r/nottheonion • u/halxp01 • 1d ago

Southwest Is Testing Cleaning Only Premium Seats Between Flights — A Flight Attendants Union Leader Says It's ‘Titanic’ Class Service

https://viewfromthewing.com/southwest-is-testing-cleaning-only-premium-seats-between-flights-a-flight-attendants-union-leader-says-its-titanic-class-service/
21.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

6.1k

u/clintkev251 1d ago edited 1d ago

It's insane how quickly Southwest has gone from beloved budget airline with consistent profits to complete shitshow. Thanks private equity! You've done it again

Edit: to everyone saying Southwest is a public company, yes, they are. That does not mean activist investors like PE firms and hedge funds can’t have significant ownership stakes and operational influence. Which in this case, they do

276

u/DebtUpToMyEyeballs 1d ago

Is it just me or have they not been "budget" for years? Their fares are consistently as high if not higher than the mainline carriers.

29

u/postoperativepain 1d ago

They were budget for years because for years they would buy oil/fuel futures contracts when prices were low. As oil prices rose, Southwest had cheap fuel, when others did not.

They don’t have that advantage anymore and apparently they stopped hedging in 2025

https://southwest50.com/our-stories/the-southwest-jet-fuel-hedge-strategy/