Southwest Reality Show

[colorado_cowboy]

I don't see where it would hurt or help them.

Ever hear of free advertising?

 

[pitguy]

They say even bad press is good too.

I like the couple whom was refused their flight for being drunk. Then the couple went to the airport bar and drank more and then they let them on later anyhow.

 

[Bradly71]

Ever hear of free advertising?

....I doubt very highly that the type of person that watches A&E flies on WN.
Now if this could somehow be integrated with profressional wrestling or tractor pulls, then it could be considered advertising . Now, on a serious note - I am not denying that it is a form of advertising, however - they already do quite a bit of it and sponsor of lot of things involved with the NFL and NBA. This little 30 minute show in late prime time on a cable network won't drag them down. I think most of the flying public knows what to expect when you fly WN, but they still do it. I think maybe all the others should watch and take notes. WN of today is not the WN of 10 or even 5 years ago - cleaner planes, nicer people, more choices. I'm not preaching for them and in fact only flown them once - but it wasn't a bad experience.

 

[AtlanticBeach]

I watched both episodes with my family and we agreed that US could learn a lot from this show.

First, we all realize that certain activities were done expressly for the cameras and would not occur on a regular basis. These included following the couple in LAX to their missed international flight and giving a set of clothes to the customer with body odor.

The biggest customer frustration was with rules. In my opinion, WN has many fewer rules than US. But, that was where the greatest (reasonable) customer dissatisfaction and excessive staff time occurred. The more rules, the greater the opportunity for incomplete training of employees and lack of compliance by customers. For example, the family with the 18 month old. Good rule, but the employee did not handle it well. BTW, strict interpretation of HIPAA law prevented the hospital from even acknowledging that the kid was born there. One of the peds in our family thought the kid was probably 27 months, but dad's size may have caused the child to be much bigger than usual.

Watching customers waiting all day for a flight is also something US should monitor. By increasing frequency on routes there is a specific advantage.

I fly WN about 15 times a year, all on routes that US no longer travels, and under 2 hours. To me, after cost it's all about seat pitch. WN is significantly better than US in this category. Combining threads, the 757 seat reconfiguration should have resulted in better Y seat pitch. If not, US has lost a potential advantage by removing most of F and having one of the most cramped domestic Y cabins.

Back to the shows. The bias of the producer is that customers are stupid. Can't argue with that and we haven't seen the flights to MCO yet. The lack of interline could have been played up, but was glossed over. However, I usually hang out in the US Airways Club in LAX and have missed the 7:30 AM drunks. Does US get these sots too?

Anyway, we were in complete agreement that your jobs are quite difficult and none of us would trade places with you.

 

[Colby]

Instead of building yourself up by tearing them down, you'd better start looking at what they do RIGHT and see how to apply it. Otherwise they kick your assets in PHL and then you get to work for them after U goes belly up.

I knew someone would bring up that fact..... WAA WAA WAA

Let me put it this way....... Going from a Company like U to LUV would be like going from working at a 5 star Resturant to working a CHUCKY CHEESES !!!!!


I may be out job hunting but LUV is the LAST PLACE I want to work..... There are still ALOT of other Airlines out there making money and HAVE CLASS !!!!

 

[Light Years]

It did seem pretty trashy. I've always thought thier new paint job looks like Barney fell asleep in a booth at a Denny's.

I do think that only airline employees are watching it. Who else wants to watch an airport when there are bugs being eaten and people marrying for money on the other channels?

 

[Colby]

. However, I usually hang out in the US Airways Club in LAX and have missed the 7:30 AM drunks.

Interesting...... Your gonna Knock US But still have the nerve to sit in our Club in LAX.... Before Flying WN I suppose.....

Guess You're able to Have your Cake and Eat it TOO !!!!!

 

[Colby]

It did seem pretty trashy. I've always thought thier new paint job looks like Barney fell asleep in a booth at a Denny's.

Once again.... THanks for the Chuckle !!!!

 

[AtlanticBeach]

. However, I usually hang out in the US Airways Club in LAX and have missed the 7:30 AM drunks.

Interesting...... Your gonna Knock US But still have the nerve to sit in our Club in LAX.... Before Flying WN I suppose.....

Guess You're able to Have your Cake and Eat it TOO !!!!!

Sorry to disappoint you Colby, but I am one of the loyal Cockroaches like Bob, Tom, Art and many others. My knocks at US relate to strategy, or lack or cohesive strategy. A nationally broadcast show should give management some ideas as to the perceptions/misconceptions about the competition. I'm only commenting on some of the activities and differences that might be exploited by US in the future or items that might be made better. But notice that I'm on US more than any other airline because of the great employees.

Me fly WN out of LAX? To JAX? No. As I said, 2 hours is about as long as I can stand listening to inane flight attendants.

