I gotta admit this makes me embarrassed for my hometown airport.
As though passengers with cancelled Southwest flights did not have enough stress already:
I have NEVER heard this rule before, and quite frankly, I would have been looking for help from the same counter.....any Southwest employee anywhere..... had I been in their circumstances.
That's because they just made this rule up!
Using this IDIOTIC logic if you show up at the airport and your gate area is crowded you are TRESPASSING if you go to another gate!
BNA and SW need to find new PR firms yesterday. They both appear to be run by people determined to make a bad situation worse by acting arrogant and assuming their customers are "wrong"
I believe they actually failed to arrest anyone probably because they knew they had absolute NO legal reason do to so. And if you listen to the video the "law enforcement" seems a little shocked to discover SOME of those he's planning to arrest actually DO have tickets for flights that SW has NOT yet cancelled.
SW 'Luvs" you and their solution to having to pay for food and housing is to have the Nashville jail take care of that for them! (I will probably stay off this airline for a LONG time after this meltdown and tone deaf response!)
Bad look for Southwest
Bad look for BNA
Bad look for security officer who seems to have professionalized being a middle school bully
I wonder what the unhappy passengers were doing that the SWA employees felt so threatened that they needed to call the police?
The statement from the airport's Department of Public Safety--available in the link in the OP--makes no mention of bad behavior on the part of the passengers. I could be wrong, but one would think that if such behavior had occurred, this would have been detailed in the statement to offer some justification for their officer behaving as he did.
Eric, yep, it is all sort of strange.
No doubt, many employees are super stressed, as are passengers (or those who had hoped to be passengers). Earlier today, when I saw the news piece and my jaw dropped, I did make a call to the person who shows as the corporate communications manager for the Airport Authority. I was told she was out on vacation, so I left a brief message for her assistant. I will be shocked if I receive a return call.
Back (now a couple of decades ago) when i used to fly most weeks for business, and later (after early retirement) frequently for leisure, I do recall gate agents helping me when flights were delayed significantly (or the rare cancellation), even assisting to transfer my ticket to other carriers (back in the really good ole days). I recall the "red jacket" gate agents who could work magic (and I have no idea if airlines have such designated reps nowadays).
But, what unfolded with Southwest this past week, I would classify as "epic"....a truly epic disaster that will take some serious action to begin to "make right" in the eyes of those affected, to restore some level of confidence among those who were stranded/disappointed ....and to gain the confidence of those (like me) of who merely watched electronically from the sidelines.
And, at a time when there is already a shortage of airline personnel...pilots, flight attendants, ground crews, unless someone is really close to pulling the lever for a retirement package, many may choose greener pastures. I think Southwest needs to do something special for their employees, too....some who tried for hours to get thru to scheduling, slept on cots at airports, and did their best with limited resources to deal with customers in the worst of times. It is my understanding (if I have listened well) often there were planes, there were pilots, there were crews, but the connection to the central scheduling software was not happening to allow those pieces to go into action.
Will be interesting to see what "make rights" happen or do not happen. It will also be interesting to watch (in time) if the low price point brings travelers back quickly or if the brand is now too tarnished. Time will tell.
Going "beyond expectations" for customers/employees to the point of QUICKLY truly delighting them, beyond what is just fair, is likely what it will take, along with some very serious "performance guarantees".......of course, backed up by a new software installation.........all,of course, that will result in significant capital expenditures. The can appears to have been kicked down the road as far as it could......it's now time.
Sheesh, what a debacle! Those poor people - first to have the whole flight cancellation sh*tstorm and then threatened with arrest??!! How low can it go?
So if some of the passengers had threatened the gate, agent or said, something inappropriate, are basically had problems, the agent should’ve done is pointed those passengers out to the policeman not just said come here, get these people out because we don’t want to deal with them, which is apparently what they did.
I’m done with Southwest and luckily because I don’t live in Nashville anymore I don’t have to worry about that airport either
Maggie, if I'm understanding their scheduling system correctly, it requires employees to make/receive phone calls to get/change/receive assignments...they can't just send data or texts via phone/tablet. This is clearly a problem when the phone lines are jammed. This, in addition to the outdated software itself, caused the situations you described (plane with adequate crew in place, but couldn't get OK to operate flight.)
