Tag Archives for southwest airlines.
New video circulating on social media appears to show an African American Trump supporter kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight for taking down his mask ‘while eating’. The suggestion is that he’s really being kicked off for being a Trump supporter while following the rules.
What the video really shows is anti-mask protestors on a plane who don’t understand what it means to be a conservative.
The largest U.S. domestic airline is already a significant player in both the Houston and Chicago markets. They’re doubling down by extending service to a second airport in each city. Just as they’re taking American Airlines head on in Miami, they’ll be taking on United (Houston Intercontinental) and United and American (Chicago O’Hare) at those major carrier hubs.
Southwest put a model in a bikini on the side of one of their planes. Their original flight attendant uniform was hot pants. Their first self serve ticketing machines were called quickies. And they used to refer to peanuts as “love bits.” Yet they seem to keep kicking women off their planes over how they’re dressed.
The woman got a full refund even though she traveled on her original itinerary. The real hero of the story, though, is the flight’s captain.
Southwest Airlines has promised no furloughs through the end of the year, whether there’s additional government subsidies or not. However 2021 still looks like there will be fewer passengers, and the need for fewer employees to work fewer flights. They have a plan to avoid furloughs. It involves less pay for non-union workers. But to hit their goal they’ll need union concessions, too.
Southwest has another offer to make spending on a Southwest credit card get you to a Companion Pass faster, allowing you to bring someone on your travels (whether buying a ticket or redeeming points) for jus the cost of modest taxes.
Southwest has a rather impressive promotion: book a ticket by Thursday, September 24, 2020 and fly by November 15, 2020 and you will earn a companion pass valid from January 6, 2021 through February 28, 2021. That’s nearly two months of companion pass flying after buying and flying a single ticket.
Last year Chase launched a new premium Southwest Airlines business card. This was the card I wanted most in the fall and fortunately I was able to get approved for it. It puts earning a companion pass in reach and I’m loking forward to traveling with my wife and daughter again (my wife as my companion, daughter on points) — and the points from the card go a long way to a bunch of those tickets, especially when I then top off with Chase Ultimate Rewards points which’ll essentially become doubled in value.
In late May American Airlines CEO Doug Parker had a personal interaction with a Southwest Airlines flight attendant over race that went viral after he flew the airline and was carrying the book White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism which had been recommended by a board member months earlier, but that he’d put aside distracted by the coronavirus crisis.
He and his wife continue that conversation.
Chase has one of the most lucrative credit card offers we’ve seen for the premium Southwest Airlines business card. It’s a great card as I’ll show you in a moment but let’s first look at the initial bonus offer for the card, meant to make a really big splash and it does with up to 100,000 points as an initial bonus, which in 2020 is enough to earn a Companion Pass. When you earn the bonus you have enough points for a Companion Pass even under standard rules that return in 2021.
Southwest Airlines is offering a 20% discount on Rapid Rewards points redemptions when you book by September 17 (Thursday) for travel through October 31, 2020 with promo code SAVE20NOW. This makes your Rapid Rewards points go farther, worth more.
So if you even think you might want to travel in the next six weeks, Southwest is a great choice and booking with points is better (for those not chasing status or a companion pass) than booking with cash.
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 »
