Southwest er Southworst has officially shit the bed

I have not taken a non-Southwest flight anywhere in more than a decade, probably since Southworst decided to not follow legacy airlines in not charging for checked bags.

Well, their clusterfuck decision to do that earlier this year, combined with other David Singer changes?

As of last Thursday, it was $25 cheaper, or $15 less slightly higher prices for a checked bag, to go American for my Christmas-New Year holiday. (Further Googling says the AA charges the same as Southworst if I pay online; at least on its own site, I can't tell if Southworst offers such an option.)

My one brother, long a mild to moderate road warrior for his biz, said that the AA was long cheaper for him out of St. Louis, where he lives. For me, in the past, Southworst had generally been cheaper, period, PLUS the lack of checked bag fees.

What a clusterfuck. 

I promised, in March, that when Southworst announced the end of bags fly free, I'd look at American (and others). Southworst made that easier by listing on Expedia and Travelocity, along with the other legacy airlines. The comparison is made easier there by those sites listing bag fees as you go through the price choice; Southworst doesn't do that on its own site.

Is this clusterfuckery part of the "more changes" vulture capitalist Paul Singer said he wanted in May? 

Don't forget that Southworst starts assigned seating next January. 

I'll probably eat the extra $15 if nothing else changes. Leaving an hour later is of advantage to not feel rushed. Parking at both airports is about the same; hate that Love got rid of that el cheapo remote lot on Harry Hines.

Check that. Yesterday, but a few days after I started writing this? I checked again. American had dropped about $30, and added a flight (or I missed it earlier) that runs an hour later than Southworst. Southworst, meanwhile, went UP on the old flight.

Tweeting again to Southwest with a tag got their attention. Yes, popular fares fill first. Also yes, American added a flight and dropped costs. 

That said, when the bag fee was announced, I thought the corner office people would only charge $15 for the first bag, figuring they'd retain most of their family travel biz that way while still making more money. God, Paul Singer is a Dum Fuq. 

If I'm still here in the Metromess in a couple more years, we'll see if Love's long-term expansion leads to lower parking rates, and more competition on airlines with the new terminal. We'll also see who flies out of McKinney once that has its passenger terminal open. Were I the FAA, United would get first shot among legacy airlines.

As of early this year, here's where that was at:

McKinney is in negotiations with two airlines for passenger service. Fuller says this will mean flights to major markets like Las Vegas, Orlando, Los Angeles, New York, and Denver. He noted that TKI would serve as a regional operations base for one of the airlines.

Denver? That could mean United is indeed one of the two airlines, since that's a hub. I'll take it. 

Especially with the 2023 bond issue failing (maybe they try another after commercial service opens?) this won't be big at all, but it will be something. 

==

Update: Given the above, why does Southwest need to expand by 2,000 employees in Austin? 

Good on McKinney going ahead with a passenger airport terminal

I thought, after McKinney voters rejected a 2023 bond issue, this would be dead.

But, the city has enough money without going through a bond to start work on a commercial terminal, in part through state budget funding and a TxDOT grant, per this story of the airport's history. It's too bad the 2023 Lege hadn't funded this; it would already be open by now.

I'm not ignoring or dissing questions about environmental impacts.

I am saying that the greater Metromess could use a third airport. Now, what airlines are going out there? I think the FAA should put both American and Southwest at the back of the bus on gate requests. I expect UnitedContinental or whatever the hell it's called would love to fly from here to Houston and Denver, two of its hubs. 

I wrote more about that in the run-up to the 2023 bond election, here. One pullout:

Presumably, given Southwest's near monopoly at Love, and American's at D/FW, the FAA would have Delta and United Continental first in line for gate slots. With that, almost all United flights would go either to its big hub at Houston Bush, and anywhere else from there, or secondarily to its Denver hub, with anywhere in the Western states from there. (A few nonstops would go to Chicago.) Delta, of course, would send all sorts of flights to its massive hub in Atlanta (cue old joke) and probably a few to its secondary hub in Salt Lake City. Starter (in the past decade) airlines might get a gate or two. And McKinney Mayor George Fuller says he can't name names, but, the interest is there. His assistant city manager says the same. 

Updates on the "new" Southwest

The "new Southwest" has unveiled what will happen after May 28 in some cases, next year on others.

First, the whole front half of the plane will have some sort of premium seat pricing. This won't start being sold until the second half of this year and won't go into effect until 2026.

Second, the "basic" tier will have a NON-transferable credit, should you change flights, and it will expire in 6 months, not 1 year. So, if you "jump" on basic fares, be forewarned.

Related to that? I've heard that these fares will be offered at the start of new dates for a flight route, to judge demand to set variable pricing after that.

Third? And most sneaky? This is NOT NOT NOT something MORE basic than the current bottom-line "Wanna Get Away," it IS that, just renamed. 

Fourth, joining Rapid Rewards will not itself help you with your bag costs. But? If you buy a Rapid Rewards credit card, one of you bags fly free. And, "buy" is the term; most basic consumer card has a $69 annual fee.

So, unless you fly more than 2x a year on vacations of one full week or more, getting the card probably isn't worth it, especially if your current primary card is some sort of cashback / rewards card.

Southwest hits more turbulence

First, it has followed American and others in cutting flights for the second half of this year. All airlines are facing possible drops in travel domestically due to recession fears. As Southwest is a US-only airline, outside of its few Caribbean trips, it's not affected by a potential massive drop in European, Asian and Latin American travel to the US.

Plus, the ending of its bags fly free, on flights booked after May 28, as it tries to pivot to theoretically more profitable business travel — even though an internal analysis said last year it would lose money — isn't helping.

Related to that? The airline is already anticipating that more passengers will stuff carry-on bags to the gills, which will mean more scrutiny, and possibly requiring some attempted carry-ons to be checked. That in turn will cause flight delays and affect on-time performance numbers. This:

Now, executive vice president of operations Justin Jones has admitted that gate-checking of carry-on bags will surge due to limited overhead space. 'We assume our gate-check bags will probably go up five times from what we have today' Jones told the Airlines Confidential podcast. This challenge is especially significant for Southwest, whose aircraft have smaller overhead bins than competitors — a design choice based on its longstanding free-bag policy. As a result, the airline will now more strictly enforce size limits for carry-ons.

