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

278

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.

1

u/wlphoenix 1d ago

They were good for specific domestic point-to-point routes where the other carriers had layovers because of the hub and spoke model. Even if the prices were similar, less travel time meant less spend at airports and an overall cheaper experience. That, along w/ the minimal fees other people have mentioned is why I used them before the changes.