Tag Archives for southwest airlines.
Southwest Airlines flight 4069 from Las Vegas to Oklahoma City descended all the way down to about 525 feet – when it was still 9 miles from its destination airport. Air traffic control received an alert about the plane’s altitude and contacted the pilots, “Southwest 4069, low altitude alert. You good out there?”
The first officer, who had been handling the controls, accidentally pushed the control column forward and reduced speed, causing the plane to drop from approximately 1,000 feet to just 400 feet above the ocean rapidly – at a rate of over 4,000 feet per minute. Warning alarms sounded due to surface proximity.
Activist investor Elliott Capital Management took a nearly $2 billion stake in Southwest Airlines, representing over 11% ownership. They released a plan to fix the airline, and it’s a big old mess.
Activist investor Elliott Capital Management has taken a nearly $2 billion stake in Southwest Airlines, and plans to push for changes to their business. That’s a huge investment for a carrier with a current market cap of about $16.5 billion. It should earn them board seats.
A woman being dubbed “Southwest Airlines Karen” had a meltdown during boarding of a Southwest Airlines flight. A passenger wearing a MAGA hat boarded the flight and she was triggered. The Man In The Donald Trump Hat began to film her, and she shouts “Somebody call security!” after demanding that he put his phone down.
Southwest Airlines fired a flight attendant who sent graphic anti-abortion messages to their union President on Facebook after the union spent employee funds to attend the pro-choice Women’s March in 2017. A jury, which saw emails of union officials mocking the woman, found that the airline and union violated her rights.
The original verdict was knocked down from $5.1 million to $910,000. Southwest was ordered to tell flight attendants that federal law requires that they “not discriminate against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs.”
One passenger decided to tell a lie to keep the empty seat next to him open, on a flight that cabin crew announced was completely full. As the plane filled up, he told each passenger who eyed that middle seat next to him that it was taken and his wife was just in the lavatory. He tells this to a flight attendant, too.
He sticks to his story even as the last passenger, looking for the last seat on the plane, tries to find a seat – walking up and down the aisle of the aircraft because he was told that ‘last seat’ was already taken.
Southwest Airlines seating is first-come, first-served. The earlier you board, the better your seat selection. The earlier you check in, the earlier you’re allowed to board. But some passengers get to jump the queue.
Charlene Carter was fired as a Southwest Airlines flight attendant in 2017 after criticizing her union, TWU Local 556, for spending crewmember dues advocating for political causes like abortion.
Southwest Airlines doesn’t offer assigned seats, although that may be changing with a premium seat offering expected to be announced this fall.
In the meantime, even though they do not sell seat assignments, they still manage to earn hundreds of millions of dollars each year on their seats.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
