Pilot giving credit card pitch on arrival
 

I totally forgot to post this but about a week ago in a flight from DAL-MIA when we arrived at the gate the pilot came on and welcomed us to Miami and then he proceeded to go into a credit card pitch for the SW Chase Visa. This was super odd, awkward and a bit cringey. I could tell by his tone he hated doing this and it felt very forced/required and rushed.

Is this something new they are trying, and requiring pilots to give this pitch?

NBD, can think of a lot more things to concern me before this.

While of course this is not my top concern, I always appreciated that flying southwest I've never had to see the flight attendant awkwardly walk down the aisle with credit card applications while I try not to make eye contact. Making the pilots do it is something else...

Seems strange. Sure it was the pilot and not another crew member?

Still,if they are at the gate, not much of a safety concern at that point. And to be honest, at that point, almost nobody is paying attention anyways.

Some airline employees get commissions for co-brand card sign-ups. A "Limited time offer" to a strapped-in clientele has a certain Clockwork Orange sensation.

Could always be worse.

Yep definitely was the captain as he announced himself as such. It was just so awkward and gave me flashbacks to my days flying on AA and their incessant Aviator card pitches during flight from the Flight attendants.

I few four separate flights on Friday (2 days ago)... a day trip with connections both directions - so four different airplanes and four different crews - and not one thing was mentioned about credit cards by pilots or flight attendants.

I am not saying your experience didn't happen - Just that it does not seem to be the norm for now.

Same...between 2 and 4 flights weekly and have never heard it.

Southwest asked flight attendants to sell credit cards during flights in exchange for a smaller pay cut in 2020. Gary Kelly warned a “lack of meaningful progress” in cost-cutting negotiations with labor unions.

I saw no FT threads about on-board sales pitches. Apparently, few and far between.

I was reminiscing the other day about the reps that used to pitch cards in the terminal. Haven’t seen those in ages and I haven’t heard a CC pitch on a plane, other than the Allegiant flight I took a couple of weeks ago followed by an AA flight two days later.

Really? They say they need to cut FA positions! Do they have that many excess crew now? Seems very unlikely.

2020 reference, duly noted. Crew and hiring shortfall stubbornly unresolved.

conspiracy theory hat on— is this somehow related to thr pilot out of vegas who had the medical emergency???

Just a guess but I would bet the flight attendants put the pilot up to it. Maybe the pilot lost a bet and this was his punishment. It's definitely not SOP and SWAPA wouldn't allow it to be mandatory without getting something big in return. This should definitely not become a frequent occurrence. If it annoys you, complain to SWA or better yet ask the pilot what's going on. SWA crews are usually easy and friendly to talk to and I would bet there is a good story here. The FAs would also likely know what happened in case the pilots are gone by the time you get off the jet.

Really?

I have NEVER heard a Southwest flight attendant make the credit card pitch that flight attendants at other airlines make... There seems to be no pressure or incentive for them to make those credit card pitches.... but you think THAT is what the flight attendants considered funny to make a pilot do?

Ummm... okay.