nlenguyen
PharmDis95
- Joined
- May 25, 2020
Looks like they are going in the right direction
Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...
- Thread starter goofy4tink
- Start date
Can you tell me more about this? I’ve done this many times and never had it cancelled - can you tell me how that happened for you? I have this exact scenario booked again in this crazy climate so I’m definitely curious.
SkyGuy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2021
I’ve been tracking the SW flight from STL to MCO - our route for next week, and while the STL to MCO seems to be about 70%, albeit with delays, the MCO to STL route has still been canceled more than it’s been completed. Hopefully that rectifies itself over the next few days
.
EACarlson
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2019
If you book two flights that you can't possibly make both, the system will automatically cancel one of them. What you are doing is a violation of the contract of carriage and you could also lose all of your RR points. For instance if you book a flight MDW-DEN leaving at noon and then book MDW-MCO at 2pm, you can't take both flights so it will cancel one of them.
You're looking at past performance. The belief is that by cancelling the flights they have this week, they can move forward tomorrow with after a full reset. If you're concerned I would book a back up on another airline, and see what happens in the next week. My guess is they will be where they were at the beginning of the month.I’ve been tracking the SW flight from STL to MCO - our route for next week, and while the STL to MCO seems to be about 70%, albeit with delays, the MCO to STL route has still been canceled more than it’s been completed. Hopefully that rectifies itself over the next few days
With all the problems with SWA, I'd like to post something good about them. I posted a couple of weeks ago about taking my son on a flight with a full leg cast and how I could do that. I was able to book him an extra seat on both flights so he would have leg room to put his foot up. When we arrived at STL as soon as we walked into the SW ticketing area (pushing my kid in a wheelchair) we were met by a gentleman who told us to follow him. I have precheck but DH does not, so he called someone else over too. One person helped me and the kids to the precheck line and took us right to the front, and the other took DH to the front of the regular security line. After we got thru, they helped get everything to our gate (I was stupid and took carryons instead of checking a bag). Since we had 3 carryons, a wheelchair and a walker, it was a huge help. At the gate we had to get tags for the wheelchair and walker, which I did not know so that took a few mins. They allowed all 4 of us to board 1st, which I def did not expect. I figured it would be just one of us with him. The flight attendants were great and checked on us numerous times and didn't fuss about his backpack being under his leg. The flight there the front seats didn't have armrests that could be lifted up so it didn't work as I'd planned. Coming home on the 19th, from Denver, we didn't get any help, but that was ok, I really was surprised to have any in STL. But the gate agents were all very friendly, tho somewhat confused as to how to handle one person with 2 boarding passes. So that was kind of a mess, but it ended up fine. She went ahead and cancelled the 2nd seat and we were already refunded, but the attendants made sure no one tried to sit in our row in that seat as it was a full flight. On the way home the plane had the armrests that lifted up so he was able to sit sideways and was more comfortable. I need to call to get the other seat refunded, but I've been waiting for the current mess to calm down first. Apparently if you need a 2nd seat for a medical reason or size, you have to pay for it to "save" the seat, and then you call after the flights and they will refund you. Anyway, just wanted to say the SWA people were great in this instance.
Okay, I got it, thank you. The only times I’ve had to do it is in the airport waiting for a flight that is delayed/ possibly cancelled and trying to make sure I’m on a flight that day while at the airport. Totally get the not doing it ahead of time and violation - thank you! I definitely don’t want to break any rules.
SkyGuy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2021
We’re just going to drive if they’re still having issues. It’s 13 hours for us - not ideal, but not a deal-breaker. I have fully refundable tickets, so I’m not overly concerned, but my biggest issue is getting down there and then having to find alternate transportation back. I could take my sweet time returning, but my husband would need to get back to his responsibilities, and my son starts his last semester of undergrad.
bjscheel
(Avatar art by my daughter)
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2005
Eek thank you for stopping me from trying this! I have like 250,000 points! And to that end, I hope SW pulls it together so I can continue to fly free...
Our return flight on the 13th has us going through Chicago which I don't like but the other options in warmer climates were less ideal prices or times. Still thinking on that.
