Anyone else worried about the Max8?

[katallo]

President Trump just grounded them in the US

 

[jbehr12]

President Trump just grounded them in the US

Not a huge Trump fan but I truly feel like he made the right move here.. kudos.

 

[Darcy03231]

While I was prepared to fly on the MAX8 next month, I'm not unhappy that they've been grounded until they can figure out what happened with these crashes.

 

[SL6827]

I will give you a perspective on what I was thinking. I worked in an appliance plant for nearly 19 years. A GE plant. Well when the Great Recession hit, well mostly after it they decided to go lean, which wasn't a really bad thing because yes, they did need to trim the fat. But as the years progressed they continued trimming the fat till they "reached the bone". Plus they cut the pay of the newly hired in workers. Unreal. A plant that for 25 years had a 5-6% turnover rate that turned into a 25% turnover rate when I left last year.

Now not too long after they started "hitting the bone" and hiring in everyone at a $3-$4 less an hour pay the service call rate when through the roof, and I bet it still does. When they cut a job out they called it "saving a job", I kid you not. I am wondering if Boeing "saved" too many jobs.

 

[mousefan73]

So currently none of my family members are scheduled to fly on Max8s, but we do have a lot of SW travel coming up in the next few months. We live in a SW city and it's one of our only options, so we travel SW a lot. Right now, we are scheduled to fly on 737-700s and 737-800s. Does equipment ever change at the last minute? I know gates can change, crews can change, and planes can change, but do they ever change the actual aircraft? All of our flights are between Baltimore and Tampa, and from what I've read, it seems like the Max 8's are used for longer haul flights, but I did notice maybe one flight a day from BWI-TPA or BWI-MCO that is on the Max 8.

I'm also a little less concerned, in that we don't fly until mid-April, and hopefully by then we will have more answers, and/or a grounding of the Max 8's.

Yes Aircraft type can also change last minute for many, no need to be concerned, reasons.

 

[AgentMama]

Interesting that all of my flights that are on Max8's are currently showing sold out on SW. I wonder what their plan is.

 

[hakepb]

Interesting that all of my flights that are on Max8's are currently showing sold out on SW. I wonder what their plan is.

The Max8 is only about 5% of their fleet.
Hawai’i flights will now use their 737-800
https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Southwest-Stories/Boeing-737-MAX-8-FAQs/ba-p/88171

 

[AgentMama]

The Max8 is only about 5% of their fleet.
Hawai’i flights will now use their 737-800
https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Southwest-Stories/Boeing-737-MAX-8-FAQs/ba-p/88171

None of my flights are to Hawaii and I'm not sure why the 5% of their fleet is relevant to the flights I have that are currently scheduled on the max8 and currently showing sold out on SW's website.

 

[hakepb]

None of my flights are to Hawaii and I'm not sure why the 5% of their fleet is relevant to the flights I have that are currently scheduled on the max8 and currently showing sold out on SW's website.

If it were a higher % than there would be a significant rescheduling problem. I think SW is trying to say the current situation is complex scheduling issue, but manageable.
I’m purely guessing, but current Max8 flights might get rescheduled with a lower capacity plane, so marking all as sold-out helps prevent over-booking.

 

[Mcky36]

Yes, my flight is one of the flights that is currently listed as "sold out" as it was scheduled for a Max 8 next month. It's the only nonstop flight from Sacramento a day. I am keeping an eye on it and hoping it doesn't eventually get cancelled.

 

[joelkfla]

Yes, my flight is one of the flights that is currently listed as "sold out" as it was scheduled for a Max 8 next month. It's the only nonstop flight from Sacramento a day. I am keeping an eye on it and hoping it doesn't eventually get cancelled.

If it truly is sold out and the situation has not been resolved, they may have to substitute a smaller plane and bump some passengers.

 

[ForMyBoys]

I'm booked on a SW flight next weekend. I got an alert that we can change our flight for free but everything in the time frame that we need to fly in is booked. Also our flight was not scheduled on a Max-8 so I'm really confused by the alert. So far our flight isn't showing cancelled so I'm just crossing my fingers.

 

[PSUGuy]

SW was supposed to release fares today, put off to 3/18.

Bill From PA

 

[Darcy03231]

I'm not flying for another couple of weeks, but all of the non-stop flights from our airport to Miami were on the MAX8. Hopefully they'll have figured out something by then, but right now it's still showing the MAX8 and they're still selling tickets.

 

[mikehn]

My American flight to Miami still shows Max8. However I called American this morning and the agent told me they already swapped out the Max 8 on my flight but the information had not yet updated. Thats what I was told on the phone. Im not buying that explanation yet. I'll call back again in a few days and see what the deal is.

 

[cmwade77]

My American flight to Miami still shows Max8. However I called American this morning and the agent told me they already swapped out the Max 8 on my flight but the information had not yet updated. Thats what I was told on the phone. Im not buying that explanation yet. I'll call back again in a few days and see what the deal is.

Assuming you flight is more than two or three days away at this point I would assume most, if not all airlines have figured out viable alternatives, it may mess up some seating arrangements if you have assigned seats, but other than that, I think they will have figured it out.

 

[DLgal]

If it were a higher % than there would be a significant rescheduling problem. I think SW is trying to say the current situation is complex scheduling issue, but manageable.
I’m purely guessing, but current Max8 flights might get rescheduled with a lower capacity plane, so marking all as sold-out helps prevent over-booking.

What happens if the flight was already close to being full though? What happens to those 30 or so passengers leftover?

 

[DLgal]

Yes, my flight is one of the flights that is currently listed as "sold out" as it was scheduled for a Max 8 next month. It's the only nonstop flight from Sacramento a day. I am keeping an eye on it and hoping it doesn't eventually get cancelled.

Mine is a NS from Oakland to MCO (although I am coming from SNA so my stop is OAK). I actually want to switch my flight and hope we are allowed to do so free of charge ahead of time. I'd rather take the more direct flight that stops in Denver, but that one costs 2x as much and I don't have enough points to cover the switch.

 

[cmwade77]

What happens if the flight was already close to being full though? What happens to those 30 or so passengers leftover?

Same as always happens with Southwest since they always overbook their flights by at least 30
0 or so people, they will first ask for volunteers and if there aren't enough, they will kick people off in order starting from who paid the least for their ticket.

 

[Allison]

Same as always happens with Southwest since they always overbook their flights by at least 30

That is inaccurate. Your information is quite outdated.