Southwest Airlines is experimenting with having cabin cleaners come on their planes between flights to clean only the premium extra legroom seat areas of the aircraft.
Airline flight attendants union board member and safety chair Chris Click posted a video for crewmembers expressing concern about a trial the airline is doing to have cleaners come on board planes between flights but not clean the whole aircraft. He says he received a memo from the airline on Tuesday “about the experiment they’re doing with cleaners coming on board and cleaning the airplane.”
Click likens this to the upper class on the Titanic “having cigars and sipping brandy and telling their stories of their untold fortunes” while passengers “below deck” don’t get their seats cleaned.
[T]he company thinks it’s okay to only do the premium seating cleaning. I find that, and I liken it to the movie Titanic… And I feel like that’s the conditions they’re creating here at Southwest…
I know Southwest says, oh, we don’t have class service. This is class service. This is first class seating. And now that you’re bringing cleaners on board to provide a different cleaning product up front than you are in the back, this is definitely class service. ..it’s an insult to the passengers that aren’t in ELR seats that they’re left with just what we can tidy. And look, there’s a big difference between tidying the airplane and cleaning…
So up front, you’ve got these super clean airplanes. In the back, you’ve got half-hearted, tidied airplanes. The passengers are going to come on board. They’re going to see it.
And when this gets out and becomes prevalent, when passengers see what’s going on, they’re going to be very upset. And who are they going to turn to about these complaints? They’re going to turn to the working flight attendants that are on the airplane.
Flight attendants at Southwest are expected to tidy the cabin between flights. They pick up visible trash and cross he seatbelts. Unlike competitors, Southwest hasn’t generally had cleaners come on planes between flights. This makes turning the planes quicker. They spend less time on the ground and more time in the air, but the planes don’t get as clean. Flight attendants aren’t expected to reach into seat back pockets, for instance.
Of course, other airlines with contract cleaners often don’t give them enough time to work, so those planes may not get much cleaner either.
Naturally the union would prefer if cleaners did the entire aircraft – if flight attendants got full pay with fewer duties. So they’re criticizing Southwest for only picking up part of the work. It’s striking to hear him call the cabin tidying efforts of Southwest flight attendants “half-hearted.”
I certainly take the implied point with this trial that people paying extra for their seats aren’t getting the product they expect when it’s dirty. And I understand that Southwest doesn’t want to keep planes on the ground longer than they have to. As it is, checked bag fees mean more passengers bringing bags on board, and more passengers having to gate check bags – which means boarding takes longer than it used to.
Still, they have a point about the once highly egalitarian Southwest losing its soul if they’re only willing to clean the seats where passengers who pay the most sit. And it’s families with young children who tend to sit in back, rather than paying for extra legroom seats, and those are the spaces that tend to get messiest.
How many more reasons do we need to never fly SWA again?
Not agreeing with it but do the US3 have the cleaners come into coach after short flights when there was no service? Maybe just spot checking the coach lavs?
What ‘premium’ seats? Last I checked it’s still all 3-3 economy… they gettin’ 2-2 recliners?
Thats disgusting, thats stooping to the level of Spirit and Allegiant!
The news about the Elliot group is getting worse by the day!
This sounds like a great idea!
May I suggest they take it one step further and only clean the front Lav. Those rear Lavs definitely do not need any attention.
When drunk college students return on Southwest Airlines from spring break and use the entire coach cabin as their private vomitorium while successfully covering every seat in puke, are the flight attendants responsible for keeping the coach cabin tidy?
I can’t say as I blame the FA’s. They’re the ones who have to deal with the repercussions of filthy planes because their company is being cheap.
While I don’t approve of Southwest cleaning only some of the seats between flights, comparing it to the Titanic seems to miss the point.
When people think of the Titanic, they think of the ship that hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sank. Rigid class distinctions among the passengers were real, but not the most important thing about the ship. I would have thought that most ocean liners of its time had rigid class distinctions among the passengers.
What’s the big deal? Peasants are used to living in dirty conditions.
Again – I carry Clorox Wipes with me wherever I go. On planes I wipe down my whole row, the window area, headrest, tray tables etc. It’s usually my husband next to me, if not I ask my seat mate if it’s OK. No one has ever said no. A few have asked for an extra wipe and joined in. I have a compromised immune system, and I still mask on planes, so no one ever blinks at me. Even so, this is because you can’t trust airlines to clean anything properly. If there’s trash in the seat back pocket, I just don’t use it.
