Why on earth would I fly SWA now
 

First I want to say that historically I loved SWA. The low fares, seat availability, sales, peanuts, friendly staff. However over the years the service has declined significantly. I’m a platinum executive on AA and a A -lister on SWA. Needless to say I fly… a lot. Over the past year I have spread my travel equally between AA and SWA. However, given the seat costs in January along with higher prices on SWA, I’m wondering if flying SWA makes sense? The baggage thing is irrelevant to me as I pack light. My central question is why would I fly SWA when I get a few peanuts of miles on these sales when I can get first class upgrades on AA regularly along with more miles plus I can use those miles to fly to Europe usually in business class. Given this, my next 10 RT flights over the next month and a half are all now with AA. Is there any possible reason for me to stay with SWA and if not, is SWA, just bent on driving the airline into the ground financially?

This may surprise you, but there are routes, including many intra-CA, that have no reasonable competition. Thus many of us are locked to WN.

After being a SWA loyalist for years, I am move more and more of my flights to AA (Texas based). If they get rid of CP, I am gone for good.

One issue that I anticipate will cause more frustration after Jan 26 next year is same day flight changes for A-Listers. Right now, you are guaranteed A-61 (or close to it). Next year, you are going to be sitting in a middle seat on most flights (same on AA to an extent), but still, another downgrade from current.

You might well fly WN when they have a nonstop flight and AA doesn't. I enjoy the perks of AA but it is rare for me to like them so much that I would take a connection thru hubs like ORD or DFW that can fall into chaos with bad weather. YMMV.

There aren't many good options intra-CA. All the carriers charge twice what I used to spend on WN flights. All except Frontier. I will have 3 trips on Frontier this year. Inconvenient, but I feel good giving some money to the competition. Transcon will be mostly JetBlue even though I have a Companion Pass. Sad!

Southwest's changes hit A-listers particularly hard. It's not that Southwest was trying to screw us. It's simply that they don't care. Even an obvious scam like imposing Basic restrictions on the return of your WGA round trip as soon as you Same Day Change the outbound went unaddressed in any way.

Based in Texas, I will still say WN is way better than AA. And these WN changes are actually for the better. I would connect through DAL or HOU anyday vs DFW or IAH. If you are not in one of the bigh cities like Dallas or Houston , AA flies American Eagle to all the other cities and they fly Embraers mostly. And those are constantly plagued with delays and cancellations. With WN, I know I get a Boeing 737 every single time. I despise AA Eagle , have been stranded overnight in DFW with their last flight being delayed or cancelled. Very rarely has that happened with WN.

Having said that sometimes AA first class is not that much more than WN preferred fare.. And if its an earlier flight in the day, I wouldnt mind taking that if the connection time in DFW is atleast 90 min. Or even if I am flying into DFW nonstop. Still, WN has more routes that are convenient than AA. Out of the Big 3, Delta is best, followed by UA and lastly AA. Delta in my neck of the woods has pretty much zero presence , so I very rarely fly it.

I fly Southwest when they are the only airline offering non-stop service, or when their price is significantly lower than the alternative. Same reason I fly other airlines that aren’t my top two preferred airlines. .(I previously had the companion pass and selected Southwest far more often.)

Make the decision on a flight-by-flight basis. Sometimes WN can make sense based on schedule or price. I find that increasingly rare though.

a) If you have a Companion Pass or readily acquire one
b) they fly NS v connection and that really matters to you

No other reason

Come end of Jan the clown show factor of flying WN reduces greatly. For those times you are resigned to WN.

It used to be
1. Price
2. Price
3. Non expiring funds

In 2026 it's only
1. Schedule
2. No barbie jets

There's nothing sticky about the new Southwest other than the bubble gum under your seat.

It's like having your steady girlfriend of years suddenly decide to play the field. Love lost. In its own first world problem way it's tragic.

Why did you fly WN before? Or maybe more specifically, what are the specific changes that are making you not fly them now?

If you can normally get 1st on AA and the flight times are good, then fly AA.

You can buy most of the AList perks via a new credit card and get 100,000 miles in he process.

Flying Y, I'd take an E75 over a 737 every single time.

WN seats are also more comfortable than AA in Y, though of course WN is destroying that advantage with the new layout.

Let's assume status tiers are there. Doing 5 RTs a month on WN, would "seat costs in January" be a factor? Are on-time percentages comparable?

Most people are uninformed sheep and not frequent travelers to extent this board is knowing every single rule and permutation of "benefits"

And they have little choice.