Southwest sucks

[andysocial]

Southwest Airlines, one of the few profitable ones, sucks. OK, so this is the first time I've flown SWA that I can recall, but this sample of one is pretty bad.

Supposed to leave Tucson at 7:50, the plane we had was given away to another flight, and we would be delayed until 10 for a repair to a new plane. That repair was canned, and we were rerouted to another flight, going through Vegas. Finally arrived 5 hours late. And, what is with the "open seating" thing on SWA? That's annoying as hell. People wandering around the plane like bums on a bus - "Is that seat open?"

At least I had time enough to recon my meeting location for tomorrow. Should be 7 minutes to get there, with traffic likely to be 30.

Comments

[scax-e-one.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you just had a weird experience.

I've logged LOTS of miles on Southwest and have had very few problems. About the only time I can think of was trying make a connection at Houston Hobby when the airport had to be temporarily shut down due to thunderstorms. Things were really chaotic, but that wasn't the airline's fault.

Actually, I like the open seating characteristic. People can get seated faster and it speeds up the boarding process. How many times have you seen mass confusion on the other carriers with assigned seating? I have, plenty of times. The traveling public is getting so stupid they can't put two-and-two together -- that perhaps if their boarding pass says "07-C" they should, perhaps, be sitting in "07-C".

Perhaps you should give them another chance.

One airline that I've had some problems with is America West. Every time you pass by the their customer service desk at LAS and PHX, there's a shouting match going on between the agents and pissed-off passengers.

Southwest also has on of the best frequent flier programs around.

Miles_Post

[yesthatjill.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear. I've flown on Southwest so many times, I've had a free trip every year since I signed up for thier frequent flyer card. Like Miles above, I enjoy the open seating. I check in early enough to be in the first group and tuck into a window seat over the wing and put in my earplugs.

I've also had only one late flight - leaving from Las Vegas. And that one was caused by a raft of senior citizens who'd not checked in to get a boarding pass but were merrily chatting in thier wheelchairs in the priority seating area. Since they had to go on first, they had to be wheeled over, checked in, and then wheeled onto the plane. A good dozen of them. *sigh*.

Give SWA another chance. The fares are cheap, the open seating is less a hassle (in my opinion) than assigned seating, and the service is pretty good for the price.

Give them a chance

[andysocial]

I so rarely fly to the west coast (living in Arizona, why bother?), I really doubt I'll have much opportunity to give them more chances. But, I'm not the one who makes my reservations, the "travel office" does that anyhow.

[andysocial]

I'm not sure what the frequent flyer program would have to offer for SWA, since there is no first class. :-)

I certainly hope this was anomalous, but it was damned annoying regardless.

Open seating - Although you'd think people would easily follow such a simple concept as "Are you in Group A?" that wasn't what I saw in Tucson this morning. A huge crowd of C's and B's were making it impossible for the A's to even get near the gate to board. Amazing.

Most of the problems at airports and on airplanes can be traced to idiot passengers, I've noticed.