What do you think of the show Airline

[Ace757]

What do you guys think about that new reality show on A&E about Southwest. It comes on every monday night at 10/9C

 

[Otto Coarsen]

I think southwest is getting really creative in their marketing campaigns...

 

[General Lee]

Where are the naked pilots? Come on, I thought they would atleast show some skin.......(female for me, of course)

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Donald]

I read in a magazine article that 5 other airlines were approached by A&E and Southwest was the only one that didn't turn them down.

 

[LearLove]

It reminds me of COPS.

 

[KCSO780]

Actually I'm sitting watching it as I type. Pretty interesting show. I'm watching the one with a Captain on his last flight. Just wondering though, how people are tolerating the second hand smoke from Herb! Nothing against smokers..........

 

[furloughfodder]

I think the show is just about as stupid as the silly little airline it features.

 

[knelson]

I thought it was a pretty interesting show. It brought back lots of old CSA memories from when I worked the ramp/gate at Eagle. Man passengers can be real idiots! Did you see the guy that was a lawyer that "specialized in consumer fraud" and was going to sue SWA because they had the nerve to oversell a flight? It takes all kinds to make this industry go 'round.

By the way furloughfodder, daddy's going to be home soon, better get off the computer.

Kevin

 

[Big Duke Six]

Good show

I find this show very interesting. From a pilots point of view, you almost never see all the stuff the gate agents have to deal with. I am sort of new to the business, but my gut feeling is that, while I know that every airline oversells, has smelly customers and has to deal with liars and cheats, this show will do more harm to SWA than good. If you were John Q Average Passenger, would you buy a ticket on SWA after seeing people in tears because they were denied a seat and were about to lose a days' pay, or miss out on a $3000 vacation they had already paid for? Like I said, I know this happens everywhere, so I'm by no means slamming SWA, it's just that I don't think their gamble with the show will pay off.

 

[fokkerjet]

I've watched all six shows so far, and if this show represents what the general flying public is like, boy I'm glad I fly corporate

So far we've had: a guy that smelled so bad that they denied him boarding until he changed clothes and washed up in the bathroom, 40 BMX'ers that caused such "terror" on the LAS-MDW flight that the Chicago Police had to be called. (Lot of MF'ing in that show), An overweight guy that had to buy two seats, twice parents who had to prove their kid was less than 24 months or pay for another ticket, people with lost luggage and generally just people being stupid!

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

The CSA who helped the old man who crapped himself impressed the heck outta me. Talk about an MVP. Not many people could do what he did with the kind of class he showed!

Herb needs to see a dentist.

 

[canyonblue]

Re: Good show

If you were John Q Average Passenger, would you buy a ticket on SWA after seeing people in tears because they were denied a seat and were about to lose a days' pay, or miss out on a $3000 vacation they had already paid for?

In my 15 years with 3 airlines I have seen all of this before. Most of it, as I have seen on the show, deals with people not taking responsibility for themselves.

Missing work because YOU choose to fly home on the day you have to work.

Missing a vacation worth $5,000 because you , as educated people, fail to consider WX,MX etc.

Wanting a FREE seat for your baby but not having proof of Age as it states on the SWA Website.

Thank god for the one woman who admitted she booked her trip on the wrong day, and took reponsibility for IT!

It seems that the Airline Industry has always been the poster child for handouts. People spend under $500 (or less) and expect to be given compensation for a bad flight. NO other industry operates like this. Oh, the movie I just watched was terrible, can I have my money back? After spending $30,000 on a new car go back in a couple weeks and complain about any part of it and see how they will jump hoops to get you another car.

Should John Q Public buy a ticket on SWA? Sure, but don't try to pull that crap that may work at other Airlines because as seen on the show, OUR people kindly point out the rules.


Sell crazy somewhere else lady, we're all stocked up here.

 

[gdub]

right on

Right on! Canyonblue

I don't believe you could have said it any better!!!!

 

[Midnight Mike]

Good show, I enjoy watching every week, nice to see how operations work at Southwest on a daily basis. Amazing some of the low class people that are out there, sheesh!

 

[Mr Hat]

I agree with the above post, the Gate manager that helped that poor old man change his cloths after soiling them is amazing. I was highly impressed, other gate agents at other airlines would have told them to solve the problem or go home and they never would have gotten the guys bag out of checked luggage in order for him to change.

Bravo Southwest!

 

[pipejockey]

I agree with the above post, the Gate manager that helped that poor old man change his cloths after soiling them is amazing. I was highly impressed, other gate agents at other airlines would have told them to solve the problem or go home and they never would have gotten the guys bag out of checked luggage in order for him to change.