Mackenzie Click-Mickelson
Chugging along the path of life
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2015
It's under their Contract of Carriage https://www.southwest.com/assets/pdfs/corporate-commitments/contract-of-carriage.pdf
dorchrislen
Eat, Sleep & Breathe WDW
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2009
I just got an email from Southwest regarding my January 2 flight, stating that it is planned to execute, and that the operational delays should be OK by then. For what it’s worth. Definitely good news.
Yep, thanks. That definitely makes sense. My circumstances have always been when I'm currently at the airport checked in for an already delayed/likely to be cancelled flight and you are booking another to try to get out. I definitely get the not booking flights this way. Thanks all.
nekonekoneko
(=^・^=)
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2018
SWA is hoping to get back to normal operations tomorrowhttps://apnews.com/article/weather-...las-business-5e83632df5d78f85af37c5ed2f602fee
ultimatefans
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2013
It will remove it just as a payment for that trip. The credit will still be there for future use.
Cruzin’Sisters
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2021
I have tickets RT from RDU to MCO for end of Jan/begin Feb, non stop, and they were $89 each way. I used points.
Avery&Todd
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 20, 2010
it looks like it we booked SW down there would be $89 and back would be $119...so not bad..just trying to look into my crystal ball and see if there will be bad weather coming which would cancel our flights!
the only good thing about our direct flights down there is it looks like we're the first flight out that day, so as long as our plane arrives the night before and stays put all night it would be there for our flight out that morning vs. the 2nd leg of a BWI-RDU-MCO flight...
Cruzin’Sisters
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2021
I track the flight on Flight aware. You can see if it arrived the night before.
Good luck!
dcassetta
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2006
This is true. If you have a need for a second seat you can request that when you arrive at the airport. But if the flight is already full then there won’t be anything they can do. Purchasing the second seat guarantees that it will be open and then Southwest refunds after.
lilmc
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2017
I saw this post recently on FB:
A source inside Southwest Airlines recently passed this on and gave me permission to share. This is worth reading:
“What happened to Southwest Airlines?
I’ve been a pilot for Southwest Airlines for over 35 years. I’ve given my heart and soul to Southwest Airlines during those years. And quite honestly Southwest Airlines has given its heart and soul to me and my family.
Many of you have asked what caused this epic meltdown. Unfortunately, the frontline employees have been watching this meltdown coming like a slow motion train wreck for sometime. And we’ve been begging our leadership to make much needed changes in order to avoid it. What happened yesterday started two decades ago.
Herb Kelleher was the brilliant CEO of SWA until 2004. He was a very operationally oriented leader. Herb spent lots of time on the front line. He always had his pulse on the day to day operation and the people who ran it. That philosophy flowed down through the ranks of leadership to the front line managers. We were a tight operation from top to bottom. We had tools, leadership and employee buy in. Everything that was needed to run a first class operation. When Herb retired in 2004 Gary Kelly became the new CEO.
Gary was an accountant by education and his style leading Southwest Airlines became more focused on finances and less on operations. He did not spend much time on the front lines. He didn’t engage front line employees much. When the CEO doesn’t get out in the trenches the neither do the lower levels of leadership.
Gary named another accountant to be Chief Operating Officer (the person responsible for day to day operations). The new COO had little or no operational background. This trickled down through the lower levels of leadership, as well.
They all disengaged the operation, disengaged the employees and focused more on Return on Investment, stock buybacks and Wall Street. This approach worked for Gary’s first 8 years because we were still riding the strong wave that Herb had built.
But as time went on the operation began to deteriorate. There was little investment in upgrading technology (after all, how do you measure the return on investing in infrastructure?) or the tools we needed to operate efficiently and consistently. As the frontline employees began to see the deterioration in our operation we began to warn our leadership. We educated them, we informed them and we made suggestions to them. But to no avail. The focus was on finances not operations. As we saw more and more deterioration in our operation our asks turned to pleas. Our pleas turned to dire warnings. But they went unheeded. After all, the stock price was up so what could be wrong?
