The Southwest Debacle: From Bad to Worse

[dagger]

As disruptive as these ill-timed storms and extreme cold snaps have been to Canadian airlines, what is happened in Southwest is something I've never seen except during labour conflicts, and never for such a stretch like this.  Southwest has basically been reduced to flying one-third of its sked, and that may last through the coming weekend. Southwest's non-hub network, its outdated crew scheduling software, and the storm's breadth all combining to create a cascading series of problems that have become insurmountable for the airline to untangle.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/southwest-flight-cancellations-winter-storm-tuesday/index.html

Southwest Airlines continues canceling flights as New Year holiday approaches

 

(CNN) — Air travelers in the United States hoping for clear skies on Tuesday following a disastrous week of weather-related flight cancellations and delays will have to extend their patience a few more days -- particularly if they're flying with Southwest Airlines. 

More than 2,892 flights within, into or out of the US have already been canceled for Tuesday as of 9 a.m. ET, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. 

Of those canceled flights, 2,522 are operated by Southwest. 

Airports most affected by the Tuesday cancellations are Denver International, followed by Chicago Midway International, Baltimore/Washington International, Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Dallas Love Field and Nashville International. 

Tuesday's cancellations follow a full day of post-Christmas travel chaos, with 3,989 flights canceled on Monday -- 2,909 of those being Southwest flights. And Southwest's Christmas struggles come amid a year of troubles for the airline industry. Over the summer, nearly a quarter of US flights were delayed and thousands were canceled. 

Southwest warns that this week's cancellations and delays are expected to continue for several more days, with representatives saying the Dallas-based airline is planning to dial back its flight schedule in order to get operations on track.

Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan told The Wall Street Journal the company plans to operate just over a third of its schedule in upcoming days to give itself the ability for crews to get into the right positions. 

According to WSJ.com, Jordan added that reduced schedule could be extended. 

"We had a tough day today. In all likelihood we'll have another tough day tomorrow as we work our way out of this," Jordan said in an interview Monday evening with WSJ.com. 

"This is the largest scale event that I've ever seen." 

Southwest was hit particularly hard because of a cascade of issues. 

The storm slammed two of its biggest hubs -- Chicago and Denver -- at a time when Covid and other winter ailments were stretching staff rosters. Southwest's aggressive schedule and underinvestment have also been blamed.

The winter storm that swept across the country was ill-timed for travelers who had started pushing Christmas week flying numbers back toward pre-pandemic levels.

On Christmas Day, 3,178 flights were canceled and 6,870 were delayed, according to FlightAware.

On Christmas Eve, there were a total of 3,487 flights canceled, according to FlightAware. 

Friday was the worst day of this streak with 5,934 cancellations, while Thursday saw almost 2,700 cancellations. 

What can stranded passengers do?

At the Southwest ticket counter at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Tuesday morning, long lines were already building up as travelers waited to try to rebook flights or make connections.

And at Chicago's Midway International, huge buildups of unclaimed bags piled up as passengers struggled to reclaim their luggage.

Passenger Trisha Jones told CNN at the airport in Atlanta that she and her partner had been traveling for five days, trying to get home to Wichita, Kansas, after disembarking from a cruise at Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

After her flight out was canceled, she stayed with relatives then rerouted to Atlanta to pick up a connecting flight.

"We were fortunate, because we were in Fort Lauderdale -- my family lives in the Tampa bay area so we were able to rent a car to go see my family for Christmas," Jones said. "We've seen a lot of families who are sleeping on the floor, and it just breaks my heart."

Calls made Monday afternoon by CNN to Southwest's customer service did not go through, so customers couldn't even get in the queue to speak to a representative. Southwest told CNN it is "fully staffed to answer calls."

 

The airline also says, "those whose flights have been canceled may request a full refund or receive a flight credit, which does not expire."

If you've been left in the lurch and your efforts to reach a customer service agent are going nowhere, the founder of Scott's Cheap Flights suggests trying an international number.

"The main hotline for US airlines will be clogged with other passengers getting rebooked. To get through to an agent quickly, call any one of the airline's dozens of international offices," Scott Keyes said. 

"Agents can handle your reservation just like US-based ones can, but there's virtually no wait to get through."

Southwest spokesperson: "Take care of yourself...keep your receipts" 

A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines said the recent winter storm is to blame for the cascade of thousands of flight cancellations Monday and advanced cancellations Tuesday.