Bravo Southwest!

Neither would the SWA Gate manager if the camera wasn't there!

 

[jetblue320]

I read in a magazine article that 5 other airlines were approached by A&E and Southwest was the only one that didn't turn them down.

Maybe 5 I don't know, but one for sure. JB was approached and respectfully declined.

C Ya

 

[jetblue320]

Re: Good show

I find this show very interesting. From a pilots point of view, you almost never see all the stuff the gate agents have to deal with. I am sort of new to the business, but my gut feeling is that, while I know that every airline oversells, has smelly customers and has to deal with liars and cheats, this show will do more harm to SWA than good. If you were John Q Average Passenger, would you buy a ticket on SWA after seeing people in tears because they were denied a seat and were about to lose a days' pay, or miss out on a $3000 vacation they had already paid for? Like I said, I know this happens everywhere, so I'm by no means slamming SWA, it's just that I don't think their gamble with the show will pay off.

Sorry I can't resist but JB does not oversell it flights. The rest of your post (liars, cheats, and smelly pax) applies to all!

C Ya

 

[TR4A]

Neither would the SWA Gate manager if the camera wasn't there!

Not necessarily true. Most agents would have help him even without the camera.

 

[Mr Hat]

Neither would the SWA Gate manager if the camera wasn't there!

Nobody can say for sure but I am pretty convinced that he would have done the same thing camera or not. Read "Nuts" or any other article/book about SWA and you'll see some pretty extraordanary stuff. They are a breed apart over there. Frankly, how could you not help the poor guy out with his wife crying there. It was very sad.

Sorry I can't resist but JB does not oversell it flights.

Huh, thats interesting. I always thought that was a stupid policy to oversell airplanes. I mean tickets are non-refundable anyway! Even if a passenger no-shows, you still make the money from his ticket.

 

[SWAdude]

I always thought that was a stupid policy to oversell airplanes. I mean tickets are non-refundable anyway! Even if a passenger no-shows, you still make the money from his ticket.

Oh boy...did you show your ignorance!!

Many reservations are made without payment being made until the pax shows up.

Neither would the SWA Gate manager if the camera wasn't there!

I've seen this ops agent in action. He is equally as extrordinary as the show displayed. If not more.

We do have many just like him.

SWAdude

 

[SWAInflt]

Huh, thats interesting. I always thought that was a stupid policy to oversell airplanes. I mean tickets are non-refundable anyway! Even if a passenger no-shows, you still make the money from his ticket.

Revenue Management is the force behind overbooking. If indeed an entire flight were sold as advance purchase, non-refundable tickets it would be unnecessary to overbook the flight as these tickets have a very low no-show factor. However, most flights are comprised of a mix of advance purchase and full-coach, walk up, refundable tickets. The Revenue management system closely monitors the 'mix' of seats and makes the necessary adjustments in the 'lid' that the flight can be booked to in an attempt to make sure the flight pushes off the gate full. Our 733 and 73G seat 137, if the majority of the flight is comprised of full coach tickets the system may raise the lid to as high as 160 to 170. In many cases people holding full coach tickets will double or triple book on multiple flights in case they get out of a meeting early and don't want to risk standby. Normally, the system works, the planes go out full and everybody is happy. However, the system can very easily be thrown out of whack. If a flight on a certain route cancels the first thing people do is run to a payphone or pull out their cell phones and make a reservation on a later flight. Since the lid was set on the later flight before the earlier flight cancelled, the system did not anticipate the extra last minute passengers and you are now looking at a viscious oversell. Normally Dallas will zero out flights that might be affected before the cancellation is announced by sometimes they forget or don't move quickly enough. Equipment downgrades can also result in oversells. If you were expecting a 733 and a 735 shows up...you are suddenly short 15 seats.

 

[Big Duke Six]

Canyonblue -

I'm right there with you as far as irresponsible people go. You do have to question the judgement of the well-educated couple who booked the last flight out on their way to a $5000 vacation. Or the woman who booked a just-in-time flight on her way to a conference she was supposed to be speaking at.

I think the problem is that people are ignorant of the potential problems. They ASSUME that if they buy a ticket on a given flight, that there will be a seat for them on that flight. The airlines have become so efficient that the average passenger has no concern for Wx or MX issues. Thanks to Jetblue320 for setting me straight on JB's oversell policy - I did not know that you guys don't oversell. Are your tickets nonrefundable, or if you miss a flight are they good on a future flight? Every airline and every ticket has different rules, which may contribute to some of the confusion on the part of the passengers. It's a Catch-22 for the airlines - they want to accomodate the pax with changing plans but suffer when the airplanes go out half empty.

