For anything 90+ minutes certainly.

For intrastate or other shorthauls WN is usually compelling. In a bite your tongue and suffer it sense.

I will continue to fly Southwest since they often have the only nonstop to a destination out of my home airport, St Louis. However, I'll be looking a lot more carefully to see if there are other options and be less enthusiastic about recommending them to others. My cautious approach will at least last through 2023; I'm unclear if we will know whether they have updated their crew scheduling software to prevent a repeat, so my caution may last longer.

We flew Southwest on 12/23 and 12/28 and got extraordinarily lucky - 2 hour mechanical delay on departure and our return flight operated pretty much on time.

Because RJs are so much more comfortable than 737s on intrastate and other shorthaul routes and are so much less likely to cancel (the past two weeks aside, obv! :D )?

This is kinda how I feel (just replace STL with TPA).

Viable alternatives are sporadic at either station. There is momentary urgency for stopping the bleeding, compensating and retaining affected customers, and preserving its favorable brand. But negative press won't dislodge the fanbase.

I am sure you are correct. But WN can make exceptions if it wants to. Southwest fares are displayed on the corporate booking site that my employer requires all employees to use for booking business travel. The site doesn't require us to book on Southwest, but it does nudge us that way. Which is a change from how it was pre-Covid, when we were asked book with Delta if at all possible because we had a fare agreement with Delta. (The agreement expired during Covid because we stopped almost all travel.)

I flew on Southwest for a business trip last year to Sacramento and back. The other nonstop choice was Delta, and Southwest was much less expensive, especially with bag fees taken into account.

The RJ 900s are generally pretty decent. It’s the CRJ 200s and Embraer 135/45s that bringeth the misery and the Legacy 3 are trying to phase them out anyways due to chronic pilot shortages.

Embraer 175 is currently one of the most common RJs used - modern, comfortable. I particularly like the 2 x 2 seating on coach, 1 x 2 in first; no middle seat issues.

For intrastate or other shorthauls, driving is more compelling.