Southwest Airlines melted down over the holidays, affecting around two million travelers and costing the airline around $825 million. And now the airline gets the Saturday Night Live treatment.
SNL cast promote the new, reformed Southwest airlines. First on the agenda is upgrading their IT to 2008 Dell computers. (The 2002 Thinkpad laptops will henceforth be used by air traffic control.)
All luggage will be sorted by color to prevent missing bags. If you’re going to Dallas, pack a red back. That makes it your responsibility, not theirs.
The SNL piece ends, “You bought a Southwest ticket. You obviously don’t respect yourself. So why should we?” And this raises an interesting question. I don’t believe the holiday period was foreseeable. Southwest’s executives didn’t foresee it. The pilot union claims to, but didn’t really. But now that it’s happened are you on warning about the next one?
The airline is making huge investments so solidify their operation. Those are going to take time. I don’t expect a repeat of the holidays – because that was the convergence of several long tail events at once.
And as for respect, Southwest Airlines provides more legroom and the regular coach products at Delta, United, or American. They don’t charge for checked bags, either. So which airline is it that doesn’t respect you?
yes, that was funny and yes, this was expected. Southwest has had multiple meltdowns in just the last 3 years – just because they weren’t as big as this one and didn’t cost them hundreds of millions of dollars didn’t mean the writing wasn’t already on the wall.
It will take years for Southwest to live down the reputation of Christmas 2022 and many passengers will book someone else given a choice; WN will keep passengers by discounting but their costs already weren’t that much lower than the big 3.
WN competes on enough of its network with other airlines that they can’t afford to not compete aggressively for every passengers and this will leave a black mark. The fact that SNL featured this a month after it all happened just keeps the wound fresh.
In fairness to Southwest (I like them as a company but rarely fly them), Delta has had multiple meltdowns in the last three years over major holiday periods with lots of press and it would be hard to argue their financials or Ops reputation (except among among more interested readers like this group) have been significantly hurt by it. And no, Delta’s meltdowns didn’t cost them nearly $1B. But to suggest Southwest will be hurt by this meltdown for years is a bit fanciful.
Delta’s 2017 meltdown is pretty comparable: severe weather compounded by poor tech that put planes and crews out of place all over their network. I don’t think anyone would argue there was a years-long impact to Delta over it.
Granted, Delta and others participate in GDS and don’t rely on consumers purposefully going to their website for the illusion of cheap fares or reputation.
If you can get access to it, the go-to show for airline satire, especially over the last month, is the CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes. They’ve done routines on Canada’s meltdowns that are funnier than the SNL sketch. They’ve done things like a full musical number regarding being stuck at airports, a Casablanca parody in which the airline Ilsa flew out on was Air Canada (a frequent target of the show), and a Canadian Army plan to cripple the Russian offensive in Ukraine by using Sunwing to transport Russian troops. Worth checking out.
No Max Deltas operations are nowhere near as bad as Southwest’s or anyone else’s. The DOT itself shows that Delta has run the best operation in the US airline industry. Let them know that you know better than them
When you can fine financial impact from Delta that exceeds other airlines you can say that Delta has suffered a meltdown.
Southwest itself gave numbers that are beyond industry leading. Delta hasn’t ever said anything close
You can’t find anything to back up your feeble claims so just stop your incessant and compulsive need to rewrite the industry because you can’t stand the industry as it really exists. Or anyone that speaks about it.
Data and not your tired rhetoric will prove your point
Speaking of rewriting history:
Tim Dunn: “delta has never had an operational meltdown” in 2017 or the last three years. I think even delta would be surprised by that. Your weird need to rewrite what even delta executives admit is fascinating…
Google is your friend.
And I thought you were living in a fantasy land before.
