Tag Archives for southwest.
Southwest Airlines flight WN478 from Sacramento to Los Angeles last Wednesday was in the midst of a three and a half hour delay. First a maintenance light forced the aircraft to return to the gate, and later the airline determined they needed to refuel the aircraft.
Flight attendants passed out water to passengers. A passenger “said something [like], ‘They should be passing out vodka because we’ve been waiting so long.'” And that led to an even further delay.
SpendSmart has released new data on the top brands expensed by business travelers based on $3.3 billion in transactions during 2018. Unsurprisingly the most money is spent on airlines, and the largest airlines are among the most frequent vendors expensed by business travelers.
But.. McDonald’s makes the list?
Asked about the Boeing 737 MAX during Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders meeting, Warren Buffett said that he “will never hesitate even for a second to fly on a 737 MAX” once it returns to service.
You may have an opportunity to fly the MAX again sometime this summer. Will you let it take you where you’re going?
Last Thursday Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly express confidence in the Boeing 737 MAX and said they had no plans to alter their order for new jets. Southwest has more 737 MAX aircraft on order than any other airline.
At least that’s how his remarks were broadly reported, when he actually hedged a bit more. Now we learn that members of their team have been off in Europe evaluating the Airbus A220.
Naturally if passengers think they’re flying on a 737 MAX, that’s going to raise concerns. And plenty of passengers apparently think that’s just what’s happening — even though of course it isn’t. Instead they’re being freaked out by the seat back safety card on Southwest Airlines.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
With Southwest Airlines now selling tickets to Hawaii they should be flying high. Not only is this a new desirable market, it should support credit card acquisitions because customers can now spend their points for more aspirational destinations.
But the carrier has been hobbled by mechanics slowing down the airline and the grounding of the 737 MAX.
Southwest Airlines does not charge customers change fees. However if you change your flight you take your original ticket cost and use it as a credit to buy a new flight. Southwest is apparently now waiving any increase in fare when you change flights.
And that lets you buy a cheaper ticket than the one you want to fly, and just change to your preferred trip — but that original booking must be in March.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is the second largest owner of Southwest Airlines with 47.8 million shares (an 8.7% stake) as of the end of 2018.
Now the airline is acknowledging the rumor that appears to be moving Southwest Airlines stock that Buffett may take over the airline.
The airline has been consistently down aircraft over the past couple of weeks and they haven’t been able to fly a portion of their schedule. The carrier has been down 60 planes a day because a group of mechanics are writing up everything they can find to write up.
The airline is almost certainly right that there’s a coordinated illegal job action on the part of mechanics, and it’s causing damage to the airline. However the carrier has maintained a strong culture of working with its employees. It didn’t engage in layoffs during economic downturns. It has managed to retain a culture where employees generally like their jobs. Southwest Airlines isn’t the same place it was under Herb Kelleher but these sorts of confrontations chip away at what’s left of the culture little by little.
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 »
