Good work SWA.. meeting the problem head on. You'll still see me onboard!

I am truly disappointed and will not fly with SWA anymore! The company is still in denial of its wrong doing. Small cracks will turn into large, dangerous ones without prompt repairs. Stop lying and doing superficial change. It's time for real top-down reform.

Here we go again... Lack of not understanding of how things work. Not saying that you will fly the airline again... LOL, Then you should never fly again. All of this is minor compared other "High Cost Carriers". This has happened MANY MANY times in the past... But I think this is a first for SWA, for for most, there is not one person who could tell you how many they have. I work for a company that has had 13 self disclosures this year. I do not understand the press jumping all of this. It is a NON-News Item.

I feel really that this is more politcal that the FAA is trying to prove itself to Congress and who ever then next President will be.

SWA self disclosed all of this, and got back into compliance as quickly as they could. They contacted both the FAA and Boeing. Boeing is the manurfacture of the airplane. They are the experts on it. This is a totally NON-ISSUE as all airlines have this type of BS. The difference here is that the Media got wind of it and wanted to make some money off of it. Good News does not sell.. Bad news does... The real victim here is SWA, the Real Victor is the News Media. As a General rule, what I see on CNN (Communist News Network), I pretty much dismiss... Just remember.. Every time that you go to their wesite to see an update on this article... They make money... How... Advertisements. If you watch a CNN Video, you see a comercial, if you see text. You see paid ads... It is all about the news networks making money, on a blown out of propotion issue, that should have never been in the news.

I have flown SWA almost exclusively for quite a number of years and, except for periodic harassment about my size, my experience has been most positive. However, the recent reports of maintenance discrepancies have been disconcerting. Low fares are a poor trade off for safety. A statement from the FAA or other independent source that all of the expressed concerns have been addressed would be appreciated by me and, I am sure, many other of your loyal customers...G.C. Rothman

I am gratefull to see Gary"s full message to employees posted on the blog! It's great to know that people are being held accountable for their actions, or lack thereof. As an employee of Southwest, I am disgraced that we didn't live up to your expectations, and missed the inspections! Given the oversight, I'm also glad that no incidents occurred because of our lack urgency. That's not to say anything positive about the FAA agents though either! They can ground a plane instantly, and they didn't!
I am right there with the rest of you! I hope WE live up to your expectations in the future! This is an embarrassment to me personally, as well as to the 35,000 + employees and to our dedicated, returning customers. I hope you are forgiving!!! I'm sorry we have let you down, and caused you to consider other airlines. Knowing Southwest Airlines, rest assured this will never happen again! We are safe, we are friendly, and we will not compromise our jobs. I'm sorry that a few employees have strayed from their commitment to Southwest Airlines. Their motives and facts still have to be discovered, and I hope Southwest will become stronger and more diligent in providing a safe and secure travelling environment.
Please wait to see what the full investigation reveals before counting Southwest out!!

Let's see - there was the Kyla incident and it seemed like half the people in the country promised to never fly Southwest again. Then there was the boarding procedure change and yet another half of the country stated that they would never fly Southwest again.

Then SWA made some adjustments to Rapid Rewards and guess what - yep, it seemed like half the country swore off of ever flying Southwest again.

Oh - let's not forget early last year when the reservations window fell below 90 days. IIRC, about half the country publicly swore to never fly Southwest again.

And just earlier this year SWA announced the low $25 fee for a third bag. I think only a third of the country self-banished themselves from flying Southwest.

So since yet another half of the country has, yet again, sworn off of Southwest due to yet another non-issue, I'm really looking forward to my next flight. Me and the two other remaining SWA Customers should each be able to find good seats.

For the record, WTBB has absolute and complete confidence in Southwest and their commitment to safety - it's much higher than any other airline's.

I don't think there is ANYTHING over dramatic about hearing that the airline you have trusted your family's safety to has been fooling the public into believing that they have been in compliance regarding the working condition of their aircraft. After all, it is about the almighty dollar to them as it is to every airline. They just happen to GROSSLY breach the publicÃ

In regards to Chuck N.'s, yet again, outrageous slandering of SWA:

"Chuck N.: And the spin continuesÃ

I don't know. I was disappointed in the boarding policy initially and expressed my concern, but this is different.

Quite frankly, this scares me. Missing safety inspections? Aren't these scheduled for a reason? Surely they aren't just there for no reason... If this is the case, then how can it be good practice just to miss them?

Grounding 41 planes? How did it come to this? This seems pretty drastic to me. If the safety inspections weren't important back when due, why ground all these planes now all of a sudden? If they WERE important then why weren't they done properly and on schedule?