Will be "fun." 

Also fun? With Southwest's layoffs a couple of months ago, will that further slow the increased bag checks?

Somewhat related? In a follow-up to a previous story, the new "basic" fares, I have heard from a pilot I know, will be "teaser" fares to gauge interest and then be used to set pricing, kind of like how baseball teams do variable pricing whether the St. Louis Cardinals are playing the Chicago Cubs, or they're playing the Arizona Diamondbacks.

If the basic prices "hit" then the Wanna Fly Away and above will all be moved higher and the basic offer will be jerked. If not, it may stay a few more days.

And, at the tail end, if a plane isn't filling up quite as much as hoped, basic prices may be offered near the end to goose butts into seats. 

On bags, the pilot friend recommended signing up for Rapid Rewards, which Southwest has been pushing hard. I've not checked details yet on whether it would be worth it or not.

Now, on the more turbulence? Paul Singer, vulture capitalist head of Elliott Investment Management, will say that proves the need for even more "reforms." Let's note that Singer is already on record as wanting to can CEO Robert Jordan.

THIS is the end of an era at Southwest Airlines

Not the end of cattle-car seating.

NOT the related offering premium seating with extra $$$.

NOT EVEN its first-ever layoffs.

Southwest instead announced yesterday that your bags, and mine, will no longer fly free, effective May 28. 

That story repeats what was said last year, when Southworst was trying to fend off Elliott Investment Management:

As recently as Southwest’s investor day in late September, airline executives described the bags-fly-free as the most important feature in setting Southwest apart from rivals. All other leading U.S. airlines charge for checked luggage, and Wall Street has long argued that Southwest was leaving money behind.

The airline estimated in September that charging bag fees would bring in about $1.5 billion a year but cost the airline $1.8 billion in lost business from customers who chose to fly Southwest because of its generous baggage allowance.

Still true. Especially because, as I said yesterday on Shitter and Hucksterman? I'll immediately look at American flights out of DFW. Southworst may still be cheaper, but, it won't be where I start my searches. And, I suspect this is another shoe dropping, and maybe not the last, in last fall's cave-in to Elliott. Per that piece, we know now what Southworst chairman Gary Kelly's "significant new operational initiatives" that his PR flunkies mentioned at that time actually are.

Speaking of, beyond the "will no longer fly free" news story link, Southworst's news release on this looks like they've really been taken over by Elliott. If you're a high flyer, you do still get one or two bags flying free. Related? The Rapid Rewards system has been tilted toward higher-dollar business travelers. And, it admits that.

The one plus side, and only? Since they'll now be listing on Expedia, I can compare their prices at Love to American and anybody else at DFW without having to run two browser windows at once. (I checked, and per the release, they're already up. But, it's pre-May 28, so I don't know what their bag fees are yet.)

That said, from Southworst's corporate point of view, I think that's a minus. Let's say that its bag check fee is half of American and one-third of the real nutters, like Spirit, ValuJet and other crapper airlines that drive the Elliott philosophy. If you're still selling flights only on your own site, most buyers will soon enough recognize that these fees are relatively low, and won't be tempted to look elsewhere. But, instead? They, like me, will nose around on Expedia.

A possible plus? This lower-rate "Basic" fare, if it is indeed lower than the "Wanna Get Away" that's currently the bottom dollar. We'll find out on May 28. We'll also find out what sort of restrictions it has. They'll likely be plenty. Especially on more popular Southwest routes, weekends and holidays are likely to be blacked out, for example. It also, in addition to not being refundable, like Wanna Get Away, may not even have a credit for cancellation. In other words, when you book, you're stuck.

As for that cutoff date? I suspect that summer vacation flights will be booked heavily, for whenever they fly, before May 28. From the way I read the presser, it's the booking date that's the cutoff date, so if you have an August vacation? As long as you book before May 28, your bags still fly free on that trip.

The one other item that would have made this somewhat more palatable — flights to Canada — is still nowhere to be seen, either. 

And, these changes would explain why Southwest has been hammering my email inbox recently.

Per the old metaphor, I suspect Herb Kelleher is rolling over in his grave. If he were alive, I think he would have taken Elliott's head vulture capitalist, David Singer, out in a back alley, given him a joking noogie first, then kicked his ass.

Update: Southwest has had other, lesser, issues in recent years that have not totally floated my boat. One is flying to Southern California. They used to run more flights through Ontario (San Bernardino). If I wanted to go either east to Joshua Tree, or north to Death Valley, this was much more convenient than any other airport. Theoretically, Burbank would have been better for going northwest to Sequoia and Yosemite, the coast, etc., but that's a tiny airport.

Today? Southwest barely flies to Ontario.

Southwest has first layoffs in corporate history — beyond overreaction and political spinning

After its first, and second, rounds of battling with Elliott Investment Management and its head vulture capitalist Paul Singer last year, it appears that Southwest Airlines is still facing some financial headwinds.

It just laid off nearly 2,000 people. As many people have noted on Shitter and elsewhere, it's never before done layoffs. Not even in COVID.

Now, those are all corporate staff, so airports won't be affected. It's about 15 percent of the head office people.

Meanwhile, at least one BlueAnon is already trying to make this about Trump, even while ignoring that Southworst offered buyouts in November. That, in turn, was caused by aircraft delivery delays from Boeing. Said person claimed that Trump's immigrant roundup would depress international tourism and non-tourism flights, not only ignoring the buyouts, but also ignoring that Southwest has a modest number of Mexican and Caribbean flights and otherwise doesn't fly outside the US.

Per that buyouts link, American also offered buyouts in November. Southwest, through attrition, had been cutting staff since late 2023. And, CEO Bob Jordan said then that he wasn't done reducing staff.

So, this is not "panic time" for Southwest, but it is a new day. 

(Update, March 13: What IS a REALLY new day is Southwest ending "bags fly free." My analysis and hot take is here.)

If it's panicky anywhere, it should be Boeing. 

American, as well as Southwest, has cited delayed deliveries from Boeing as one factor in decision-making, including on employment levels. Southwest added that it expects to take fewer Boeing deliveries this year. And, as I write this, I don't think Boeing has yey cleaned house — or mentalities — as much as it needs to over 737 MAX8 and related issues.

As for Southwest and Elliott? After the airline's current poison pill expires, I expect Paul Singer to be hanging ghoulishly outside the door again.

