I have read numerous articles about how great Southwest Airlines is. There are a ton of Tweets with fans raving. And I would have to say that a year or so ago I was at least respectful of the then lowcost airline, even though I only fly them to Vegas and LA. (You guys all know I’m a huge Continental fan.) Now, I’m seeing a completely different trend in this carrier, and it’s quite sad, really.
Southwest used to be pretty efficient. They had the cattle call which people didn’t like, but was proven to conserve time. Great. They were one of the first to allow online check in. Great. They still don’t charge for your first bag. Great. And they used to be cheap.
Now, they are more expensive to many places that USAir flies out of Phoenix at least (and they were 4 times the price to Vegas out of Dallas for the very flight I took today.) And my biggest complaint is that they completely lack in the communication technology arena. And that really makes me mad.
If my Continental flight is running late, which is rare (sorry – don’t ever believe any of those “on time” records you see of flights because they are bogus) I get an alert. I get notified consistently by phone, text, and email. I would have, for example, known today before I even left the house if my plane were already two hours behind. (Southwest knew my plane was late out of Houston according to the gate agent since prior to me calling the airline to check – because their online updates are always inaccurate, and the flights to Vegas are always late.) Knowing that I could have optimized a good 2 hours of work – PAID billable hours. Not being informed is unacceptable. There is technology out there, and it’s not expensive.
Moreover, the charm that once existed with Southwest has dissipated. While I saw some tweets about some rapping attendant, that doesn’t make up for the lack of communication that gate agents have. Why continue to say a flight is going to leave on time when it’s not – not by 3 hours! And since I was 1 hour early for my flight which was delayed and asked if there were open seats to the one leaving at 1pm (mine was supposed to depart at noon) I was told no. yet, when I got situated and went online – there were. Additionally, I could have taken two USAir flights into Vegas – all of which landed ON TIME (there goes the “it’s delays in Vegas, not our fault” we have been told over and over waiting for this flight both in the airport and on the tarmac) if they would have been honest about the time of the delay.
You have technology that can keep me informed. You also have people that can do the same. I think people probably forgave a lot of things when it was cheap. But now that it’s not cheap, and it’s not nice, and it’s not convenient, then it’s not a choice. Period.
So keep this in mind with your customers and I will pass along the same reminder to my staff today when I land… Clients would much rather be informed early and frequently, even if you are going to miss a deadline (which we would never do!) It’s the communication that matters. Everyone can relate to simple delays, traffic jams, printers running out of ink, and other things that may be out of your control and push a deliverable. What people cannot relate to as easily is the lack of information.
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