"As the storm continued to sweep across the country it continued to impact many of our larger stations and so the cancellations just compiled one after another to 100 to 150 to 1,000," Jay McVay said in a press conference at Houston's William P. Hobby Airport on Monday night. 

"With those cancellations and as a result, we end up with flight crews and airplanes that are out of place and not in the cities that they need to be in to continue to run our operations."

McVay said that the company's first priority right now is safety. "We want to make sure that we operate these flights safely and that we have the flight crews that have legal and sufficient time to operate these flights," he stated. 

"We will do everything that we need to do to right the challenges that we've had right now," he said, including "hotels, ride assistance, vans ... rental cars to try and make sure these folks get home as quickly as possible."

He promised that all customers, even those who had already left the airport or made alternate arrangements on their own, would also be taken care of. 

"If you've already left, take care of yourself, do what you need to do for your family, keep your receipts," McVay relayed. "We will make sure they are taken care of, that is not a question."

An announcement made in the terminal prior to the news conference apologized to customers, and said the next available SWA seats are on Saturday, December 31 and later. The agent said Southwest would be providing buses to area hotels and assured that "we will have sufficient rooms for all customers who are affected by this disruption."

US government 'concerned' by cancellations

The US Department of Transportation issued a statement on Monday's massive flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines, saying the agency is "concerned."

"USDOT is concerned by Southwest's unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays and reports of lack of prompt customer service. The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan," the agency tweeted.

Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, the vice president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, Capt. Mike Santoro, said the problems facing Southwest were the worst disruptions he'd experienced in 16 years at the airline.

He described last week's storm as a catalyst that helped trigger major technical issues. 

"What went wrong is that our IT infrastructure for scheduling software is vastly outdated," he said. "It can't handle the number of pilots, flight attendants that we have in the system, with our complex route network. 

"We don't have the normal hub the other major airlines do. We fly a point-to-point network which can put our crews in the wrong places, without airplanes."

He added: "It is frustrating for the pilots, the flight attendants and especially our passengers. We are tired of apologizing for Southwest, the pilots in the airline, our hearts go out to all of the passengers, they really do."

Santoro, who said his association had been pressing the airline for some time to solve its structural problems, complained that pilots had also been affected by the current disruption.

"We have, over 10,000 pilots, not all flying at the same time, but imagine everyone is in the wrong city, without hotel assignments, and trying to find hotels?"

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by dagger

[Guest2]

Southwest Airlines says travelers stranded by holiday meltdown can't rebook until December 31st

Story by amartin@insider.com (Asia Martin) • Yesterday 8:19 p.m.

68Comments

 

• Southwest Airlines won't rebook any more flights until next year.
• Southwest canceled 2,890 flights and delayed 673 flights. 
• Southwest was impacted by Winter Storm Elliott.

If you are a stranded Southwest customer trying to get home after visiting family for the holidays, we sincerely hope you like your family — you may be forced to stay with them a bit longer.

 

Nearly 10,000 flights have been canceled or delayed so far this holiday weekend due to severe weather. Here are the 5 cities most plagued by delays and cancellations at the airport.

• A winter storm swept the United States plunging temperatures below freezing.
• Airlines have had to cancel or delay nearly 10,000 flights this holiday weekend.
• FlightAware's MiseryMap shows the airports with the most cancellations and delays.

Airlines have had to cancel or delay nearly 10,000 flights this holiday weekend so far after a winter storm surged across the United States and plunged temperatures to below-freezing nationwide.

Airlines canceled nearly 3,000 flights and delayed over 6,000 more in the US as of Saturday afternoon, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware.

Here are five airports with the most delays and cancellations this weekend.

 

Stranded Southwest customers can't rebook their flights until after December 31, according to a Southwest Airlines official who spoke to the press at Hobby International Airport on Monday. 

 

This is a blow to customers who have been waiting to reach their final destination since late last week. 

Customers who already have a confirmed rebooking will not be affected by this.

Southwest Airlines canceled nearly 3,000 flights following Winter Storm Elliott — the highest count by far among airlines, according to FlightAware.

The fallout stranded travelers across the country over the weekend as airlines could not rebook customers quickly because of the nationwide impact of the storm. 

[Moon The Loon]

The mod well upon WestJet was founded.

What's gone wrong?

 

[deicer]

By admitting that their systems are out of date, it only leads one to think that they also lead to the problems with the 737 Max program when they pressured Boeing to keep cockpit commonality with their older models.

