mike_la_jolla

That is actually a quote from Herb. In his day, he refused to allow LUV at SFO because of the near permanent delays related to the fog. Running LUV on time used to be a priority. I forget the exact list, but it *was* something like "Safe, on-time, friendly, don't lose the baggage". Herb had a more colorful way of saying it. Those days are gone.

I actually looked up to the logo behind the agent when he snapped at me. That was EXACTLY my first thought. "S**t -- Did I accidentally go to the UA counter?" The interesting thing is that I also have Star Gold status, so I am in the top tier when I check in at UA. UA allows you to do this.

I'll add, just to annoy everybody here, that LUV is well on the way towards besting the sorry performance of UA in baggage, on time arrivals, cancellations, et al. This is a different airline than the one that used to win the triple crown.

smmrfld

Sounds like it's best for all concerned - particularly WN staff - for you to find another carrier.

mike_la_jolla

I sincerely wish I had that option, but if you are doing SAN<->SJC frequently, you really have no choice. Thanks for the suggestion.

texashoser

And your evidence for this claim would be?

InkUnderNails

I love this thread. Funniest in a while.

I make my wife check her own bag. She packed it, she can check it.

I also use the PreCheck line while she goes through the regular one.

I don't save her a seat. After sticking her in the yokel lines, I really don't think sitting next to her is a priority.

Michael El

I agree with you here Mike. The change(s) started in 2008.

Peoriaman1

The bus? Or the new train? I thought the train was up and running already.

mike_la_jolla

THAT, is a fair and reasonable question, especially to me, a 25-year LUV customer that flies the airline frequently.

Let's start here: WSJ: The Best and Worst Airlines

LUV performance category by category:
- On-time arrivals: 2nd worst
- Cancelled flights: middle of the pack
- Extreme Delays: middle of the pack
- 2-hour tarmac delay: Best
- Mishandled Luggage: Worst
- Bumped passengers: Near the bottom
- Complaints: Best

(Actually, in 2014, LUV was dead last in on-time arrivals for three months, besting worst at everything UA.)

I think we can all agree that the category “2-hour tarmac delay” is not applicable to this ranking. It would be shocking if they were not best in this category. The most important category for LUV is ‘Complaints’. In all other categories they rank average to poor. The only positive here is that the friendliness instilled in the employees by the corporate culture means that when things go wrong, the customers are less likely to complain …. and remain as customers. And things are going wrong ... a lot. That is what made my experience with this snotty SFO gate agent so significant. If LUV gate agents are going to start demeaning A-List Preferred customers for insignificant violations of stupid policies, then the culture is changing. That …. is bad news. In the old days, Herb’s LUV would have reassigned this SFO agent to the back office.

Recent personal experience:

- My last 10 flights (Apr-May 2015), 8 have been late. In two instances, I barely, and only barely made the connection. Those were my only two flights with connections.

- The system wide lack of on-time performance has altered how I book my flights. I now pay close attention to the connection time and airport. In the old days, I never did this.

- I will reestablish my policy of avoiding the ‘so-called’ airport that is SFO for domestic travel. The gate agents are rude and the runways cannot be run on a schedule. I’ll go back to OAK, and its different set of problems (baggage!).

The elephant in the room is that this is no longer the 'low cost' airline. Without the free baggage alliance, I probably bolt to UA. How low is that?

lougord99

Your comments about on-time performance doesn't really hold anymore. They made changes to the schedule and now are right in the middle of the pack for on-time performance. For March and April they were ahead of AA and UA and behind DL. February was a little worse, but not much.

texashoser

This exactly. I think when the final 2015 rankings are out, WN will be quite ahead of UA.

mike_la_jolla

OK to paraphrase: "It got really,really,really bad but they are fixing it!" (?)

If so, sort of proves my point ... Reminds me of this Monty Python joke: "I got better"

lougord99

Yes it did get really, really, really bad and yes, they are fixing it.

lmaccaro

Not sure I understand - they wouldn't let your wife check her bags with you in the priority lane at the ticket counter?

I took all my traveling companions (5 of us total) through on my "a-list"ness on the way to Bay to Breakers last weekend. What is the point of of a fly-by lane if only one person in the party can go through? Is that actually a rule?

john398

he did not say ticket counter, he said gate agent

mike_la_jolla

Yep. You got that exactly correct. I remain puzzled and unrepentant in spite of the very gruesome shaming I have received here.

You belong in this thread, because you did something HORRIBLE and you SHOULD be PUBLICLY shamed here, as I have been. I was returning from B2B when I ran afoul of this rule and the nasty SFO ticket agent.

Apparently, you are NOT allowed to do ANYTHING on the fly-by lane unless the person you are flying with (wife, in my case) is (1) on the same confirmation code or (2) an A-Lister.

... Makes me wonder why I bother getting A-List Preferred status. It certainly isn't for the free wifi ...