Now tell us maxmouth Delta and everyone else’s on time and cancellation rates not just for 3 days but for the months and years by which the DOT measures data
Every airline has rough patches. Either everyone has meltdowns or no one does it on the scale of Southwest
You fundamentally can’t stand that Delta has run the industry’s best operations for years and no one can or has come closer
Give up your arguing and stalking and accept life as it exists instead of how you want it to be
Southwest blew it and is being mocked for what they did and will live for it for years to come. No one else comes close and especially not Delta
Wow wow wow, short term memory loss and stupidity do fit in the same sentence. Ohh geez, let me remind the idiotic deltas sycophants about Delta’s devastating meltdowns, both in 2020 and just a month apart from each other. Remember Thanksgiving day and Christmas Eve/ Christmas Day???? But oh nooo, we have everything under control here, nothing to see! Just a bunch of short sighted fools!!
🙂
As much as I always enjoy your weird misdirects from the topic when you have no actual reply, I have a busy day.
The topic was and is delta’s many operational meltdowns and whether very publicized events have any long term impact on financials. For delta, they haven’t so it’s strange to assume a years-long event for southwest. Short term, sure.
For some reason, you can’t even acknowledge something delta execs have spoken about on investor calls and at the Masters as they sip drinks… There’s not much pointing in talking to someone that can’t acknowledge even basic delta corporate acknowledgements.
If you’d like a fun chat on dot stats someday and how they’re collected and the way delta is very good at finding every loophole or wrinkle of them, perhaps I’ll block a week to deal with your unique claims and misdirects. But that’s not today or this week.
Despite all that, Delta generally has run the best operation of the major U.S. carriers but to suggest they haven’t had major meltdowns is absurd.
Have a great day
Max
The topic is Southwest and its meltdown. The fact that you can’t even understand what is being discussed and compulsively throw Delta in the picture highlights your bias and lack of objectivity
Either everyone has meltdowns and the word means nothing or no one does unless it breaks all records
Picking out anecdotes and cherry picking data to try and prove one’s superiority convinces no one. That is true whether it is you GPG or AA or UA execs
Delta has run the best operations in the US airline industry for years. Not flawless but they are the gold standard. And you simply can’t accept that
This article is about Southwest not Delta or anyone else. When Delta falls from the top of the industry let us know.
Otherwise move on.
Southwest
Enjoy your day, tim. Your lack of basic understanding of topic or logic flow is… fun…
The article is about Southwest’s meltdowns. My comparison in the comments is using the other major carrier with many operational meltdowns recently, delta, as a comparison on the impact of one off operational failures to the bottom line. Keep up.
Given both carriers have a general public reputation, accurate or not, of better operational performance, it’s an apt comparison. No one said it’s perfect but stop attacking others when delta is mentioned.
Like southwest, delta has had very public operational meltdowns the last few years but, in my opinion, it hasn’t hit their bottom line much. That said, plenty of people disagree with my opinion.
Perhaps there will be a years long impact to southwest from this like you suggest, but it’s tough to find examples from recent past that would prove that point.
DL and WN have their strengths and weaknesses, but It’s rare to see this level of fanboy over DL, with complete disregard for facts, including mocking of other posters usernames.
Substitute Delta with Apple and it’s seeing the same level of cult-like defense of their company.
It was a skit and funny. It’s not intended to be 100% fair or factual.
I like United but all airlines seem to have the same strategy. If you are loyal, traveling is a little bit nicer. If you don’t have status it kinda sucks and you want to move up by being loyal. Pay more, be loyal, or have a cruddy experience are the choices.
With Southwest I hate lining up and wondering if I will be able to get up and use the restroom easily. I’m annoyed by the free for all of aggressive people saving rows of seats and Southwest just taking a hand off approach. They aren’t a bad airline, just not as great for flyers as they pretend to be.
As to this incident when the CEO said they’d reimburse “reasonable” expenses I know what was coming.
Maxmouth
the article is about Southwest. You and you alone are driven by a compulsive need to argue with anyone – mostly me – that discusses the real state of the airline industry and throw comparisons into the discussion that are factually wrong.
The simple fact is that everyone has meltdowns and that is easily confirmable by data and not anyone’s opinion or no one has meltdowns.
No other airline has had a meltdown on the scale of what Southwest suffered. Period. When you have facts that show otherwise, share the facts with us.