I will never fly Southwest again , what great way to kill a business being cheap disgusting people.
Let the little people /peons in the back suffer the rich don’t pay taxes
Leona Helmsley
I don’t fly southwest. Not cleaning the entire plane is disgusting! It’s all about money. Maybe they should change their name to Filthy Airlines! Before you know it, they will remove the seats and you pay to stand on flights!
Pig Pen Airlines.
It appears from the article that none of the plane is getting cleaned currently, just tidied up by the flight attendants between flights. The fact that they’re going to have cleaners come in and do anything at all is a step up from what they’re doing now. I don’t know what people are upset about. I would say it’s better to have part of the plane clean than none at all.
I will make sure to have my Clorox wipes with me. They better get a bigger trash can if everyone does the same.
I hope other investors are taking note of the industry. Many of these companies will not survive the bailout after the billions in class action lawsuits when country-wide health pandemics are traced back to unhealthy sanitation care by public transport industry. Was nothing learned from covid?
lol, this story is rear-end-backwards. Buried in there — only if one reads the entire story — is the reveal that SWA has historically not cleaned any seats in the cabin. So now they’ll be cleaning some of the seats which is (a) a step forward and (b) more than other airlines do. How many times on short lay overs when you stay in the cabin have you seen any airline clean seats while at the gate?
Quite a few people leave a big mess. My seat area is usually very tidy. I even sometimes cross the seat belt.
Wouldn’t be such a problem in the first place if you’re culture wasn’t to live like animals. I’ll never forgive or forget about going to college in the midwest. I would go to the union to study and get lunch, and I realized the tables I was eating my FOOD of were used as a foot rest with SHOES ON for the farm animal students. Do it in your own house, but to do it in public and disrespect every person who’ll sit there unknowing is evil. It is also American culture to allow children to stand on seats WITH THEIR SHOES ON. I hate living there so much
My husband and I have flown Southwest for years. We are on a fixed income and can’t afford business and first class. We are taking a trip at the end of this month and if the quality of cleaning and service is as bad as I’m reading, we will switch to Jet Blue permanently. We are both disabled and need help as well. We will see how that goes. I agree with another post here, I will bring my own wipes to clean our seats. More money for less service…..what a bargain …NOT
This is what the stock market does for you – Southwest is perfectly profitable, but if the profit margin doesn’t grow, the stock profile isn’t “successful”. Southwest is more worried about stock dividends than they are their customers…
Southwest has now won the race to the bottom. But me thinks they will still be in the race to go down even more.
All airlines have the same issue. Ever since the MBAs running the airlines decided to charge us 20% of a coach ticket to store our bags in the luggage hold under every airplane, and everyone stores their 40-pound “carry on” in the coat rack above our seat, boarding and deplaning takes 20 minutes instead of 5, so the cleaners have little time. But, those executive quarterly bonuses sure are big!
At least they didn’t bring back a smoking section (for a big surcharge).
The ongoing race to a 2 class society: the rich , and those others.
So much for the late great Untied( sp intentional) States.
You all do realize that ALL US Airlines have a very superficial cleaning between flights. The cleaners might have 5 minutes to get the cabin cleaned. They are basically looking for visible dirt and debris. If one is elderly and immune compromised the last place you need to be is on a plane. Just look under the seat.
I’ve come to realize that most people posting on an airline/travel blog really never travel because they have this myth that there’s an airline out there, somewhere, that charges Frontier fares with PanAm Clipper service and is making a financial killing.
Southwest Airlines. Now, an offshoot of Ryanair. Please don’t go that way.
Study Ryanair’s business plan and what a mess they made of themselves.
Yet another reason not to fly SW! I knew they would eventually alienate even more if their customers eventually! They’re soon becoming the worst airline in customer service satisfaction! I stopped flying with them and now drive from northern Cali to southern! Won’t give them another dime!