EDIT: Addendum because MAGAts — none of this is to say that Southwest is not worried about general travel headwinds becoming yet more adverse in the future because of Trump. (The first person who liked this on Shitter was one of them.)

 

Southwest's last cave-in to Elliott Investment Management wasn't enough but it won't do more (for now)

Several things came up at and in relationship to Southwest's Investor Day on Sept. 26.

First, some of the flight side stuff.

The biggie, for me, though not No. 1 in the CNN story? Both my checked bags will continue to fly free!

“The company believes any change in the current policy… would drive down demand and far outweigh any revenue gains created by imposing and collecting bag fees,” it said Thursday.

Jordan also told investors in July that charging for bags would delay the time it takes to load the planes as passengers seek a place to store carry-on bags they are now checking. The airline said Thursday part of its plan to improve profitability is to further improve its turn-around time when planes are on the ground.

This story has more details on the cost split. Southwest said it could take in $1.5 million in gross revenue, but at the cost of $1.8 million in expenses. That, then, is a no-brainer.

Second is that, though reservability for assigned seats will start next year, the actual practice won't begin until 2026.

Also per that first link, Southwest will start doing some sort of flight partnering or code sharing with foreign airlines. Given its limited, Caribbean focused (and that only after acquiring Air Tran) international offerings, it should have done this long ago. But, not being on Travelocity and Expedia limited that. No details at the link of the specifics on this. So, yeah, Elliott isn't all wrong. Sad it took a vulture capitalist to get this done.

They still should fix their reservation system and currency issues so as to offer their own flights to Canada. This is really sad. They don't have to fly everywhere, but let's say Calgary and Edmonton, both for tourists and for Dallas, Houston and Denver awl bidness folks to visit their Canadian counterparts is a no-brainer. Toronto and Ottawa, for business and political travel. Maybe Montreal. Wouldn't add more. Given their American basis, would definitely not add Quebec City and would be hesitant even on Montreal, re language issues.

On the non-flight side?

Per that second link, David Singer, head vulture at Elliott, said the changes still aren't enough and said he still is looking at a shareholder meeting, which Elliott's 10 percent ownership stake allows him to call.

More on that, and on the poison pill defense Southwest has, at my link of a month ago. Problem is, Southwest allows any investor above 10 percent to call the shareholder meeting, but the poison pill of a stock buyback offer, doesn't kick in until 12.5 percent.

That said, per the first and second links, Southwest did an internal stock buyback in the run-up to the investors day.

More here from Southwest PR.

And, in other Southwest news, it's taking San Antonio to court over an alleged bait and switch on terminal improvements.

The other shoe partially fell at Southwest in a corporate cave-in

That convoluted headline riffs on my post from last week about the pressure Southwest Airlines faces from Paul Singer and his vulture capitalism hedge fund Elliott Investment Management.

After the threat of a special shareholders meeting when Elliott crossed the 10 percent mark on Southwest stock ownership, the company semi-caved.

It agreed that six board members would leave in November. In addition, next year, current chairman and former CEO Gary Kelly, who took over for the iconic founder Herb Kelleher, will retire or resign. However, current CEO Robert Jordan will stay.

Singer's response? 

"Not good enough," so to speak:

“We are pleased that the board is beginning to recognize the degree of change that will be required at Southwest, and we hope to engage with the remaining directors to align on the further necessary changes,” the hedge fund said. Elliott said its nominees are “the right people to steady the board and chart a new course for the airline.”

Problem is that I think Southwest is right in that Elliott/Singer have not specified all their concerns before now.

Problem two is that Southworst agreed to accept three potential Elliott nominees for four board slots, and these people come from places like Spirit and Ryanair. That's detailed at my top link, my post from last week.

That said, Forbes thinks this bought off a proxy fight:

“My initial reaction was that these are significant, these are substantial, these are transformational,” says Keith Gottfried, CEO of Gottfried Shareholder Advisory, a shareholder activism defense firm. “It certainly takes away the argument that this board is not willing to to make changes.” ...

In bending to many of Elliott’s key demands, Southwest will likely avoid the “or else” option, an expensive proxy fight that would have likely cost tens of millions of dollars, Gottfried says. “The scale of this change in response to an activist is very atypical, and I think it really lowers the probability that we're going to see a proxy contest.”

Could be so. Gottfried goes on to say that by near the end of this month, per a calendar-circling date mentioned below, he expects Southwest and Elliott to have some written agreement. OTOH, per who Paul Singer is, in my top post, I woudn't count on that until there's a document.

That all said, you have to "loovveeee" Southworst's PR machine, calling this "comprehensive board refreshment." That sounds like calling a concentration camp or the gulag a "re-education camp."

That said, the last part of the statement, which is signed off on by Kelly, indicates the sellout is there. It's under "Issue 5: New Business Plan." This:

I am confident the meaningful changes made to our route network; revenue management techniques; and marketing, merchandising and distribution methods – as well as significant new operational initiatives – collectively will transform the airline and usher in the next era of Customer loyalty and strong financial performance. All of these changes reflect significant discussion and debate in the Boardroom and are informed by direct feedback from Shareholders over many months, including on pertinent issues such as the magnitude and pace of our growth, our ability to forecast accurately, and how to continuously innovate in ways that are accretive financially and to the unique Southwest brand.

I am hopeful that all our Shareholders will be as enthused as I am over the direction our leadership and Board are taking us, which you will hear a lot more about at our Investor Day on September 26.

Boldface added by me, is the biggie.

Note the semicolons SHOULD (if Southwest's corporate lawyers are doing their jobs) mean that the "meaningful changes made" applies ONLY to the route management clause, not all clauses or phrases. In other words, "significant new operational initiatives" would include the upcoming end of the cattle call seating, already discussed by me, and additional things — like ending bags fly free, charging for snacks like Ryanair, etc. Or, per Southwest's Snowmaggedon last December, will it face a point to further modify its semi-direct system more toward a hub-and-spoke? (It's a legend that Southwest has a truly and fully direct flights system.)

I'm OK with the change in seating as long as it doesn't add pricing. Per the "it agreed" link, I'd be OK with red-eye flights if they're at the current Southwest's version of red-eye prices.

Yeah, Gary, a lot of passengers are going to be eyeballing you on Sept. 26 as well.

