The Southwest Airlines boarding experience has been the worst of all possible worlds since moving to assigned seating on January 27. Now flight attendants are being asked to shoulder the burden, and their union is putting the airline on blast.
- They used to be super-efficient. They board just 30 minutes prior to departure (versus 40 minutes on comparable airlines) and this worked because everyone lined up ahead of time and got on quickly. They rushed to get the best seats, and didn’t have too many carry-on bags to stow because checked bags were free.
- But they got rid of free checked bags, and that meant passengers trying to bring far more luggage on board. There wasn’t enough overhead bin space because Southwest hadn’t invested in larger overhead bins on most planes – they didn’t need to, their bins rarely filled up, since customers could check their luggage free.
- More luggage slows things down. Passengers trying to find bin space and fit their bags slows things down. Too many bags for the bins means gate checking bags, which slows things down.
- Southwest started charging for seat assignments, and offering extra legroom coach seats, but didn’t ‘reserve’ space above those seats for customers in them. And they had been reserving some of those forward bins for flight attendants. Since everyone was trying to find bin space as close to their seats as possible, instead of choosing seats in part based on bin space, the overhead bin situation slowed things down even further.
- And while you no longer needed to line up in boarding order to board quickly to get the best seat possible, Southwest still forced everyone to line up in large groups ahead of time – wasting time for no customer benefit. This was designed to keep people boarding quickly.
Southwest has been trying to reduce the time each aircraft spends on the ground, so that they can fly each one more. That way they can increase the seats they sell without having more planes. But this does not work. As with layoffs, that’s part of their strategy to cut costs.
So the airline wants to start boarding planes earlier – which cuts against their goal of reducing ‘turn times’ (the amount of time a plane spends on the ground between flights) – but it recognizes that the changes they’ve made to their business model have also made the airline much less efficient. They’ve previously said that increasing boarding times just a couple minutes costs them several aircraft a day in less efficient flying.
American Airlines wasn’t able to get earlier boarding times until after they negotiated a new contract with their flight attendants. But Southwest wants it now.
The flight attendants union at Southwest Airlines is blasting them for it.
“Southwest Management needs to read the room—and read and respect our Contract,” the union slammed on Saturday. “Upper management is out of touch. Decisions are being made without facing the real-world implications or fully considering the strain and anxiety placed on you,” the memo added.
“They have diminished our flexibility, made our jobs harder, placed us once again directly in the line of fire with frustrated customers, and pitted workgroups against each other through poorly thought-out plans.”
…“We want Southwest to succeed, and we want our customers to have a great experience,” the union memo added. “But frustration continues to grow when policies are implemented without collaboration and without respect for our Contract.”
This is foisting the costs and consequences of their policy changes on cabin crew. The union went with higher trip pay in their last contract, rather than calculating wages inclusive of boarding time (like non-union Delta and now American Airlines have). Adding time to boarding doesn’t directly increase pay – just time actually spent with passengers.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that Southwest angered flight attendants by moving their dedicated overhead bins from the front of the aircraft to the back. It made sense to do so (and on many airlines there aren’t dedicated crew bins at all).
Southwest Airlines isn’t just angering customers, they’re angering employees, which is especially problematic because these are the very same employees caught in the middle facing unhappy customers. And their CEO maintains that the airline still has its same soul because of its employees even if not its policies.
I’ve been flying Southwest and in spite of all of the changes I still LUV them. Your Southwest daily criticism of Southwest makes me question your motives, Gary. You obviously have an axe to grind. What is your real beef with Southwest? Are you upset with them because they aren’t paying you as much as Delta and United who you seem to fawn over ad nauseum. The changes that Southwest has made were long overdue. As a businessman it was obvious to me that they needed to step up their game and start cashing in and stop leaving money on the table for bag fees and upgrade charges. Their employees are the best in the industry and I haven’t seen any change in their demeanor since the changes took effect. So what is your real beef, Gary?
I’m sure Bob Jordan insisted that his mgt team created multiple cabin mock ups with the new premium assigned seating but without reserved overhead bins. Clueless.
Flew SWA to BWI about 10 days ago from west coast. It was bad. Took over 40 minutes, with FAs yelling the whole time, including one FA announcing “You have to stay in your assigned seats the entire flight, that’s federal law.” I laughed out loud. No ma’am, that is not federal law – if it was how did you have NO seat assignments for 50 years?? Also, recently husband and I Have both observed that planes are rarely more than 2/3 full but they’re making everyone beyond group 5 gate check carry ons. No one is paying for middle seats.
I just flew WN twice in the past week. Both flights on time, boarding normal. FAs great.
Both flights boarded in less time than US legacies schedule to board a 738 or MAX8 which both flights were.
One flight was 60%, one was 95% full – which is right in line on a combined basis w/ WN’s system LF.
They will be fine. Some will never adapt and yet have nowhere to go.
Yesterday, we flew AEP to IGR on Aerolíneas Argentinas. They boarded the old way, rear of the plane first. Group one sits in the back, Group 2 a little farther forward and group 3 all the way to the front. From the time we started boarding until pushback took a total of 15 minutes. Granted it was an Embraer 190, but still…
@1-John Kilian “What is your real beef with Southwest? Are you upset with them because they aren’t paying you as much as Delta and United who you seem to fawn over ad nauseum.”
I assure you that neither Delta nor United pay me. Nor would either consider my coverage to be fawning.
My coverage of Southwest is exactly how I see, and have experienced, their recent changes. And I compare what they’re saying about those changes to the arguments they made previously with convinction about why not to make them.
Southwest: Yet another gang that can’t shoot straight…
@Tim Dunn — If the flights you took were 60% and 95% full, more power to them. The 60% should be a no-brainer. Wait until your flight is 100% full and there’s no bin space and x number of people are forced to gate check… Of all the people I know that regularly flew Southwest, I can only think of two people who have recently spoken positively of their travels since the changes — that would be you and 1-John Kilian (though to be far, I personally know neither one of you). Both of my adult daughters, who fly WN enough to be A-Listers, and my brother-in-law who flies enough to earn a companion pass for as many years as I can recall, are either looking at, or have already started flying different carriers now.
@1-John Kilian —> We each have our own experiences, so I certainly believe you when you say you still “LUV” WN. All I can say, in addition to the above, is that a good friend has been an FA with Southwest for 30 years…she *hates* the changes.
Running out of overhead space might be alleviated by forcing carry on items be stowed ONLY in the bin directly over the row or under the seat. Since most airlines have flight attendants standing in the front, mid and aft cabin areas, this can be monitored. Announcements by the gate agents and the onboard leader/flight lead, etc. to that effect are made and enforced. Years ago, the TV show “Myth Busters” showed a carefully calculated method to board aircraft. That method could be adapted to various seat configurations. Their calculations and actual testing proved that boarding time could be reduced and overhead space was adequate.