I don't know. I take my baby, my precious precious baby son onboard Southwest flights. These reports sadden me that Southwest may not be taking safety seriously. These reports scare me because everytime that door of the airplane closes I am putting my and my son's life in the hands of Southwest. Blowing off safety inspections? What else are they blowing off?

I am disappointed and afraid.

Cheryl Clemmons: I love your threats to sue. Everyone complains that corporations never do the right thing and when a corporation DOES do the right thing (disclose a mistake and take responsibility) then the media and the public are ready to jump all over them, string them up and run them out of business with lawsuits. Do you think that will make other airlines voluntarily disclose their mistakes? And believe me, they are making mistakes. Hopefully, they are as honest and resonsible as Southwest when it comes to disclosing and fixing their errors. Did you read the Dallas Morning News "story" Sunday on American Airline's "aging fleet". So who you gonna fly? Maybe people like you should just walk. If you put all the airlines out of business that's exactly where you are going to be: driving.

This situation is similar to saying that the day after your car inspection sticker expired your car became a screaming metal deathtrap and you became a selfish, greedy beast because you continued to drive it knowing it was "out of compliance". These "greedy people" you talk about are human beings, fallible and imperfect. They do their best under circumstances you will never fully grasp. They have parents, wives, children and friends who love and trust them and don't like seeing them slandered by people who don't know them and don't know the situation. Those employees are working themselves sick even as we type.

If only we could all be as perfect as you, Ms. Gannon. Get in your crappy car and drive yourself to your destination and see how "safe" you are on the nation's highways!

Katie, I take my precious self, my precious son and my precious husband on Southwest flights ALL THE TIME AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO.

Airlines have multiple layers of safety inspections that overlap so missing a mandated inspection doesn't mean that NO inspection was ever done, just that the one *mandated* by the FAA wasn't done and there's a consequence for that, a fine. But that doesn't mean that the airline doesn't have it's own, separate inspection program that covers the same territory. Again, it's like saying that because your car inspection sticker expired then automatically your brakes are bad, your tires are bald and your car is an inherent safety threat to everyone else on the road. Not true, though you do face a fine and penalty for not getting the inspection as required. But it doesn't mean your car is unsafe.

As with most FAA issues, this is not about safety but about paperwork and beaucracy. People blissfully unaware of the mountain of FAA regulation - that is to say, passengers - would be horrified to learn how much of pilots time and attention must be focused on regs, when they should be focused on operating the aircraft. Ditto with ground crew - SWA has GREAT crews, GREAT maintenance and GREAT aircraft. Paperwork errors do not a safety issue make.

Would you, Paula, care to retract these words from your previous post: "We assure you that this issue never compromised the safety of our fleet. "

As much as I would like to believe your CEO as to the commitment to safety, it seems to me an at least equal consideration is PR management. At this point, you have zero choice but to be proactive. If you aren't, and a whistle blower goes public about a negative finding internally, you know full well that you'll lose tens of millions.

It is sad that your pax will now be made to more than they would have had your company acted more responsibly in the first place. I would be most interested in hearing how your company plans to eat the greater costs instead of passing them on to the most loyal clientele in the industry.

To those who are saying that safety of flight was never compromised-

What do you say to the fact that 40+ aircraft in Southwest's fleet have been grounded?

No mention here (Are you trying to keep this quiet?) of the fact that Southwest suddenly cancelled many flights today - a consequency of taking 48 planes out of service.

Notably:

No effort was made to contact customers in order to make arrangements. In my case - there was an earlier flight I could have taken. Since they didn't let me know until I arrived @ the airport .. I have spent much of my day waiting for another flight ... and will go home via BWI .. meaning I lose a full day of work.

b) No offer of compensation was made.

c) No acknowledgement of the inconvenience of this was made. This was a rare event in this business - as these cancellations were wholly due to Southwest's management decisions. Neither weather nor unanticipated techical malfunction - this whole event rests on the decusions the airline made at one point or another to either service (today) or not service (2007 and 2006) these planes. So I lose a day .. eat a yucky lunch .. and I'm expected to say 'thank you?'

d) I'm an uncommonly avid fan of this company. I fly several times a month .. almost always on Southwest. Alas .. my conversation with the customer service reps on this matter have been infuriating .. due to the inability of these folks to take ownership of the root cause of today's problems: Southwest's decisionmaking.