 

[hopethingswillbeok]

Thank you US for not letting them film us.........I thought I was watching the Jerry Springer show, doubt if I will tune in next week, because I think Jerry Springer show is trash and that is what this show appeared to me......Best part they spent how much time and money cleaning up homeless Man, which probably paid one of their nineteen dollar fares.....I think it was great, their company was paying them by the hour to make this customer happy, so he can tell all his friends on the street to fly them....

 

[hopethingswillbeok]

also would like to add, what kind of uniforms are they wearing, I have heard folks on here stating they would like to wear thier uniforms, well if that is what they have to wear to work, Please leave me out.......It looks like trash.....I liked the Lady Flight Attendant that I guess she wanted to look half way like a real flight attendant so she had some kind of tie with the uniform, or was that part of their comedy skit

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

Comments like the previous one only demonstrate that U just don't get it.

Until you get "it", there's no hope.

Calling their passengers Jerry Springer types, ridiculing their uniforms, mocking the way they do business, and pretending business travelers won't hop on one of their planes is whistling your way past a cemetery.

Remember BWI? U guys used to have a large presence there. Not anymore.

Want to know why? because the people with the ugly planes and the employees and passengers you are choosing to ridicule took it away from you.

They took the California Intrastate Market that you paid a whole lot of money for away too.

Instead of watching them to find fault, you might ought to look in the mirror and try to figure out how you could be more like them.

I don't have a dog in this fight. I own no airline stocks and my paycheck doesn't come from an airline. My biggest connection with WN right now is 6 unused RR tickets in the clock on the mantle over the fireplace......we're using them over Spring Break to go to New York.

(El Paso to New York on WN is quite a treat, too.....ELP-PHX-BNA-ISP and then the train, returning ISP-BWI-MCI-ABQ-ELP).

Yes I shop at Walmart. Yes I have a household income that would cause the democratic party to look upon me as rich and undertaxed. I have kids thus I dine at McDonald's more often than I'd like. My house is in a doctor/lawyer neighborhood, for lack of a better description. I don't think I've ever watched an episode of Jerry Springer. I don't plan to start watching it either. Yet I am still a WN passenger and loyalist. Why? It's plane and simple. Value. Their employees are humans I enjoy doing business with.

Trashing the customers and mocking the employees is not a way to bolster the image of your company.

 

[enilria]

1. Next they had a drunk that was acting fine until they told him he couldn't get on the plane, while that is probably a sensible policy it came across as the agent provoking a confrontation.

2. Another segment was a "red coat" trying to help some connecting passengers make their flight on China Airlines which they were missing because of a WN delay. She escorted them to the terminal, but when China told them to come back the next morning the agent said, "looks like they are going to take care of you" and left. So she basically stuck China Airlines with the tab for food vouchers/room/etc. when it was WN's late flight.

1. It's more than "sensible policy." Rather it is federal law not to let a drunk passenger board an airplane.

2. Why should WN pay for their hotel or food? WN has no interline marketing / baggage / etc. agreements with other airlines, so they have no obligation to assist or guarantee people making connections to them in any way.

I agree with your point though that most people don't know WHY airlines work the way they do or why certain policies are in place, and it can make an airline look bad when employees are just following the rules.

I think your final comment is on the mark. I think we need to see this through the eyes of passengers not our fellow airline employees.

"Drunk" is a determination, there is not blood test that I've seen performed at the gate. Many drunk passengers get on that are "quiet drunks". It's the loud ones that get tossed.

Again, even though you and I know that WN has no interline agreements, I doubt that point registers with the typical passenger who has no idea of that.

The person who said this will make/break WN is exercising wishful thinking. While this is IMHO an embarrassment to WN (which is what EasyJet found out on the parallel European show) it won't do major damage to WN.

I just don't see the benefit.

The second episode was little better with agents demanding a birth certificate from what was clearly a "lap-child".

 

[enilria]

First, we all realize that certain activities were done expressly for the cameras and would not occur on a regular basis. These included following the couple in LAX to their missed international flight and giving a set of clothes to the customer with body odor.

The biggest customer frustration was with rules. In my opinion, WN has many fewer rules than US. But, that was where the greatest (reasonable) customer dissatisfaction and excessive staff time occurred. The more rules, the greater the opportunity for incomplete training of employees and lack of compliance by customers.

I agree completely that an airline that does not have interline agreements would never escort passengers to their connection. I don't believe it.

I also agree the whole homeless thing was supposed to make them look compassionate, but I think it just looked bad...and who hasn't sat near somebody who smelled on an airplane? I don't remember them being offered free clothes.

I think WN may have fewer rules...maybe...but they enforce them like n@zis. I think that point is coming clear on the show. Somebody was making the point that WN is loved because they always follow the exact policies with no exceptions which passengers find acceptable because they know the deal from past experience.

I don't know if that really endears them to their customers. It's not appearing to on the show.

Apparently in one of the news articles, it was disclosed that the producers control what video is show and the airline controls the voice-over narration.

 

[Colby]

hour to make this customer happy, so he can tell all his friends on the street to fly them....

"Hey Buddy can you Spare a Dime so I Can Fly Home?"