Also of interest? This spring, Southwest was rumored to be "out hunting" in the acquisitions world. Is that still the case? Sun Country, per the link, is a JetBlue etc type of airline in that they charge for everything. BUT? They fly only 737s, a definite boost to Southwest. And, Southwest could run it as the equivalent of American Eagle, United Express, etc., integrating it but keeping routes and operations separate. OTOH, per this Reddit, Sun Country sucks as much as other "value" airlines. Yelp and Trip Advisor agree.

Another shoe is about to drop at Southwest

I did not say "THE" other, because I don't know what shoe will drop, but am sure some shoe will.

A month ago, I wrote about how Southwest Airlines announced that, as of the first of the year, it would be getting rid of its traditional "cattle car" boarding. As part of that, and noting it was under "activist" shareholder pressure, I wondered if THE other shoe would drop.

THE other shoe? That would be ending "bags fly free."

Again, we don't know what exactly the fallout will be, but Elliott Investment Management, the biggest pusher, and a vulture capitalist hedge fund to boot, has acquired 10 percent of Southwest stock. Per this story and others, that gives it the right to call a shareholder meeting.

UPDATE, Sept. 13: Part 3 of this series, about a semi-cave by Southwest, is now up.

Elliott's on record as wanting to can Southwest's CEO Robert Jordan, and chairman of the board, Gary Kelly, the former CEO who followed in the steps of the iconic founder, Herb Kelleher. It's proposed a slate of 10 new board candidates. Jones already said he won't resign.

Other than turning over two-thirds of the 15-member board, Elliott hasn't mentioned details, but this is surely part of it.

Other hints, though, per this public Facebook post? Guy notes that Elliott's trustees include a shitload of people from budget airlines. 

Seriously, Southwest Frontier? Southwest Spirit? Oh, it's worse, per WFAA. JetBlue and Ryanair? Fuck that shit, especially if my bags don't fly free. I'm looking on Travelocity first at legacy airlines. American isn't charging me for the air I breathe, at least.

Add in that Elliott's head is a shit-stirrer — a REAL shit-stirrer — and the Sept. 9 meeting will be a headbanger.

Adding to this? Southwest adopted a poison pill defense this summer. It's triggered if any single shareholder hits 12.5 percent, not far away from Elliott's 10 percent. It would give all other shareholders the right to buy stocks at a discount. Specifically:

(A)ll other Southwest shareholders would have the opportunity to buy additional shares equal to their current stake at a 50% discount.

So, "additional" shares, it sounds like, as in a split to water down Elliott's holdings. The poison pill is good for one year.

Elliott is a corporate raider, pure and simple. That said, I don't know how much of a deterrent Southwest's stock-split poison pill might or might not be. We'll soon find out, won't we?

Southwest ain't perfect. A lot of people knew about its pilot scheduling computer system problems long before the Christmas week strandings. It's improved. It still has problems at times, though, and still isn't perfect on flight delays.

The end of an era is approaching at Southwest / Southworst

Last month, the semi-legacy airline announced it would end its famous open seating policy next year. 

Now, first, the seating isn't totally "open." You can pay Southwest to upgrade, if not to an assigned seat, at least to A-section boarding, first of all. Second, families with pre-teen kids not already in A section by how early they checked in automatically board between A and B so parents can keep together with their kids.

The biggie? Does this mean the "bags fly free" domino will drop next?

"Activist" (more vulture-like) investors, led by Elliott Investment Management, have been pushing for this.

If Southworst charged for a second checked bag but kept the first free, I could definitely in summer, possibly in cold weather, find a way to cram all my stuff in one bag. If it started charging for even a first bag?

Well, then, I start looking at Travelocity as well as Southworst's website.

(Update, Sept. 5: Some sort of other shoe may be a lot closer to dropping.)

In a recent Facebook discussion with my brother, he said that "bags fly free" just covered up high prices and that for him, from St. Louis, American was actually cheaper to Orlando. (He didn't say how many, if any, checked bags he had.)

Well, to do a comp to my recent vacation trip, I checked American's prices from DFW to Sacramento a month out from now.

Prices themselves? Even. 

But, American wants $40 one-way for the first checked back and Travelocity didn't even list a price for a second.

So, as long as bags fly free, I fly Southworst — on-time problems and all.

It DOES have that, though. In the past three-plus years, I don't think I've had a single flight, and I know not a single summertime flight, with a delay of less than 15 minutes. This trip? 45-plus, both ways. I think it was crew on the return trip. I know it was outbound. The feds won't let you fly without a copilot.

It was funny, something related to that.

That outbound flight was July 19, the date the Crowdstrike update caused problems for other legacy airlines. (Not sure if anybody considers Southworst "legacy," but it is at least semi-legacy, per top of the piece.) A bunch of people at D/FW couldn't get rebooked on a Double A flight, weren't getting enough compensation of whatever, so hopped over to Love Field.

One of them said that he thought maybe Southworst used Linux and that's why they weren't hit.

I didn't tell him, knowing their history with their crappy crew scheduling software, that it was more likely their flight scheduling system was simply too old to accept the latest Crowdstrike upgrade.

Finally? Southworst PR? You ARE a "semi-legacy," at least. Fifty-plus years old.

Big North Texas bond issue with regional impact causing fallout

That BIG issue, and one that I would love to see pass, is NOT a school bond issue. Rather, it's one to fund the expansion of McKinney's airport — and its development of commercial passenger service.

Indeed, I devoted part of a newspaper column to that. I noted how it would address the growth of the Metromess up the North Central Texas/75 corridor, and to a lesser degree, up the I-35 north corridor. (A decade plus ago, residents of Lancaster did low level preliminary tire kicking on expanding its airport to light commercial service, and an airport in Ellis County got occasional mention, but I don't see the former happening at all and the latter for 20 years, if at all.)

Anyway, even if just at three-quarters the gateage of Love Field, a new commercial airport would be big. Presumably, given Southwest's near monopoly at Love, and American's at D/FW, the FAA would have Delta and United Continental first in line for gate slots. With that, almost all United flights would go either to its big hub at Houston Bush, and anywhere else from there, or secondarily to its Denver hub, with anywhere in the Western states from there. (A few nonstops would go to Chicago.) Delta, of course, would send all sorts of flights to its massive hub in Atlanta (cue old joke) and probably a few to its secondary hub in Salt Lake City. Starter (in the past decade) airlines might get a gate or two. And McKinney Mayor George Fuller says he can't name names, but, the interest is there. His assistant city manager says the same.

