comment: >
  
  They were a ruination by design, given their 30 year reliance on their point to point model and archaic scheduling software. All things that were completely avoidable.
context: They can start by purging the Board, and listening to their pilots. >
  
  And their IT guys >
  
  Yup. Management who doesn't listen to IT is bad management, period. This day and age IT is incredibly vital to almost every business, especially one as big as this one but management often treats IT like basement dwelling neckbeards that play WoW all day. >
  
  Since COVID hit it's been so much worse in some regards, too.
  I've seen countless examples of IT working voodoo fucking black magic to get new systems off the ground and establishing new protocols and procedures in the beginning to support remote work forces and all of the other changes going on because of COVID. I've seen nearly as many examples of work meetings and other things during those times acknowledging and citing all of the hard work everyone was doing during COVID to keep businesses running, explicitly thanking various teams and never once mentioning IT at the backbone of it all.
  This scene from IT Crowd pretty much sums it up. >
  
  I honestly can't think of a single time I've been thanked as IT (end users do but management never does). That IT Crowd scene has played out so much throughout my career. 
  I still remember at my last IT job (before I switched to software development) we did a massive deployment (20k new computers) that we did the ordering for, got everyone nice new docking stations, dual monitors, and got it all in their hands in three weeks (all 20k in three weeks!) and...
  ...the bean counters got thanked for approving our order. Not one single thank you to the IT that worked overtime to replace everyones antiquated gear. >
  
  I do IT in public schools. Everyone else in the schools had no shortage of appreciation from the administration and the general public in the community. Teachers. Paras. Bus Drivers. Custodians. Nurses. Front office staff. You name it.
  Never once a thanks to IT who worked overtime and pulled off getting an entire school district of thousands of students and hundreds of teaching staff working and learning remotely with new systems and devices. The entire district would have crumbled without what we did. I've never had to learn, figure out, implement, and act confident about so much new stuff in such a short period of time.
  Don't get me wrong. I love my job. That's just always been a sore spot. Especially since I have heard that story play out time and time again so many times over the last couple years.
  People don't fully understand the extent of what we do because it's so difficult to explain in enough detail without it turning into eye glazing technobabble. >
  
  There are only two responses to a PR crisis and Southwest has already picked the wrong one. >
  
  They tried to have thier customers arrested. Its hard to come back from that. >
  
  Literally four different airlines are in the news today for being complete scumbags. Who the fuck should I fly? >
  
  Thank fuck The Dollop did that episode on Dean Kamon and "it" cause I completely missed the segway hype train as a kid and this was all so baffling until now >
  
  You're Queen Fakey of MadeUp Town. >
  
  All hail queen shit of liesville! >
  
  The train has already left the station. >
  
  Impossible. That would mean the train is on time! >
  
  I’m still waiting for my refund. They were nice enough to give 25,000 useless points that I’ll never use as an apology for taking so long. 
  We’re getting close to finding a lawyer. As far as I’m concerned Southwest has stolen my money. >
  
  If you agreed to the points it may be very difficult to get a refund. >
  
  I didn’t agree to anything. They sent them as an apology for the refund taking so long. >
  
  Hopefully there wasn't some kind of small print saying something like "by accepting these points, you agree to waive all rights to further attempts to collect a refund" or whatever BS mumbo jumbo companies try to sneak in. >
  
  I did nothing to accept them. If they were to do that they’d have to do something for me to trigger an acceptance. >
  
  Changes it’s name to Spirit, upgrades rep. >
  
  You have a long ways to go when you start making Spirit look like the reliable, no-frills option >
  
  As much as a “joke” Spirit is. I have nothing but fantastic experiences from my regular flights each year from them. They have become the only airline I fly for domestic travel. Sometimes the FA announcement also have self depreciating humor about the cheap flights before take off.
  I was in New Orleans for my usual flights there for Christmas…and on the way  back I saw the Southwest struggle (and saw the board of all cancelled flights)  while I was comfortably on time in my “Motel 6” of the sky. >
  
  Oh yeah same! Their seats aren’t the most comfortable, but if you’re traveling lightly and/or on a short haul route then it’s not a bad deal tbh. I’ve never had one bad experience with spirit in the dozens of times I’ve flown with them. I’d rather pay $150 for a round trip flight and know it’s gonna be uncomfortable than pay $400 for one that’s also gonna be uncomfortable but will get me a complimentary plastic cup of soda >
  
  I so agree! Like I said about the Christmas New Orleans flight from San Francisco. SF to New Orleans, Xmas week. 325 bucks round trip!!! I said screw it and spent the extra 20 bucks for the ‘first class’ seats round trip lol
  Tickets on other airlines were going for 600 same trip. >
  
  40 years of customer goodwill annihilated in days.  Incredible. >
  
  They can start by offering business select flights to all those passengers whose Christmas plans were ruined >
  
  They lost our friends bag for 5 hours in Denver on Tuesday. It was somehow in the vast sea of lost luggage from Christmas. On January 3? Nightmare! >
  
  Yeah, good luck with that! >
  
  Oh, they should move to rebuild their actual performance before doing that.
  Rebuilding their reputation might just be hiring a PR firm, and changing nothing. >
  
  They can start by getting rid of that COBOL system and upgrading to a language that’s not older than the moon landings. >
  
  First step: get rid of that CEO. Or he can stay if he donates his entire year's pay to the customers he fucked over. >
  
  Southwest CEO: I will work for a yearly salary of $1.
  ^( ^And ^massive ^bonuses ^paid ^in ^stock ^and ^taxed ^at ^a ^lower ^rate) >
  
  Southwest, probably: "Every flight is going to come with complementary good vibes and free water from now on!" >
  
  I used to joke that Southwest was the Greyhound of the skies, but I now think I'd rather ride a Greyhound bus than a Southwest flight.
  Air travel is falling apart all around us in this late-stage Capitalism rush to squeeze as much profit out of everyone as possible. Given how many people rely on flying for their livelihoods I don't think we'll see serious change, but if casual consumers continue to vote with their wallets "Rebuilding reputation" may have to involve more than just some hand wringing and gentle mea culpas. >
  
  Wonder what its stock value is right now. >
  
  Well played. Definitely staying blue though. >
  
  After 15 years and a bad experience with South West I never went back to this airline!  This company has screw you flight policies for the customer!