[Seeker]

48 minutes ago, deicer said:

By admitting that their systems are out of date, it only leads one to think that they also lead to the problems with the 737 Max program when they pressured Boeing to keep cockpit commonality with their older models.

Southwest staffs and equips the airline for the 360 (or whatever) days per year when they don't have a winter storm to deal with.  Every business and organization does this; from the person who decides (in July) how many plow trucks will available for the next winter to the person who decides on the staffing for the nightshift drive-through window at your local Tim's.  I believe that most organizations (and the people responsible) put considerable effort into this planning.

At great cost it would be possible to staff and equip the airline for 100% (theoretically) of the weather events that might occur.  Of course this means that for 99% of the time you are overstaffed and have surplus equipment sitting idle - doesn't please the shareholders due to lost profit and doesn't please the customers due to higher ticket prices.

I have often tried to explain this to disgruntled passengers in the airport. 

It goes like this;  "Yes, passengers trying to fly today are delayed and disadvantaged by a lack of extra crew to pick up the slack but passengers flying for the other 364 days of the year got lower prices."  

Their reply, "Well, I would have paid more to have the extra crew available."  

Of course doesn't work like that.  Millions and millions of passengers need to pay more so that on the bad weather day thousands of passengers aren't delayed.  I ask people how they would feel about a system like this;  your ticket price was, let's say, $1000.00 but you have the option of paying only $500 with a 1 out of 365 chance that you're delayed for weather - deal?  Naturally, given the option, people do the math in their head and take the cheaper ticket.

All that being said I do think airlines (hotels, restaurants, etc) that do a better job of managing this should be rewarded (with more business) and those that fail to do so should be scorned.  The problem is that customers have short memories.  Next year virtually all (certainly most) of the people caught in Southwest's mess will book again if the ticket is $5 cheaper than the alternatives.

[deicer]

While I can agree with your point of view, there is one flaw in the logic.

After just short of 4 decades in the airline biz, this is my observation, what you didn't acknowledge is that every years operations include the first Christmas, the first Easter, the first March break, the first summer break, etc.

The same mistakes are made every year with the same excuses made every year.  

No changes are made with regards to preparation or execution.

The only constant is what you said.  Customers have short memories and can be bought with paltry discounts.

[Specs]

From the New York Times - offering an explanation as to why Southwest's recovery is so far behind the other majors

"...The issues stem from the carrier’s unique “point to point” model, in which planes tend to fly from destination to destination without returning to one or two main hubs. Most airlines follow a “hub and spoke” model, in which planes typically return to a hub airport after flying out to other cities.

When bad weather hits, hub-and-spoke airlines can shut down specific routes and have plans in place to restart operations when the skies clear. But bad weather can scramble multiple flights and routes in a point-to-point model, leaving Southwest staff out of position to resume normal operations.

...."

Edited December 28, 2022 by Specs

[Seeker]

9 minutes ago, deicer said:

 

The same mistakes are made every year with the same excuses made every year.  

No changes are made with regards to preparation or execution.

 

The changes aren't made because the changes would cost money.  They know a major storm will happen eventually and they know the system will collapse and just accept it rather than spending money to prepare.

It's like what just happened in Vancouver; not enough trucks to clear the runways, not enough deicing capacity so everything cancelled for 4 days, thousands stranded.  Do you think this is a surprise to the airport authority?   Hah!  They'll pay themselves bonuses for how well they handled the "crisis".  These are not "mistakes" - they are decisions made with consequences known.

I do have to say however that over the last 10 years or so I have seen more proactive moves made by airlines in advance of major weather events - cancelling flights well ahead of the storm, flying all the aircraft out of the forecast storm area.  This does nothing to help the passengers get where they need to be but does say the airlines lots of money.

[Guest2]

and of course Lawyers may make some money out of the events.

Passengers encouraged to sue after spending hours stuck on planes at YVR during snowstorm

Passengers encouraged to sue over travel nightmare at YVR | CTV News

[Seeker]

3 hours ago, Skeptic said:

and of course Lawyers may make some money out of the events.

Passengers encouraged to sue after spending hours stuck on planes at YVR during snowstorm

Passengers encouraged to sue over travel nightmare at YVR | CTV News

Gabor Lukacs, naturally.  Well, in this case he's right, the passengers should sue but not the airlines.  The passengers should sue the airport authority.  Frozen bridges and impassable ramps are not the airlines' responsibility.

Personally, just once I'd like to see Gabor get his wish - at exactly 4:00 hrs, blow the slides and deplane the passengers to the ramp because you know after 4:00 hrs they must be deplaned!