And, a bit of humor about this from FlyerTalk...
Sounds like the BNA Officer suffered from delusions of adequacy.
And….here’s another travel company ……threatening passengers stuck in Mexico.
Sounds reasonable to me. People should have followed directions.
A cancelled flight does not cancel your ticket. It does cancel your boarding pass. Without a boarding pass you are not to be in the secure area. However that is really just a technicality.
However, if you are already in the secure area, most airlines will want to find you an alternative as soon as possible. This might mean a flight leaving in a few minutes and not give long enough time to go through security again. It's happened to me, including a flight cancelled while at the gate. Everyone lined up and was rebooked.
It's obvious the Southwest employees panicked and the police got tough. Neither was necessary. If the Southwest employees wanted passengers to go to the ticket desks outside security for help, they could have made that announcement. They have the right to do that and then you should comply.
The NY Times article on this said the crowd was so big it was encroaching on other gates. (I'm outside the US and can't access the OP's link). If crowd control was becoming a problem, then police could act but apparently tact for these officers is not in their repertoire.
If they had arrested someone, it would have been a PR disaster for Southwest and the Nashville Airport police department. Notice that the police department has yet to mention or comment on the officer's threats.
All I can say, is I used to be a faithful southwest flyer. . And it will be a cold day in you know where before I fly them again. They didn’t do anything to me.
The complete and total lack of honesty has convinced me that you cannot trust them I expect the needed investment in Technology will still not happen because it would hurt profits. they will just go back to the 1960s technology they’ve been using unsuccessfully this month.
Unfortunately, most people will go”look SW is $3 cheaper let’s fly them”. Sadly, most American Flyers believe there is a cheap airfare fairy. IMHO if you’ve been watching this for the last week and you get on Southwest and you get stranded, look in the mirror and wave at the problem.
"No comment" means their actions were inexcusable and they're embarrassed. d
This would be a perfect Monty Python skit. Not only is your flight cancelled, but you're going to jail for Christmas. It has comedic potential.
Southwest is using 1990s technology to save money and make their investors happy. Short sell on the stock market. Anyone remember the computer they had in 1995?
A friend of mine recently flew Spirit and said "never again."
This is why I get in my car and drive to Dulles in northern Virginia when I'm flying to England.
I like to fly in and out of an airport that's run by professionals.
The problems at the Nashville Airport are many.
I am shocked, but not surprised, by the story about the passengers there who were threatened with being arrested.
I will never fly Southwest again in my lifetime.
Nothing has been said here yet about the mountains of checked bags sitting in all the airports that Southwest serves.
There's even a report on NBC news that there are hangars completely full of luggage being stored at several airports.
And a report that a Southwest plane flew to Atlanta with no passengers on board, only luggage, in the hold and completely filling the passenger compartment, to put those bags in a hangar.
What in the heck is going on here???
The complete and total lack of honesty has convinced me that you
cannot trust them
Sorry I missed that part. Inexcusable. Ahhh, what was the lie again?
I expect the needed investment in Technology will still not happen
because it would hurt profits. they will just go back to the 1960s
technology they’ve been using unsuccessfully this month.
I think it was 1990's technology? And I think at the end of the year, after all the losses from this are added up, they will be the least profitable airline in the US which will give their investors what they deserve (everyone check your 401(k)'s
The lie is they keep blaming the weather. The weather is no longer the issue. It’s their technology. If the weather was still the issue, Delta, American united would still be screwed up
Accept responsibility for your own faults the first step of admitting you having a problem.