We were a motivated, willing and proud employee group wanting to serve our customers and uphold the tradition of our beloved airline, the airline we built and the airline that the traveling public grew to cheer for and luv. But we were watching in frustration and disbelief as our once amazing airline was becoming a house of cards.
A half dozen small scale meltdowns occurred during the mid to late 2010’s. With each mini meltdown Leadership continued to ignore the pleas and warnings of the employees in the trenches. We were still operating with 1990’s technology. We didn’t have the tools we needed on the line to operate the sophisticated and large airline we had become. We could see that the wheels were about ready to fall off the bus. But no one in leadership would heed our pleas.
When COVID happened SWA scaled back considerably (as did all of the airlines) for about two years. This helped conceal the serious problems in technology, infrastructure and staffing that were occurring and being ignored. But as we ramped back up the lack of attention to the operation was waiting to show its ugly head.
Gary Kelly retired as CEO in early 2022. Bob Jordan was named CEO. He was a more operationally oriented leader. He replaced our Chief Operating Officer with a very smart man and they announced their priority would be to upgrade our airline’s technology and provide the frontline employees the operational tools we needed to care for our customers and employees. Finally, someone acknowledged the elephant in the room.
But two decades of neglect takes several years to overcome. And, unfortunately to our horror, our house of cards came tumbling down this week as a routine winter storm broke our 1990’s operating system.
The frontline employees were ready and on station. We were properly staffed. We were at the airports. Hell, we were ON the airplanes. But our antiquated software systems failed coupled with a decades old system of having to manage 20,000 frontline employees by phone calls. No automation had been developed to run this sophisticated machine.
We had a routine winter storm across the Midwest last Thursday. A larger than normal number flights were cancelled as a result. But what should have been one minor inconvenient day of travel turned into this nightmare. After all, American, United, Delta and the other airlines operated with only minor flight disruptions.
The two decades of neglect by SWA leadership caused the airline to lose track of all its crews. ALL of us. We were there. With our customers. At the jet. Ready to go. But there was no way to assign us. To confirm us. To release us to fly the flight. And we watched as our customers got stranded without their luggage missing their Christmas holiday.
I believe that our new CEO Bob Jordan inherited a MESS. This meltdown was not his failure but the failure of those before him. I believe he has the right priorities. But it will take time to right this ship. A few years at a minimum. Old leaders need to be replaced. Operationally oriented managers need to be brought in. I hope and pray Bob can execute on his promises to fix our once proud airline. Time will tell.
It’s been a punch in the gut for us frontline employees. We care for the traveling public. We have spent our entire careers serving you. Safely. Efficiently. With luv and pride. We are horrified. We are sorry. We are sorry for the chaos, inconvenience and frustration our airline caused you. We are angry. We are embarrassed. We are sad. Like you, the traveling public, we have been let down by our own leaders.
Herb once said the the biggest threat to Southwest Airlines will come from within. Not from other airlines. What a visionary he was. I miss Herb now more than ever.” #southwestairlines
A source inside Southwest Airlines recently passed this on and gave me permission to share. This is worth reading:
“What happened to Southwest Airlines?
I’ve been a pilot for Southwest Airlines for over 35 years. I’ve given my heart and soul to Southwest Airlines during those years. And quite honestly Southwest Airlines has given its heart and soul to me and my family.
Many of you have asked what caused this epic meltdown. Unfortunately, the frontline employees have been watching this meltdown coming like a slow motion train wreck for sometime. And we’ve been begging our leadership to make much needed changes in order to avoid it. What happened yesterday started two decades ago.
Herb Kelleher was the brilliant CEO of SWA until 2004. He was a very operationally oriented leader. Herb spent lots of time on the front line. He always had his pulse on the day to day operation and the people who ran it. That philosophy flowed down through the ranks of leadership to the front line managers. We were a tight operation from top to bottom. We had tools, leadership and employee buy in. Everything that was needed to run a first class operation. When Herb retired in 2004 Gary Kelly became the new CEO.
