same deal when I try to enter the lounge, but I guess the lounge agent took pity on me and "did me a favor" -- not "I apologize for the errors so far, and this is the least I could do" -- and let me into the lounge at least.

I should emphasize that at no point did I raise my voice nor disrespect the agents I'd spoken to, though by the time I was at the lounge I probably did sound slightly upset.

There was no WiFi on that flight, but you bet I wrote a lengthy complaint when I got home. I didn't even get an automated response back.

> Stop going to the place that treats you badly [...]

I agree that's likely the most effective approach. I no longer fly with $US_AIRLINE unless I absolutely have to.

I've not had a bad interaction with SWA thus far, and was in fact planning on flying with them sometime in February. Perhaps I should reconsider, but the alternative would be $$$ more expensive (and I may have to fly $US_AIRLINE), so I might still risk it. That's the rub, isn't it: when it comes down to it airline passengers, including myself, are quite price sensitive, so it's totally rational for airlines to optimize that over everything else.

The cherry on top was when I walked to one of the self-checkout stores, grabbed a bag of chips, scanned it myself, and was then prompted for a tip....at a self-service kiosk.

This is only really true prior to deregulation in 1978.

After that, Delta began hub-and-spoke out of Atlanta, and the majority of airlines followed them.

These days, as far as I can tell, Southwest is the only major carrier that doesn't follow this approach. It has its downsides. You don't have pilots sitting "on reserve" at bases ready to fly at a moments notice if there are gaps in the system. There isn't a need to shut down and esentially "reboot" the airline when there is a major disruption, which is what Southwest just had to do. Delta had the second highest cancellation rate due to this winter storm, and that was at 10%. Southwest had to cancel 70% of their schedule.

I cant wait until they open one of their fully automated places near me. I will be the first one through that line