And by the way, if I was a hacker, guess who I be attacking today, your data is so secure ar a company with this great technology? I work in cyber security if the technology is what they’re saying it is, it’s not up-to-date with patches because you can’t patch it anymore. Luckily, the credit card they have on file for me has expired
You might want to consider going into your profile and changing anything you don’t want compromised but it’s probably too late
This illustrates the general break down of US social fabric. First, SWA profit/stock dividends have been prioritized above maintenance (per an article by a SWA pilot a few years ago) and other basic systems for many years. Second police, public order, political leadership is missing here. Where were public services and police to help find lodging for thousands of stranded travelers. Why didn't city governments and the Red Cross step in? Was there an assumption that all travelers could pay days and days of hotels if they could even find a room. This was not only a failure caused by SWA's drive for profits but also a lack of leadership in all of these cities and states that left people languishing, sprawled on floors while underpaid employees behind counters had to take the brunt of the problem. And one poor underpaid cop is now a favorite bad guy.
When the volcano stopped flights to Europe, we received a plea from the French Consulate in Chicago to house fellow citizens stuck in the US. We know about the hospitality of the Canadians after 9/11. Did the US leaders take action to help travelers in this situation the way Europeans and Canadians did? If not, why? Where was the breakdown?
Bets, I cannot speak for all the other cities in which passengers were stranded, but I can give a perspective of what was happening locally.
Nashville, as did many other cities/states, had some truly unusual low winter temps, which when we typically experience such it is usually well into January and/or February, even then rare.
What happened: Of course, with icy/snowy roads resulted in a high number of vehicle accidents, power outages were not uncommon, many frozen water mains, many frozen pipes in homes/businesses, some senior living facilities, and apartment buildings......then the aftermath as they unfreeze. And, there is also a relocation of a relatively large homeless tent-type community that took up residence in a Metro Public park over the years (with some resulting/drug/loitering/crime issues that went along with that)....and that group is just one of a much larger homeless problem that seems to have grown as Nashville has grown. But, trying to make sure homeless people, some who cannot make wise decisions for themselves, did not freeze in the streets is always a resource consuming effort.
On top of all that, because of the exceptionally high demand for electricity in several of the states whose power providers are fed by the TVA, which had issues at two of its plants, some immediate multi-state rolling blackouts (of 10-20 minutes each hour) were implemented with little initial warning (they had to respond that quickly to keep the grid from going into grid-lock).
So, yes, it would have been wonderful for our city, its not-for-profits, and we as citizens to step up to reduce the problem by offering travelers places to stay, but a lot was happening all at once.....the Southwest issue just seemed to drag out (for all the obvious reasons). People were in a WARM airport, at least.
Then add to all that, the pandemic, actually triple-demic is still happening, with upticks also with strep, but not to the point of calling it a quademic. Can't speak for all households, but my household (which typically hosts lots of gatherings has done none of that (except for the rare hosting of a few friends on our patio outside), we have not dined inside a restaurant, and we are doing 99% pre-ordered curb-side pickup of groceries...and never stopped wearing masks when going inside public places. The vaccine rate is not high in Tennessee (booster rate pitiful), and about a month ago, we were referred to on the national news as the epicenter for flu (apparently not the case right now). So, while one might consider opening their home to strangers (with proper vetting to make sure they are not whackos/criminals...yep, those people do fly), during a pandemic, there might be several households hesitant to do that. And, quite frankly, if I were stranded in an airport, I likely would be hesitant to go into an unknown private home for the same reasons.
With the disclaimer that I was half asleep, watching the local news last night, I saw some statement from either the airline or the airport, and then a statement from the woman or her family (who was initially warned she could be arrested). Both statements were kind and thoughtful, and the woman or her family's statement basically said (NOT IN THESE WORDS), but the general tone was that they are not letting the actions of one person put a cloud on Nashville (they were much kinder and upbeat in the actual words used). So, I guess all is well that ends well........and I sure hope all travelers have arrived or are on their way home (or to where they were going to visit) and that their luggage has arrived safely (or is on its way)..........and, of course, that all the reimbursements go quickly and kindly.
You make some excellent points, Maggie.
Here is the update re: this situation that was rather un-Nashville.
Wanted to let everyone know that it appears, thankfully, appropriate follow-up action is being taken:
I think I think there needs to be training for the people that run the airport. They are the ones who posted the the deaf response to this problem. They are the ones who turned off commenting on social media when they got blasted for their tone deaf response. They apparently approved the use of the police. I feel like the police are taking the lead from the tone at the top
