southwest airlines

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Southwest Airlines Will Start Selling Overnight Connections

by Gary Leff

Jun 19 2023

Southwest will start selling overnight connection flights for the first time on June 26. They won’t offer redeye flights, but will use their current schedule to sell itineraries that involve an overnight at six airports – Baltimore; Denver; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Chicago Midway; and Oakland.

No new flights are being added to the schedule, this just adds flight options to sell… that customers should be on the lookout for, because they’re options that many will potentially want to avoid.

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Southwest Airlines Employee Indicted For Stealing And Reselling $15,000 Worth Of Travel Per Day

by Gary Leff

Jun 08 2023

A Chicago Midway airport customer service agent for Southwest Airlines has been indicted for selling almost $2 million in travel vouchers.

After working for the airline for about three years ago, the man figured out that he could issue customer service “LUV vouchers” to compensate passengers… and could do this even when there wasn’t actually a disserviced passenger.

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Woman Says She Was “Stranded Outside The Country” Because A Large Passenger Needed Her Seat On Southwest

by Gary Leff

Jun 08 2023

A woman shared her story of flying Southwest Airlines from Montego Bay to Baltimore to Denver where she was refused boarding in Montego Bay, she says, because because the flight was overbooked and they were treating her as a standby passenger. She was traveling with two teenagers on the full flight, and the airline learned that a passenger of size needed an extra seat but hadn’t purchased one. So she was “stuck outside the country” to make room for that other passenger.

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How To Get A Free Empty Middle Seat On Southwest Airlines

by Gary Leff

May 27 2023

What makes the biggest difference in comfort on any flight, regardless of airline, is having an empty seat next to you. And if your flight is full, that’s something which is largely within your control when flying on Southwest Airlines. If you fly Delta you hope they didn’t assign the seat next to you. If you fly Southwest, seats aren’t pre-assigned, so you hope no one decides to sit next to you.

There’s a whole subculture of people who have their own strategies for making sure sitting beside them is… undesirable.

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Southwest Airlines Pilot Climbed Through The Window After Passenger Locked Him Out Of Cockpit

by Gary Leff

May 26 2023

A Southwest Airlines pilot of a Boeing 737 bound for Sacramento got locked out of the cockpit prior to departure on Thursday – and had to climb back in through the window – after a passenger shut the door.

Thanks to the reinforced cockpit door, it was the quickest way in. A customer had boarded the plane and, needing to use the restroom, closed the door to the cockpit in order to access the aircraft’s lavatory. The hijinks caused an 8 minute delay.

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Here’s The Latest Southwest Airlines Strategy To Avoid Another Meltdown This Summer

by Gary Leff

May 24 2023

It’s been five months since Southwest Airlines experienced an unprecedented meltdown. They initially blamed weather, but they were cancelling over 60% of their flights a day even while other airlines throughout the country were operating normally. They found themselves short-staffed, and without the systems to recover. Their phone system broke. And they had to rebuild schedules manually, getting in touch with crews one at a time. And this went on for a week.

Now the airline is headed into summer – peak travel – so observers both inside and outside the company are asking whether they’re ready.

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99% Of Southwest Airlines Pilots Vote To Authorize Strike

by Gary Leff

May 12 2023

99% of pilots casting a ballot voted to authorize a strike. This was largely pitched to members as negotiating leverage: vote to strike so you don’t need to strike. It’s a threat to the company to get them to give more in negotiations.

Once a union calls for strike authorization, members have to go along – otherwise the union’s credibility implodes and the company knows there isn’t a strike threat looming in the background.

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