Random thoughts after my 120th WN flight this year
Dec 18, 2014, 9:06 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,870
Random thoughts after my 120th WN flight this year
Just completed my 120th (and last) WN flight this year, most on BS fares and most intra-CA, and thought I’d post a few random thoughts…
1) CP continues to be a great reason to keep flying WN, though those of us who fly mostly intra-CA and need high frequency and maximum flexibility don’t really have any other choices.
2) WN seems to be making some progress in dealing with IRROPS, at least for A+ pax. They’ve worked around the one-hour phone rule more than once for me, and I’ve seen increased proactive LUV Voucher distribution at the gate to all pax when things get ugly. I recently had two separate BUR ground supervisors call me to advise a flight was cancelled and offered to rebook; when I expressed my appreciation and surprise, they indicated that this was part of an initiative (at least at that station) to try and take care of A+ pax. I hope it spreads throughout the system.
3) Phone/text notifications continue to be abysmal. There seems to be no consistent reason for receiving or not receiving IRROPS notifications. At least the pax communications preference can be stored now so that it auto-populates with each reservation; can only hope this leads to better IRROPS communication.
4) Yield management is impressive. Not sure what the latest stats show, but I had exactly one VDB opportunity this year.
5) Agents on the 214 line almost always follow-up with promised emails or phone calls when correcting a points issue; this eliminates numerous pax follow-ups and is a good sign that they value high-revenue customers.
6) FA attempts at humor have all but disappeared; I can recall only a few instances over the past year where this stuff was part of the safety demo, etc.
7) Scheduling issues haven’t appreciably improved. Again, not sure of the latest stats, but my real world experience reflects continuing, often serious, issues with getting AC out of the gate on time.
8) Line poachers, at least at the front of the BS line, have virtually disappeared. Agents are much clearer about the boarding process and have finally tightened-up enforcement of boarding order.
9) The double-point bonuses really add up, and the two that ran this fall (one general, one targeted) resulted in an unexpected points windfall.
10) RR 2.0 works well for me and I much prefer it to the old program. I earn trips faster, and I don’t think twice about using points for cheap trips. I will miss the old Standard Awards, though, once I use up my remaining four by the end of October.
11) I continue to miss the WN/Hilton partnership. Almost all of my WN trips are associated with an HH stay, and the 600-point (and sometimes additional) bonuses were a nice addition to my RR points total.
12) Airline club closings at terminals shared with WN are frustrating. The recent elimination of the US Airways Club at LAX and the Alaska Board Room at SFO are a loss for those of us with PP or other access. At least the United Club at SNA remains an option, though now much farther from WN gates than before the terminal addition.
As always, YMMV.
1) CP continues to be a great reason to keep flying WN, though those of us who fly mostly intra-CA and need high frequency and maximum flexibility don’t really have any other choices.
2) WN seems to be making some progress in dealing with IRROPS, at least for A+ pax. They’ve worked around the one-hour phone rule more than once for me, and I’ve seen increased proactive LUV Voucher distribution at the gate to all pax when things get ugly. I recently had two separate BUR ground supervisors call me to advise a flight was cancelled and offered to rebook; when I expressed my appreciation and surprise, they indicated that this was part of an initiative (at least at that station) to try and take care of A+ pax. I hope it spreads throughout the system.
3) Phone/text notifications continue to be abysmal. There seems to be no consistent reason for receiving or not receiving IRROPS notifications. At least the pax communications preference can be stored now so that it auto-populates with each reservation; can only hope this leads to better IRROPS communication.
4) Yield management is impressive. Not sure what the latest stats show, but I had exactly one VDB opportunity this year.
5) Agents on the 214 line almost always follow-up with promised emails or phone calls when correcting a points issue; this eliminates numerous pax follow-ups and is a good sign that they value high-revenue customers.
6) FA attempts at humor have all but disappeared; I can recall only a few instances over the past year where this stuff was part of the safety demo, etc.
7) Scheduling issues haven’t appreciably improved. Again, not sure of the latest stats, but my real world experience reflects continuing, often serious, issues with getting AC out of the gate on time.
8) Line poachers, at least at the front of the BS line, have virtually disappeared. Agents are much clearer about the boarding process and have finally tightened-up enforcement of boarding order.
9) The double-point bonuses really add up, and the two that ran this fall (one general, one targeted) resulted in an unexpected points windfall.
10) RR 2.0 works well for me and I much prefer it to the old program. I earn trips faster, and I don’t think twice about using points for cheap trips. I will miss the old Standard Awards, though, once I use up my remaining four by the end of October.
11) I continue to miss the WN/Hilton partnership. Almost all of my WN trips are associated with an HH stay, and the 600-point (and sometimes additional) bonuses were a nice addition to my RR points total.
12) Airline club closings at terminals shared with WN are frustrating. The recent elimination of the US Airways Club at LAX and the Alaska Board Room at SFO are a loss for those of us with PP or other access. At least the United Club at SNA remains an option, though now much farther from WN gates than before the terminal addition.
As always, YMMV.
Dec 19, 2014, 7:49 am
#3
Join Date: Oct 2001
Programs: LTP, PP
Posts: 8,698
Random responses:
1 - where do you find the time & energy to actually use that CP, presumably for pleasure, with that schedule?