[Innuendo]

Wonder what happened to all the PTVs that were at YMX.

Might be useful in getting the Guests off the aircraft when bridges are not available.

Probably  not cost effective for the amount of time they would be needed I guess.

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Innuendo

[Guest2]

29 minutes ago, Innuendo said:

Wonder what happened to all the PTVs that were at YMX.

Might be useful in getting the Guests off the aircraft when bridges are not available.

Probably  not cost effective for the amount of time they would be needed I guess.

 

Mirabel, just another example of a government deciding what should happen in aviation rather than those who were going to operate the airport.

[Seeker]

Southwest Cancels Thousands More Flights on Thursday as Disruptions Continue

By Tom Ozimek

 

December 29, 2022 Updated: December 29, 2022

biggersmaller 

Travelers face more hardship as Southwest Airlines has canceled nearly 2,400 flights as of Thursday morning—putting the tally at around 15,000 over the course of a week—as the company has struggled to stabilize operations amid a harsh winter storm.

As of 8 a.m. New York time on Thursday, Dec. 29, Southwest canceled 2,357 flights and delayed 58, according to data from FlightAware.

Since late last week, well over 10,000 Southwest flights have been canceled—far more than any other carrier.

“All the flexibility and planning that we put in place to deal with the storm just wasn’t enough,” Southwest Chief Commercial Officer Ryan Green said in a Dec. 28 video message, in which he offered an apology to customers whose travel was disrupted. 0;34

A Southwest Airlines ground crew member organizes unclaimed luggage at the Southwest Airlines luggage area, at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, Calif., on Dec. 28, 2022. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

Green pledged to do “everything we can and to work day and night to repair our relationship with” customers, while announcing Southwest was offering additional resources on its website for people to submit receipts for travel expenses incurred in disrupted travel for refunds, or share information to get delayed bags returned more quickly.

‘Truly Sorry’

The airline’s chief executive warned of more disruptions this week before things get back to normal.

“Our plan for the next few days is to fly a reduced schedule and reposition our people and planes, and we’re making headway and we’re optimistic to be back on track before next week,” CEO Bob Jordan said in a news release on Tuesday evening.

Jordan said the reason Southwest was affected more than other airlines amid the bitter cold snap is because it’s the biggest carrier in the country and its network is “highly complex” and its operations count on “all the pieces, especially aircraft and crews, remaining in motion.”

Southwest operates in “Cities where large numbers of scheduled flights simultaneously froze as record bitter cold brought challenges for all airlines,” he said, adding that he’s “truly sorry.”

Jordan said he had spoken with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg “to continue the discussions we’ve been having with the DOT through the holiday.”

Buttigieg said late Tuesday that Southwest’s “system really has completely melted down,” according to his interview with CNN. “I made clear that our department will be holding them accountable for their responsibilities to customers, both to get them through this situation and to make sure that this can’t happen again.”

Buttigieg also told NBC News that amid the bevy of Southwest cancellations, it “has clearly crossed the line from what’s an uncontrollable weather situation to something that is the airline’s direct responsibility.”

“From what I can tell, Southwest is unable to locate even where their own crews are, let alone their own passengers, let alone baggage,” Buttigieg told CNN. He said he spoke with pilots’ and fight attendants’ unions about the fracas.

“While all of the other parts of the aviation system have been moving toward recovery and getting better each day, it’s actually been moving the opposite direction with this airline,” added Buttigieg.

Around the same time, President Joe Biden warned that airlines that have canceled flights this week will face accountability, although he did not elaborate how.

Southwest shares have fallen around 11 percent this week, a far greater plunge than other U.S. airlines.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.

[deicer]

They knew it was coming.  It's a result of letting accountants run the show rather than operational people.  Happened at Boeing too.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/469237/11677386-12-7-casey-murray-looking-ahead

 

[deicer]

https://www.facebook.com/swapa737/posts/623662599761123

Voices From The Line: Larry Lonero

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.

[Guest2]

Seems that the Hub and Spoke system is superior to the older O&D system where the inbound flight turned around and then back to it's origin.

Southwest nosedive continues: 2,300 more canceled flights

 

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines said it expects to return to normal operations Friday after slashing about two-thirds of its schedule in recent days, including canceling another 2,350 flights Thursday.

Southwest nosedive continues: 2,300 more canceled flights© Provided by The Canadian Press

Southwest is struggling to recover after being overwhelmed by a winter storm that left hundreds of pilots and flight attendants stranded out of position to operate flights.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines continues to slash about two-thirds of its daily schedule, canceling another 2,350 flights Thursday, though most of the planes that flew arrived on time.

