this jerkoff Southwest CEO

[hlee]

it's 10hrs and thats what I would have done but the cost of a one way rental plus he REALLY REALLY doesnt want to do that drive for the 5th time and alone.... Thinking about it I may call SW and see if they would pay for the rental and switch the flight for me to come back if we drove down. that would make sense.

If a week’s wages doesn’t offset the cost of a 1 way rental, I’d say ‘fuck it’ too…

 

[_Windrider_]

This is what we heard. And yes, my family is hardcore affected by this fucking nightmare. We’re currently on our way from southwest FL to Denver in a rented Kia suv.

I really don’t have a giant problem if their system actually did just take a shit at the worst possible time. As long as they make it right, which they probably won’t…

I honestly believe they will. It’ll take some time to sort it out but I think they will make it right. Probably not right enough for some though. Can’t please everyone.

 

[NoDopes]

I wonder if thier point to point approach to flights is left over from the wright amendment which didn't allow direct flights except neighboring states from love field until 2014.
Still, that's 8 years to upgrade the computers.

Wright Amendment - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

This is what we heard. And yes, my family is hardcore affected by this fucking nightmare. We’re currently on our way from southwest FL to Denver in a rented Kia suv.

I really don’t have a giant problem if their system actually did just take a shit at the worst possible time. As long as they make it right, which they probably won’t…

Well, you could be in the back of a U-Haul with a polka band.

 

[2aBaC̶a̶]

I honestly believe they will. It’ll take some time to sort it out but I think they will make it right. Probably not right enough for some though. Can’t please everyone.

So roll the dice on the 1st class Delta seat for $1600 and hope they reimburse?

 

[_Windrider_]

So roll the dice on the 1st class Delta seat for $1600 and hope they reimburse?

Well I didn’t say that. Probably reimburse equivalent of the sw ticket

 

[The D]

I honestly believe they will. It’ll take some time to sort it out but I think they will make it right. Probably not right enough for some though. Can’t please everyone.

There’s an email address to send receipts to already so there’s something. The biggest bitch is going to get the oceans of suitcases where they need to go.

 

[The D]

Well, you could be in the back of a U-Haul with a polka band.

I thought of this scenario many times already and thank any God that will listen that it isn’t this bad

 

[Bender]

i dont watch the news other than when the girl turns on the local weather. two times i seen this fucking schmuck piss and moan about "this is unacceptable".

really? and how exactly does this fucking zero think it got that way? these fuckheads seem to think that being CEO means taking the huge salary and sitting on tv refusing to take any responsibility for the clusterfuck that is; as a direct result of his imcompetence. this guy is a complete fucking dud.....just like 90% of his fellow ceo's

Literally what?

 

[jakelly]

This is what we heard. And yes, my family is hardcore affected by this fucking nightmare. We’re currently on our way from southwest FL to Denver in a rented Kia suv.

I really don’t have a giant problem if their system actually did just take a shit at the worst possible time. As long as they make it right, which they probably won’t…

Well, I truly hope you get there. You’re in the Southwest of cars…

 

[rjacobs]

The current CEO owns this shit sandwich, however its more the fault of the prior CEO who for 10+ years only gave a fuck about ROI, ROI, ROI... If it didnt give him ROI to own in the next little while to pump stock values, it didnt happen. So he put off IT upgrades because there damn near isnt any ROI or its "well thats a billion dollars to do and ROI is 20+ years" "yea fuck that, were not doing it"...

And this is what happens...

The current CEO has been in since I think its Feb 1st of this year(2022) and he had already committed 4 billion dollars to a huge IT rebuild, but that shit takes a long time in this massively regulated business.

 

[The D]

Well, I truly hope you get there. You’re in the Southwest of cars…

Fucking tell me about it…

At least it doesn’t have many miles on it. Until I get finished with it.

We’ll be back in Denver on Friday afternoon unless some other dumb shit happens.

I wonder if this is a little karma for me being a tiny bit glad my wife and her dad had a yuge argument and I won’t have to deal with him for a while?

 

[anon]

It has been sad watching Southwest come to this. I've ridden on them quite a bit at different times over the last 33 years or so.

I know people that used to run into Herb riding around the system the back in the 90's.

I've ridden enough lately to be A-Lister and have seen stations with chronic understaffing and run of the mill big airline drone employees. I've waited for nearly 30 minutes for a gate at Hobby, with lots of empty gates. I've waited at the gate for 30 minutes for someone to come drive the jet bridge. I've been told at a smaller station that the bags will come out when they come out because we only have one person doing that today.

I have still had the occasional good days when everyone had the old school WN motivation.

I used to like watching the business talks Herb would give. Some people endeavor to build and run a company that creates value for both the customers and shareholders.