Finally ..addinginsult to injury .. I was told when getting my boarding pass (I am in the 'A' group as I travel so often) that no 'A' passes were available. When sitting @ the gate I watched the agent give one to another customer. When I asked her why one 'appeared' she told me that he had a business select ticket. Just spoke with him ... no he didn't. Why are WN employees lying today?

So, you appear to be more concerned with people wearing short skirts than the safety of your planes. You need to adjust your priorities Southwest.....

From a PR standpoint, the company needs to get Herb Kelleher out in front of this issue and be the public face on this maintenance crisis. He has the publicÃ

I'm snippy because I hate seeing a good company trying to do the right thing getting summarily thrown under the bus by people who are already fearful flyers. My parents won't fly either but I promise you they are in far more danger driving on the roads of this nation than they would ever be in one of Southwest's planes. Remember, a 37-year spotless record.

Ed, no a plane is not a car, by the analogy is similar. As the other poster stated, a paperwork error does not a safety issue make. If you are not involved in aviation you have no knowledge of what all this really means, only the media spin, "you are all going to die". You have no idea the mountain of paperwork aviation folk are forced to deal with, but that doesn't mean the planes were never inspected or that they were ever unsafe. Layers of inspection that overlap, believe me. Layer upon layer upon layer...

I trust Southwest. They put their people and their families on these planes every day. Do they make mistakes, yeah, apparently. Do they deliberately sacrifice safety in the name of corporate profit? NEVER.

ANON,

You've missed the point. The mountain of paperwork is par for the course. If they don't like paperwork, perhaps they are in the wrong business (I don't mean that literally, but that is the essence of what your comment represents). Scandal is not relegated merely to money, my friend. Scandal comes in all shapes and sizes. I haven't forgotten the 37 year safety record, which is reason for patronage. From your point of view, it would seem some complacency is ok, because they have so much paperwork and they've done such a good job.

Quite frankly ANON, you're speculating on whether those aircraft were safe or not. There were actually incidents of structural integrity -- this is one of the main reasons for required inspection of 737-300s.

Just so you're aware, I flew yesterday and the day before on Southwest. If I thought I was going to die, I probably wouldn't have flown. The issue isn't about feeling safe, it's about being safe!

I know for a fact there are great people working for Southwest, the vast majority of people.

Again, I give credit to the many dedicated, intelligent, customer-dedicated and safety minded employees of Southwest. I know they will do the right thing.

Ed

The good doctor's post above answered one of my concerns - Southwest is going to make the pax pay for their malfeasance. No compensation for mechanical cancellations? Seriously?

I have since wondered how senior management failed its division managers, particularly the maintenance division. What was it about the executive leadership that caused those responsible for the equipment to cut corners and to withold reports? These people just decided to be lazy and treacherous? My money says undue pressure was brought to bear and that communication was deliberately obfuscated. From where does a culture like this emanate? The CEO.

You may be personally committed to the values so many espouse, Mr. Kelly, but you failed to impart this commitment to your people. The failure here is simply too great for you to remain in your position. If you really do walk the Southwest values, and not just talk them, you'll take ownership.

"Again, I give credit to the many dedicated, intelligent, customer-dedicated and safety minded employees of Southwest. I know they will do the right thing."

That's all I'm asking, really, is that the people involved be given the benefit of the doubt rather than have their integrity and ethics denigrated by people who don't know what they are talking about. Obviously mistakes have been made but they are being corrected and I firmly believe that safety was never, ever compromised. The people involved are working really hard and are heartsick over this.

Southwest has a long standing history of of corporate responsibility so it just frustrates me to see some people hysterically conclude that suddenly they are all "bad" and deserve to go under. These are peoples lives and careers at stake; families with children! I just think that Southwest's reputation justifies giving them the benefit of the doubt until all of this shakes out.

And for the record, the latest "lead" for the evening news locally (DFW area) was how "something out there is putting your and your family at risk every time you get in your car." Turns out it's poor road conditions - run for your life, right? I stand by my assertion that the media overplays the fear angle because it's a guaranteed ratings grabber.

Feith is a consultant paid by Southwest Airlines. Boeing gets paid by Southwest. I seriously believe SWA employees don't understand the concept of "Conflict of Interest".

There is absolutely zero evidence that anyone was every put in any danger due to this issue. You people who like to sit around thinking of reasons to be afraid of things that are unlikely to kill you and reasons to sue for damages that never occurred, should bury your heads in the sand and stay home far away from the big scary world.

Since my short post above (sorry about the typos - I was at the airport using my Treo to make the post) - I've been impressed with the number of comments.

I would agree with the folks who suggest that the company is good - indeed better in many ways than most airlines. For me - Southwest has become nearly a business partner. I have felt that I can depend on Southwest in ways that I could not depend on any other airline. Until now.

