I don't understand this. I just flew from West to East Coast, then back, on another airline. Left on time from origin and transfer airport both ways, and arrived early on all flights. The "bomb cyclone" has been gone days, and SW passengers are still stuck, sleeping on floors, or have their bags hundreds of miles away.
As others have pointed out, they don't fly hub-and-spoke.
So when they get planes stranded somewhere, it screws up the entire system and all the planes and all the crew end up at the wrong airports, and it's extremely difficult to get everything back to where it's supposed to be.
They almost have to literally shut down the airline and start it up again, which is what you are seeing now.
In my 20 or so years of travel, Southwest has never been a good airline. But what more boggles my mind is that they've never been the cheapest, either(ignoring spirit and the like). Usually American or United was.
Was that just where I lived (primarily in the east), or am I missing something?
My experience with SW has always been that they're better than everyone else at their pricepoint, and below their pricepoint the savings aren't worth the hassle. They've gotten worse over the years, but they're still consistently the roomiest flights I've been on, their employees have always been friendly and I never really dealt with any major delays with them.
My experiences with Delta were that they were a 50/50 between a nice experience or a "should have just bought a Jet Blue / Spirit ticket" experience. My experiences with United were that anything that wasn't a major route, you were likely going to fly in a tubo-prop coffin and come out with so many aches and pains any money you saved will be spent on advil and massages. They're also the only airline that's managed to lose my luggage twice.
Everyone's experiences will depend greatly on the routes they're flying and their home airport(s). If you're flying on a regional for the legacy airlines, you will be on a smaller plane (though turbo-props are pretty rare these days). The worst is the CRJ200, aka "The Devil's Chariot."
Since Southwest only flies 737s, you'll get a roomier ride than a regional.
There’s no way Southwest hasn’t been the cheapest. I just cannot see that being possible given that they don’t nickel and dime you for everything.
United is by far the worst airline imaginable. I actively will not fly with them after being stuck on an airplane with them for 19 hours straight due to their fuckup, only to have to spend a night in New Jersey at a terrible hotel because we then missed our connecting flight (obviously). In the end, all they offered was a measly certificate that required you to use it at United (and was the equivalent of a mere fraction of the total flight cost).
I haven't flown in 3 or 4 years, if that matters. Most of my flights were to California or DC, so perhaps that matters too.
I know what you mean about fees. I just booked American for my wife last week, and it's horrid now. No free bags anymore, and you have to pay to even pick your economy seats. It was way more infuriating than the last time I'd booked.
I live on the west cost. When I compare United and Southwest, United is cheaper on face value but more expensive with bags. They hide some of total cost in fees.
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Southwest kept hitting the jackpot with fuel price hedging and futures trading. People used to say that they were a hedge fund with an airline attached. They were far and away the cheapest. Now, not so much, unless you regularly check multiple bags.