You can’t because not a single other airline has written off three quarters of a billion dollars due to an operational disaster. None.
there is no comparison.
Walk away and admit your flimsy logic and incessant arguing doesn’t work.
…
Tim, Others are allowed to comment and provide comparisons to the article in the comment section without your normal rant about Delta or sheer hatred of anyone that dares mention Delta in a poor light or bring up their recent operational meltdowns over the last few years.
The fact of the matter is, the only other major airline in the industry with the very public level of operational meltdowns in the industry within the last few years is Delta. And Delta has had many public meltdowns over major holidays in recent years and had severe weather that caused their crews and aircraft to be spread out over their network without easy recovery (just like Southwest which is why it’s a decent but imperfect comparison as I’ve said). I get that this somehow ruins your day. Perhaps it’s time to figure out whether it really should when simple facts are presented in comparison for discussion IN A COMMENTS SECTION.
Again, Perhaps Southwest will have a years-long financial impact from this operational meltdown, but it’s just difficult to back that up with any examples or facts, Tim. The biggest irony here is that I’m pointing out that your own favorite airline, Delta, hasn’t seen major long-term impacts from their meltdowns and yet you somehow attack me for that.
Since when did Southwest become your new airline to despise?
Yesterday you said you were bullish on AA. it’s like I don’t even know you anymore. 😉
enjoy your day, tim.
–MaxPower (“Maxmouth” for those drunk at home)
Max
anyone is allowed to comment.
You are not allowed to post complete lies and justify them as fact.
Your statement
“The fact of the matter is, the only other major airline in the industry with the very public level of operational meltdowns in the industry within the last few years is Delta.”
You are clearly deeply troubled and obsessed if you even begin to think the above statement is true.
There are real facts that prove that other airlines including Southwest have had far larger operational disruptions in the past 3 years than Delta has had in the last 10 years.
Since you are such an adept user of Google then you should be able to find the DOT’s air travel consumer report which has been tracking airline cancellations and delays for decades. There are nearly 25 years of reports available online.
When you can find facts and data to show that any other airline had operational disasters anywhere in the ballpark of Southwest in December of 2022 or that Delta had anything comparable to any peer anytime in the last “few years” get back with us.
Otherwise and until then, accept that you are biased and petulant child that can’t stand to admit that the world you want to believe exists really doesn’t.
This topic is about Southwest and their spoofing by SNL, not your incessant need to justify your own weird behavior and thoughts.
Move on, Max
@Dunn “not your incessant need to justify your own weird behavior and thoughts”
Well there’s the pot calling the kettle black. Are you the same dude who always defends Hilton no matter what?
LK,
uh, no
First of all, Southwest is the safest airline in the skies today, two passenger deaths since their beginning, and never a single crash. Second: ALL airlines melted down late last year. Get over it. THIRD. There’s not been anything FUNNY on SNL since Belushi and crew.
Once again Gary Leff is predictably shilling for Southwest and their predictable meltdown. Southwest management drank too much of their own cool aid and refused to upgrade their 1999 eta computer system despite the previous meltdowns in 2021 and warnings from their pilots. And to those who try to defend Southwests meltdowns by pointing to Delta there is nothing in comparison to Southwests epic historic week long Christmas breakdown . Something is uniquely wrong at Southwest that doesn’t exist at other airlines.
Oh Timmy, it must really kill you inside when even Delta talks about the operational meltdowns that you say never happened. And even worse when they put it in an SEC filing or talk about it with investors…
Your advice here seems aimed at yourself: perhaps some self reflection will help your fantasyland:
“Accept that you are biased and petulant child that can’t stand to admit that the world you want to believe exists really doesn’t.”
Happy Monday! Watch out! Gary just put the JFK T4 sky lounge queue photo up. Trigger alert!
You sure do create some laughs, tim.
minibrain,
You jumped into a discussion about Southwest’s operational problems because you can’t stand the world as it really exists and want desperately to paint Delta – which is not the subject of this discussion – as bad as or worse than Southwest.