I have felt that I could depend on them to do the right thing - like the time that my two teenagers were stuck in Midway in a snowstorm overnight - and the staff found a way to feed them, get them cots to sleep on in a a safe place, and onto a flight home ASAP despite the fact that it was sold out.

That was two years ago.

Today - my business partner violated some guiding principles - and it's not about what happened (grounding the planes) its about how they did it.

When they grounded the planes and canceled the flights - they had ample time to contact the passengers (phone, e-mail, etc) and take PROactive steps toward meeting the customers' expectations.

The didn't do this - and that's the fatal flaw from which everything else has fallen today.

To quote Jim Ruppel: (WN VP of Customer Relations)

"If you always err on the side of the Customer, you will never get in trouble."

The errors were all on the side of the airline.

(http://www.southwest.com/swamedia/bios/jim_ruppel.html)

BTW - Neither Jim nor Gary Kelly would take my call today.

By waiting until the passengers found out - they chose the RE active path - rather than the PRO active one. Reschedule flights, parry requests for accommodation or explanation.

Indeed - when I called customer service initially - the representative I spoke with would not acknowledge that the planes that were grounded had anything to do with the FAA "cracks" issue. She pretended that she didn't know that there were any planes grounded!

Her supervisor (who returned my call 2 hrs later) refused to discuss compensation until I arrived at my final destination. Of course - my arrival time fell after the time that the Customer Relations office closes!

Bottom line: had they contacted me as soon as they made the decision, and offered me some token compensation - I would have been frustrated but accepting. Now that I've been patronized, jerked around, lied to and insulted - I will require a lot more compensation.

There is simply no argument that my business partner Southwest Airlines can make that holds water. If one of THEIR business partners made bad decisions that caused the airline to be unable to fly - (say a fuel company didn't maintain the brakes on the fuel trucks and had to take them out of service suddenly) - you know the Southwest attorneys would be lining up to make the case that the business partner caused loss of revenue.

I'll reiterate what I said earlier: this was NOT an unexpected mechanical problem, or a weather delay - or even a staffing problem. Today's cancellations were caused by Southwest's bad decisions and nothing more.

In such a case - I would argue that they ARE ethically (if not legally) responsible in some way for the lost revenue of their passengers. Let's see if they can make good on even a portion of their obligation.

I am now a bit suspicious of this blog and its reviewers. For my previous blog time stamped "Posted by: Edward Klipphahn | March 12, 2008 at 4:04 pm", directly after that post, there was one from another blogger time stamped "Posted by: Ed | March 12, 2008 at 4:18 pm" (no relation to me). His comments were posted directly after mine. HOWEVER, there is now a blog, which was NOT there -- and is now there, time stamped as if it were directly after mine. Fruad! I smell something quite fishy around here.

Look, if you need to get defensive and attack people such as myself, with incredibly legitimate concerns, go for it. It doesn't change the fact that Southwest is being fined $10,000,000.00 and being dragged through the mud it created.

Yes K.W., feel free to hurl insults - "Mr. Dramatic". Your comment "that does not mean that every one of the jets had cracks in them". The idea of having inspections is to ENSURE there are no cracks! Because, apparently there are some and that means there's a possibility of them getting worse.

If there's drama K.W., it is clearly Southwest's.

You just simply can't argue with Southwest employees like K.W. They have the Warrior Spirit!

Dear Ed K.

The comments are timestamped when you hit the post button and that places the comments on our moderation queue. With all of these comments, do you think we would have time to try and mess with the timestamps, and I seriously question what effect that would have on the conversation if we did it.

The only thing that happened here is that we approved the other Ed's post ahead of KW's post. Nothing more, nothing less.
Brian

Ker-Thwap,
Ker-Thwap, we have a blog for several reasons. It hasn't replaced our traditional communications channels like press releases and interviews, but the blog allows us to go to the public directly toi hold conversations like these.

This blog has been active for two years, and it has allowed us to show the transparency of our Company, in a similar vein to the old television show, Airline. We have printed the good, the bad, the funny, and the ugly.