Anyway, the possible expansion is not popular everywhere. Neighboring small-town mayors are afraid of noise pollution. McKinney's mayor says the concern is overblown. And, besides, their town's voters don't have a vote. Add in that, 40 flights a day, 15 years from now, is not that much noise being generated. THAT said, contra McKinney's Mayor Fuller, IMO, you need that airport running MANY more flights than that if you want real economic development. (Current projections are here.) At that size, it's still not much more than a vanity project. (And, he may know that and isn't talking all the facts.)

Personally, I still fly Southwest out of Love, but last year's Christmas fiasco has made me ever more leery of it.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, from my perspective, the bond failed.

Do Southwest's pilots have a leg to stand on, esp. after their apparent sickout?

Last week, Southwest, the last of the major airlines, said it too will meet the Dec. 8 deadline for President Biden's vaccination mandate.

UPdate on that! On Sunday, Oct. 8, per Twitter, Southworst was having to scrub shitloads of flights the whole weekend. Official PR aside, word on the tarmac from some is a sickout by its pilots protesting the mandate. Southwest has a pilots union separate from most other major airlines, and it's been hardnosed in a variety of often good ways. That said, some Twitterati, especially as rumors of a sympathy strike by air traffic controllers bubbled up, said remember St. Ronald of Reagan and PATCO. That also said, SWAPA says its pilots are NOT doing an official OR unofficial sickout.

OTOH, remember that unions can spout PR bullshit just like corporations. And, they not only can, they do.

Per this story, the pilots are claiming that the National Railway Act, which governs union-management issues on airlines as well as railroads, requires negotiations. That cuts BOTH WAYS. Southwest's pilots have shown about zero interest in negotiating. See the NLRB's explainer, first bullet point. And, yes, SWAPA, I can google!

I really don't think they have a leg to stand on. If things get nasty, Southwest might ask for legal discovery on individual pilots social media accounts, vis a vis any possible sickout.

Part of the pilots' original August lawsuit may have merit. But the mandate? I doubt it. 

And, United's pilots have no problems with the mandate, nor does United's full employee fleet:

When asked on @CBSMornings about the company's vaccine mandate for staff, the CEO of @united airlines also said, "Out of our 67,000 U.S. employees, there are 232 who haven't been vaccinated. They are going through the termination process."

— Shawna Thomas (@Shawna) October 13, 2021

It's that simple, SWAPA.

Update, Nov. 7: Texas Monthly discusses what all is behind all the recent Southwest (and American) flight cancellations, and says it's not all COVID, and certainly not likely a sickout at Southwestern. BUT? The Monthly ignores United.

Coronavirus week 78B: Odds and ends on vax mandates, firewalls

Texas schools have already had more COVID cases this school year than all of the previous one. That was already the case late last month; the weekly case numbers are declining, but still higher than they were the last week in August and the first week in September.

The state has crossed the 50 percent mark on people fully vaccinated. My wingnut county is approaching the one-third mark. Hispanic vax rates are technically lower than for Whites, but it's only 1 percentage point, and most of the state's counties with the HIGHEST vax rates are in the Valley!

Havana Ted / Cancun Ted is now trying to own the libs by touting his love for antivax NBA players.

===

American, Alaska and Jet Blue have joined United in vaccine mandates among major and semi-major airlines. The NYT explains United's reasoning, noting that, as a major international carrier, with pilots and flight attendants, this moved beyond being a US issue. (It would also cover ground personnel outside the US, re international vaccine mandates.) Jet Blue and Alaska say it will be by Dec. 8, which is a Biden Administration deadline for federal contractors, and all the major airlines are just that. American has released no deadline, but obviously, it will be by then. Meanwhile, per the first link, Delta and Southwest are sitting on their asses. Delta is charging unvaccinated employees higher insurance premiums; Southworst, as far as I know, is doing nothing, even though their rash COVID-related flight cancellations one-two months ago nearly fucked up the end of my vacation. Also per that first link, Delta said it's "evaluating Biden's order." Southwest said the same, per NPR. In both cases, pilots unions are pushing back.

But, Southwest now says it too will meet the Dec. 8 deadline.

UPdate on that! On Sunday, Oct. 8, per Twitter, Southworst was having to scrub shitloads of flights the whole weekend. Official PR aside, word on the tarmac from some is a sickout by its pilots protesting the mandate. Southwest has a pilots union separate from most other major airlines, and it's been hardnosed in a variety of often good ways. That said, some Twitterati, especially as rumors of a sympathy strike by air traffic controllers bubbled up, said remember St. Ronald of Reagan and PATCO. That also said, SWAPA says its pilots are NOT doing an official OR unofficial sickout.

OTOH, remember that unions can spout PR bullshit just like corporations.

Per this story, the pilots are claiming that the National Railway Act, which governs union-management issues on airlines as well as railroads, requires negotiations. That cuts BOTH WAYS. Southwest's pilots have shown about zero interest in negotiating. See the NLRB's explainer, first bullet point.

===

Speaking of deltas, the delta variant has broken through New Zealand's firewall. No surprise, really. International supply chains are being affected in part by COVID surges in Vietnam, touted largely by reflexive anti-Americanists as a COVID miracle last fall and this spring.

Southworst, a reflection on the airline industry, with a Sprint/T-Mobile sidebar

If you fly in and out of Dallas, it's almost certainly going to be either Southwest Airlines at the old, but modernized, Love Field, or American Airlines at D/FW International. 

First, let us note Southwest has been around 50 years. It's a legacy airline by now, too. Its "bags fly free" and its one-plane model (except for some AirTran planes) haven't been fully adopted elsewhere, but other practices such as fuel hedging have. Also, it does run a modified sort of a hub-and-spoke system. There's a technical name for it I once saw, but can't remember now. But, it's not a true point-to-point.

Southwest has the alternate name of Southworst, sometimes well earned, and well documented on these pages. From the serious, to the passenger killed being sucked out a window, to the serious of being way too cozy with the Metroplex office of the Federal Aviation Administration, to the not-so-serious of having a reputation for passenger modesty, it does do this.