2 - don't see that here on the east coast or at my station. They would have gone broke proactively handing out vouchers systemwide after their scorched earth scheduling debacle last year.
3,4,6,7 - agree 100%
Merry Christmas, hopefully you are done for the year.
1 - where do you find the time & energy to actually use that CP, presumably for pleasure, with that schedule?
2 - don't see that here on the east coast or at my station. They would have gone broke proactively handing out vouchers systemwide after their scorched earth scheduling debacle last year.
3,4,6,7 - agree 100%
Merry Christmas, hopefully you are done for the year.
Dec 19, 2014, 9:26 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,870
Random responses:
1 - where do you find the time & energy to actually use that CP, presumably for pleasure, with that schedule?
2 - don't see that here on the east coast or at my station. They would have gone broke proactively handing out vouchers systemwide after their scorched earth scheduling debacle last year.
3,4,6,7 - agree 100%
Merry Christmas, hopefully you are done for the year.
1 - where do you find the time & energy to actually use that CP, presumably for pleasure, with that schedule?
2 - don't see that here on the east coast or at my station. They would have gone broke proactively handing out vouchers systemwide after their scorched earth scheduling debacle last year.
3,4,6,7 - agree 100%
Merry Christmas, hopefully you are done for the year.
And yes, done for this year, finally. Many of my trips are one-nighters, so I'm really not on the road all the time, and the CP comes in very handy if a family member wants to come along on a biz trip, kid wants to come home from college for the weekend, etc. Plus, am able to use it for "normal" vacations in between the biz schlepping. Some people commute in a car, I commute on WN...at least the high frequencies make it fairly easy.
Dec 19, 2014, 10:03 am
#5
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: DAL, DFW
Programs: WN A-List; Hyatt Diamond; Marriott Gold; National Executive
Posts: 164
Thank you, same to you!
And yes, done for this year, finally. Many of my trips are one-nighters, so I'm really not on the road all the time, and the CP comes in very handy if a family member wants to come along on a biz trip, kid wants to come home from college for the weekend, etc. Plus, am able to use it for "normal" vacations in between the biz schlepping. Some people commute in a car, I commute on WN...at least the high frequencies make it fairly easy.
And yes, done for this year, finally. Many of my trips are one-nighters, so I'm really not on the road all the time, and the CP comes in very handy if a family member wants to come along on a biz trip, kid wants to come home from college for the weekend, etc. Plus, am able to use it for "normal" vacations in between the biz schlepping. Some people commute in a car, I commute on WN...at least the high frequencies make it fairly easy.
Dec 19, 2014, 2:46 pm
#8
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,286
Agree with you very much, with some qualifications. On #2, I think your experience is definitely affected by your status; I'm not seeing any appreciable performance improvement as a lowly non-status customer. Numbers 3 and 7 are my primary current complaints about WN; despite corporate claims of on-time improvement I'm not seeing it. Number 6 is welcome in my opinion.
Dec 19, 2014, 4:15 pm
#10
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: ORD, MDW or MKE
Programs: American and Southwest. Hilton and Marriott hotels primarily.
Posts: 6,459
Dec 19, 2014, 4:44 pm
#11
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: SJC, Northern Cal.
Programs: SWA RR BIS 6.2M, A+'20, CP'20, AA, UA Gold, Hertz PC, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 909
Dec 19, 2014, 4:53 pm
#12
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: SJC, Northern Cal.
Programs: SWA RR BIS 6.2M, A+'20, CP'20, AA, UA Gold, Hertz PC, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 909
I also mostly use CP for overnighters. We used it to pop up to Seattle twice for day trips to interview for Global Entry and Nexus. Two hours each way and we are 8m from SJC. I think it takes longer to drive to Tahoe.
Dec 19, 2014, 5:12 pm
#13
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,286
I also fear that when the numbers for November and December come out, the improvements from October will have dissipated somewhat... but that's just a hunch.
Dec 19, 2014, 5:41 pm
#14
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: LAX/SMF/PDX/HNL
Programs: Hilton-lifetime diamond, Southwest A+, companion pass
Posts: 1,748
The latest figures available are for October, which is pretty flat from September, but shows a larger jump over August, so that's good news and shows movement in the right direction overall. But at 80.6% on-time arrivals, a flyer still has a one-in-five chance of being delayed on Southwest. I suspect the delays are clustered around certain markets, and definitely impact later departures vs earlier ones, so some people will see more improvement than others based on individual travel patterns. As I said, anecdotally, I'm just not seeing it myself.
I also fear that when the numbers for November and December come out, the improvements from October will have dissipated somewhat... but that's just a hunch.
I also fear that when the numbers for November and December come out, the improvements from October will have dissipated somewhat... but that's just a hunch.
Dec 21, 2014, 1:36 am
#15
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,963
Wow! That is a lot of flights. I agree with you on most points. WN seems to be pushing hard to show some love to its A+ customers since the hard product is mostly the same. The 100% extra points, free wifi and CP are why I stick around. Being able to fly to Vegas, LA, San diego or Portland in about an hour or two on points is awesome.