Southwest is struggling to recover after being overwhelmed by a winter storm that left hundreds of pilots and flight attendants stranded out of position to operate flights.

Other airlines are back to full strength. Delta, American and United together canceled around 30 flights by late morning, according to tracker FlightAware.KMG

 

Southwest's cancellations amounted to 58% of its schedule, slightly better than in previous days. The Dallas carrier accounted for more than 95% of all canceled flights in the United States on Thursday.

About the only good news for Southwest passengers was that 98% of flights that took off managed to land within 15 minutes of schedule, meeting the government's definition of an on-time arrival.

Southwest has acknowledged that it has inadequate and outdated technology that can leave flight crews out of position when bad weather strikes.

The airline has declined requests to make executives available for comment and did not provide an update about operations on its website. Its main public outreach has been to post video statements by CEO Robert Jordan and its chief commercial officer.

The federal government is investigating what happened at Southwest, which has canceled more than 13,000 flights since its meltdown began on Dec. 22.

Southwest added a page to its website specifically for stranded travelers, but thousands of customers were unable to reach the airline. It wasn't just customers, either — pilots and flight attendants reported being on hold for hours.

Investors appear to think that Southwest might finally be getting a handle on the crisis. The company's shares rose more than 3% , but they're still down 8% for the week.

[Kip Powick]

And overeas also has big problem(s)   (and you think YYZ was a problem )

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/naia-philippines-airport-power-outage-flight-chaos-intl-hnk/index.html

 

 

[J.O.]

Southwest Airlines Has a Problem Bigger Than its Technology

Passengers should be very concerned about the message being sent by the airline's pilots.

Southwest Airlines (LUV) - Get Free Report had a high-profile meltdown that stranded tens of thousands of passengers over the holidays. The airline then fumbled its response to those problems multiple times.

First, Southwest blamed the weather -- and while storms led to the problem, it was clear by how the other airlines were operating that something deeper had gone wrong. After that, Southwest dropped the ball in how it apologized and compensated its passengers who got stranded, had to rent hotel rooms during the busy holiday season, or had to find another way to get home.

It was a series of errors that left customers angry and questioning whether they could trust the airline. That's a huge problem for a company that has built its reputation on being honest and transparent with its passengers.

In reality, though, people only have so many choices when it comes to air travel. That means that while people may be wary about flying Southwest, the airline's combination of value and flying to an awful lot of places probably will have them doing it anyway.

That's good news for Southwest, but the airline has a problem that goes much deeper than its software. Southwest's pilots are angry with the airline and they're speaking out about it very vocally.

Southwest Airlines Has a Pilot Problem 

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) released a scathing letter that started by sharing two quotes, one that touched upon the philosophy under which Southwest was built and the other on where it is now. The first was from the airline's founder Herb Kelleher.

“You put your employees first. If you truly treat your employees that way, they will treat your customers well, your customers will come back, and that’s what makes your shareholders happy. So there’s no constituency at war with any other constituency. Ultimately, it’s shareholder value that you’re producing,” said the company's founder and former CEO who passed away in 2019. 

The second quote came from current Chairman and former CEO Gary Kelly.

“Arguably, our shareholders have suffered for a long time when it comes to getting a return and our employees have been very well taken care of,” Kelly said.

The airline's pilots clearly don't believe the company continues to live up to those ideas. In the letter SWAPA released, it took bold shots at current management.

"How did we get here? How did we go from the most stable and profitable airline in history to the greatest meltdown in airline history? As with most organizations, the answer can be distilled down to one word: Leadership. Actually, in our case, it’s three words: Lack of leadership," the association shared.

Southwest Knew a Meltdown Was Coming

SWAPA shared that while the recent meltdown was a major event, it was not the first technology-based service interruption the airline has experienced.

"Systemwide meltdowns at Southwest Airlines have been increasing in frequency and magnitude over the past 15 years. From the original Midway Meltdown (and then the second larger one 1/3/2014) to destroying our on-time-performance with the added 'virtual airframes' experiment to the “router brownout” (2016) to the 'Jacksonville Center debacle' (Columbus Day weekend, October 2021) to what we are experiencing today," the letter declared.

The pilots' association believes that these issues were predictable and avoidable.