Overselling may be a necessary evil, but that doesn't really cut it if you're the one getting bumped. In the passengers mind, the fact that they bought a ticket is a contract. I guess it isn't, but I still think, overall, the show will backfire on SWA. Again, every airline deals with these same issues - I just don't think it is good PR to put them on national TV. And yes they have had some fine examples of great CSA's, but their good work, in my mind, gets overshadowed by the negatives the show brings to light.

 

[SWAInflt]

IMHO the impact on the company will be neglible at best in either direction. My sense is that the only people who are really paying any attention to this show are those who are already within the aviation community. I don't have specific ratings numbers for 'Airline' however, I do know that A&E averages an audience of around 1 million +/- in primetime. Compared to the Big 3 networks and even the rest of basic cable, those are pretty anemic numbers. Among the laymen of the traveling public who are watching 'Airline' .... SWA customers and potential customers tend to fall into 3 basic categories: ALWAYS, NEVER, and MAYBE. The "Always" group are generally the frequent fliers who have been SWA devotees for years or those who find that how we operate fits their personalities and lifestyles. Those people watched the show and saw everything they love about us reinforced. Then there are the "Nevers". These folks would rather walk than take an SWA flight. Maybe they hate open seating or singing flight attendants or they had a negative experience and have simply sworn us off. Again, they watched the show with their own agendas and saw everything they hate about Southwest live and in color. The interesting thing is that the "Always" group and the "Never" group watched the exact same show...they just saw completely different things. Finally, you have the "Maybe" group. These folks have either flown us and were neither impressed, nor repulsed or they have never flown us but they have heard things. Just like the "Always" group and "Never" group...some will watch the show and see caring agents go above and beyond and inflight crews that try to make flying fun and others will see "lower-class" passengers, and "unprofessional" frontline employees. In other words some of the"Maybes" who see the show will at least give SWA a shot and potenially become "Always" passengers and others will simply migrate to the "Never" side of the argument. When all is said and done I believe it will have little impact one way or the other. I guess we will have to wait until the other 12 episodes have aired before we know for sure.

 

[na265]

Cannyonblue and SWAInflt you hit it exactly. As a former FA at SWA, I have seen this type of pax behavior first hand. It could be frustrating at times. One thing to keep in mind is that this is a very small percentage of the people who were flying SWA that day. You know the saying about some of the people some of the time. As far as the CSM in LAX, I think he would have done the same thing without the cameras in his face. SWA is very selective in the people they hire, and he fits the type SWA wants.

The piece about the Capt who has retiring was very cool. I saw some pilots and FAs I had worked with.

 

[Snoopy58]

BigDuke,

In the passengers mind, the fact that they bought a ticket is a contract.

Yep, and the fine print of the contract at any airline that does oversell seats will say something to the effect that "we do oversell, and in the event that we have to deny you boarding (after asking for volunteers), then ..." It's part of the contract; as always, reading the fine print is necessary to understand what happens when things don't go as planned.

Unlike many airlines, at SWA, if you miss your flight, your ticket still has its full value for use later, with no "$50 change fee" or any such nonsense. If you paid $X for your ticket & you don't use it, it's still worth every penny of what you paid for it. Now, if it was a restricted fare ticket & you want to travel on a different flight that only has full-fare seats available (probably all that's left on the day of the flight), you WILL have to pay the difference to upgrade to the full fare ticket (another difference between SWA & other airlines)... but the dollar value of the original ticket doesn't diminish.

Which makes it essentially painless for a passenger to buy more tickets for a given day than he will use, since there's no penalty for using the $ value later. One reason why SWA overbooks some flights quite a bit -- and must if they're to avoid a "sold out" flight departing half empty!

 

[ponder]

They'll be Back....

I love the passengers that exclaim they'll never fly Southwest again.... Yeah right.....

At worst case, walk-up fare, here - all the way to East Bugtussle...... maximum fare is $299.00 bucks......... Try walking up to American's or Useless Air's front ticket counter on the spur of the moment and asking for that fare. The gate agent will laugh so hard they'll puke their lunch milk out their nose.

Regarding Ms. Hunter who mistakenly booked her flight on the wrong day, Southwest Airlines not only got her on a flight, it was at the same price. The other airlines would circle like vultures.