Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iGary on Airline! tonight at 10:00 p.m.
- Thread starter iGary
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
After seeing several Airline! episodes in the past; I wonder why anyone flies SWA! They are coming to Dulles, and they will be my last choice.
Chip NoVaMac said:
Southwest consistently ranks at or near the top in just about every consumer satisfaction survey. Be glad it's not another airline that's being televised. (Or maybe we should be sad...another airline might make for even more entertaining TV.)
That said, I'm not a huge fan of Southwest either. Maybe when they move to assigned seating. I really hate the cattle-car, stand-in-line-for-half-an-hour-if-you-want-a-decent-seat rigamarole.
Chip NoVaMac said:
Meh....the 5 angry, pissed off people they show each week is nothing compared to the thousands of satisfied customers every week. That goes for any airline.
yg17 said:
True, but one bad experience a customer has will be told to something like 20 people, if I remember correctly. The same can not be said about a positive experience.
In my case it has been like 10 years since I had a bad experience with United; bad communications, lack of care for the customer, indifference from the lowest level to the highest level - all at the time they were running those commercials showing people waiting for a trainer to show up, the tag line was that they needed to look at how customers feel.
I have yet to fly United since. And will only if they are my last choice.
Compare that to my very positive experiences with USAir (though I had to get nasty with them - they canceled a paid ticket because it was a mistake on their part entering into the database, the counter agent saw the hassles and upgraded me to first class at the gate for both the outbound and return trip - $89 RT first class, what can be better?), America West (delayed bags got us a first class upgrade for the return trip), Independence Air; aka FlyI -RIP - (just first class customer treatment), and Midway Air; also RIP - (another airline that treated their customers with respect).
Sadly the later two are casualties of 9/11 and IMO predatory practices of the legacy airlines that had/have deeper pockets and long term connections to "The Hill". The legacy airlines are somehow allowed even under bankruptcy to offer fairs that further drive themselves towards insolvency, only to drive their weaker financed competitors out quicker.
To those that say only the strongest should survive. I agree unless the "strongest" are looking for relief in bankruptcy court. Both FyI and Midway were doing well until the likes of United decided to go further into debt by severely under cutting these others fares- to a point that nobody was making even the basic bills.
Deregulation as it has turned out has not truly helped the public overall. Sure there have been periods in which the traveling public has been helped with lower fairs. But at the effect of lower wages and increased work hours. At an increased number of aircraft that are sent out of country for service, with questionable FAA oversight. At the cost to us as US tax payers with the PBGC holding the bag for failed pensions.
In the days before deregulation; would we have had two flights delayed because of "mechanical issues"? Would we have had a hodge-podge of the Rule 240 (http://www.mytravelrights.com/travellaw.cfm?ai=3) guaranteeing our rights for delayed/cancled flights?
It was like 7 years ago that I was scheduled for a Midway flight from Tampa to DCA. They were over booked (why any airline should be allowed to overbook is beyond rational thought IMO). I told the main terminal counter agent that I needed to get home that night, that I knew of another flight to IAD on another airline that would work for me instead of their flight DCA. She confirmed with me that I understood the change in airports (in this case it saved my ex driving 20+ miles one way to DCA; verses a 10 mile R/T to IAD).
She gave me the ticket on the other airline, writing in a marker RULE 240; and telling me that if I had any issues with the other airline; just to state RULE 240.
In the end it bodes well for us that travel by air to know how each airline under deregulation has chosen to define RULE 240. SWA does not have a RULE 240 understanding. This is not much different for many other low cost carriers.
So instead of shopping for the lowest fares, maybe we need to seek out those that have the best understanding of RULE 240. In the case of iGary the $200 an hour that he paid for the support staff may have been outweighed by going with a slightly higher cost airline.
Sorry if I went OT here. But I view SWA as the WalMart of the airlines. All about price, nothing about customer service.
^^
Very Good Post.
However, a few inaccuracies:
1) Indy Air was not a casualty of 9/11: it didn't even exist until 2004 (although it was in the making since 1989)
2) It is true that SWA does not have an 'official' Rule 240 on the books, but they do offer many Rule 240 benefits. Example: If you are flying out of an airport that ATA flies out of (LAX, MDW, PHX(?), others) and WN doesn't have any space for you on one of their flights, they'll make a good effort to accommodate you on an ATA flight to your destination or a suitable alternative airport, if that flight isn't already sold out.
Very Good Post.
However, a few inaccuracies:
1) Indy Air was not a casualty of 9/11: it didn't even exist until 2004 (although it was in the making since 1989)
2) It is true that SWA does not have an 'official' Rule 240 on the books, but they do offer many Rule 240 benefits. Example: If you are flying out of an airport that ATA flies out of (LAX, MDW, PHX(?), others) and WN doesn't have any space for you on one of their flights, they'll make a good effort to accommodate you on an ATA flight to your destination or a suitable alternative airport, if that flight isn't already sold out.
njmac said:
I've flown on JetBlue on a number of occasions. Their aircraft are nice (the EMB-190 is better in my eyes than the A320 for a number of reasons) and the crews are for the most part friendly and professional. The only downside to them is that they offer virtually no non-stop flights, almost all flights (at least on the east coast) connect through JFK and sometimes you can get sopped with really bad ground delays.
skoker said:
Thanks.
Your point one was my fault for bad writing. Should have handled FlyI asan independent thought.
Many factors hurt FlyI. Having a large number of CRJ aircraft from the days of operating regional service for United, forced them to start off with many more flights at their launch of service.Most other new airlines start off with a few flights, and grow. FlyI started off big, and was forced to shrink back. Also operating costs for the CRJ are like 3 to 4 times per a seat mile than with the likes of the A320 and B737.
Chip NoVaMac said:
They had excellent customer service though. I remember hearing tales of one of their flight attendants becoming legendary for customer service and people would change their flights at the last second to be on one of the flights she served.
Tomorrow morning, FLT 1801, SWA
BWI to JAX
Be there or be square.
Hey, the round trip was 99.86 to Jacksonville...
BWI to JAX
Be there or be square.
Hey, the round trip was 99.86 to Jacksonville...
Good luck! Hopefully there won't be any drama. And if there is, that cameras will be on hand to catch it in all its glory
max_altitude said:You're going to make a scene just to get on TV again, aren't you?
Pretty much.
L
Lau
Guest
Oh that was cool...I enjoyed this thread Gary! However, I hate that the whole A&E special was to make SWA look bad....they are a cheap airline, BUT THEY ARE SAFE AND THEY DON'T KILL PEOPLE!
I would deal with hassle after hassle as long as I do not die!
I would deal with hassle after hassle as long as I do not die!
macartistkel said:Oh that was cool...I enjoyed this thread Gary! However, I hate that the whole A&E special was to make SWA look bad....they are a cheap airline, BUT THEY ARE SAFE AND THEY DON'T KILL PEOPLE!
I would deal with hassle after hassle as long as I do not die!
Well, as long as you are not in the plane you're safe.
iGary said:Well, as long as you are not in the plane you're safe.
Shouldn't that be "as long as you are in the plane"?
iGary said:Well, as long as you are not in the plane you're safe.
Oh Gary, I just read the entire transcript of that flight from Wikipedia (just to freak myself out I guess)!
Anyway, I am flying next weekend out to Portland and I wanted to take Southwest (because of safety) but I had no choice in the matter because it is for an interview so the company picked everything for me. I will be on United Airlines---I don't know much about them but I researched everything about the different types of planes I will be on. I am such a baby when it comes to flying! Again, thanks for posting this thread...A&E made it kind of funny, especially with the lady and her devil horns! LOL
WTF?, was it Halloween?