Southwest today announced a major revamp of its frequent flyer mile program. Under the new system, travelers will get points based on their airfare amount. There will also be no blackout dates or seat restrictions (existing members will get grandfathered in). The airline also introduced three new fare buckets, “wanna get away,” “anytime,” and “business select” with increasing points per dollar to redeem and total points required for a free flight. So not only are you getting from point A to point B, you’re also polishing valuable math skills. Southwest came out with 3 videos to explain it all: [More]
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Southwest, JetBlue Fly High In Zagat Airline Survey
By 11.30.10
For the 20th year in a row, the people at Zagat have done a survey of passengers on the major domestic and international airlines. And by the looks of it, travelers are much more pleased with the likes of Southwest, JetBlue and Virgin than they are the old-timers like United, Delta and American. [More]
Some Airlines Jettisoning First Class Seats
By 10.20.10
Global austerity has lead some airlines to chuck first class seats out the air lock. [More]
Southwest Finishes Dead Last In On-Time Arrivals
By 10.13.10
Among the biggest domestic carriers, Southwest finished at the bottom of the heap in on-time arrivals for September, according to Flightstats. This is surprising as the carrier usually performs well. Here are the overall rankings for the big birds: [More]
What Does Southwest Buying Air-Tran Mean For Consumers?
By 9.27.10
So, what are the consumer repercussions of the surprise acquisition of AirTran by fellow low-fare airline Southwest? Airfarewatchdog‘s George Hobica is worried that fewer competitors, especially at this price point, will mean that Southwest and other airlines will have less pressure to keep fares low. He also expects more mergers on the horizon. [More]
Southwest Buys Air-Tran
By 9.27.10
Overweight people wearing rude tshirts or skimpy clothes will soon have fewer flying options, now that Southwest Airlines is buying Air-Tran. The deal was announced this morning and comes a week after Continental and United Airlines merged. Southwest will get more access to places like New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, and expand into places like Atlanta for the first time. [More]
Strip Club Nearly Blinds Southwest Pilots At Love Field
By 9.6.10
Strip clubs and cockpits don’t mix, at least not when there’s a spinning search light involved, says the FAA. The agency has asked Bombshells, a club near Love Field Airport in Dallas, TX, to keep its newly installed rooftop light turned off after the pilot for a Southwest flight reported his cockpit was flooded with light while trying to land the plane. The pilot feared that it was a laser strike, which can cause temporary blindness. [More]
American Airlines: Passengers Are Happier When We Apologize For Screw-Ups Than When Things Go As Planned
By 8.25.10
Think about the all the flights you’ve taken in your life. Which ones are most memorable — The ones where you took off on time and landed as scheduled, or the ones where you slept at the gate while waiting 10 hours before having to make an unscheduled pit stop in Ireland for refueling? And according to an executive at American Airlines, customers are happier when a bad situation ends well than they are when things go as planned. [More]
Woman Kicked Off Plane For Unruly Behavior, Goes Back To Airport To Be Even More Disruptive
By 7.12.10
A female passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight threw her name into consideration for Most Aggressively Annoying Person On Earth over the weekend. Not only did she cause her flight to make an unscheduled landing, she later returned to the airport to wreak even more havoc. [More]
Southwest Celebrates 39th Birthday With $39 Fares
By 6.22.10
Southwest Airlines, which doesn’t look a day over 35, is celebrating its 39th birthday this week with a 3-day sale, offering fares as low as $39 each way for travel between Sept. 8 and Nov. 17. [More]
Southwest Airlines' Rabbit Rejection Letter Not Going Over Well
By 6.16.10
We’re pretty sure the person who wrote this rejection letter meant well, but it’s not being received with enthusiasm among rabbit-owning customers who want to be able to fly with their pets on Southwest. Southwest allows dogs and cats, so a group of bunny owners put together a petition and mailed it off to the airline. A scan of the response, which was recently posted on BunSpace.com and forwarded along to us, shows a letter full of cringe-inducing puns and a suggestion to buy their pets some “Hare Jordans” if they want them to fly. [More]
Watch Boeing Build A Plane For Southwest
By 4.27.10
This time-lapse video of a Boeing manufacturing facility is pretty awesome, if you’re into watching “how it’s made” type stuff or if you like to see sped-up footage of people. I recommend keeping the volume down and making up your own sound effects starting at 1:03, when employees begin to test everything on the plane. [More]
Hawaiian Airlines Tops Quality Study, American Eagle Falls Flat
By 4.13.10
For the second year in a row, Hawaiian Airlines has topped a study that ranks 18 commercial carriers according to a formula that accounts for everything from on-time arrivals/departures to baggage handling to customer complaints. On the bottom end of the rankings was American Eagle. [More]
AirTran Makes Fun Of Southwest Seating In Commercial
By 3.31.10
If you’ve ever been part of the mad dash for seats on a Southwest Airlines flight, you might find this video from AirTran funny. In it, mooing passengers race down the jetway while a Southwest employee makes ridiculous jokes. Meanwhile, AirTran serves its assigned-seat passengers Kool-Aid. Wait, now I’m confused about who’s being mocked here. [More]
Kevin Smith Says He Is Not Too Fat To Fly Southwest
By 2.16.10
Filmmaker Kevin Smith was thrown off a Southwest flight for taking up too much space, according to the airline, which has admitted communication errors led to the incident. Smith says he fit in his seat easily and was unfairly singled out. After telling his side of the story via Twitter in piecemeal fashion over the past couple days, Smith finally channeled his story into a cohesive blog post. [More]
Southwest Flight Forced To Land After In-Flight Entertainment Turns Out To Be A Live Birth
By 12.4.09
A Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City was forced to land in Denver this morning, after a passenger on the flight surprised everyone by producing a baby in mid-air. [More]
Southwest Suddenly Decides Man Is Too Fat To Fly — Again
By 9.8.09
We thought this issue was taken care of the last time a Las Vegas Southwest employee randomly stopped someone from flying without checking to see if they could actually sit in a seat with the arms down (per Southwest’s policy), but apparently not. Now a Chicagoland man says he was stopped from boarding a return flight home to Chicago because he was too big (6’2″ 350lbs), but he airline wouldn’t allow him to prove that he could fit in the seat.
People Love Airplane Wi-Fi, But They Don't Love Paying For It
By 8.28.09
The WSJ’s latest “Middle Seat” column is about that holy grail for all internet-lovers — airplane Wi-Fi. It turns out that people love, love, love it… but pay for it? Nah.
