Originally Posted by
LegalTender
There's a lot of about the business model embedded and perpetual. A legroom+ section and assigned seating probably aren't game changers. Especially with DL bifurcating F into 'seat-only' and 'full-service' products. Last-to-react is not a great omen.
Improving the onboard experience is a bigger deal. Some post-pandemic FA's act like they don't want to be there. Incessant PA's, babysitting seating tantrums, seatbelt lights never off, hit/miss miss drink service, Wi-Fi sporadic...the randomness and decibels of the experience.
People gravitate to highest expectations.
I've had flight attendants who don't seem to want to be there on the other major US airlines in addition to Southwest... frankly I'm happier now that on Southwest they rarely do some of the singing and other "Southwest" stuff that used to be a lot more frequent- it was so annoying on early morning and late night flights.
Agree on the wi-fi in flight this is something where Southwest's performance is way below industry peers...
I just don't think these "changes" being pushed for are going to do anything to help Southwest's core passenger base. They may please a few outspoken critics who are elite at UA/AA/DL and will avoid Southwest unless absolutely necessary anyway due to the International perks and first class upgrades, but at the end of the day these investor groups trying to take activist positions aren't here to make it better for ANY passengers- they're here to spike up profits. That means customers will pay more.
Maybe I am so used to flying Southwest, plus I've had some very awful experiences on specifically United and Delta with regards to service and reliability/handling of delays (I've never been elite- but from what I've seen with coworkers elite is useless when you're stuck at DEN or SLC late aftenroon and there are no more flights to where you are going that day), that I just accept these shortcomings everyone else points out with Southwest in exchange for an easier to deal with airline and a host of scheduling options from my home airport. And I think many people are in this same spot.
So I am concerned with what is happening at Southwest, but the writing has been on the wall for a while. Underfunded IT, lagging behind industry peers financially, pretty tapped out on US growth and doing little internationally, margin pressures, etc. I hate to say it but I see Southwest merged in with one of the International carriers.