Justin writes, “I would go to the union to study and get lunch, and I realized the tables I was eating my FOOD off of were used as a foot rest with SHOES ON for the farm animal students.” If you’ve ever wondered what gives your Southwest Airlines sandwich that extra ‘je ne sais quoi,’ it might just be Eau de Boot. Justin’s anecdote raises concerns about hygiene—or the lack thereof—and draws a parallel to Southwest Airlines’ creative interpretation of its cleaning policies. According to Gary Leff’s article, “Southwest Is Testing Cleaning Only Premium Seats Between Flights — A Flight Attendant’s Union Leader Says It’s ‘Titanic’ Class Service,” Southwest Airlines is now cleaning first-class cabins with the enthusiasm of a germaphobe, while the rest of the plane gets the ‘may the odds be ever in your favor’ treatment. The main argument is that inconsistent cleaning, especially in places where people eat, can turn your in-flight meal into a game of microbial roulette. While many farm animal and veterinary school students know the value of handwashing and decontaminating their shoes, some passengers think tray tables are just upscale ottomans. Such habits help spread illnesses, including memorable diseases like bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)—yes, that’s mad cow disease—which can leap to humans as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) if you’re unlucky enough to chow down on unsanitary airline food. So, if you’re flying Southwest or eating in the wilds of the student union, remember: wash your hands, keep your shoes on the floor, and maybe bring your own tablecloth. Safety first.
Justin, …”you’re (sic) culture wasn’t to live like animals” and you “hate living there so much”, you can, in the words of Sen. John N. Kennedy, “…pack your happy ass up and leave.” There are many transportation modes available and “…ready when you are!” For your information, “you’re” is a contraction for “you are”. That’s why I put the Latin “sic” which, loosely translated means, “as it is written”. “Your” indicates possession of something.
@Win Whitmire — LOL. Reading the Senator’s new book, I see: “How to test negative for stupid”… (J.N.K. really does have the Foghorn Leghorn-style folky-thing down.)
Absolutely disgusting! Way to run off your customer base SWA and create even more hard feelings with all of your recent customer service “improvements”
We we’re frequent flyers on Southwest for years! First the baggage fees and now this ignorant practice towards customers? We’ll take our business and money elsewhere.
Reading comprehension seems to be a lost skill. Southwest flight attendants never cleaned the seats. The most they did between flights was pick up trash. The full cleaning of the aircraft was done by cleaning crews at night, so cleaning between flights is actually a step up from how it was previously handled. If you want a clean seat pay for it.
This will be a HBS case study on how to destroy the culture and uniqueness of an airline. Activist stockholders killed the golden goose
Southwest have lost their minds seems like. I use to love them but anytime I travel they will be last on the list or maybe not at all. It’s already greedy enough to make those bathrooms that small like not putting 2-3 seat would bankrupt the company. Well I don’t personally care if something financially happens to the higher ups maybe they will learn their lesson!
I can say having flown with southwest for hundreds of flights they barely clean if at all. I was still flying weekly during Covid, and despite the claims for enhanced or extra cleaning, it was (shocker) a bold faced lie. It was abundantly clear there was no cleaning done at all.
Planning to go to Alaska air next year after I use my thousands in credits 🙂
SW has lost anything that made it special or better than the competition and worse to me at least, they have no loyalty to those who’ve flown hundreds of flights with them.
So IF I ever fly southwest again, I’ll take Lysol wipes and wipe down our seats then throw them on the ground so the cleaning crew has to pick them up!! Problem solved..
They just keep adding new reasons to never fly with Southwest again. What a sad thing for a service that very recently was one of the best.
Gth southwest.
Nothing has changed. Think about it. SWA used to have 25 minute turns. The cleaners came on and started cleaning the seats upfront. They had about 10-12 minutes to work before exiting and pax started loading. The back of the aircraft never got cleaned except when scheduled for a deep clean on an overnight that probably happened once every 90 days.
This is really a dumb idea.
Things happen and if it’s not cleaned, its even looked at. The seat could be a bio hazard and if it’s not looked at, it’s going to cause delays when a passenger can’t sit in the seat and the plane is full. Or worse, they don’t notice and sit and then find out. I guess I will skip this airline.
Great. I JUST booked a flight with SWA before this. My first time. I knew I should have booked that United flight. Welp, first and LAST time flying with Southwest. I’m tired of these companies championing classism. I will gladly boycott every single one. Cheers Southwest! I will never book with you again. A**hats.
