My heart goes out to anyone traveling on SWA. I went thru this in early 2000 when united lost it for a day. But to me this seems like a hack. What do others think? I feel this way because yesterday they were downed due to 3rd party weather reporting, but no one else was. And you can’t tell me other airlines wouldn’t share that information in an emergency. Today it’s a computer outage, and I heard pilots in an interview. Very fishy
1 Like
That’s interesting. For the time in all the years we have flown them, they lost my son’s bag on Sunday. They had no idea where it was but they did find it and I got a voucher. My daughter’s flight was missing a flight attendant and was delayed as they scrambled to find one. These things are probably not related but maybe they are just having some serious issues internally lately.
1 Like
Interesting.
2 Likes
This has happened to me twice with SWA. Whole days of outages for “unknown” reasons. The worst part is that SWA does nothing to help you get on another flight. They’ll refund you, but that’s it. Getting a last minute plane ticket can go from $300 to $1200. I’ve, literally, been so upset that I left the airport parking lot & drove the entire day / night to my destination.
5 Likes
If it’s just internal problems that’s sad because they charge more than other airlines these days…
1 Like
That sounds frustrating. I have lost flights due to snow and other weather(which I totally understand), but I do sometimes book a back up car as a way out if I know we must get home for work.
1 Like
I am so glad I am not the only one who has had horrible issues with Southwest. After two horrid experiences - these created by them (last minute decision to move equipment around and then breaking a screw while doing optional maintenance (sorry, if they can fly from Akron to LGA with whatever the issue was, they can fly from LGA to Nashville) thing) - I refuse to fly them. But their devoted masses constantly defend them.
1 Like
Even their devoted masses are growing weary of their 
lately. They’re no longer saving me much money (from my market at least). So I’ve started looking at other options here and there. I still usually wind up with them to this point, but the near absence of anything nonstop to and from any of the airports in my region is coming to be a non-starter.
3 Likes
Yeah. They started getting on my list when they essentially shut JetBlue out from gates in BNA for non-stop flights between JFK and BNA. Figured that meant they would be doing non-stops from LGA (ugh) or EWR (slightly less ugh), but NOPE! Pretty much all connecting flights. And now EWR isn’t even an option. I can get to BNA on JetBlue - if I go through Boston or Ft Lauderdale. Because Southwest (which owns most of the gates American doesn’t in BNA) put some weird restrictions on them when leasing them preventing non-stops between certain areas. So crazy.
Weirdly there are very few non-stops leaving from NYC to most of the places I go - American to MIA, United from EWR to MCO, maybe hub to hub otherwise, but then it’s all connecting flights. You’d think NYC of all places would have a good number of non-stops. But while I keep seeing people say that airlines are adding flights, my current experience is they are removing them - especially of the non-stop variety. 
Would it make sense for you to fly out of ISP on Long Island? Sometimes we’ll go into LGA or JFK so I know the feeling of driving an hour to fly for two, but it may be worth it to avoid a layover
1 Like
I don’t drive and Long Island is even further. I avoid Long Island like the plague. Plus it only has one nonstop each way at inconvenient times.
1 Like
Yea, without driving it’s impossible to get to ISP. Driving is practically necessary on LI. The public transport is horrible.
1 Like
This is true of all the low cost carriers - SW, Frontier, Spirit. Airlines form what’s called “interline agreements” with other airlines to rebook passengers when flights are cancelled, oversold, etc. The low cost carriers don’t do this, bc, well, cost. It’s the risk you take to save $.
2 Likes
But I don’t really ever save much money using these airlines. I choose flights based on convenience and direct first and foremost and then price or preferred airline. SWA is now often the most expensive choice. Frontier or Spirit do admittedly save money IF you don’t buy extra legroom and baggage but I cannot stand the cramped seats on those airlines so I pay for the upgrades and then they are often the same price or maybe just a little less. Depending on when you buy your flights too sometimes SWA is more expensive than American, etc.
I do suppose since you get two free bags with SWA maybe that makes it cheaper than American, Delta, etc. since you have to purchase bags with them.
Mostly having flown a lot of SWA in my life since I was five and my parents were divorced living in different cities and because I live in the southwest I can definitely say their prices got higher and their service worse when they expanded.
This is true… I fly Southwest a lot mostly bc of the baggage policy and the fact that they are generally the best at accommodating my son and his wheelchair. They thankfully usually come in cheaper than the other airlines that serve Philly or Trenton. That said, I’m flying frontier on my solo trip because of SW being very high right now and not needing the baggage allowance on my own.
But I know that isn’t true for everyone. I was specifically speaking to the point about them not helping you rebook. A lot of people don’t know about the interline agreement thing and just assume all airlines will do/should do this.
2 Likes
Yup, all the big airlines will do this…I once had a cancelled flight in John Wayne that went thru DFW where there were tornados and they even got me a taxi and paid for it to LAX to get me home on a direct flight to Austin that same day.
Agree with current state of SW. Used to be my go-to out of Milwaukee, but they’re neither as cheap nor convenient as they used to be. Much better value and options these days driving an extra 20 min to Chicago O’hare and using AA or UA from there and adapting to carry-on only.