Commentary

It’s kind of nice having most of the family relatively, no pun intended, close during the holidays. We have a few of our sons and daughter who are an airline flight away, but the rest are within driving distance.

Watching the national news between Christmas and New Year’s Day, it is apparent that travelers booked on Southwest Airlines had to have been living through a nightmare.

Some insider information available to me indicates that Southwest’s problems were the culmination of years of a slow decline in corporate attention to business. Or rather, the company’s administrators were so focused on business, they lost sight of the airline’s well-earned reputation for customer service and satisfaction.

My sister was flying Southwest once upon a time and said the passengers were in their usual hubbub of inattentive conversation and getting settled when the flight attendant began her emergency procedure briefing as the airplane waddled out to the runway for takeoff.

She held up a wallet. “Did anyone lose their wallet?” she asked.

For a few seconds everyone’s attention was on her as they checked themselves and she began… “Now that I have your attention, please place your seatbacks in the upright position. In case of emergency…”

The entire cabin fell apart laughing at her attention-getting scheme, my sister reported.

This kind of flying experience was Southwest’s bread and butter, and it was thanks to Southwest’s CEO, Herb Kelleher, according to information an SWA pilot provided an acquaintance of mine. Kelleher was keen on operations and had his hand in day-to-day operations.

In 2004, he retired and the new CEO was named. He was an accountant and he banked the airline away from operational efficiency to a new heading focused on finances.

You can see where this is going.

The organization, top down, began to lose that which Kelleher had engendered in its culture.

Add to that, the company was three decades behind in upgrading its operational software and telephone systems.

When the winter storm slashed the Midwest last week, well, the you-know-what hit the fan, for Southwest, at least.

Thousands of flights were canceled and the 30-year-old computer system broke down as stranded passengers, crews and maintenance personnel tried to get something working.

According to this missive, they had airplanes in place, a crew to fly, passengers to board but zero coordination. Crew phone calls were on hold for hours and hours as the pilots themselves attempted to communicate with dispatchers.

Meanwhile, across the way at United or Alaska, those systems weathered the minor turbulence caused by the winter weather and were in business in short order.

Southwest’s current CEO inherited this debacle and, in time, Bob Jordan should get the airline back on course. Unfortunately, thousands will not forget how an airline ruined their 2022 holidays.