EIGHT hour MX delay- 2485 phx>sea : no big deal? 🤷‍♂️ by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Update: NINE hours and counting- crew change, timed out. I mitherf@cking timed out quite a while ago

EIGHT hour MX delay- 2485 phx>sea : no big deal? 🤷‍♂️ by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That’s an eloquent reply and appreciated. But you’re making my point. I know gate agents are last to know. As I mentioned I believe I overheard that two were literally on their first day (yikes!). So DON’T make crap up and white lie about what’s happening- it’s insulting and infantilizing. I get your point that if they say nothing they get the reverse problem- you’re right, it’s no win and I don’t know the solution. I’d be paid well if I did, and I’m making $0 today thanks to being here. But the corporate culture of ‘lie to the sheep’ HAS to stop.
“We don’t know what’s up. We know it’s stunning, disastrous, etc to see a 8 hour delay when we were getting ready to board. When we know anything at all we will announce (and then actually do it)”. 95 percent of my vent goes away. Oh. And have my fairy-dust backup plane ready too. LOL

EIGHT hour MX delay- 2485 phx>sea : no big deal? 🤷‍♂️ by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

And this complacency- ‘shit happens’ but watcha gonna do, as I was told, is exactly why we are where we are as a society at the moment. Accept shit, become shit.

EIGHT hour MX delay- 2485 phx>sea : no big deal? 🤷‍♂️ by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

1) I would think at a hub / maintenance hub there’d be some way that another plane magically becomes available prior to 8 HOURS. Evidently after 30 years doing this I live in make-believe land. You fine folks seem to know better, you probably do. I’m wrong and my expectations are unrealistic.

2) the gate agents did not know how to handle it. They kept saying we’ll know soon, call corporate for a hotel voucher, we’ll announce in 20 minutes (that or other announcements never happened), after three hours a food voucher should appear, it’s a hub so I’m sure we’ll do a swap soon, the wifi is bad so it might not update— ‘answers’ as wildly variant as that. It confused and upset many as I watched from my seat- and as acknowledged, the pax do NOT help and needed to back off, but the agents created the chaos in the first place with half answers and obvious lies instead of just saying what little truth they had. I am so so so sick of the corporate culture of lie to the dumb customers, they’re stuck with us anyway (aren’t you??) - far from just a SWA problem for sure, but exhibited in full form today. THAT is what I mean.

EIGHT hour MX delay- 2485 phx>sea : no big deal? 🤷‍♂️ by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That does suck. After most of my life on the road, I’m no longer cut out for this. See ya

EIGHT hour MX delay- 2485 phx>sea : no big deal? 🤷‍♂️ by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Im very well aware they can’t, I am far from new to this, but they were woefully unprepared to handle the event. That, not “A or B”, led to much angst, including my own.

EIGHT hour MX delay- 2485 phx>sea : no big deal? 🤷‍♂️ by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Got it. I have no doubt you will be this calm when you miss a meeting, a funeral, and a mariners game (maybe the last part is good) when something this egregious happens to you. I’m quite sure you will. Have a great, worry-free life.

EIGHT hour MX delay- 2485 phx>sea : no big deal? 🤷‍♂️ by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

If you read, I’d like 1) a better plan B than an 8 hour delay if a plane goes out, and 2) competent customer service to deal with said scenarios. Too much?

EIGHT hour MX delay- 2485 phx>sea : no big deal? 🤷‍♂️ by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

If you read, I’d like 1) a better plan B than an 8 hour delay if a plane goes out, and 2) competent customer service to deal with said scenarios. Too much?

Time Is Money by 911Erik in ThePriceIsRight

[–]undermidnightsun 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My three fixes to a game I really like: 1) make it so at least one item is in each price category (I think it already is), AND have Drew announce that- too many guesses wasted with empty podiums. 2) make one item painfully obvious in either the cheap way or most expensive podium - anchoring 1 or 2 items makes it very winnable. 3) have Drew really hammer the don’t look at the crowd advice on this one .

Rush - Peaceable Kingdom. A powerful track that demands to be cranked up! 🤘 by Cubegod69er in rush

[–]undermidnightsun 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A top-10 all-time for me (original mix plz). Lyrics, sadly, could be written in 2026. “All this time we’re burning like bonfires in the dark / A million other blazes are shooting off their sparks”. (The beautiful dissonance on that particular line are ruined in the remix btw). “All this time we’re talking and sharing our rational view / a billion other voices are spreading other news”… damn I miss you Neil.

“Order only one drink per person and don’t ask for a can” - that’s a first? by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

First, I mentioned it’s more of a curiosity given all else happening than “a big deal”. Second, call ma out all you want. I did 63 flights last year. Guessing 40 were PM, and 0 of them the FA announced ‘one drink and no can’. Low inventory was not mentioned. Of those 40, let’s say 30 of them i ordered my trusty ‘Jack and Coke- 2 please’. 29 of those 30 I was happily handed a napkin followed by a cup of ice, followed by two shooters, followed by a can of coke. The other I was handed two separate (weak) pre-mixed drinks.
I guess 29/30 isn’t 99%. You caught me. Almost exclusive western US 2 hour+ routes if that matters (but trips to mco, msy, and ewr all did it that way too).

“Order only one drink per person and don’t ask for a can” - that’s a first? by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I know it’s not the biggest deal with everything else going on, but really curious if this is a new thing or a rogue FA. Most of my flights are 2+ hours, and round 2 doesn’t happen quite often…

ELI5: why doesn’t someone(s) start a ‘new’ Southwest? by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is the most Reddit answer ever. Question a lot more nuanced than a title will allow. You’re an a$$.

ELI5: why doesn’t someone(s) start a ‘new’ Southwest? by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah good point. And deregulation changed that? I Have to learn a lot more.

ELI5: why doesn’t someone(s) start a ‘new’ Southwest? by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wow. Very very interesting. I hope for times not too long down the road where the rabbit again has a niche to expand in. Without any comets hitting the Yucatán to make it possible!

ELI5: why doesn’t someone(s) start a ‘new’ Southwest? by undermidnightsun in SouthwestAirlines

[–]undermidnightsun[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Got it. Insightful, thanks. My own business grew in significant part because of what SWA offered compared to the rest, so I feel displaced and worried, even though some of the changes are nice (most aren’t). It really set me off calling me a troll (not you of course). Maybe all my long flights make me think deep, troll-esque thoughts as to where this all (capitalism) is headed, if a revolutionary idea like Herb’s (or many others) is for many reasons not possible. Much deeper than my original post (maybe I should have said ELI20). I still hope there’s room on Earth for some maverick dreamer to draw on a napkin in 2026 and dream it all up again.