I have a trip coming up and Southwest Airlines pilots may go on strike. What do I do?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I recently read an article on the internet (so I know it’s true!) that said that Southwest Airlines’ management and pilots’ union are nearing (or have reached) an impasse. In fact, if the Federal government weren’t forcing arbitration, it is possible that the pilots would already be on strike.

I have a trip on WN coming up on October 2. What happens if the pilots walk off the job? What is WN’s obligation to me, the paying passenger? The trip is a vacation for which we have paid several thousand dollars – not including the airfare. So, even if WN refunded the money to me, that doesn’t get me to our vacation destination – or home at the end of the trip.

(I’m not really interested in a discussion of the issues involved in WN’s labor difficulties. I am a pro-union, pro-labor guy. I think the pilots’ union has a point. I just want to get to and from my vacation.)

2

The good thing about Southwest is that you can change or cancel airfare without the additional penalties that most other airlines charge.

So if you want to play it safe, you could book on another airline now and cancel your Southwest tickets. If you wait until closer to the trip, you’ll have fewer choices and they’ll be more expensive.

3

[Moderating]
This seems to be looking more for advice than facts. Moving to IMHO.

4

The laws on airline strikes are not the same as the laws on, say, truckers’ or auto workers’ strikes.

Not to worry. As I told somebody last week asking about a potential strike at another airline:

Stand pat.

A US airline union needs the US President’s approval to strike. As in Biden. The union authorization vote is mostly to stir up fussy rah-rah sentiment among the membership. And as a show of “resolve” to management. IOW:

We’re serious now and if we don’t get our way we’ll hold our breath until we turn blue. At least we will if Daddy says it’s OK to hold our breath. If not then nothing will happen except a pitiful pout.

You’d have to consult their contract of carriage to know your legal rights if somehow a strike crippled their operation. But I’d bet a car payment the answer is “They owe you exactly zero concern and exactly zero dollars. Not their fault, not their problem to fix.”

If this vacation is something like a cruise or a road trip with a defined start date/time you cannot miss, I sure hope you plan to arrive at the port of embarkation at least the day before that fixed departure moment. 2 days is smarter. Even with zero labor strife, bad weather or an ATC outage can snarl your plans for 24 to 36 hours. With multiple thousand dollars on the line, another couple hundred for an extra hotel room at the start point is cheap insurance.

You might also want to look into travel disruption insurance. For relatively few bucks you can reduce the financial side of a worst case scenario. It won’t restore your two weeks of fun, but it will mean you can afford to try again soon(er).

5

For those who don’t know, WN is the (rather non-intuitive) airline code for Southwest Airlines.

6

Thanks for the forum change. I wasn’t sure which way to go. I thought factual since I asked about what the airline is required to do (as in rebooking, refund, etc.)

We took the “Wanna Get Away” fare, so we cannot get a cash refund, BUT Southwest will apply the funds to a future trip. Our daughter lives far away, so we travel fairly often. We can apply the fares to a future vacation or visit to the grandkids.

We do have insurance and have booked travel before the firm start-date for the vacation. Travel interruption is covered by the insurance, but we’d really rather do the trip than file a claim.

For right now, we’re just going to follow the news and hope for the best. Thanks for the replies. And, yeah, WN is the code for Southwest. I should have been more clear.

7

If last Christmas was any indicator, you have a right for them to lose your luggage as you sleep in the terminal for 3 days. And yes that is in their CoC. They have no obligation to fly you with another airline.

a. Failure to Operate as Scheduled (1) Canceled Flights or Irregular Operations. In the event the Carrier cancels or fails to operate any flight according to Southwest Airlines published schedule, or significantly changes the schedule of any flight, or there is a significant delay, Carrier will, at the request of a Passenger with a confirmed Ticket on such flight, take one of the following actions:
(i) Transport the Passenger at no additional charge on Southwest Airlines next flight(s) on which space is available to the Passenger’s intended destination, in accordance with Southwest Airlines established re-accommodation practices; or
(ii) Following a request by the Customer, refund the unused portion of the Customer’s fare in accordance with Section 4.c.

So you may not be able to fly out at all until the strike ends.

But wait, if they cancel the flight they have to give me a refund no matter what right? Nope. Secion 4.c in (ii) is

c. Refunds (1) Refundable Tickets. The fare paid for unused travel by Customers who purchase fully refundable, unrestricted Tickets, including taxes and government fees, may, for any reason and upon surrender or cancellation of the unused Ticket, be refunded in accordance with Section 4.c.(3).