But, who else are you going to fly?

DFW is American's main hub, and since its merger with US Airways, it has a near stranglehold there.

Delta flies a couple of gates at Love, and Alaska one or two. Continental, with a hub in Houston, flies a few at DFW. Otherwise, the main competition there for America is Spirit, which has not (yet) gotten around to charging you for the air you breathe on a flight, but has about everything else taken care of.

The background to this? Vacation.

Left Dallas on Friday, July 30. Southworst had either a 7:55 nonstop to Oakland or an 8:10 one-stop that night. Figured I could get to the airport early enough for the nonstop, and did so.

Only to have notifications on the way that it was delayed, then delayed again.

Final takeoff was set for shortly after 9 p.m. The flight was coming from Little Rock, and there was no severe weather between there and the Metromess; I don't know if weather further east or north delayed it, or crew issues. (Hold on to that.)

Well, we didn't actually take off then. It took ANOTHER TWENTY MINUTES for Southworst's ground crew to get all the luggage loaded. This is AFTER everybody's boarded, flight attendants have done their checks, etc. In other words, we could have taken off then, but ... no luggage.

For the return trip? Options were a godawful early one-stop at 6:20, with no plane change, a semi-godawful early 7:20 nonstop, and what I picked, an 8:35 one-stop, no plane change. For an outbound plane at a "home" airport, the 7:20 would have been fine, but with the extra arrival time for an airport I've only flown out of once, maybe twice, before (I've done San Francisco and San Jose as well), I didn't want to get up that early.

Due to driving California's North Coast, I didn't check in Saturday night for my Sunday morning flight on Aug. 8.

So, I got to a Southwest kiosk and it said it couldn't run my reservation. I run to the counter after getting some help, and ... it appears my flight was cancelled. 

They eventually and quickly got me on that 7:20 nonstop, which was starting boarding at that time. Oy.

I had NO message on my phone from Southworst, but hold on to that thought as well.

Before we took off, the captain said that they were waiting for the first officer to come in from Seattle. Why would you announce that? Now I'm wondering how tired this guy is. That's why I said "hold on to that" above. 

Anyway, AFTER I get back to Dallas, while waiting for my bags (which did make it), I NOW have messages from Southworst, first saying they were scheduling me for that 6:20, then for the 7:20.

I have no idea why those weren't sent earlier.

Or were they?

Sprint, now part of T-Mobile after another merger, SUCKS in Oregon. I was, a couple of days earlier, planning on meeting an old acquaintance in Eugene, Oregon. 

I had ZERO phone or text service from Portland, where I first texted, assumed it went through, and didn't check, into and through Eugene. I had to borrow a landline phone at a gas station to call my friend. Thanks to the lady at Arco. Oh, my friend confirmed the suckitude.

At least T-Mobile appears to have contacted me, but only to say "verify my account," and apparently typing in a phone number isn't sufficient, and I am at work as I write this up Monday evening.

So, who knows? Maybe Sprint/T-Mobile sucked in Oakland, too, though I don't really seeing "no network available" on my phone in Oakland.

That said, Southworst, also contacted on both Twitter and FB, but on Sunday, have sent me nothing but Sunday "bot" messages that today is not a workday. As of Monday night, no message.

(I later read on Twitter that Southworst appears to be scrubbing flights where COVID cancellations mean they aren't packed like sardines. The one I got rebooked on was sardines in spades; I think I literally had the next-to-last seat on the plane.)

See, I can switch to ATT or Verizon, or even U.S. Cellular or somebody. It's harder with airport monopolies.

OTOH, T-Mobile on Twitter and Sprint on Fuckbook aren't helpful. T-Mobile person suggests "you could test it," ignoring that I said I was on vacation. I also noted that Eugene is 200K people, not a small hicksville. Sprint person asked for home address and nearest major cross street after being handed over from a T-Mobile on Fuckbook. (Sprint has zero presence on Twitter, basically.)

The bottom line is that, in both cases, they know they suck, and they know they can largely get away with sucking.

Update: Speaking of? T-Mobile just had a massive data breach. Thank doorknob I am:

1. Not a prepaid customer;
2. Refuse to let companies keep credit card info on file when I make online payments.

 

Coronavirus, Week 40: Want a real job, get a real jab

More than once since returning home from vacation, I Tweeted or Tweet-messaged Dallas Love Field about the COVIDIOTS above, maskless in the Love Field baggage claim. Facebook-messaged them once. Also contacted Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, since they had been on my flight and the dad at least had been maskless, or semi-maskless, in the boarding area at my gate there.

Sky Harbor responded promptly. Love Field has not. Not despite me adding two Twitter messages to the original one. So? Last Saturday, I Tweeted again, and tagged Southwest as well as Love Field and told them their flights could take a hit. And, that's the start for this in-depth blog post. Neither had responded as of "Press time."

And, we're now at "push come to shove," as I got Love Field's attention and it said:

We ask that all travelers wear a mask while traveling through DAL, but we have to rely on the airlines to enforce this. We have signage throughout the airport reminder passengers of mask requirements, as well as overhead announcements.

On Twitter messaging, I copy-pasted that in a new comment to Southwest.

• Are you a COVID denialist? (Probably not, if you're reading here and have been regularly.) But, if you are? If you want a job, then you probably need a denialist boss. The EEOC has said that employers can require employees to get the jab. Per the link, I await the number of people creating "The Church of the Religious Coronavirus Vaccine Exemption" or similar. And, since the feds and courts have ruled that employers can prohibit off the job smoking and things like this? You've got no chance of winning a suit on this, denialists.

• Via my sis, I saw this New York Times end of year retrospective on COVID in Gallup, New Mexico, on the town where I grew up. (Unlike her, though, I don't consider it my "hometown"; I don't consider that I totally have one at all, and I'd halfway plump for Pittsburg, Kansas, if you put a gun to my head.) Some may recognize Gallup as "The Indian Capital of the World" and gateway to the Big Rez.

Plenty of Texas COVID news from the Trib:

1. A number of rural hospitals still have no vaccine.
2. If you're in a rural area and your hospital DOES have it, good luck getting your shot; Texas' vaccine rollout is quasi-Trumpian in its badness.
3. Whether in a rural area or not, good luck getting a shot in general with lack of vaccine doses.
4. If you're in an urban area, good luck getting a jab if you're Black or Hispanic (and trust vaccinations — and both the distrust and reasons for it are real, and the reasons historically grounded).
5. Texas Dems want Strangeabbott to address these and other issues.

