Southwest Airlines, first time disappoint!

[John6185]

It seems like our airlines, trains, buses, etc are the worst and other countries have us beat on schedules, cleanliness and overall comfort. I don't know how we allowed our country to get in such bad condition and I'm not going to mention highways and roads that are filled with potholes.
We've been too charitable with our tax dollars giving to other countries and neglecting our people and country for decades and we are looking shopworn.
I've flown transatlantic in a broken seat that leaned and it wasn't fun!

 

[swampratt]

Health meds makes me think maybe he was not capable of driving there.
And sometimes you think flying should be easy.

Yea I like driving and often think while i am driving how fast could I get there if the speed limit was 200+ MPH and then I start doing math in my head

 

[elwoodtrix]

I was surprised my flights yesterday with Southwest airlines weren't delayed. They were actually on time if not early! Okc to Denver, then Denver to Oakland.

 

[Snattlerake]

After driving to Lake Havasu and back via Phoenix, I'm done driving for another couple of years.
I loved Hawaiian Airlines, Mahalo!

 

[swampratt]

Lake Havasu

That is just a 15 hour drive

 

[turkeyrun]

We used to fly 1 - 3 times per year. Last plane trip was 2000. After 9-11, no desire to put up with TSA and other BS.
Gave up on SW in early '90s. You want a terrible flight, get on Jet Blue. At least they give you some Blue Star Ointment when boarding.
Delta does pretty good, when the planes don't fall out of the sky.

 

[Snattlerake]

That is just a 15 hour drive

From Phoenix to LH it is two lanes and 60 to 50 MPH with long stretches of 45 MPH.

 

[hipshot]

You apparently don't fly much. You described a typical experience on all carriers.

As mouthpiece said, there's a reason people who fly for free drive.

I have flown quite a bit in my life and the year before I moved to Houston I flew back and forth a lot, also flew to vegas 45-50 times over the last 25 yrs, along with a few other trips to New Orleans and this is the first issue ever, maybe I was just lucky ??

 

[Rez Exelon]

I have flown quite a bit in my life and the year before I moved to Houston I flew back and forth a lot, also flew to vegas 45-50 times over the last 25 yrs, along with a few other trips to New Orleans and this is the first issue ever, maybe I was just lucky ??

Maybe.... your experience as described is pretty common amongst all carriers. I see that and similar quite often in my line of work.

 

[CoronaBorealis]

NFSW! (Never Fly Southwest). They are the absolute worst. Sad really, they used to be inexpensive, on time and reliable. They’re none of that today.

Part of the reason for this is that they have expanded into airports they never used to fly into. Southwest pretty much has Midway in Chicago, Hobby in Houston, and Love in Dallas all to themselves. When you practically have the airport to yourself, it’s easy to keep an operation running smooth. In recent years though, Southwest expanded into the largest airports in the country — Atlanta, LaGuardia, LAX, O’Hare, SFO. Those airports are going to come with their own inherent problems.

I fly SW all the time, they have treated me better than any airline. The gate delay in Dallas was not Southwest's fault, likely the assigned gate still had an aircraft in it, and the airport would not direct you to another gate.
You apparently don't fly much. You described a typical experience on all carriers.

You’re right that the gate was probably still being used, but the airport doesn’t control gate assignments, the airline does. The airlines lease the gates from the airport and control which flight goes to which gate.

As mouthpiece said, there's a reason people who fly for free drive.

Just remember when you hear people gripe about private planes, there’s a reason they exist. I am a pilot for my company and we can get a passenger where they need to go in typically an hour or two, when it would take them 5-6 to get to the same place via airline.