Is it a good idea to make a reservation with Southwest even now?
After Southwest Airlines cancelled more than 15,000 flights during the holiday travel season, leaving customers scurrying for backup plans, this is the lingering question on many travellers' minds. Southwest Airlines' meltdown left consumers rushing for alternative travel arrangements. Some passengers never even arrived at their destinations because they decided not to continue with their travel plans after the cancellations left them with little opportunities to reschedule.
To quickly answer your question, the simple answer is yes, it is secure to book a flight with Southwest going ahead, despite the concerns that some passengers may have.
TPG spoke with several travel professionals, and the general impression was that Southwest is still the most convenient alternative for people living in many places; hence, it is difficult to avoid booking a ticket with the Dallas-based airline.
Do you wish to read more about specific airlines? Register for the free TPG Aviation newsletter that is sent out every other week.
According to the creator of the travel blog Cranky Flier, Brett Snyder, "Southwest is by far the most important airline in most of the midsized cities in the United States."
Snyder continued by saying that Southwest also has a significant presence in several larger cities, including Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles, amongst others.
He stated that it would be insane to write off an airline just because they've had a meltdown because every airline has had at least one meltdown. "Every airline has had a meltdown," he said.
Related: Winter has arrived! Your flight has been cancelled or delayed; here is what you need to do next.
The opinions that Synder expressed were echoed by Brian Sumers, the editor-in-chief of The Airline Observer.
Summers stated that the airport in Burbank, California, was the most convenient for him. "On the first of the following month, I'll be flying Southwest from Burbank to Phoenix. You know, if I tried, I probably could avoid doing that. There are several airlines I could fly with departing from LAX, including American Airlines. But Southwest is just so vast and so vital to so many places that it is difficult to avoid them, and I don't think that avoiding them is something that we necessarily need to do.
Every major U.S. carrier had delays or cancellations as a result of the winter storm that hit much of the United States just before Christmas. On the other hand, Southwest experienced those problems well after the storm had passed. On December 28, for instance, the airline was forced to cancel around 62% of its scheduled flights due to significant operational issues that would continue through the end of the year.
The carrier's greatest operational meltdown, which the company anticipates would cost up to $825 million, was largely ascribed to a failed recovery effort following the winter storm and its obsolete technology. The business estimates that the meltdown will cost up to $825 million.
Related: Is my flight going to be on time or not? The following is a list of the finest credit cards that offer reimbursement for trip delays.
To make matters even more difficult, a recent meltdown that was caused by a system outage at the Federal Aviation Administration led to the postponement of thousands of flights operated by airlines based in the United States. Even though the occurrence was not beyond the control of the airlines, it brought the issue of flight delays back into the public eye on a national scale.
According to the website that tracks flights, FlightAware, Southwest Airlines was forced to cancel roughly half of its Wednesday flights owing to an outage experienced by the FAA. Southwest Carriers had a cancellation rate that was equivalent to those of other airlines, such as United Airlines and American Airlines.
Customers of Southwest Airlines have voiced their annoyance at the numerous flight cancellations and delays that have disrupted their travel plans during the past few weeks when the situation for airlines has been everything but favourable.
According to Chelsea Lauridsen, who lives in Phoenix and works as a sales representative for software and is located there, she has been a faithful Southwest customer for years. However, throughout the past year, she stated that because of the numerous flight cancellations and delays she had with Southwest, she has recently switched to booking her travel with other airlines such as American and Delta Air Lines.
Lauridsen expressed her frustration by saying, "It's annoying because I am an active Southwest lover and advocate." "I believe that they have the best support for customers. I believe that they place high importance on their customers, but something has got to give.
Lauridsen, together with her husband, booked a flight from Phoenix to Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands for the duration of their trip. They had planned to stay there for four days. Lauridsen was also affected by the carrier's holiday snafu. Her Southwest journey to Grand Cayman was smooth, but her return flight to Phoenix was a complete and utter nightmare.
There were no flights offered by Southwest from Grand Cayman to Phoenix that would have gotten her back to Phoenix in time for work. As a result, she decided to book her trip back to Phoenix with American Airlines instead.