As the Monthly details? Much of the problem stems from Strangeabbott's state health commissioner, John Hellerstedt, ordering "tier two" people to be vaccinated, on calendar clockwork, even though many tier one people had never gotten their two jabs.

TX Progressives say ixnay to Southwest,talk elections, Earth Day, Alex Jones

With this week's lefty blog post roundup, the Texas Progressive Alliance won't be flying Southwest Airlines for awhile.  Not even for five grand in cash and another G in flight vouchers, thanks.

In that *ahem* spirit, Socratic Gadfly looked at Southwest's fatal engine blowout and sees it as a continuation of past bad practices

High Plains Public Radio reports -- and links to more in the Houston Chronicle ($) -- regarding the Texas gerrymandering lawsuit, with opening arguments before the Supreme Court this morning.  The Texas Observer posits that disgraced former Congressman Blake Farenthold was one of the undeserved beneficiaries of those goofy, and possibly illegal, maps.  And Alexa Ura of the TexTrib, at the SCOTUS today, has the explainer.  (Three weeks ago she reminded us why this 7-year-old-saga has everybody angry.)

To commemorate Earth Day, Texas Vox participated in EarthX in Dallas, with a seminar conducted by Public Citizen's David Arkush, called "Wake Up and Smell the Carbon!" And two leading Green Party members discuss environmental activism at Consortium News.

With the Ted Cruz-Beto O'Rourke faceoff taking center stage, Jonathan Tilove at the Austin Statesman's First Reading broke down some of Cruz's bellicose verbiage.  Off the Kuff analyzed that Quinnipiac poll, then scoffed at some of the more hysterical responses to it.  And Brains and Eggs recommended not betting on Beto this early.

Ted at jobsanger took the Q-poll's current affairs questions and bar-graphed them to reveal how Texas is s l o w l y changing into something a little less conservative.

 Ahead of Lewisville's municipal elections, the Texan Journal quantified the city's Power Voters.

In his weekly roundup of criminal justice news, Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast collates the reports about the undocumented necropolis discovered at the shuttered state prison facility in Fort Bend County.

DBC Green blog took down Egberto Willies for that tired binary logic we've come to expect from Democrats with their blinders strapped on too tight.  He also posted Scott McLarty performing the same bodyslam on Robert Reich (who used the word 'siphon', as if elections were zero-sum.  Reich is too smart for such weak logic).

Dan Solomon at Texas Monthly reports on the the defamation lawsuits threatening the media empire of bombastic Infowars host Alex Jones, and Danny Gallagher at the Dallas Observer sees that Glenn Beck's company is tumbling down around him.

In book releases, Bud Kennedy at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram interviews Lawrence Wright, the author of the acclaimed God Save Texas.  And Gregg Barrios at the Texas Observer profiles Jorge Ramos and his manifesto for journalists.

ProPublica looks at Betsy DeVos' U.S. Department of Education spiking an investigation into racial disparity in school suspension.

The Dallas Observer reports Dallas cops continue to target minorities for pot smoking.

Southwest Airlines legacy catches up to it in Philly?

The National Transportation Safety Board's first preliminary report on the Southwest jet that had to do an emergency landing in Philadelphia after an engine blowout says metal fatigue on the engine was apparent.

Was the engine properly inspected, as in, on regular cycles? And, then, was it properly maintained?

I ask because Southwest has a past history of using unauthorized parts, and dodging FAA inspection questions, and trying to stretch this out for four years, among other things. (Regional FAA officials were complicit in some of this, per that last link; per the second link, the FAA has in general been too cozy with airlines too often.)

Southwest's past inspection issues have not covered engines, and the current engine had no special inspection directive. Neither, though, did any of the above items.

BUT! We're now finding out that the engine's manufacturer, CFM International, recommended more inspections after another blowout of one of its engines on another Southwest flight. And Southwest resisted. And CEO Gary Kelly knows that visual inspections do not substitute for ultrasonic and other ones for metal stress and fatigue, on engines, flaps, ailerons or other metal parts.

The AP is following my blogging lead and raising a semi-skeptical eyebrow.

Remember all of this as Republicans look to further roll back regulatory agencies — abetted at times by ConservaDems, even as those agencies at times have had new regulations lessened by ModeratoDems.

Update, May 14: A Southwest flight had a depressurization problem on Saturday, May 12. Worse is that Southwest claimed the drop-down and landing were "uneventful" even as passengers disagree.

Southworst: Just another legacy airline

I am becoming more and more convinced of the fact that Southwest, if not yet fully a "legacy" airline, is becoming more and more like one.

Its vaunted hedging on fuel prices has backfired with the current oil glut. Even before that, many of its flights were only a few dollars cheaper than other airlines, even with the allowance for free checked bags.

And, even before Herb Kelleher fully handed over the reins to Gary Kelly, when I still lived in Dallas, it got a massive fine from the FAA for poor maintenance records, documentation, and possible actual poor maintenance history, as I note here (unauthorized parts) and here (the biggie) and here (the Blue Bell-like length of knowing about this). Southworst got fined $10M over that, but bitched enough to get it reduced to $7.5M. (And allegedly may have had a death threat against the wife of a whistleblower.)

After Herb let go of the reins, it muffed taking over Frontier because of shoddiness.

I have finally gotten to enjoy and use some vacation time, and for the second trip in a row, Southwest has had a delayed flight.

(And, I now realize, going through this blog, that Southworst flew me late back in 2009.)

So, editing a direct message on Twitter to Southworst?

Next spring, you will NOT be my first choice. I'll see who's available from Bush instead of Hobby, or even with a multi-stop flight, but closer to me, my options from Shreveport. (Actually, my flight out to LA was delayed 15 minutes, so, really, 3 of my last 4 flights have been delayed on these last two vacations.)

Oh, and after learning of the delay by calling on my cell phone (after your sucky voice recognition couldn't recognize "Los Angeles") I was TWICE disconnected when it attempted to transfer me to an agent.

