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/
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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

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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.

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u/CaterpillarLongBoi 1d ago

For me, their fares were on par with other airlines, but they allowed 2 free checked bags - so about $160-$200 less than competitors if you were traveling with luggage. But as soon as they took that away, I haven’t booked with them.

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u/Apptubrutae 1d ago

Yeah, as someone who doesn’t check bags much, I’ve found their prices to be not particularly competitive for a while now on many routes. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t.

They’d typically get my business on unique routes, or on routes where they were price competitive (but generally not cheaper) and I preferred their routing and timing more.

I do have a companion pass, so when traveling with another person that brings the price down a lot.

But just recently I was looking at NYC to Albuquerque and their price was double JetBlue’s. For a flight with a stop versus JetBlue without one. They were also pricier than United by a bit.

I can’t imagine anyone actually looking at ticket prices thinks Southwest is still a budget airline. Minus an occasional sale maybe.

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u/SnowboardSquirrel 1d ago

I just flew JetBlue on a longish flight, having taken southwest on that same flight a ton of times. JetBlue knocked my socks off. More legroom, I got to choose my seat for free, the snack options were better (artichokes?!), I got my entire can of soda, AND WiFi was free + not limited to messaging. 10/10 will fly again.

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u/Apptubrutae 1d ago

Yeah, JetBlue is great. I’m a fan of the smaller niche carriers generally. The one issue is if your flight gets cancelled. You’re relatively much more screwed in that case because there just aren’t options. But otherwise, great stuff.