"There has never been any real accountability for the decision-makers as a result of any of these fiascos, or the numerous smaller ones in between. If the saying that 'insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results' is true, then what is it when the same people are allowed to do the same thing over and over again? Supreme insanity, perhaps?" the letter continued

The pilots clearly believe that the airline has lost its way and that Kelly has decided to focus on building shareholder value at the expense of employees.

Herb’s legacy and the culture he built from the ground up was centered on his employees and empowering them to make proactive decisions at the lowest level possible. However, the culture that Gary Kelly ushered in with his ascension to the throne was the exact opposite. Gary’s vision was to become the darling of the investment community while building an insulated and vertical hierarchical structure where all decision-making authority was slowly stripped from front-line experts with the most situational awareness and moved further up the cubicle chain in Dallas far removed from line operations.

That's actually some of the kinder language in the letter which comes at a time when the overall airline industry faces a pilot shortage. This could bring the issues to a head as the pilots' association believes the airline has chosen to return billions to shareholders in stock buybacks while raising executive pay over investing in technology.

"As CEO, Gary Kelly made a conscious decision to make the less than necessary investments in tech upgrades in favor of maximizing shareholder return because, well, 'our tech’s been working ok for 20 years.' While Gary’s financial acumen cannot be debated, his poor operational leadership and judgment have been demonstrated repeatedly with each meltdown and finally laid bare with the current situation we find ourselves in," the pilots added.

https://www.thestreet.com/travel/southwest-airlines-has-a-problem-bigger-than-its-technology

[Guest1]

And the beat goes on.......

Southwest Airlines flights delayed in U.S. after technical issue grounded planes

By David Koenig  The Associated Press

Posted April 18, 2023 11:53 am

 Updated April 18, 2023 11:55 am

Southwest Airlines planes were grounded nationwide for what the airline called an intermittent technology issue, causing more than 1,700 flight delays Tuesday just four months after the carrier suffered a meltdown over the Christmas travel rush.

The hold on departures was lifted by late morning, shortly after it was announced, according to Southwest and the Federal Aviation Administration, but not before traffic at airports from Denver to New York City backed up.

“Southwest has resumed operations after temporarily pausing flight activity this morning to work through data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure,” the Dallas airline said in a prepared statement. “Early this morning, a vendor-supplied firewall went down and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost.”

The airline urged customers to check on their flight status “and explore self-service options” for travel as the airline worked on restoring its operation.

 

By late morning on the East Coast, Southwest accounted for well over half of all delays nationwide, but the airline had canceled fewer than a dozen flights, according to FlightAware.

Tuesday’s flight freeze was brief, but it added to the picture of an airline that has struggled more than most with technology issues. CEO Robert Jordan has embarked on a campaign to repair the airline’s damaged reputation.

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In December, Southwest canceled nearly 17,000 flights over the Christmas holiday due to bad weather and its crew-scheduling system becoming overwhelmed. Those cancellations cost the airline more than $1 billion. The Transportation Department is investigating the breakdown.

The airline’s unions have said they warned management about problems with the crew-scheduling system after a previous meltdown in October 2021.

[Guest1]

Southwest Airlines Pilot Gives Startling Insight Into the Company's Technical Issues

Story by Colin Salao • Yesterday 4:19 p.m.

Southwest Airlines may be in danger of repeat incidents in the near future.

Southwest Airlines  (LUV) - Get Free Report suffered another major issue this morning that forced nationwide grounding of its planes just months after a disastrous holiday season. But while Southwest flights are back in the air, one of the company’s pilots suggests this may not be the end of the company’s issues.

Captain Michael Santoro, Vice President of the Southwest Airlines Pilot Association, spoke on CNBC’s Power Lunch and said he thinks there’s a “50-50” chance that this issue happens again.nes departures lifted after technical issue gets resolved

• 2:36
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  CNBCHere's why Southwest Airlines briefly paused flights nationwide

  3:32

 

DON’T MISS: Southwest Airlines Resumes Flights After 'Technical Issue' Triggers Brief Nationwide Grounding; Stock Slides

“This system gets rebooted every night, and I always wonder if it’s gonna reboot tomorrow,” Santoro said. “It makes me nervous, that system. I’m not a fan of it. It’s old -- it’s very old.”

 

Santoro did say that Southwest is working on replacing the infrastructure. However, he called it “a work in progress” and reiterated that it will take some time before it can be implemented.

Southwest stock opened the day at $32.50 but dipped to as low as $31.12 following the news, though it has mostly recovered, pushing above $32 by the close of the day.