Many major corporations other than those with a computer slant have corporate blogs now--Boeing, General Motors, and Delta Air Lines come to mind. Also most major news outlets now have blogs that allow two-way communications.
Brian

Mike,
oh how I wish I were twenty years old again. Next month marks my 32nd year in the airline industry (I am 55), and I have done just about everything you can in this industry from selling tickets, loading bags, operations, ramp tower, air cargo, provisioning, reservations. Up until recently, I did have a Team of Employees reporting to me in the Executive Office's Communication Group, but now, I pretty much work fulltime on this blog. Up until 2 1/2 years ago, I didn't know what a blog was, and honestly, was quite a sceptic. Yes, we don't always know the identity of those posting comments, but for the most part, I don't think folks abuse that. I invite you to click on the archives above and to the right and you will see that this blog is pretty versatile in the scope of the subjects it covers. I'd also ask you to check out these links from Flightglobal and the Dallas Morning News.
Brian

TO JOHN who wrote:
"I work for a company that has had 13 self disclosures this year." What company do you work for? If you do not want to say, what other airlines have had self-disclosures?

The issue is clearly transparency.

I praised y'all for sponsoring robust threads. It proves y'all are intelligent. It does not prove your interest in safety. It does not prove your intent. There really is no, single, way of proving intent.

The only way is to be as fully transparent as humanly possible. This is shown over a series of releases. I previously asked about the maintenance logs. Why can't they be produced for full public viewing? If there is no "there" there, what is the problem? Failure to produce the logs necessarily casts doubt upon your actions before and after the disclosure that the FAA fined y'all.

Why can't you, Brian, take some of the direct questions posted on your site to those with direct responsibility? I already know the answer....liability concerns. Well, my friend, too bad. If your story/answer is legitimate and tends to exonerate y'all, you need to shout it loud and proud with full authority.

Show us the nitty gritty details. Do not be a gatekeeper and describe them for us. Others have mentioned that you have had your defenders in the media. One gentleman from Denver, MIchael Boyd, was steadfast in his defense of y'all. He acknowledged that he didn't have the specific data, but that your record is excellent. Why not make ALL the relevant data available so that he can declare with authority that Southwest has acted properly throughout?

By your own accounts, you have declared that all remedial inspections have been performed. There is no longer any pressing imperative. Y'all can devote a ton of energy explaining all of this. The actual operational "crisis" has passed.

I honestly don't know the full truth. No fair-minded outsider can possibly know. But it is on y'all, Brian, to show us your clean hands.

Ed, our top Leaders read this blog either on their own online or through a weekly report that includes everything that is on the blog. So they will know your thoughts.

Brian

Brian Lusk:
Dell has a great customer blog. Customers have stated what they want and got Windows XP back, Linux, etc.
There are many more and hopefully you will do a little more research on these other sites:
http://www.socialtext.net/bizblogs/index.cgi
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2006/tc20060214_402499...

BTW, it was good to hear Gary Kelly apologize after his, and SWA employee's, initial attacks against the FAA and public concerns. The "Tylenol" case should have been a lesson from the very first moment of this entire episode.

Hey Chuck N
Thanks for the heads up. We have a blogroll too, with links to Delta, Boeing and a ton of other sites related to the travel industry, but for some reason, its not displaying the links. I'll check on it and get them back up. It may be Monday though.
Brian

I flew Southwest last week and wondered of the 737 would soon become a convertible like the Hawaiian plane did when it's top peeled off. Overdramatic my behind! It takes just one oversight to cause an accident or crash. Don't tell me about overengineering, and the planes are overengineered to be safe. If that's the case, then why do we have any wrecks at all. Southwest was just lucky this time. The fact that Southwest is in bed with the FAA inspectors doesn't make me confident when I fly yours or anybody else's planes nowadays. You're all the same. You fire three people as window dressing, then it's business as usual. At least it's safer than driving.

I for some reason do not understand why everyone is bashing SWA here... No matter what happens, it is a lose lose situation... Look at American, Grounded 200 flights which grew to over 300. Hmm.. Seems as this was in concerns to an AD inspection over site... Why are they not being slammed, or Quantas Air who had passenger O2 service with Nitrogen, which is a deadly mistake. 55 Airplanes were serviced... I mean like really, where is eveyone going here. Is it just that SWA is held more accountable than the rest, or is this somehow a statement for the outside designed to damage SWA. This thing is way out of hand. SWA Admittedly made a mistake and is working to fix it. Most other airlines have had much worse than that!

How can Southwest say that they should not have had planes in the air and that passengers were not at risk in the same paragragh?
I have made more than 30 flights with SWA. How many times was I not at risk????????????????

Southwest is committing fraud with their new awards policy. They do not really offer ANY seats for the standard award but always have seats for the upgraded award. Instead of bait and switch, why don't they just tell their customers the amount of points needed for a ticket has doubled? Why? because then everyone would cancel their southwest credit cards and they would be out of business. Seems like what they are doing is illegal.