If you haven't heard, winter storm Elliot fricked all the airlines, but because of the way Southwest is run they got extra gigafricked and accounted for the vast majority of flight cancellations. Here's an overview article.
The tldr is that Southwest has cancelled most of their flights and stranded people all over the country with no communication, telling people they can't even rebook flights until the 31st. They're melting down so much harder than the other airlines due to a couple factors, the biggest of which are:
Using a different model where flights hop directly from airport to airport with no central "hub" like most airlines use. This allows a failure at one airport to cascade across the rest of their system instead of remaining isolated.
Using super antiquated inefficient software to handle this different model, making it onerous to make changes. The software has to be updated manually, and this level of need for rescheduling has very quickly overwhelmed their staffing.
Everyone is sneeding. Twitter, Reddit, Congress, your mom. Here's a few samples of choice drama, but you can find way, way more. The sneed is infinite.
Reddit shit:
Southwest called the cops before announcing no hotel vouchers
I had a flight yesterday from TPA, when I went to print my boarding pass at the Southwest kiosk it said my flight was cancelled. There was a huge line waiting to speak to Southwest reps, I got in the line. After about an hour of waiting a bunch of cops show up. Someone from Southwest comes out and starts yelling that flights are cancelled, there is no point waiting in line they canโt get us anywhere for days and they are offering no hotel vouchers. Yelling this at their customers who up until this point have been doing nothing but waiting in line. Guy in front of me is upset, he is stranded for 5 days, no hotel voucher. He is talking to his friend on the phone and is rightfully upset, one of the cops threatened to arrest him for swearing. THREATENED TO ARREST HIM FOR SWEARING (On the phone). The cops mad dogged this man the rest of the time he was in line, and just stood around all of us in line. Southwest called the cops on their own customers before announcing no hotel vouchers, what in the heck is happening. They put me on a flight going home Saturday. The Southwest employees helping people at the desks had no idea what was going on, they were very kind.
Plenty of back-and-forth in the comments over whether the upset passengers or the exhausted southwest staff are more deserving of empathy.
Denver International Airport, Southwest Baggage Claim
Not a lot of sneeding in this one yet, I just find these images hilarious.
A Frontier plane taxis in DIA, with a grounded Southwest fleet in the background. Not my pic
Again minimal sneed, pic just makes me laff
Southwest threatens to fire staff who attempt to escape the nightmare | /r/latestagecapitalism
Out of touch commie sneed
/r/darnthatsinteresting responding to yet another picture of a mass of unattended luggage
Lots of discussion in this one, lots of BUILD MORE TRAINS BRO
Loads more here: https://old.reddit.com/r/all/search?q=SOUTHWEST&include_over_18=on
Twitter stuff!
Delta enjoyers dab on Southwest fans
Literally just amusing smugposting
Videos, sneed
I asked an employee how they verify who takes what bag and was told โwe donโt, weโll randomly ask for baggage claim proof.โ She told be bags will stay out all night, monitored by employees. People donโt know when or how theyโll make it home.
More videos + sneed
Video of Southwest employee being short with people who are stranded. Sneed.
All the sneedplies to the DOT tweeting about investigating Southwest. Lots of good stuff there.
Plenty more where that came from: https://x.com/search?q=southwest&src=typed_query
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Glad someone is making this post. Let me tell you of my great adventure. Guarantee no one had a more interesting holiday.
30 minutes later
meanwhile
back at the rendezvous point in 8 hours
fast forward to noon, i shit you not this next part is real
I wanted to strangle the fricking elf in the moment, but now I think he is based and seethe pilled
Dramatard me was thinking of what a good rdrama post this would make
The drive was actually really fun, we got to see some GOATed landscapes, and we stopped in the middle of nowhere to look at the stars. It was gorgeous
Finally we get home and sleep. The next day, me and the gang went up to the airport to search for luggage, and that was a mess and a half - the luggage was strewn all across the floor, with no rhyme or reason. We found most of the bags, but one was missing - pending resolution, probably stolen lol
Anywho, thats the story of my epic cross country adventure that was a result of Southwest being weird. It was actually kind of fun imo, but the foids were massive buzzkills
this is the worst day of my life!!!
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY, I WANNA RIDE IT, ALL NIGHT LONG
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
True story
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Lol, southwest isn't a budget airline. Something like Spirit is a budget airline, Southwest is just normal. It generally has good service, compared with the other big carriers (Delta, etc)
I have never had trouble with Southwest
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I'd argue it's somewhere in-between, especially over the last few years. The first come, first seated bs they do alone puts it below the other airlines.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Lmao that doesnt sound budget, it sounds ghetto
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
I can't deal with not having an assigned seat. Southwest is the closest thing to taking a flying greyhound
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I can, since all the other airlines think "assigned seating" means "opportunity to squeeze you for more additional charges"
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Southwest is normal yet lacks assigned seating, and other niceties like phone chargers in the plane and terminal seating
I think they were the ones that invented the idea of changing airlines into oil futures speculation holding companies instead of businesses that fly people to destinations for money.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
I've never had this happen with Delta
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Weird. I've never had a Delta flight that wasn't delayed hours due to to entirely preventable mechanical issues.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
ever since this site became mainstream, the corporate shilling is out of control
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Frickin based
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
tbh I was surprised to see no mention of this on /r/drama already. It's an enormous nationwide dramabomb. Holiday sneed, commie sneed, plane need, CEO sneed, government sneed. It has it all.
