Monday, June 30, 2014

Very Cool: A Typical Day for Southwest Airlines

On average, there’s a Southwest jet taking off every 24 seconds, day after day, without pause.

To get a sense of scale, FiveThirtyEight.com created a video showing a typical day in the Southwest network.


3 comments:

  1. Looks like an infestation. Flitting from one huge inhuman airport to another, protected from true competition by government, focused on their own special interest at the expense of customers and taxpayers. Its a plague on the land and should be eliminated. Where is the cure?

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  2. For 6 years I flew domestically at least 2-3 times per month for my job. In that time, I took 6 non-Southwest domestic flights, of which, 2 left me stranded in some random place for 24 hours. The worst Southwest ever did was 2 hours late once, 40 minutes late once, and one 6 hour delay on getting my luggage.

    The second non-Southwest flight that left me stranded also required me to reschedule a meeting with the buyer of one of the world's largest automotive parts retailers. After that, I decided to only fly Southwest and drive the remainder of the distance in the cases where there were no local airports. The only exceptions to this were Atlanta and Minneapolis, which Southwest now flies. Just an FYI: Delta has a nice 767 that flies nonstop between SFO and ATL, and Sun Country, a small but great little airline with cheap 1st class, flies nonstop SFO to MSP. When I fly to MSP from SF Bay Area, I still fly Sun Country.

    What Southwest needs to do is realize how many airports in Central California need a major airline, particularly a low cost one like Southwest. Look at how they do business in Texas - they land in Odessa, Lubbock, and Corpus Christi, but markets like Fresno, Stockton, Modesto, and Bakersfield don't seem to be on their radar. I imagine they look at a map and think someone in Stockton can just catch a flight from OAK, not realizing that to catch a 9:00 am flight, the customer would have to leave their house by 4:00 am.

    Okay, that's the end of my Southwest rave-rant.

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    Replies
    1. I had a similar experience(although this was around 14 years ago) with Southwest....I've never used them since.

      I suppose they are fine for sending the mother in law someplace as cheaply as possible they are fine...but for business use....nope.

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