Hope it gets better for y'all.

 

[BoilerUP]

Arguably this entire shitshow kicked off last week with the winter storm hitting Denver, where windchills were -40.

Plus, leadership like this...

 

[OREGUN]

That’s some real Luv right there.

 

[37L1]

Arguably this entire shitshow kicked off last week with the winter storm hitting Denver, where windchills were -40.

Plus, leadership like this...

View attachment 8032813

Cliff Notes:

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

 

[eflyguy]

Long-term employee's summary:

Larry Lonero

What happened to Southwest Airlines?

I’ve been a pilot for Southwest Airlines for over 35 years. I’ve given my heart and soul to Southwest Airlines during those years. And quite honestly Southwest Airlines has given its heart and soul to me and my family.

Many of you have asked what caused this epic meltdown. Unfortunately, the frontline employees have been watching this meltdown coming like a slow motion train wreck for sometime. And we’ve been begging our leadership to make much needed changes in order to avoid it. What happened yesterday started two decades ago.

Herb Kelleher was the brilliant CEO of SWA until 2004. He was a very operationally oriented leader. Herb spent lots of time on the front line. He always had his pulse on the day to day operation and the people who ran it. That philosophy flowed down through the ranks of leadership to the front line managers. We were a tight operation from top to bottom. We had tools, leadership and employee buy in. Everything that was needed to run a first class operation. When Herb retired in 2004 Gary Kelly became the new CEO.

Gary was an accountant by education and his style leading Southwest Airlines became more focused on finances and less on operations. He did not spend much time on the front lines. He didn’t engage front line employees much. When the CEO doesn’t get out in the trenches the neither do the lower levels of leadership.

Gary named another accountant to be Chief Operating Officer (the person responsible for day to day operations). The new COO had little or no operational background. This trickled down through the lower levels of leadership, as well.
They all disengaged the operation, disengaged the employees and focused more on Return on Investment, stock buybacks and Wall Street. This approach worked for Gary’s first 8 years because we were still riding the strong wave that Herb had built.

But as time went on the operation began to deteriorate. There was little investment in upgrading technology (after all, how do you measure the return on investing in infrastructure?) or the tools we needed to operate efficiently and consistently. As the frontline employees began to see the deterioration in our operation we began to warn our leadership. We educated them, we informed them and we made suggestions to them. But to no avail. The focus was on finances not operations. As we saw more and more deterioration in our operation our asks turned to pleas. Our pleas turned to dire warnings. But they went unheeded. After all, the stock price was up so what could be wrong?

We were a motivated, willing and proud employee group wanting to serve our customers and uphold the tradition of our beloved airline, the airline we built and the airline that the traveling public grew to cheer for and luv. But we were watching in frustration and disbelief as our once amazing airline was becoming a house of cards.

A half dozen small scale meltdowns occurred during the mid to late 2010’s. With each mini meltdown Leadership continued to ignore the pleas and warnings of the employees in the trenches. We were still operating with 1990’s technology. We didn’t have the tools we needed on the line to operate the sophisticated and large airline we had become. We could see that the wheels were about ready to fall off the bus. But no one in leadership would heed our pleas.

When COVID happened SWA scaled back considerably (as did all of the airlines) for about two years. This helped conceal the serious problems in technology, infrastructure and staffing that were occurring and being ignored. But as we ramped back up the lack of attention to the operation was waiting to show its ugly head.

Gary Kelly retired as CEO in early 2022. Bob Jordan was named CEO. He was a more operationally oriented leader. He replaced our Chief Operating Officer with a very smart man and they announced their priority would be to upgrade our airline’s technology and provide the frontline employees the operational tools we needed to care for our customers and employees. Finally, someone acknowledged the elephant in the room.

But two decades of neglect takes several years to overcome. And, unfortunately to our horror, our house of cards came tumbling down this week as a routine winter storm broke our 1990’s operating system.

The frontline employees were ready and on station. We were properly staffed. We were at the airports. Hell, we were ON the airplanes. But our antiquated software systems failed coupled with a decades old system of having to manage 20,000 frontline employees by phone calls. No automation had been developed to run this sophisticated machine.

We had a routine winter storm across the Midwest last Thursday. A larger than normal number flights were cancelled as a result. But what should have been one minor inconvenient day of travel turned into this nightmare. After all, American, United, Delta and the other airlines operated with only minor flight disruptions.

The two decades of neglect by SWA leadership caused the airline to lose track of all its crews. ALL of us. We were there. With our customers. At the jet. Ready to go. But there was no way to assign us. To confirm us. To release us to fly the flight. And we watched as our customers got stranded without their luggage missing their Christmas holiday.

