familyoutdoors

Yesterday I started a thread about son's flight being canceled. He did get on WN 1367 today PHX to GEG. Plane boarded on time and then staff realized there were some other passengers that hadn't made it on. Waited for them to board. When passengers finally on and plane started to taxi, warning lights go off. The plane then sits for nearly two hours on the tarmac. No water is given out, people are to stay in seats. Finally everything is sorted out and flight is able to take off. They are not given any water until cruising altitude. Did I mention that this flight has originated in Phoenix? The temp today thankfully is only 100* F. If you ever recall sitting on the tarmac, you know that even know the air is technically on it has zero effect. The flight crew kept apologizing and saying they know we are uncomfortable and will hopefully will be on our way soon. He arrived estimated 2 hours and 26 minutes past what his boarding pass said would be arrival time. Sitting on the over heated flight he ended up with migraine accompanied with nausea. To make matters even worse I will use his words, :the flight was like a daycare. Screaming kids the entire flight." I guess it makes sense. If he didn't feel well from being over heated in the tin can, the kids probably didn't either. I did a quick google of what's allowed sitting on tarmac. I believe I read 3 hours. That is ridiculous! After the temp rose and air conditioning not effective, they really should have deplaned the passengers or something. We haven't flown on SW in a while, but both him and I have a flight next month and then the entire family has a flight in December. I was trying to stay away from United, possibly made a mistake here with Southwest. Does he have any recourse? I think the worst flight ever should get more than "sorry". We are just leisure flyers, but that's just my .02 cents. What do you pros think. Should we write to someone, or Tweet or? Chime in.
Thanks!
Flight 1367 Wed July 11, 2018Scheduled to depart 1:45 PM actually Departed 3:21Scheduled arrival 4:20 PM actual arrival 6:01 PM

smmrfld

rickg523

Not really a brand related event, imo. Could happen with any carrier.
And I wouldn't worry about your upcoming flights.
In terms of trying to make the best of bad situations, I've found WN crew among the most skilled.
Not disembarking the passengers before legally required is a timing issue. If you're not ready to go whenever the plane has been cleared for takeoff, you can lose your spot in line for takeoff, a further delay which combined with the initial delay might lead to crew timing out. Now, the passengers will certainly be returned to the terminal. When they get back on an airplane is an open question.
​​​​But the issue with the water is troubling. On Southwest, I would have expected them to have proactively offered water to each passenger, and might drop a short note to customer service if they didn't. If they were denying requests for water, I'd make a lot more noise, because that's so not the service culture of Southwest, not to mention a potential health and safety issue.
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Mwenenzi

You & the family are going to run out of airlines on this basis.

Yep.
But the next airline (or Greyhound bus) may be better!

NextTrip

jm1991

Sounds like a typical delay. Although not offering water does not sound typical of south west. I was delayed once for about an hour and crew even comped an alcoholic beverage while waiting.

Marcus Harper

LBJ

Fightaware shows gate departure of 3:21 (1h 36m delay) with 6 minute taxi time. Generally, from what I've seen on Flightaware, if they pulled away from the gate and did not return, it counts as taxi time. Perhaps they returned to the gate at some point to have maintenance check out the warning lights (and reset the gate departure time). I sometimes think things can get lost in translation with these second-hand accounts. Don't know why OP needed to start two separate threads on his son's trip.

Kevin AA

Worst flight ever would be one that crashes into a fireball. Second worst flight ever would be one that lands on a levee in Louisiana or the Hudson River.

Then there are horrid flights (3rd on down)... diverted to a remote airport, diverted to an airport in a country where you have no entry visa, lavs overflowing, sexual assault in flight, etc.

A tarmac delay and screaming kids is simply a bad flight. This happens on EVERY airline.

The FAs should always give people water during a tarmac delay. Other than that, there is nothing else Southwest could have done.

Tanic

WN 1367 originated in FLL and was flying through inclement wx before it ever got to PHX.

Take a look on flightaware at the storms that this flight crew had to navigate through for several hundred miles during today's monsoon and then thank the pilots for getting the pax safely to their destinations. It's no wonder the flight attendants weren't serving until reaching cruising altitude. On days like this a 1+41 delay is expected.

NoStressHere

Flight sucked, for sure. But overall - just another day.

As to offloading passengers. If they had done that, people would ..... even more. And flight would be delayed even more. Decisions are often complicated and based on limited information and they have to try and make the best of things.

They can not give out water while on the taxiway in most cases. It is just not that simple.

As to staying away from United or Southwest - they all have issues. Just the way it is.

Peoriaman1

Exactly. Despite the discomfort, its always better to remain seated on the plane on the tarmac vs. being offloaded.

Not a totally unrelated observation: You know how people here love to complain about boarding number issues with Southwest? Imagine the chaos and complaints if they have to offload and not everyone (or anyone at all) gets their original numbers back to re-load.

BearX220

Sorry, a moderate tech delay (which happen on every airline, every day) resulting in a 1:40 late arrival does not qualify as the "worst flight ever."

jeffandnicole

I'm going to say the flight where the woman was partially sucked out of the window and died was a bit worse than yours.

Stop being so melodramatic. Are you going to list all the times your son had a migraine? I'm sure it wasn't his first; I'm sure it won't be his last.

ne52

Decent legroom, gate to gate wifi and streaming entertainment, all available on the ground. That alone makes the delay slightly better than if the same had happened on Delta or AA.

Concur with the rest of the board. The experience sucks but that comes with flying out of Phoenix in July.