However, after missing their connection in Charlotte on American Airlines, Lauridsen and her husband decided to give Southwest another try. This time, they booked a trip from Charlotte to Phoenix via Southwest with a layover in Chicago. Because Lauridsen's trip from Chicago to Phoenix was delayed for a few hours, she and her husband did not arrive back at their house in Phoenix until three in the morning.
"I had to be at work at 7 a.m. the next morning so I'm thankful we made it home but, you know, [there were] still delays," said Lauridsen. "I'm thankful we made it home but, you know, [there were] still delays."
A graduate student at the Chicago College of Performing Arts named Matt Mustachio found himself in a precarious situation. During the holidays, he was escorting his family on a trip from Baltimore to Fort Lauderdale, where they would embark on a cruise.
After learning that their trip had been cancelled by Southwest, Mustachio and his family decided to drive to Richmond, Virginia, where they would hire a car. After that, they were on the road for more than 13 hours to make it to Florida in time for their cruise.
Related: How to make changes to or cancel your reservation on Southwest Airlines
"We couldn't get a single other flight in any other area of Florida or the D.M.V. area, even if we tried alternate airports," Mustachio said, using a slang term for the area around the nation's capital. He was referring to the D.M.V. area, which is an abbreviation for the District of Columbia Metropolitan Area (the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia).
Henry Harteveldt, an analyst for the travel industry and the founder of the consulting firm Atmosphere Research, stated that he expects Southwest will pursue a new strategy to prevent an operational failure of this magnitude from happening again.
"I believe that the airline learnt a very hard lesson during its disruption in December," Harteveldt said. "It was a very costly lesson."
Both Lauridsen and Mustachio noted that, despite the negative interactions they've had with Southwest in the past, they wouldn't rule out travelling with the airline again in the future.
Mustachio remarked, "We like that we can take two free checked baggage," and "We appreciate it." I frequently travel between Baltimore and Chicago, and one of the reasons I prefer flying with them is because they serve smaller airports like Midway. It's a lot less of a hassle for me to get there than O'Hare.
The holiday breakdown that Southwest experienced was unprecedented, but other airlines have also experienced operational failures in the preceding 20 years. They were eventually able to get back on their feet to the point where the public has largely forgotten about what happened.
The pilot slowdown that occurred at United Airlines in the year 2000 was one of the most severe operational interruptions. It caused the Chicago-based airline to cancel hundreds of flights after contract negotiations with its pilots and mechanics reached an impasse that lasted for several months. As a consequence of this, a significant number of passengers decided to switch to American Airlines during that period. Given that the backlog at United had persisted for several months, American Airlines was an easy substitute.
Related: three things you should do if your flight is delayed.
JetBlue's operations came to a grinding halt on Valentine's Day in 2007, when an ice storm pummelled the eastern United States. At the time, most airlines, including JetBlue, cancelled their flights, however, JetBlue did not. As a direct consequence of this, their system became overburdened, which resulted in the cancellation of numerous flights.
The event laid the groundwork for the dismissal of the airline's founder, David Neeleman, and even prompted new regulations from the federal government regarding lengthy tarmac delays, which are still in effect today. Passengers eventually returned to JetBlue, whose reputation ultimately withstood the incident, once a sufficient amount of time had passed to look in the rearview mirror.
A wave of unfavourable headlines was generated as a result of similar previous events, such as the meltdown that Spirit Airlines experienced in the summer of 2021 and the catastrophe that American Airlines experienced in November of the same year after adverse weather in Dallas. As time passed, the intensity of the spotlight gradually subsided as airlines improved their procedures and resumed business as usual.
It's possible that the operational breakdown that Southwest experienced during the holidays was the airline's worst in its entire existence. Despite this, the airline was able to return to its regular flight schedule by the time the month of January rolled around on the calendar.
"It's never changed travellers' behaviour," Synder added. "I mean, you have isolated meltdowns — maybe in the short term, there's a hit, but it's never had a long impact," the speaker said. "I mean, you have isolated meltdowns."