Was the stolen bag one of the wammen's?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
You know it
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Sam Brinton busting some fat nuts rn
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Sigma male thief grindset.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
They/Them has struck again.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
at least nothing of value was lost
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Even imprisonment can't stop Sam Brinton. He's a force of nature, like the actor from The Flash.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
You thought someone had misplaced your luggage BUT IT WAS ME! ME, NORMIE! I STOLE YOUR SUITCASE
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
I made a post https://rdrama.net/post/134807/psa-from-a-swa-employee-since
i am often very fast to report drama here, but get little notice.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
FWD is front wheel drive. 4WD is Four Wheel Drive.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
It was a shallow ditch and paved, FWD was good enough
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I used to have a beater FWD car that I took everywhere. Even deer hunting. Used to make my friends so mad.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
It's amazing how far you can get a shitty sedan into the woods if you just drive really slow and have a shovel tbh
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Worst case scenario you throw a couple 2x4s under the wheels you're good
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Kitty litter, some cardboard, a shovel, and two friends to push will get you many places.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
If it was one of the foids', I might have an idea of who the culprit might be...
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
nothing to see here
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
My airport story:
Flew to Vegas with my wife, SIL, and nieces. Flight home was Vegas -> Minneapolis -> Milwaukee.
High winds prevented us from landing at Minneapolis and we had to land at Rochester to refuel. Because of this, we missed the flight to Milwaukee. My wife and SIL are looking to me like "What do we do?" How should I know, this hasn't happened to me before. I fly on occasion for work, but not frequently.
When we landed at Minneapolis at 3pm, it automatically booked us for a new flight at noon the following day -- 21 hours later. There was a flight in a few hours but it was full.
Minneapolis is 5 hours from home, so 'frick it we'll rent a car and drive the rest of the way'. Asked the service counter about our bags, they said it'd be on the flight tonight and waiting for us when we land tomorrow.
Leave the secured area and go to rent a car. Of the 6 rental companies available, four will not do a one-way rental. One will, but 7-day minimum rental term. The final one said he has a single car available, but one-way rental is $650. "But, there's someone else trying to rent a car to [our city]. If I see him, i'll point him out and you can split the rental cost". I'm travelling with my wife, sister-in-law, and two very young nieces. We are not sharing a car with a stranger for five hours.
Look at flights again and there's one with seats available to a different airport, 30 minutes from home, in just a couple hours. $60 to rent an Equinox round-trip through Costco. Switch our flights, go back through security, fly home, and race to the original airport to pick up our bags before they closed, as well as pick up my car from the parking lot. Bag's not there. Turns out when we rebooked to the new airport, our bags were switched to the plane we were actually on. The bag tracker didn't update until after we rented the car and drove away.
There was also a work trip where all our flights got canceled due to snow. Instead of all 8 of us on one flight to WA, we ended up split on three different flights. I landed first and had to wait for the second flight for someone with a rental assigned to them. Third flight got stuck in Idaho and decided to rent/drive from there instead of waiting for the makeup flight. So the rental situation ended with me and a guy sharing an Acadia, one guy with a Fusion, and the remaining 5 all sharing a Grand Caravan.
After a couple days, Enterprise called us and said "We sold that Acadia, you need to bring it back." Nah, we'll bring it back when we're good and ready. When two of the guys went home, I sent an email to snag the Fusion for myself and the other 5 continued sharing the Caravan. Nobody except the girl asked to ride with me despite all of us staying in the same shitty Motel 6.
Longpostbot, do your thing.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
If only you could put that energy into your relationships
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
He literally did though!
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
I had a whole "where did the girl come from" angle, but at first read I skipped over "all 8 of us". Anyway, the Caravan must have been a blast without you and she didn't feel like driving.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Society is at all times three bad airport experiences in a row away from anarchy.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Lol Iโve been travelling internationally all pandemic and after, never had an issue and then I hear shit like this , Iโd kms tbh
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
lol foids are the absolute worst to travel with. 1 thing goes wrong they complain. flights cancelled they cry. Shit like this happens.. well hope you brought headphones and xanax
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Is the Xanax for me or them?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
both
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
por que no los dos?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
i dunno, I dated a girl I traveled with a lot, she was 5'2" and like 110 lbs, it was great because she'd happily take the middle seat, I didn't have to worry about a fatass next to me, and even the most burger Ameriburger wasn't really fat enough to encroach in her space. Plus having a hole to nut in at your destination is nice too. 10/10 would recommend
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Sorry about your friend's obesity
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
woman moment
stfu
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
def. fat
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
why does everyone think I'm fat lol
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
because of your weight
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I have the thin badge
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
All those words won't bring daddy back.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
like always
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Imagine being r-slurred enough to goomble on flying in the winter...
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
guess what the gender of the person who suggested this was
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Frick air travel lmao I hate people so much
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
I can't believe they lost the one baggage that was carrying all that gold and diamonds
Guess their insurance is going to have to pony up
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Why can't the pilots just take a nap?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
driving is the superior way tho sry u confirmed u rly Jewish bb (shabbat shalom bb it's friday after all)
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
The road trip actually sounds fun and comfy
My trip was mostly boring. I got stuck in Chicago for a night with United and booked a nice hotel. They got me on a flight home the next day.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Not reading all that, but I'm happy for you. Or sorry that this happened.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
You could have just called them, r-slur
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Hi @rhwwi,
Your comment has been automatically removed because you forgot to include
trans lives matter
.Don't worry, we're here to help! We won't let you post or comment anything that doesn't express your love and acceptance towards the trans community. Feel free to resubmit your comment with
trans lives matter
included.This is an automated message; if you need help, you can message us here.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context