Some wild stories in that thread. Employees renting cars to drive back to their home airport b/c there's no hope of the internal scheduling system ever finding them.
Maybe I'm wrong but I do feel like a few decades ago Congress might have the balls to actually punish Southwest and make them really get their shit together, it seems like now they're just way too cozy with all businesses.
Yea, you’re right. I’m not worried about getting a refund/credits since they no longer expire. I’m just looking to squeeze as much free stuff out of these assholes as I’m able along the way.
a few decades ago was two decades after they deregulated airlines and right around the time they busted the traffic controllers union. maybe in like the FDR administration they would have done something
with that said Mayo Pete is likely to see this an opportunity to increase his visibility so I’d expect him to do whatever he can so he can use it for clout later
My wife has bad travel anxiety so we have to get to the airport extra early. I like an airport lounge though so its fine overall.
Especially considering DFW security is super easy to get through. I think the interior airport sucks. Restaurants and what not, but for a home airport just leaving seems fine
We were scheduled to fly from San Diego to Vegas yesterday and obviously our flight got canceled. We rented a car and drive since it’s only bc “5 hour” Drive. The drive took 12 hours, so that sucked. Supposed to fly back to Chicago on the 3rd, hoping things will be fixed by then
This guys mom works for SW in BNA. I believe it was during covid that they forced her to work so much she had to have open heart surgery.
I saw people on Reddit trying to organize a way to get baby supplies to stranded travelers in airports. It's a wild fucking world we live in now.
I’ve been told you can tell the SWA gate agent prior to boarding “I have a medical condition that requires I sit near the front of the plane.” and they’re required to oblige your request and aren’t allowed to ask any questions because of hippa and whatnot.
I've also heard that if you're buying weed and you ask if they are a cop they have to tell you by law
We fly Jetblue because we have their points card and saved up 500k in points. But imo the points aren't worth it alone to stick with them. I think there's better deals out there. I've never had any issues with JetBlue but we're flying in February to Mexico (250k) and after we burn up the rest of the points I might start looking around. Is 1.4 cents a point a good return?
Or, you know, you could just let those of us with medical conditions pre-board and sit near the front of the plane.
This is true. I have had multiple back surgeries, so had legit reasons why I needed to preboard, but only once was I ever asked a reason or to provide support to my claim. And the person who asked me for that could have grown in trouble had I raised a stink. A lot of the time, I looked completely healthy so I’m sure people thought I was bullshitting, but southwest never questioned me. It was always the same script. “I need a preboard pass for flight x” “Do you require a special seat for medical purposes?” “Yes” “Do you need special assistance down the jet way” “No” “Here you go. No sitting in the exit row” Edit: having read further down the thread, please don’t abuse this. People have actual medical needs to require them to sit in certain seats, and this would take away those few seats
There needs to be a few rotating lay down seats available to all my sciatica sufferers out there on long haul flights.
Yeah it wasn’t my finest moment but I did it…one time, 10ish years ago on the last leg returning from a business trip. Haven’t flown SWA since. Made sure I was at the back of the pre-board line and I can promise you my gaming of the system didn’t prohibit anyone with a medical condition from receiving their accommodations.
It’s absolutely not a HIPAA violation for an air carrier to request documentation from a passenger if a medical accommodation is sought. Carriers are not covered under HIPAA and it was how carriers processed exceptions for the mask mandate. What it is doing is putting a gate agent, and god knows there has been a huge uptick in crazy people turning violent at the airport or on the plane, in an uncomfortable position, where they probably know your claim is bullshit, but know there is a good chance they’re going to at minimum be on the receiving end of a screaming fit if they call you on it because you’re already whinging about your perceived rights. It’s not gaming the system in the same way that ringing up beer as bananas in the self-checkout line isn’t gaming the system. tl;dr - airline employees have enough shitty people to deal with, don’t compound their problems by trying to intimidate them into giving you a free upgrade.
All airlines are devaluing these days. Here’s the ratios American: 1.77 Southwest: 1.5 Delta: 1.45 JetBlue: 1.3 United: 1.27 I have ~700k delta and they’re fucking me. Value has gone from 2.0 to 1.45 in 16 months. Amex points are the best bet
That was his point. It’s not “gaming the system” to commit fraud. And lying in order to get a benefit you did not pay to get is 100% fraud.