I'm definitely generalizing and it's obviously something that spans generations, Boomers just happen to hold a lot of those roles right now where it becomes obvious once they retire.
Southwest disaster
- Thread starter cycloneworld
- Start date
I'm definitely generalizing and it's obviously something that spans generations, Boomers just happen to hold a lot of those roles right now where it becomes obvious once they retire.
Hey they could also try implementing a system with insufficient use case testing that results in pricing, ordering, and shipping products a complete mess for months. Not that we'd know
They botched one just last wk for me direct ship become deliver to me giving me a 6 hr drive in sub zero temps. That helped my margins for the yr. SMH.
We “might” be the group people find it totally acceptable to “classify” and hate
Once upon a time I got pulled into a late stage pilot program to handle processing and onboarding new client contracts to a program. There was no process when I started. It was extraordinarily manual and what should have taken about....5 to 20 minutes to do took me minimum 5 hours and highly error prone. I immediately flagged this as a problem for scaling, particularly as this was meant to be a global program and it could barely handle English and US contracts. Crickets. I chug along trying to find time to improve the process. A few months later a very confident consultant is brought in to digitally transform this program and others. Awesome! I want this onboarding to be first in line! I had again told leadership that with their revenue and volume goals for the next year, current trajectory meant it would take me FIFTY YEARS to accomplish their goal for the remaining nine months of the year. Still no urgency.
Get on a call with this consultant who was quickly promoted to some digital something and laid out how this onboarding was a huge risk for growth and a legal risk due to error level. Was told that what I did wasn't that hard and wasn't flashy enough. They wanted to make a splash for execs and they were starting with a phone app instead because it would be easy to deal with my work when needed.
Idk if that phone app ever got off the ground but I worked my ass off the next few months finding and training global counterparts. Because oh yeah I was going on maternity leave and didn't want the thing to go bellyup. By the time I went out I had nearly double digit people, all cross trained regionally to support this program. Yay me.
This consultant had fancy background experience and was right that ops aren't sexy and execs want flashy **** that will never fix their actual problems. So when viewed in that light and knowing this company was hardly alone in that thinking......the Southwest mess is very easy to see. They almost certainly continued to use a process and system never, ever meant to handle the volume and complexity at which they currently operate. And it was probably being held together by luck, workarounds, and enough loyal, knowledgeable employees to keep it running. But like everywhere else, they probably lost a ton of institutional knowledge the past 2 yrs and now when the dominoes start to fall due to weather or whatever, they can't stop it.
This issue is uniquely Southwest. They try to straddle a line between a major airline and a budget carrier. Customers used to benefit from the best of both of those worlds, but this particular problem highlights the worst of both worlds.
They run a huge flight network but try to depress costs aggressively in dangerous ways. Two such ways are their refusal to invest in 21st century IT and their refusal to sign interline agreements with other airlines.
When you fly American, Delta, or United (for example) and they can't get you to your destination, they have agreements with the other two airlines to put you on a competing flight when necessary. Many years ago, I was stranded by Delta after a huge storm went through Atlanta; their interline agreement still got me home the next day on a US Airways flight. Budget carriers like Spirit, Allegiant, and (you guessed it) Southwest don't sign those agreements.
As a fairly frequent traveler, I hate the inability to reserve my seat in advance and I also don't like Southwest's reliance on secondary airports (e.g. OAK instead of SFO). Their prices are also often no better than the Big Three. They used to offer a mainline product at a budget price; in many respects they now provide a budget product at a mainline price.
They run a huge flight network but try to depress costs aggressively in dangerous ways. Two such ways are their refusal to invest in 21st century IT and their refusal to sign interline agreements with other airlines.
When you fly American, Delta, or United (for example) and they can't get you to your destination, they have agreements with the other two airlines to put you on a competing flight when necessary. Many years ago, I was stranded by Delta after a huge storm went through Atlanta; their interline agreement still got me home the next day on a US Airways flight. Budget carriers like Spirit, Allegiant, and (you guessed it) Southwest don't sign those agreements.
As a fairly frequent traveler, I hate the inability to reserve my seat in advance and I also don't like Southwest's reliance on secondary airports (e.g. OAK instead of SFO). Their prices are also often no better than the Big Three. They used to offer a mainline product at a budget price; in many respects they now provide a budget product at a mainline price.
I think it’s more in response to, and not really any worse than, the hate that millennials received
I used to take the non-stop from KC to Seattle once or twice a year. I've flown out of Phoenix with them a few times too. I think they're the best domestic airline. I've never had any issues. I can't fly any other airlines without having some sort of BS happening. If you ever go abroad and have the option of taking Emirates I highly recommend.
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Love Alaska airlines.
Delta used to have a direct from Omaha to Portland in the summer, before Covid.
Delta used to have a direct from Omaha to Portland in the summer, before Covid.
That’s true, gen z also gets some hate. Although I think some people believe “millennials” just means “young people”
Just out of curiosity what is your issue with them flying out of the smaller airports in a metro? Like Oakland over SFO or Love Field over DFW.
Just a personal preference since the business destinations in the Bay and Chicago that I travel to are closer to SFO and ORD. But I do prefer DAL over DFW so it’s not always a negative for Southwest.
There will no doubt be considerable investigation into the root causes of Southwest's meltdown. At first glance, it appears that failure to invest computer system maintenance and modernization will be high on the list.
It also has similarity to the Texas power grid failure of Feb 2021. In both cases, a poorly maintained system buckled under the stress of extreme circumstances which, coincidentally, were primarily due to harsh winter conditions. The power grid failure had far more terrifying consequences, including some tragic deaths, for people within Texas. But in both cases, leadership failed to adequately manage business risks that are managed effectively elsewhere within their respective industries.
It also has similarity to the Texas power grid failure of Feb 2021. In both cases, a poorly maintained system buckled under the stress of extreme circumstances which, coincidentally, were primarily due to harsh winter conditions. The power grid failure had far more terrifying consequences, including some tragic deaths, for people within Texas. But in both cases, leadership failed to adequately manage business risks that are managed effectively elsewhere within their respective industries.
BIL in Dallas told me the power grid issue was literally minutes away from over half the state losing power that would have lasted months. I guess SW is saying hold my beer.
The youngest boomers are 57, it's probably time you shift the blame for your failed life to Gen X.
This is not meant to be directed at you at all. Corporate RCA is a joke.
“Why did this happen”?
“Ok, well, why did that happen”?
“Let’s keep going. Why did “that” happen”?
“It seems a lot of people are moving dangerously close to ‘problem solving’ right now and leaning into ‘technology’ or the lack there of as a cause of our issues. That really isn’t the way RCA works. Let’s keep going”
“Keep asking ‘why’ folks. We’ll get there. If we are to the point that ‘technology’ is our roadblock, we haven’t exposed all the ‘why’s’ yet”
Pretty easy to see why your warnings weren't acted upon.
You were clearly missing a roadmap.
In my little department, we have 3 people between 50-55, 1 person in their 40's, 1 in their 30's, and 3 in their 20's. A couple of years ago, almost everyone was 45+. The turnover has been a mixed bag. The young people are great at bringing up new ideas/solutions but overall suck with communication. When we have outages, the outages take longer because the people with experience are gone. Overall, I think it's a good thing and the 20 somethings will improve as they get more experience. Hopefully us oldies become better at change.
