Alright, full disclosure...I'm a repeat Southwest customer and have been for years. My satisfaction with their consistent service and high impression of how they've run their company for 3+ decades also led me to buy a small chunk of stock a few years back.
That being said, I've watched the news coverage of the recent airline service/maintenance debaucles with a very curiously raised eyebrow. It seems that Southwest bore the huge negative publicity brunt of the recent service failures, even though they have one of if not the best safety record in the industry (NO crashes in their history, etc). Their infractions pale in comparison to the 'big' carriers besides, now that all the facts have come to light.
I mean, here's what's happening at American:
American cancels 850 more flights - CNN.com
Compare this to the initial disruption and 'infraction' (an 'infraction' from a VOLUNTARY PRO-ACTIVE submission of the uncovered service/filing errors by Southwest to the FAA) that netted 38 planes being pulled and further inspected, with 5 showing need for serious repairs.
Flash back -- Overview Of: Airline, Airlines, Faa, Uniteds, Maintenance, Planes, Plane, Southwest, Aircraft, Inspections, Aviation, Flight
No comparison really.
Anyone else think it smells fishy? It seems to me that the big national flyers have used their PR muscle to make Southwest the fall guy in the public eye--knowing that the proverbial s*** was about to hit the fan in regards to their own withering businesses/service practices (which, no doubt, they were NOT planning on openly communicating to the FAA). The regionals like Southwest and Jet Blue have really beaten them up when it comes to profitability and service excellence of late...and looks like they just got a bit of revenge.
For instance: I noticed that the Chicago Tribune ran a long article in a recent issue about the airline service failures, completely forgetting to mention any of United Airline's troubles (they're based in Chicago) and focusing on mentioning Southwest a half-dozen times, even while qualifying them as having the best on-time records and being consistently near the top in performance and customer satisfaction. All of the photographs accompanying the article, entitled "Airlines Fare Poorly in Quality Survey," were of...you guessed it, Southwest planes.
That being said, I've watched the news coverage of the recent airline service/maintenance debaucles with a very curiously raised eyebrow. It seems that Southwest bore the huge negative publicity brunt of the recent service failures, even though they have one of if not the best safety record in the industry (NO crashes in their history, etc). Their infractions pale in comparison to the 'big' carriers besides, now that all the facts have come to light.
I mean, here's what's happening at American:
American cancels 850 more flights - CNN.com
Compare this to the initial disruption and 'infraction' (an 'infraction' from a VOLUNTARY PRO-ACTIVE submission of the uncovered service/filing errors by Southwest to the FAA) that netted 38 planes being pulled and further inspected, with 5 showing need for serious repairs.
Flash back -- Overview Of: Airline, Airlines, Faa, Uniteds, Maintenance, Planes, Plane, Southwest, Aircraft, Inspections, Aviation, Flight
No comparison really.
Anyone else think it smells fishy? It seems to me that the big national flyers have used their PR muscle to make Southwest the fall guy in the public eye--knowing that the proverbial s*** was about to hit the fan in regards to their own withering businesses/service practices (which, no doubt, they were NOT planning on openly communicating to the FAA). The regionals like Southwest and Jet Blue have really beaten them up when it comes to profitability and service excellence of late...and looks like they just got a bit of revenge.
For instance: I noticed that the Chicago Tribune ran a long article in a recent issue about the airline service failures, completely forgetting to mention any of United Airline's troubles (they're based in Chicago) and focusing on mentioning Southwest a half-dozen times, even while qualifying them as having the best on-time records and being consistently near the top in performance and customer satisfaction. All of the photographs accompanying the article, entitled "Airlines Fare Poorly in Quality Survey," were of...you guessed it, Southwest planes.
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