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I have never traveled for Christmas. Never in my life. Neither have I ever traveled for Thanksgiving. So, the notion of planes or trains or long road trips to celebrate a holiday — let alone with the prospect of weather delays — has never been part of my holiday lexicon. Ever.
Out of a confluence of events too long to go into here, my husband, youngest son, and I decided to travel to Las Vegas on Christmas Eve, returning on the 27th. It was a first-time-in-my-life adventure. To top it off, Hubby and I ended up on Southwest — why is another story too long to go into here? Our son was coming from Colorado on American.
Our son arrived and departed with nary a delay — even with a connection each way — despite it being the worst travel day in modern history.
Hubby and I experienced a seven-hour outbound delay and a two-hour return delay amidst departure and arrival kiosks blistered with the word canceled in bright red letters.
We felt fortunate — downright lucky! Lucky enough to gamble on Christmas in Las Vegas, I might add. Heresy, I’m sure, but if you’re in the middle of an airline maelstrom and are lucky enough to make it both directions amidst a 10,000-plus flight meltdown, then I say go for it.
We saw unfathomably long lines. We saw airline workers unable to make decisions. We saw children, parents, and even dogs melt down. We saw a mortified captain tell us never in his twenty-plus years of flying had he seen a boarding process so broken before apologizing profusely, getting in the cockpit, shutting the door, and delivering us to our destination seven hours late. We saw pilots stranded with no place to go and incomplete flight crews. People sleeping in hallways. People in tears. We saw absolute airline incompetence. We decided to take in the 49ers game, sip a cocktail, and make the glass half full.
My travel agent calls Southwest “Greyhound with wings.” Anyone who has been near that bus line knows being called Greyhound with wings is far from a compliment. And then the airlines announced they were ramping up flights several days later, as if nothing had happened.
Yes, the government is looking into this. Yes, there is hand-wringing about a frugal airline making frugal technology-investment decisions. Yes, there is concern about the FAA being too close to Southwest to have proper oversight. Yes, the pilots and flight attendant unions are up in arms.
But until consumers walk with their dollars, this will be forgivable. Consumers don’t have to put up with this. This was the worst brand experience from corporate America in a long, long, long time — maybe ever. Cambridge Analytica and Facebook pale in comparison. This was a complete and utter meltdown on a scale we haven’t seen since Lehman Brothers — and that didn’t leave thousands of consumers and their families splayed all over the country, stranded on Christmas.
Catastrophe. Missed holidays. Missed memories. Missed experiences. Mastercard calls them priceless. How in the heck is Southworst going to recover from that? They can’t.
Southwest bet with their lack of technology investment dollars and lost, and they knew this was a problem. It’s time now for consumers to spend their dollars elsewhere. We saw people who swore they’d never fly Southwest again. I never will. This morning we got a $600 “I’m sorry voucher.” We won’t be using it.
Will consumers be lulled by the next cheap fare? Place your bets.