It looks like things have been corrected and no damage done to the thing that really matters; the bottom line. I see some contentious remarks here around the Southwest trips and turnaround times so I thought some might find this article interesting.
The Real Story Behind the collapse in Southwest's On-time Performance
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-southwest-air-20141014-column.html
"Starting last fall, passengers on Southwest Airlines' usually reliable flights began noticing a sharp deterioration in on-time performance. More flights arrived late, and more flights sat on the ground past their departure times, waiting for connecting passengers from flights that arrived late, and so on and so on."
"The airline explained to the press, blandly, that its problems were caused by "scheduling too many flights at the most popular takeoff times," and shortening the turn -- the time set aside for loading and unloading passengers -- to accommodate the super-packed schedule."
"Now, courtesy of Brett Snyder of the popular travel website crankyflier.com, we're getting a fuller explanation. The problem was caused by Southwest's deliberate, and very ill-advised, strategy to cram more flights into its schedule without expanding its aircraft fleet and while adding seats to its existing planes."
"Its passengers-per-plane, or "load factors," had risen, making it harder to load and unload passengers to meet its narrow turn times. As Southwest's service cities had expanded, more passengers were checking bags, another obstacle to quick turns. Even a five-minute delay in an early flight reverberated through the day, so that an aircraft might be as much as an hour off-schedule by its last flight."
"Amazingly, Snyder reports, Southwest was unable to quickly revise its schedule to eliminate delays because of its antiquated reservations system, which couldn't accommodate a large number of schedule changes. Only this year was the airline able to implement a new schedule, starting in August."
"As Southwest officials explained to Snyder, turn times for even the smaller-capacity Boeing 737s in the carrier's fleet were increased to 35 minutes, and on larger-capacity planes as much as 50 minutes. Gate-to-gate timings have been lengthened."
The Real Story Behind the collapse in Southwest's On-time Performance
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-southwest-air-20141014-column.html
"Starting last fall, passengers on Southwest Airlines' usually reliable flights began noticing a sharp deterioration in on-time performance. More flights arrived late, and more flights sat on the ground past their departure times, waiting for connecting passengers from flights that arrived late, and so on and so on."
"The airline explained to the press, blandly, that its problems were caused by "scheduling too many flights at the most popular takeoff times," and shortening the turn -- the time set aside for loading and unloading passengers -- to accommodate the super-packed schedule."
"Now, courtesy of Brett Snyder of the popular travel website crankyflier.com, we're getting a fuller explanation. The problem was caused by Southwest's deliberate, and very ill-advised, strategy to cram more flights into its schedule without expanding its aircraft fleet and while adding seats to its existing planes."
"Its passengers-per-plane, or "load factors," had risen, making it harder to load and unload passengers to meet its narrow turn times. As Southwest's service cities had expanded, more passengers were checking bags, another obstacle to quick turns. Even a five-minute delay in an early flight reverberated through the day, so that an aircraft might be as much as an hour off-schedule by its last flight."
"Amazingly, Snyder reports, Southwest was unable to quickly revise its schedule to eliminate delays because of its antiquated reservations system, which couldn't accommodate a large number of schedule changes. Only this year was the airline able to implement a new schedule, starting in August."
"As Southwest officials explained to Snyder, turn times for even the smaller-capacity Boeing 737s in the carrier's fleet were increased to 35 minutes, and on larger-capacity planes as much as 50 minutes. Gate-to-gate timings have been lengthened."
They do look nice in the Delta colors, though. I guess we can all be thankful that they were spared the horror of being painted in that awful purple color!