I believe that our new CEO Bob Jordan inherited a MESS. This meltdown was not his failure but the failure of those before him. I believe he has the right priorities. But it will take time to right this ship. A few years at a minimum. Old leaders need to be replaced. Operationally oriented managers need to be brought in. I hope and pray Bob can execute on his promises to fix our once proud airline. Time will tell.

It’s been a punch in the gut for us frontline employees. We care for the traveling public. We have spent our entire careers serving you. Safely. Efficiently. With luv and pride. We are horrified. We are sorry. We are sorry for the chaos, inconvenience and frustration our airline caused you. We are angry. We are embarrassed. We are sad. Like you, the traveling public, we have been let down by our own leaders.

Herb once said the the biggest threat to Southwest Airlines will come from within. Not from other airlines. What a visionary he was. I miss Herb now more than ever.

 

[hlee]

Cliff Notes:

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Or, we understand that we’ve hired a bunch of sad-sack grifters and need an excuse to trim the dead wood…

 

[NoDopes]

Or, we understand that we’ve hired a bunch of sad-sack grifters and need an excuse to trim the dead wood…

They need to up their DEI hiring.. that will fix it.

 

[nagantguy]

‘It was absolutely shocking’: BNA passenger records airport police officer threatening to arrest customers

A video has gone viral on social media after a family documented their encounter with a Nashville International Airport police officer Sunday night, threatening to arrest a group of passengers wait…

www.wkrn.com

Not only did southwest fuck everyone every which way. Then they ORDERED the Nashville popo to threaten arrest rape and death on anyone who complained or had the nerve to ask what was going on.

So now even ticket clerks can Oder the badge hero’s to shit on their oath and make threats !

 

[Redmanss]

‘It was absolutely shocking’: BNA passenger records airport police officer threatening to arrest customers

A video has gone viral on social media after a family documented their encounter with a Nashville International Airport police officer Sunday night, threatening to arrest a group of passengers wait…

www.wkrn.com

Not only did southwest fuck everyone every which way. Then they ORDERED the Nashville popo to threaten arrest rape and death on anyone who complained or had the nerve to ask what was going on.

So now even ticket clerks can Oder the badge hero’s to shit on their oath and make threats !

Wow, you really don't fuck around when it comes to drama-queening, do you?

Something tells me the manager of every establishment you frequent knows exactly who you are.

 

[TxLabRat]

The problem with SWA has been their business model from the gitgo. Even back when they only flew to 3 cities in Texas, their model has always been "our planes don't make money on the ground". Hence the 737s with 20 minute turnarounds at the gate. Now that they're big with all the interconnecting flights, a single delay cascades through their system at a much faster rate. Once one plane is late by just a few minutes, either passengers are going to miss their connection or the next plane is going to be late as well.
Add to that their model of short hops with multiple connections and a simple rain delay causes a ripple effect like no other.
Then at the end of a bad day, a lot of planes can be out of position for the next day due to the delays and flight crews hitting time limits. So the crap sandwich continues into the next day.
When I traveled extensively for business out of Texas, I learned to take SWA only before noon and for shorter flights.

 

[BJames]

The biggest difference I see, is the lack of recovery. Pretty much all the other carriers bounced back in a few days, SW is still trying to untangle that mess. That system will take years to implement and fix. For the employee’s sake (have some friends over there), I hope they can find a way.

A quality operation will do what it takes to right the ship. Fly empty birds, add extra sections to the schedule, etc… to reposition equipment, crews, bags, whatever pax are there.

 

[hkmp5s]

good video that helps explain most everything

 

[eflyguy]

good video that helps explain most everything

You can count on Juan to provide a level-headed assessment.

 

[nagantguy]

Wow, you really don't fuck around when it comes to drama-queening, do you?

Something tells me the manager of every establishment you frequent knows exactly who you are.

Right if my flight was delayed but I had no idea for how long and said flight didn’t get canceled to 4am and around 9pm I had the audacity and gall to ask the ticket clears for information then I guess I’d be an asshole and the local LEO should threaten me with false arrest. Sounds perfectly reasonable!

 

[hlee]

By the time a camera starts rolling, the fuckery has been going on for a while. Believe 1/2 of what you hear and even less of what you see.

 

[Lightning8]

CEOs that know nothing about the core business they run - CEOs from accounting/finance background. Been going on for years and MANY businesses are on the edge of failure as their leaders do not understand or care to understand their core business. Car companies, airlines, paper companies, chemical companies - you name it.

 

[TheHorta]

That’s what happens when you fly “The Official Airline of Poor People Everywhere.”

Fly a real airline that has real First Class, or go Charter.

Southwest is for Gimps. They’re racing Spirit the be King of the Poors.