Is it still wise to use Southwest to book a flight?
After Southwest Airlines abruptly canceled more than 15,000 flights during the busy holiday travel season, leaving customers scurrying for alternative plans, it is an unanswered issue that many travelers are still wondering about.
Some never even made it to their destinations, abandoning their plans completely as a result of the cancellations, which gave them few options for rescheduling.
Yes, it is safe to schedule a ticket with Southwest going ahead, notwithstanding whatever doubts some travelers may have.
The majority of the travel experts we spoke with agreed that Southwest remains the most practical choice for consumers in many cities, making a journey with the Dallas-based airline difficult to avoid.
In the majority of midsized U.S. cities, according to Brett Snyder, author of the blog Cranky Flier, "Southwest is by far the most significant airline."
Snyder continued by pointing out that Southwest has a significant presence in numerous major cities, including Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles.
Because every airline has experienced a meltdown, he said, "people would be crazy to write out an airline because they've had one."
The Airline Observer's editor-in-chief, Brian Sumers, agreed with Synder.
Burbank, California, is the airport closest to me, Sumers remarked.
"I'm going to take a Southwest flight from Burbank to Phoenix next month.
I suppose I could prevent that, you know.
From LAX, I could board American Airlines or a different carrier.
However, the Southwest is just so huge and vital to so many locations that it's difficult to bypass them, even though I don't think we definitely need to.
A few days before Christmas, every significant U.S. airline experienced delays as a winter storm wreaked havoc throughout most of the country.
However, those interruptions persisted for Southwest even after the storm.
For instance, the airline had substantial delays that continued through the end of the year and canceled about 62% of its flights on December 28.
It was widely believed that the carrier's greatest operational collapse, which the firm expects to cost up to $825 million, was caused by its obsolete technology and a bungled response to the winter storm.
To make matters worse, a recent meltdown caused by a system failure at the Federal Aviation Administration led to hundreds of aircraft delays on all American carriers.
Even though the airlines had no control over that situation, it brought aircraft delays back into the public conversation.
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, Southwest canceled nearly 50% of its flights at its peak because of the FAA outage on Wednesday.
Southwest had comparable cancellation rates to other carriers including United Airlines and American Airlines.
Customers of Southwest have voiced their displeasure with the numerous cancellations and delays that have hampered their travel plans, despite the fact that these recent weeks have not been particularly favorable for airlines.
Chelsea Lauridsen, a Phoenix-based software saleswoman, said she had been a devoted Southwest passenger for many years.
She claimed that during the past year, however, she has booked with other airlines instead, including American and Delta Air Lines, as a result of the numerous cancellations and delays she had with Southwest.
I am a passionate supporter and lover of the Southwest, so it is frustrating," Lauridsen added.
"They provide the best customer service, in my opinion.
Although I believe they value their clients, something must alter.
Lauridsen and her husband took a flight from Phoenix to Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands for a four-day vacation, but they were also caught in the heart of the airline's Christmas chaos.
Her Southwest flight to Grand Cayman went without a hitch, but her return to Phoenix was a complete mess.
She couldn't return to Phoenix from Grand Cayman on a Southwest flight in time for work.
She chose American to arrange her return ticket to Phoenix as a result.
Lauridsen and her husband turned to Southwest once more after missing their connection to an American aircraft in Charlotte, this time booking a route from Charlotte to Phoenix with a stopover in Chicago.
However, Lauridsen and her husband didn't arrive back at their Phoenix home until three in the morning because of a few-hour delay on her trip from Chicago to Phoenix.
Although there were still delays, Lauridsen stated, "I'm grateful we got it home because I had to be at work at 7 a.m. the next morning."
A graduate student at the Chicago College of Performing Arts named Matt Musachio found himself in a similar situation.
He was taking a holiday cruise with his family from Baltimore to Fort Lauderdale.
Southwest canceled the flight, so Musachio and his family decided to go via vehicle rental from Baltimore to Richmond, Virginia.
After that, they traveled for more than 13 hours to Florida, where they would board their cruise.
Musachio, referring to the region around the nation's capital as the "D.M.V. area," stated, "We couldn't get a single other flight in any other area of Florida or the D.M.V. even if we tried different airports" (the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia).
In order to avoid another operational failure of this magnitude, according to Henry Harteveldt, founder of the advice firm Atmosphere Research and an expert on the travel sector, Southwest will likely take a different approach moving forward.
In my opinion, the airline took away a very harsh lesson from its interruption in December, Harteveldt added.
Despite their negative encounters with Southwest, Lauridsen and Musachio stated they wouldn't hesitate to use the airline again in the future.
Musachio said, "We like that we can take two complimentary checked baggage.
"I frequently travel between Chicago and Baltimore, and I appreciate that they fly into smaller airports like Midway.
Compared to O'Hare, it's considerably simpler for me to get to.
Despite the fact that Southwest's holiday meltdown was unprecedented, other airlines have experienced operational failures in the previous 20 years.
They eventually made a full recovery and are now mostly forgotten by the public.
The United Airlines pilot slowdown in 2000 was one of the greatest operational interruptions, forcing the Chicago-based airline to postpone hundreds of flights as contract negotiations with its pilots and mechanics came to a months-long standstill.
Since it was a simple substitute at the time and the slowdown at United had continued for months, many travelers moved to American Airlines.
When an ice storm hit the eastern United States on Valentine's Day in 2007, JetBlue's business fell apart.
JetBlue didn't cancel any flights at the time, unlike the majority of other carriers.
As a result, its system was overloaded, which caused a large number of flights to be canceled.
The episode paved the way for David Neeleman, the airline's founder, to be fired and even sparked new federal regulations on protracted tarmac delays that are still in effect today.
Passengers finally went back to JetBlue after the incident had passed and JetBlue's reputation had recovered.
Similar recent incidents, including Spirit's meltdown in the summer of 2021 and American's debacle in November of the same year following bad weather in Dallas, also caused a wave of unfavorable news.
As airlines made changes to their procedures and everything resumed as usual, the intensity of the spotlight finally subsided.
The holiday season's operational blunder by Southwest may have been the worst in the company's history.
However, as January began, the airline was eventually able to restart its regular flight schedule.
It has never altered tourists' behavior, according to Synder.
"You know, you have individual meltdowns; maybe there's a knock in the near term, but it's never had a long impact,"
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