Tag Archives for southwest airlines.
Last month Southwest kicked an autistic three year old off a flight for not wearing a mask. And then a week later JetBlue kicked a two year old off. Now Southwest has joined the two year old club, kicking a woman and her two year old son off a Fort Myers – Chicago flight on Saturday. The boy was “snacking prior to takeoff and wasn’t wearing his mask.”
I’ve been overall a pessimist about business travel, but Southwest’s CEO takes it too far, arguing that he “wouldn’t be surprised to see business travel languish for a decade before it gets back to 2019 levels.”
Sure, he’s signaling that with their relatively strong balance sheet and largely domestic travel exposure they’re better-positioned than rivals to withstand a long travel recession. But we’re already starting to see cracks in the ‘indefinite work from home’ model.
The popular narrative seems to be that United, Delta, and American ‘eliminating change fees’ hurts Southwest Airlines. Southwest hasn’t had change fees, and this takes away one of Southwest’s advantages.
Other airlines still have their advantages over Southwest, from premium cabins to lounges, but those are the same as before. What’s different in the new environment is a growing cost advantage for Southwest, and most people misunderstand what ‘no change fees’ on United, Delta, and American means anyway.
What makes Miami surprising is that it’s the type of market the ‘old Southwest’ would never have entered. They already have a huge operation in Fort Lauderdale, and a smaller one at West Palm Beach and while they aren’t exactly the same markets there’s huge overlap. Southwest always favored the less expensive airports, and avoided congested business hubs.
Miami is one of the more expensive airports to operate from in the U.S. This was, if not an explicit policy of pre-merger American Airlines to drive up airport costs, something that their management sat by and was ok with happening – because it chased all the low cost carriers to Fort Lauderdale. That’s changing.
Southwest Airlines – along with other carriers – has noticed an increase in passengers treating flights as ‘BYO’ and drinking their own mini bottles they bring through security while on board.
Airlines have stopped serving alcohol in coach (and in some cases first class) both as a cost saving measure and to limit interaction between passengers and flight attendants. So passengers have taken the matter into their own hands.
According to an internal memo the airline is onto the tricks customers are using to pretend to comply with the mask requirement and they’ve got procedures for that. Two year olds will now have to wear masks. And perhaps most significantly, there’s no longer a medical or disability exception to the mask requirement – anyone who cannot wear a mask (or remove their mask themselves) is simply not permitted to fly.
With United warning of possibly furloughing up to 40% of employees and doing something similar it’s worth underscoring just how successful it appears Southwest Airlines to be as it works to reach a goal of not furloughing anyone at all.
Southwest Airlines has made the most generous offer to its employees to take an ‘early out’ or an extended leave.
Unions take political positions their members disagree with all the time. And members should feel free to communicate with their union leadership over those disagreements. It’s fair to proscribe the time, place and manner for those disagreements – but shocking for a union President to secure for the firing of a union member over an internal union matter.
Southwest is offering a 30% bonus on points that post to your account between August 1, 2020 and October 31, 2020 under the ‘credit card’ category. You’ll earn this bonus if you have at least 6000 credit card points post during the promotion period, and you can earn up to 25,000 bonus points. These points count towards a Companion Pass, which itself has reduced requirements to earn this year already.
Several routes where $39 one-ways are available, including Baltimore – Charlotte, Charleston, Detroit, Hartford; Chicago Midway – Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati; Phoenix – Las Vegas, Albuquerque, San Diego; Houston Hobby – New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Dallas Love Field, San Antonio; Detroit Chicago Midway, Nashville, St. Louis.
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 »
