Southwest looking to contain costs - article

[Sluggo_63]

Last in on time performance, last in baggage claims, yet lowest in customer complaints, and load factors North of 85%. How does that even begin to happen if not for the employees?

Dumb customers?

Kidding (sort of)... maybe not so much 'dumb' as loyal and uninformed. You have passengers who will go to southwest.com, book their tickets without even doing a value comparison, and assume they got the best deal. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But they'll never know, nor will they care.

 

[humveedriver]

Dumb customers?

Kidding (sort of)... maybe not so much 'dumb' as loyal and uninformed. You have passengers who will go to southwest.com, book their tickets without even doing a value comparison, and assume they got the best deal. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But they'll never know, nor will they care.

I have witnessed this. But can only speak to the DAL customers. I almost always find a better deal on USa or AA out of DFW. That will hopefully change in Oct. Not sure how SWA stacks up on the east coast or west coast.

 

[scoreboardII]

Dumb customers?

Kidding (sort of)... maybe not so much 'dumb' as loyal and uninformed. You have passengers who will go to southwest.com, book their tickets without even doing a value comparison, and assume they got the best deal. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But they'll never know, nor will they care.

Because....... of the employee's.

You can be three hours late, bad weather, no drinks, but if the employees treat you nice, you'll be back.

Have a perfectly on time flight, and get some lip from an employee, you'll never look on their website again.

 

[Dan Roman]

Because....... of the employee's.

You can be three hours late, bad weather, no drinks, but if the employees treat you nice, you'll be back.

Have a perfectly on time flight, and get some lip from an employee, you'll never look on their website again.

This is spot on......employees can even turn a delayed flight into an opportunity to make a positive impression. A flight can be delayed and good communication from the cockpit along with good cabin service will make a better impression than an on time flight and mediocre service.

 

[waveflyer]

What I find ironic is the timing of going after the pilot contract. They didn't press in '09 when they had a much better case in a worldwide economic meltdown, and other legacies hadn't upped the ante yet.

Now we have a worldwide pilot shortage brewing and they think they can get cuts now. Makes me wonder if they're dumb enough to think other groups will accept less if they're convincing enough that they're going after cuts for the pilots?
I hope there's a bigger master plan, bc it all seems like dumb strategy from here.

 

[fr8doggie]

I hope there's a bigger master plan, bc it all seems like dumb strategy from here.

After another year of the concessionary beat down you will be happy to accept a 'flattish' contract and call it a win. It's standard negotiations for the airline industry.

What are you going to do? Strike????

Regards,
Fr8doggie

 

[HowardBorden]

What are you going to do? Strike????

Strikes unfortunately a thing of the past. No major player will be allowed to strike ever again. Southwest flies the majority of domestic passengers in the US and if SWA was ever released by the NMB to the 30 day cooling off period, the President (any President) would step in with a Presidential Emergency Board and block the strike before it began. With all the consolidation as of late, all pilots at any of the large airlines are in a similar situation.

 

[Skyboy722]

Last in on time performance, last in baggage claims, yet lowest in customer complaints, and load factors North of 85%. How does that even begin to happen if not for the employees?

While I agree with you here, that employees make a big, big difference, let's not forget that customer complaints are a LAGGING indicator. As in, a loyal customer who has been with us for years won't complain the first or even second time they have a bad experience. They just think we "had a bad day". But the third or fourth? They finally file a complaint and try a different airline.

That's why I'm so concerned when people (especially Gary!!) points to our customer satisfaction scores when they tell us everything is ok. It DOESN'T mean we're not disappointing people. And by the time it starts to show up in our customer satisfaction scores, it's already too late; those people are GONE!

 

[Ty Webb]

Strikes unfortunately a thing of the past. No major player will be allowed to strike ever again. Southwest flies the majority of domestic passengers in the US and if SWA was ever released by the NMB to the 30 day cooling off period, the President (any President) would step in with a Presidential Emergency Board and block the strike before it began. With all the consolidation as of late, all pilots at any of the large airlines are in a similar situation.

I wouldn't be so sure . . . timing is everything. Depends who is in office, and what part of the election cycle you're in. Not saying that I think we'll see it get to that point, but I think your surrender is a bit premature, sir.

 

[madjack]

Strike vote at SWA, let's do it...