argolfer

I did a status challenge and I'm now A-List. I had the corporate card, but took them up on the Companion Pass offer on a new personal card. I paid my tax bill with it and I've already got Companion Pass for the rest of the year. I don't know how much I will actually use it, but it's nice to have.

And already I'm worried. I have flown four times so far this year. I've had 2 delays and 1 cancellation. A fourth delay - a maintenance issue - was rectified before the flight was actually late.

Have I made a massive mistake? In my last 100 flights on Delta, I experienced zero cancellations and two seriously late flights (missed connections). In four this year I've had the same number on WN. Y'all please talk me off the edge.

dlaue

FWIW, here are the delay/cancellation stats by airline in 2018, Hawaiian being the best:

1. Hawaiian Airlines
2. Alaska Airlines
3. Delta Air Lines
4. Southwest Airlines
5. Spirit Airlines
6. American Airlines
7. United Airlines
8. Allegiant Air
9. Frontier Airlines
10. JetBlue

Southwest has suffered from the bad weather lately, as have other airlines. Southwest has gone through a few periods in the past when their on time performance suffered badly, but they seem to be back to average now.

And Southwest relies on Chicago's Midway airport for many of its connections...this airport, with its short runway, is prone to delays. Atlanta, not so much.

Also, Southwest does not have interline agreements, so their ability to handle service interruptions suffers by comparison to Delta.

ursine1

OAG's listing is a bit different.




However you parse the data, to me the biggest take-away is that on-time performance of less than 80% means you have a significant chance of being delayed. (To be fair, 83% isn't much better.)

Buzzardgut

LegalTender

Which airport?

Smaller ones, in my experience, compound the problem. Larger airports have standby crews and aircraft to use when delays or mechanical issues hit.

argolfer

Little Rock. Small national airport. That said, almost all of my delays have been STL and DAL.

NoStressHere

I guess this is surely a case of YMMV.

We did 25 flights last year. I do not remember any cancels or serious delays. I know there were some, but I can not remember.

This year we did have a cancel... sort of. We had a backup flight in case a flight with another carrier did not work out as the storms were rolling across the midwest and northeast. Took original, but SW flgiht that we were not going take anyways was cancelled - ICE storm.

flyer4512

We started flying WN in 2016 when we learned about CP. We have never paid cash for the entire cost of a WN ticket and we use WN 4 - 6 times a year ( 8 - 12 R/T tickets) but I have "paid " for at least part of ~ 10 tickets via LUV vouchers we have received as compensation for delays.

I would never pay for a WN flight unless it was MUCH cheaper than DL. DL also flies NS to all of the cities ( MSP to BDL LAS, RSW, TPA) that we travel to whereas WN almost always requires a stop on the way

Often1

WN does not interline with anybody. Thus, you are SOL if there is a cancellation or significant delay and there are no good WN options.

With high-level status on other carriers, you will usually be rebooked OA. That is a significant problem for WN business flyers who have important scheduling issues.

One thing to consider is that in the case of a cancellation or significant delay, you are entitled to a refund to your original form of payment (even on a WGA fare). While last minute tickets on other carriers will generally be more expensive, sometimes astronomically so, that is not always the case. There may be very cheap tickets on another carrier and in IRROPS handle it yourself. Cancel the WN booking and purchase the other carrier. So long as you keep a decent credit limit, it will all work out in the wash.

Alternatively, you could also do some shopping for travel insurance which has coverage kicking in at 3-4 hours at a decent level. That would provide additional cash which, when added to the WN ticket value gives you purchasing power OA.

TuxTom

Certainly anecdotal, but my only canceled flight last year was on WN from SAN-RNO. 91 segments on DL-0 cancellations, 6 segments on WN. No weather issues really anywhere in the western US at that time. They cancelled it the night before, about 12 hours ahead of schedule departure. My quess was they needed the plane elsewhere and our flight had the lightest load, but I wasn't too pleased. I only take WN when they offer a nonstop flight that I can't get else where, so I certainly wasn't going to take any of their significantly longer rerouting options.

argolfer

LegalTender

All airlines see breakdowns. WN planes average of 5.3 cycles per day compared to 2.8 to 3.4 flights per day UA/DL/AA. The impact on airworthiness is undetermined. This drumbeat of stories/investigations is a corporate challenge. But the public has a short memory and a gung ho LUV affair. Southwest is too big to fail.

steved5480

https://www.planespotters.net/airline/Delta-Air-Lines

Delta uses MadDogs for LIT-ATL, average age 28.2 years or a little more than double Southwest's average fleet age. In the grand scheme, all meaningless figures. Those ol' things are on the list to be sent to the sandbox by Delta. No telling what they'll ultimately replace the MD88 with on that specific route; perhaps an old exNWA short-bus or whatever <shrug>. The corporate brain trust that makes all of those decisions also changes their collective minds about as often. We don't see the MD8x falling out of the sky (well, other than a couple of high-profile operator-error events from way in the past).

As wisely observed by LegalTender, this is not an apples-to-apples business. The fact that LIT is a thin outstation for both airlines just means your options are fewer (as you've noticed). As for which carrier is "safer"....YMMV.

beachmouse

Southwest is having atypical mechanical issues right now:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/southwe...nal-emergency/

They're a safe airline historically and IMO will continue to have a safety record second only to Qantas, but right now are have more repair issues than what's normal or what they schedule for. I'm sure they'll return to mean in a few weeks or when contract issues are settled but they do have a real problem in the short term.

Proudelitist

I would say yes..the mistake is investing your time and money in the WN program at all given that the rewards are nothing more than a better shot at a coach seat, with next to no international, first class, lounges or partner alliances getting you F and J on multiple carriers. It depends on your travel habits of course, but even if you mostly fly short haul domestic, the perks from legacy programs are still better. Not saying Delta should be the one..but it still gets you more bang for your buck.

Personally, I only fly WN for "quick and dirty" short hauls based on the routing. I don't bother with RR anymore.