The first longer delay, on my summer vacation? Plane mechanical problem. In its email alert for the 45-minute delay on my flight of later today, Southworst has no explanation. Since this is the first leg of this flight, I wonder if it's having to shuffle planes. (A Twitter reply confirms maintenance issues.) And so, at some point, given some of its past history, this now becomes a safety issue. Especially since the FAA fined it just two months ago over aircraft maintenance.

In turn, that follows on a 2014 fine of $12 million for failure to follow FAA compliance. As one would expect, Southworst is fighting this one, too, claiming it was just a single plane involved. Per my blog post at the time, the FAA said not true.

I told the person who responded to my DM it wasn't his fault. It's, rather, the fault of a company that has rested on its laurels for a decade.

Oh, and the myth that Southwest is better than others at on-time percentage? Not even close. It's near the bottom. And, no, the AirTran acquisition didn't make that worse; AirTran was better than pre-merger Southwest.

But, let's not blame all this on current CEO Gary Kelly. If I'm puncturing balloons, it's Kelleher's, not just Southworst's. Given that the maintenance issues go back before 2005, that's on his watch. That said, ugh that Kelly serves on the president's jobs competitiveness council.

But, things have gotten worse under Kelly. The on-time rate is worse. The maintenance problems are worse. The falsifying of maintenance records is almost totally on his watch. The fighting of FAA fines for this is all his.

Hell, at least Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn had the decency to step down (perhaps to avoid the board there canning him). Last week, I compared VW's FarMoreSmogging to Blue Bell's Triple Listeria Swirl, and wondered which is worse. Well, Kevin Kruse hasn't stepped down at the privately-run Blue Bell, either. Maybe it's something in the Texas business waters.

Honestly, I'd like to hear these words out of Kelly's mouth, and not to me personally, but in an AP story:

Dear customers of Southwest in particular and airline passengers in general: 

I can't deny it. Southwest as an airline has gotten worse in the last decade. Our on-time rate has gotten both absolutely worse and comparatively worse versus other airlines. Our maintenance problems have sadly gained national renown. 

I intend to address this as part of a new legacy at Southwest. To better focus on this, I intend to step down as chairman of the board. I also hope to find my successor as Southwest's CEO as part of this focus on addressing our decade's worth of problems.

Sadly, I'll never hear even the first paragraph, let alone the second.

(As noted by the Houston Chronicle, because of an ad in its pages, while it's long on PR and short on specifics, United just did something exactly like I'm suggesting.)

To me, Southwest is kind of like Apple. Some people think that because they're different, they're automatically special, and better. And that's not true. And, I invite people to be more skeptical. That's why I posted the link to Southworst's on-time rate, so that it wouldn't just be my anecdotal claims.

Finally, speaking once more of the FAA.

Fifteen minutes (or a few more) on the tarmac isn't enough to trigger official action from the FAA. But, given that we were already running nearly an hour late (not 45 minutes), it was enough to trigger me emailing the FAA. I have gotten an official acknowledgement email back. Again, it may not be enough to mean anything. But, given Southworst's ongoing history of FAA fines, and refusal to pay FAA fines, and the fact that I mentioned my delays were all aircraft-related, not weather-caused, maybe it will mean something.

That said, I'm not a blanket Southwest hater.

Southwest Airlines still doesn't get it

A decade ago, Southwest was the undisputed leader among non-legacy airlines, not just in discount pricing, but customer service, overall quality, on-time rate and more.

Heck, it was the leader in most if not all of that on at least a semi-regular basis among ALL airlines, legacy and non-legacy alike.

Plus, it had Herb Kelleher at the helm, seemingly the most popular, and fun to work for, CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Then, the FAA started asking questions about Southwest's plane maintenance.  Then, one of its 737s blew a hole in its fuselage; even if it was a Boeing issue more than a Southwest issue, as seemed to be the case, it still didn't look good.

And now, the FAA ...

Wants to fine Southwest again ...

For a combination of the first two problems! The second problem, beyond the fuselage hole in one case, being skin cracks in other planes. The first problem, over other issues, being lack of adequate maintenance oversight:

The FAA said that beginning in 2006 Southwest made "extreme makeover" alterations to eliminate potential cracking of the aluminum skin on 44 jetliners. An FAA investigation determined that Southwest's contractor, Aviation Technical Services Inc. of Everett, Washington, failed to follow proper procedures for replacing the fuselage as well as other work on the planes, the agency said. All of the work was done under the supervision of Southwest, which was responsible for seeing that it was done properly, the FAA said.

Southwest is going to continue to lose the edge that got it to a position of pre-eminence unless it truly gets serious about these maintenance issues.

Add to that the fact that, with the phase-out of the Wright Amendment, there's no excuse for it not being listed on Travelocity and Expedia, etc., but it continues to hold out, and there's less and less reason to fly Southwest.

#Southwest, your new ads suck

Sorry, but an ad like this:



Does not say Southwest Airlines. And, I'm far from alone. (It actually says something like, "We're American Airlines in 2009, pretending that our market share isn't about to go into the toilet and that we're about to file Chapter 11.)

Herb Kelleher's probably doing a slow burn on his Harley.

You ought to fire TBWA and go back to GSD&M.

The iconoclasm that used to be part of Southwest's "branding" is gone, simply gone.

Of course, TBWA will probably spin this as a "success" because everybody and his dog is talking about how much your ads suck.

Whoever signed off on that ... Chief Information Officer Randy Sloan? Vice President Linda B. Rutherford? ... needs an injection of Southwest DNA.

Or, if this is ultimately Gary Kelly's idea, to somehow make Southwest more "respectable," maybe HE needs an injection.

Bags may fly free, but bad commercials sink like a sack of hammers.

The basic "your own path" idea is good. THAT "backbone" does say Southwest. But, the conceptualization, the visualization, the attempt at realization? That says anything BUT Southwest.

Rather than "generic basketball" player, why not Dennis Rodman? Or if that's too much, Charles Barkley?

The actors playing Southwest employees? NOTHING like you've had in the past, on the "bags fly free" series, above all. Paint drying on walls would be more exciting.

Per my "American Airlines" crack above, this commercial screams complacency. Settling. Traditionalism. Three words that, until now, were never in the Southwest playbook.

And, yeah, I never thought I'd be putting Southwest and the Dipshit Double A on a level playing field for anything.