I not surprised. Southwest has always been the trailer trash of airlines.
Don’t fly Southwest airlines, this is a discussing, cheap a , policy and tells you what they must be what they think of their customers
> And it’s families with young children who tend to sit in back, rather than paying for extra legroom seats, and those are the spaces that tend to get messiest.
If the previous passenger would have cleaned up after their kids it would have been much better. Seats occupied by families with children are consistently the dirtiest seats and parents take little to no responsibility cleaning up after their kids.
I wonder if it’s gonna cost extra to get clean eating utensils
This is what happens when you let an industry self-regulate. Congratulations. We all get the pox!
The more experimental changes they want to make the more they’re pushing me to go elsewhere…
SWA has always been notorious for on time departures compared to the big 3. As long as I’m not sitting with a boogie rag staring at me, it fine.
What is happening to Southwest !! We used to fly with them all the time not any more they don’t care about customers and have become greedy !! They said all passengers wanted assigned seats really who? And charging for bags who please explain who wanted this. they were upset because nobody would pay for early boarding now they charge a ridiculous amount of money and want to Nickle and dime you for everything like Spirt, Jet Blue, Allegiance. Now they don’t want to clean the planes unless you pay extra money to sit on there planes. GET BENT !!! Nothing like a company that is now catering to the rich and dividing the classes. Huh what do they call that ????? Southwest has done nothing to make me fly with them again and probably will not unless it’s the only choice which I’m sure it never will be I’m not rich enough to fly with them anymore since that’s what they care about is money and money only!!!!
Let them eat cake. Peasants to the rear, sit down and be quiet. I do miss the plastic boarding passes, but not as much not flying SWA anymore. They canceled my flight out of ME once had to drive to Boston to make the trip happen, that was 2016, never been on them since.
Circling the bowl, just waiting for the flush.
Somehow there are making a terrible airline worse. They simply don’t care about the consumer. I hope to never fly on them again.
People don’t seem to realize that this is an upgrade not a downgrade. Generally nobody cleans the seats on any airline. I bring antibacterial wipes on board and clean my own seat, seat belt and tray table. It’s disgusting how black the wipe becomes. This was true even when they claimed that they were sanitizing the cabin during COVID.
Southwest is a disaster. They don’t clean now. I can only imagine what the future holds. The charging for luggage is a joke. Then when you get to the gate there begging to check bags for free. Flights are late leaving, missing connections because they are screwing around checking piles of bags at the gate the 700 are worn and have broken seats. How about improving service.
Might as well rename themselves Southwestern India Airlines
So, I guess I drop my trash on the premium seats on the way out?
With the pistachios, complimentary drinks, and cleaning of the extra legroom rows, this is just an example of first class coming to Southwest. Just watch. It’s coming. They are just testing with possible first class option. And what Elliot Management decides…, goes. Seems to me Elliot Management is running the show, not Southwest board members.
Not sure why you’re lying about the way those turn cleans work, but given your biased history against SWA you’re just another propagandist looking to stir your sad fanbase.
The turn cleans don’t “just” focus on premium, they look at the entire thing. The focus on premium is based on time, and that’s just a logical thing in a business sense.
Maybe try to get some reliable data before you go chiming off with bullshit.
This is complete BS. Flight attendants already clean the planes! They clean the seat back pockets as well. This is complete fake news.
We’ve flown many airlines until finding Southwest. We’ll never fly another airline again. I love the new assigned seating options. We’ve always chosen premium and I understand that many can’t afford it, so that’s why there are several options to choose from. The planes have never been cleaned between flights, just checked for items left behind, or trash so I’m not sure why people are complaining. Southwest’s new options are kind of like first class on other airlines. There’s lots more in life to be concerned about, this is not one of them.
I think many here have failed to read the entire article. SWA isn’t deciding to only clean the premium seats and leave the “non-premium” seats uncleaned. The entire aircraft will be cleaned; however, the premium seating will be done by a third-party company. The remainder of the aircraft will be cleaned by the cabin crew as it always has. Unlike most other airlines, this is a required duty as outlined in the FA contract. Who should accomplish the cleaning is another argument, but the argument isn’t whether the cleaning will be done. I love our FAs at SWA, but I’m a bit skeptical of the union’s statement and their true motives behind it.