Southwest Airlines

The Coffee Shop
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I love(d) it. I found it simple without pretentious assholes. No up charges. Great cabin crews. A little quirky.

They just killed everything that differentiates them.

Dumbasses

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since I’m not a mind-reader, I googled to find out what you’re on about.

tl;dr bags no longer fly free on SWA unless you’re top-tier, flying biz, or have the CC.

agreed, probably not smart.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/360611512/southwest-airlines-checked-bags-will-no-longer-fly-free

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Totally agree.

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There are somenew sheriffs in the SWA town. Expect some changes being done or to come soon. Corporate is chainging and so will the airline.

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The new “sheriffs” are Eliot Capital management…they’ll puke the stock after making a quick buck and SWA will be a shell

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It is part of the economic model for low-service short-haul airlines, particularly on the scale of Southwest.

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Yeah, I know, I get it, just sad to see it.

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But they’re not trying to get your money for baggage, they’re trying to force less hold luggage to expedite turn around times and maximise utilisation.

This is why low-service long haul will never work economically.

Edit - apologies @renorider, I didn’t intend to come across as patronising, but in hindsight realise I probably did!

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Mrs. mck414 fly almost exclusively SWA. Though I don’t think we’ve had to check a bag since our kids were little. I’m a cheap bastard, and a little known skill the Marines taught me was how to pack. I can fit ~50 lbs of shit into my carry on.

I will pay the premium for seating A 1-15 though, so not a completely cheap bastard. I hate flying and the faster I can get off the plane the better.

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Here’s the official announcement from Southwest:

I’m bummed about this since Southwest was great for West Coast ski trips. With the change to assigned seating and the end of their two bags fly free philosophy they’re just another airline now.

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This sucks.

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Our home airport is DIA, which is a major SW hub. I’ve probably flown SW 90% over the last decade (maybe longer). With this change and the reduction in miles, that will almost certainly change. United here we come.

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Now you can enjoy concourse B instead of C. I will be in the same boat.

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As a long-time United loyalist at DIA, it’s not that bad. You can go non-stop to a vast array of places in the US, and a few overseas. The flight attendants and general attitude toward customer service have improved a bit over the years. The onboard food is terrible, but that is not a priority for me. The highly stratified nature of its offerings is — to me — a virtue: you can choose what level of seat you want and pay accordingly. But, for those who are fully focused on price minimization, I suspect United’s lowest tier (basic economy) might not compare well to some other airlines.

The benefits to frequent flying only really begin to accrue to those who are spending lots of money. For them, United has considerable rewards in terms of upgraded seating and some aspects of service/baggage. For folks who are spending maybe $5k/year, you’re a nobody on United.

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yep, private equity executing a perfect reverse Midas - everything they touch turns to shit.
SW stock was badly hit after the scheduling crisis, which gave the PE pirates an opportunity.

I just cancelled our SW credit card… we flew SW because of the free bags, quick boarding, and ticket exchange policies. Also, the cheerful flight crew and staff. Ellis took all of that away and is making SW into Frontier, so there is no longer any reason to fly SW.

The Ellis bandits get their payout anyway, so they don’t care about the longterm health of the company. Typical private equity.

private equity
private equity654Ă—680 83.8 KB

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I thought the quick turns for Southwest was due more to the open seating policy rather than checked baggage. With charging for bags, you will see even more flyers trying to bring everything onboard as carry-on which will slow down the boarding process.

There was a SW Exec who was let go recently that did a study looking at the potential revenue generated from bag fees versus loyal customers leaving the airline due to all the changes. The revenue lost was greater than the revenue gained from bag fees. Eliott apparently did not like the results of the study.

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My theory is that airlines should allow one or two checked bags for free, but charge if you want to bring large roller carryons on the plane with you and use the overhead bins. This is what slows down boarding and deboarding and makes the process so miserable.

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I would agree with you if retrieving your checked bag did not take so long at some airports. Bag retrieval is only partially controlled by the airline so it is a crapshoot at some airports. At Oakland where I fly out of the most, checked bags are waiting for me by the time I walked to baggage claim. At SFO, it can be 30 minutes or more to retrieve your bag.

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This is not PE. Otherwise, meme away.

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Didn’t take it that way, no worries :+1:

Of course one thing the flying public is firmly in Dunning Kruger-land about is the level to which airlines will study the revenue generation and customer psychology aspects of their offerings (LOL, you think you know the best way to get people onto a plane, Mr Joe Public? Oh, my sweet summer’s child). That said, sometimes they don’t read the room correctly!