The great thing about operational reliability is that consists of metrics such as on-time, cancellation rates, baggage and wheelchair handling, and involuntary oversales which have been tracked by the US DOT for years and are published for all the world to see.
Delta has run the best operation among US airlines for years.
Southwest’s own execs said that their operation was not where it needed to be – even before the Christmas disaster. Not surprisingly WN’s DOT operational performance is well below average in a number of categories.
The word “meltdown” doesn’t appear any statement from Delta execs or any Delta financial statements. If so, you should be able to give us a link to the document with page number. As usual, minibrain, you lie and manipulate because you can’t accept the world the way it really exists and try to make it into something that it is not.
Walk away, child. We all realize that made up, lofty and unreal user names like yours are yet another attempt at seeing the world differently than the way it and you really are but have some self esteem. When you have filled replies to this article with lies, you clearly aren’t here for any fact-based discussion and we aren’t interested in your childish emotions.
I always love it when you resort to insults and can’t answer anything I’ve written. But… how could you when Delta publicly has talked about their operational meltdowns and written about them in 8-Ks
…but you think Delta is wrong when they write or speak about them on investor calls… Really does show who you are… 🙂 It’s such a badge of honor when you go off on your tantrums and resort to poor name calling.
Read your own words. They really do apply to you: “Accept that you are biased and petulant child that can’t stand to admit that the world you want to believe exists really doesn’t.” I’d imagine someone wrote those words to you when you were banned (IP address and all) from other websites.
The amount of time you spend thinking up lousy insults for me is truly flattering.
Anyone can read what I’ve actually written vs what you keep trying to misdirect or pretend the conversation is about.
The alternate reality that you live in is truly fascinating…
Happy Monday, Tim!
–MaxPower (or minibrain or Maxmouth… for those drunk at home)
Max,
you disrespected and insulted yourself by
1. trying to throw Delta’s operation under the bus when that is clearly NOT the topic even while you have repeatedly failed to address Southwest’s operation which IS the topic of this discussion.
2. making categorically and factually incorrect statements trying to compare Delta to Southwest’s operational mess as well as throwing around the word ” meltdown” then failing to provide evidence of either statement.
3. using a fake, aspirational user name which is as disconnected from reality as the content you post. The vast majority of the people on this site use some form of their own names for good reason. When one posts under their real name, they have to be honest. The first place to learn to be honest with others is to be honest with yourself and use your own name -just like Gary does.
Walk away, Max. you tried to slam another company driven by your compulsive inability to argue and not accept the world as it really exists.
Southwest has been badly damaged by their own actions which were predictable and SNL mocked them even as many US travelers are well aware of WN’s Christmas 2022 disaster. SNL might have been funny but the bigger point is that they keep aggravating a reputation that WN would love to ditch – and WN has worked tireless to craft a reputation which simply is in tatters right now.
Nobody cares about an inch of legroom or free bags if your flight is cancelled by other airlines are departing and arriving on-time.
WN doesn’t operate in some protected microspace but in the same markets as the big boys – all of which are running far better operations than WN.
And, Delta, as much as you want to argue otherwise, IS running the best operation and, among the big 4, has for years.
I was WN’s top flier two reassess back to back a little over 20 years ago. I quit flying crazy amounts about 15 years ago but still used WN until recently, Lack of assigned seating coupled with the continued degradation of domestic flyers AND much higher fares moved us to other airlines. We pretty much fly only in the West domestically, and when we do do to the Midwest, Allegiance provides much better service with assigned seating, extended legroom at much lower fares.
Going to Austin at Easter and never even looked at WN for flights and fares. That ship has sailed.. Our son is a Platinum Delta flier and has nothing but great things to say about them.
I was WN’s top flier two years back to back a little over 20 years ago. I quit flying crazy amounts about 15 years ago but still used WN until recently, Lack of assigned seating coupled with the continued degradation of domestic flyers AND much higher fares moved us to other airlines. We pretty much fly only in the West domestically, and when we do go to the Midwest, Allegiance provides much better service with assigned seating, extended legroom at much lower fares.
