There is not much overlap in the group of passengers who have CLEAR and those who fly out of Orlando on a Sunday. While I often don’t save much time with CLEAR, it was wonderful to have the other day.
Southwest Airlines may have made a big mistake firing its skycaps and outsourcing curbside check-in. They’re saving money on labor, but they’re probably losing quite a bit of bag fee revenue, at least if my experiences are any indication.
Curbside check-in staff are now low wage. They work for tips. And they seem to have a lot of leeway in the system over how they classify a bag (charged or not, overweight or not). It’s cheaper to tip curbside than to pay for a checked bag inside.
Meanwhile, Southwest’s wifi was industry worst. Free wifi on my last couple of flights has been even worse than usual, with more people trying to use the system. There have been periods where I could not use it at all. Still, the efforts at wifi Southwest have been made are appreciated because I expected the service to be even worse.
Meanwhile I’d note that Southwest seats are uncomfortable, in much the way I find United’s coach seats uncomfortable. I miss the old tan seats.
If there’s one positive about Southwest’s changes coming to seating it’s that we’ll stop seeing the Noah’s Ark and wheelchair brigade of perfectly healthy passengers boarding early to capture all the best seats.
It used to make sense to play games to avoid having a passenger seated next to you. That ends in January, but now it makes snese to play games to avoid bag fees. It’s a whole different Southwest Airlinex experience.
What am I missing? How does tipping a skycap get you free checked bags on SW?
Are you saying that if you tip them well enough that they have the ability to mark the passenger as “paid” even though they didn’t? I have to assume there’s a reconciliation report at the end of the day that will catch the discrepancy.
Also, isn’t it cheaper to buy checked bags in advance? If so, then waiting until the day of and taking the chance that you’ll get the one skycap that follows the rules and doesn’t do this for you will end up costing you more in the long run.
But again, maybe I don’t understand correctly….
Ah, great Seinfeld bit, S4E12, “the Airport,” where Elaine argues about the size of the tip while checking her luggage… “JFK… Honolulu!”
“Curbside check-in staff are now low wage. They work for tips.” Is it actually a job or you can simply volunteer, hoping to make some extra cash?
those aren’t seats
they are metal benches coated in fake vinyl with a level of support that would never pass an osha audit for workplace injury risk, and yet they are legal to sell for commercial “transportation”
the aa321 torture tubes are the same
how can anyone endure transcon or hawaii sitting on bleachers?
A loophole is an unintended, yet fully legal, way to do something that would otherwise be illegal or restricted.
This is outright FRAUD against the airline (by misclassification), and those who bribe the employees are accessory to it.
What a terrible unethical article.
“Still, the efforts at wifi Southwest have been made are appreciated because I expected the service to be even worse.”
Huh?
Proofread like ever?