Tag Archives for southwest airlines.
In their rush to light their business model on fire, with checked bag fees, expiring flight credits, devalued frequent flyer programs and paid seats, Southwest Airlines has moved quickly to implement changes but hasn’t done the work to make those run smoothly or to maximize revenue.
“Southwest is hoeing me.” A Southwest Airlines passenger says that’s what an employee told her, after the airline lost her bag, then when it was found it was delivered to the wrong address, and the airline and courier service simply pointed fingers at each other – forcing the woman to get the police involved.
A few days ago a passenger and check-in agent at the Southwest Airlines counter in Denver got out of hand. They wound up in a fight – and the customer got tackled by police – after his aggression shifted from the airline to law enforcement.
Now we see how paid seat assignments are working out for the airline, which they’re selling now for flights starting January 27, 2026. They don’t seem to have figured out the revenue-maximizing formula yet, or they don’t have the technology fine-tuned yet to adapt seat fees by market easily.
Southwest Airlines flight 1496 made a split-second dive to avoid a mid-air collision on Friday. The crew executed a startling descent of about 500 feet- dropping from around 14,100 feet to about 13,625 feet—to avoid a collision.
Southwest has given up its advantages over competitors, its unique selling proposition. They’re becoming much more like less financially successful peers like American and JetBlue. But they’re worse.
Southwest Airlines held its second quarter earnings call on Thursday. And with the airline completely upending its business model, the quarter is a good opportunity to check in with how things are going.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Aaron “Tex” Johnson was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after getting into a confrontation with another passenger and with crew.
The flight attendants union – which represents about 20,000 flight attendants and has long embodied the premise that a customer-facing work group could be unionized and still provide exemplary service – appears to be in the midst of an internal scandal.
A Southwest Airlines passenger flying from Baltimore to Denver on Wednesday reportedly pulled out a “steel box [with] lots of bottles inside.” While the passenger seated across from him at first thought that it was medicine, the man “proceed[ed] to use his Dunkin’ Donuts loyalty card to start cutting up lines of cocaine.”
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 »