Gary was an accountant by education and his style leading Southwest Airlines became more focused on finances and less on operations. He did not spend much time on the front lines. He didn’t engage front line employees much. When the CEO doesn’t get out in the trenches the neither do the lower levels of leadership.
Gary named another accountant to be Chief Operating Officer (the person responsible for day to day operations). The new COO had little or no operational background. This trickled down through the lower levels of leadership, as well.
They all disengaged the operation, disengaged the employees and focused more on Return on Investment, stock buybacks and Wall Street. This approach worked for Gary’s first 8 years because we were still riding the strong wave that Herb had built.
But as time went on the operation began to deteriorate. There was little investment in upgrading technology (after all, how do you measure the return on investing in infrastructure?) or the tools we needed to operate efficiently and consistently. As the frontline employees began to see the deterioration in our operation we began to warn our leadership. We educated them, we informed them and we made suggestions to them. But to no avail. The focus was on finances not operations. As we saw more and more deterioration in our operation our asks turned to pleas. Our pleas turned to dire warnings. But they went unheeded. After all, the stock price was up so what could be wrong?
We were a motivated, willing and proud employee group wanting to serve our customers and uphold the tradition of our beloved airline, the airline we built and the airline that the traveling public grew to cheer for and luv. But we were watching in frustration and disbelief as our once amazing airline was becoming a house of cards.
A half dozen small scale meltdowns occurred during the mid to late 2010’s. With each mini meltdown Leadership continued to ignore the pleas and warnings of the employees in the trenches. We were still operating with 1990’s technology. We didn’t have the tools we needed on the line to operate the sophisticated and large airline we had become. We could see that the wheels were about ready to fall off the bus. But no one in leadership would heed our pleas.
When COVID happened SWA scaled back considerably (as did all of the airlines) for about two years. This helped conceal the serious problems in technology, infrastructure and staffing that were occurring and being ignored. But as we ramped back up the lack of attention to the operation was waiting to show its ugly head.
Gary Kelly retired as CEO in early 2022. Bob Jordan was named CEO. He was a more operationally oriented leader. He replaced our Chief Operating Officer with a very smart man and they announced their priority would be to upgrade our airline’s technology and provide the frontline employees the operational tools we needed to care for our customers and employees. Finally, someone acknowledged the elephant in the room.
But two decades of neglect takes several years to overcome. And, unfortunately to our horror, our house of cards came tumbling down this week as a routine winter storm broke our 1990’s operating system.
The frontline employees were ready and on station. We were properly staffed. We were at the airports. Hell, we were ON the airplanes. But our antiquated software systems failed coupled with a decades old system of having to manage 20,000 frontline employees by phone calls. No automation had been developed to run this sophisticated machine.
We had a routine winter storm across the Midwest last Thursday. A larger than normal number flights were cancelled as a result. But what should have been one minor inconvenient day of travel turned into this nightmare. After all, American, United, Delta and the other airlines operated with only minor flight disruptions.
The two decades of neglect by SWA leadership caused the airline to lose track of all its crews. ALL of us. We were there. With our customers. At the jet. Ready to go. But there was no way to assign us. To confirm us. To release us to fly the flight. And we watched as our customers got stranded without their luggage missing their Christmas holiday.
I believe that our new CEO Bob Jordan inherited a MESS. This meltdown was not his failure but the failure of those before him. I believe he has the right priorities. But it will take time to right this ship. A few years at a minimum. Old leaders need to be replaced. Operationally oriented managers need to be brought in. I hope and pray Bob can execute on his promises to fix our once proud airline. Time will tell.
It’s been a punch in the gut for us frontline employees. We care for the traveling public. We have spent our entire careers serving you. Safely. Efficiently. With luv and pride. We are horrified. We are sorry. We are sorry for the chaos, inconvenience and frustration our airline caused you. We are angry. We are embarrassed. We are sad. Like you, the traveling public, we have been let down by our own leaders.
Herb once said the the biggest threat to Southwest Airlines will come from within. Not from other airlines. What a visionary he was. I miss Herb now more than ever.” #southwestairlines
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