Going to Austin at Easter and never even looked at WN for flights and fares. That ship has sailed.. Our son is a Platinum Delta flier and has nothing but great things to say about them.
Awwww shucks, Tim… I’ve seen you write long enough to know when you know you can’t win… and you do your usual “Delta rocks and will forever” then start calling names and go off on weird tangents about names used in comments sections It’s like you have a set of instructions at your desk about how to escalate when you’ve lost focus and direction in a conversation.
As ever, your delusional view of Delta never ceases to amuse. TBH, I actually thought you read Delta’s SEC filings and listened to their investor calls. But you clearly don’t if you’re sticking to this unusual idea that Delta hasn’t had an operational meltdown in the last few years and that they haven’t talked about them. Does Delta call them “Meltdowns”… uhhh; no? But Delta also refused to call the Delta Covid variant the “Delta variant”… so it’s not as though Delta is well known for using common terms that are used publicly and commonly when Delta does have an operational meltdown. That doesn’t mean they haven’t talked about them in their 8-Ks or in their calls and even apologized to customers for the meltdowns.
Your attempts to misdirect the topic to something you want to talk about (PRAISE BE TO DELTA ON HIGH!!! HALLELUJAH!) are always fun even though it’s not the topic anyone else is on. I think my favorite part is how you purposefully misdirect then start name calling when your misdirect doesn’t work and accusing others of not chatting about the topic THEY STARTED.
As ever… thanks for the chuckle. Your insults are always entertaining. You get so riled up by other posters when you’re wrong and don’t know how to defend Delta anymore.
How on earth do you have time to write in comments sections all day? Looking at a random sampling of articles, you seem to be monitoring the entire internet and engaged in active reply in many articles that post the slightest thing negative about Delta.
since you’ve gone on such a wild rabbit trail since my comment, I’ll just repost it here. Never was I talking about Delta’s overall reliability. That was completely your strange misdirect since you didn’t know what to do since even Delta talks about their meltdowns.
“In fairness to Southwest (I like them as a company but rarely fly them), Delta has had multiple meltdowns in the last three years over major holiday periods with lots of press and it would be hard to argue their financials or Ops reputation (except among among more interested readers like this group) have been significantly hurt by it. And no, Delta’s meltdowns didn’t cost them nearly $1B. But to suggest Southwest will be hurt by this meltdown for years is a bit fanciful.
Delta’s 2017 meltdown is pretty comparable: severe weather compounded by poor tech that put planes and crews out of place all over their network. I don’t think anyone would argue there was a years-long impact to Delta over it.”
Thanks for the validation. You made my day. Best of luck with the delusion.
–MaxPower (or whatever lame name Tim is coming up with next since he’s 6 and comes up with stupid nicknames…)
Max,
You and you alone lost focus the first time you posted on this article.
You confirmed exactly the root issues because you simply can’t walk away even though you are repeatedly told to do so – and, in your incessant keyboard banging, you prove that your real issue is that
1. You can’t stand that anything good is said about Delta when you yourself OPEN the discussion because you try to trash Delta.
HINT If you don’t want Delta dragged into a conversation about Southwest, don’t drag Delta into it.
I didn’t.
I simply corrected the patently false statements about Delta that you made. I have done the same about other carriers.
2. You can’t stand that I write what I wrote on social media. Walk away, Max, and quit worrying about what other people do.
Gary or Ben or anywhere else can cut me off if they think I write too much. They haven’t.
Get help and a life and quit worrying about other people or pushing fantasies of other’s failures that simply don’t exist.
and for your own self-esteem, by whatever name you use, walk away. The more you write the more you prove EXACTLY of what you are made
Tim and Mac just need to kiss and get it over with.
Thanks again for the chuckle, Tim.
I hope you slept tight in your dreamland. It still just makes me laugh how you deny reality and facts. Who on earth says delta hasn’t had an operational meltdown except you, tim…?
You’re right, Brandon. Tim? Make out time? Maybe you’re like Snow White and need a kiss to wake you up from your dreamland.
-Max