So as I read it you are right. If you purchase a Wanna Get Away ticket there is no refund if they cancel the flight because they will fly you free of charge once that route reopens.

ETA: After dealing with Southwest over the holidays and their FU attitude I refuse to use them and can usually get a cheaper flight with United

8

A few years ago when my British Airways flight was canceled due to a pilot strike, they transferred my ticket to American Airlines and I still got home the same day I was scheduled to. That’s the beauty of airline interline agreements.

A disadvantage of Southwest is that they have no such agreements. They’ll let you apply the value of your ticket to a future flight, which is something at least, but if you absolutely needed to fly on the day of your original flight you’d be on the hook to pay for a new ticket on a different airline.

My understanding is that travel insurance generally won’t cover disruptions caused by events that “should have been foreseeable” before you purchased the policy. It’s sort of their version of a pre-existing condition. Since @Drum_God already knows about the possibility of a strike, a travel insurance probably won’t cover it.

And for those wondering why Southwest has such a non-intuitive IATA airline code, it’s because when Southwest Airlines was founded SW was already in use, by Air Namibia. Why SW for Air Namibia? Probably because other airlines were already using the codes that would have made sense for them.

9

Namibia was formerly South West Africa.

10

I am aware that many people have had disappointing experiences with Southwest, especially last Christmas season, but we have been happy with them. When we had trouble getting back to Austin due to poor weather at our destination, every WN employee with whom we interacted was calm, professional, and accommodating. We did end up with an unexpected overnight stay in Nashville, but that was the fault of ice blanketing Austin, not the fault of the airline. We eventually made it home safe and sound.

11

IMO Southwest is no worse than the others at customer service. They’re also no better. Despite an excellent reputation legitimately earned 30 years ago that is no longer reality and has not been for probably 15 years.

At one time their prices were lower. Not anymore. A LOT of their resistance to making their fares available through other websites and distribution channels is that if their fares were published on the same screens as everybody else’s, the public would quickly see the emperor long since shed his clothes.

They probably have not been able to address all the underlying causes of their last Christmas meltdown. Some yes, but 12 months is not very long in terms of major IT overhaul projects. It remains to be seen whether management will chose to plan for unrealistically good weather thereby maximizing revenue if all goes well, or plan for fairly worst-case weather, thereby ensuring reliability in the typical case, and a recoverable problem in the absolute worst case.

Every airline faces that dilemma. Being able to be reliable on a snowy or thunderstormy day means leaving half or 2/3rds of the potential travelers at home and doing without all that revenue. What separates the good ones from the less good ones is how much battle damage they can take and still keep what’s left in motion in a coherent organized fashion.

Southwest is a good airline. They’re no longer a special airline. Just one of many perfectly adequate operators.

12

Much as I respect @LSLGuy as one of the most helpful and informative posters on SDMB, I need to take exception with this statement, not because it isn’t at least partly true, but because it doesn’t tell the whole story.

I agree that Southwest’s fares aren’t as low, relative to other carriers, as they once were. But one of the primary reasons I fly with Southwest whenever I possibly can is that when I look at fares on Southwest’s website, I know that’s the price I’m actually going to pay. Whereas the base price given by virtually every other airline is almost certainly not.

The price of every ticket on Southwest includes:

2 free checked bags
1 free carry-on and personal item
Your choice of seat (because of their open seating policy)

And, as I mentioned above, they don’t charge extra you to change or cancel your flight.

Most other airlines show you a price that does not include any checked bags, and many will charge you for a carry-on, and to select your seat in advance, which means that if you do not pay the extra fee, you might not be able to sit next to your traveling companion. So that low fare might end up costing you $100+ more per seat when you add the fees. It’s bait-and-switch.

Also, I prefer Southwest’s open seating procedure, because it’s much faster to board than the other airlines’ methods. If you book far enough ahead to get into Southwest’s A boarding group, you will pretty much have your choice of any seat, including the emergency exit rows. And yes, you can pay extra to get Early Bird or Priority seating.

I don’t know why Southwest doesn’t allow their seats to be sold through other providers (ISTR hearing that they are still using a really old computer system that doesn’t allow it), but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it’s because their fares, which include all the extras, wouldn’t look good compared to other airlines, which don’t.

Of course, if you want or need first, business, or premium economy, Southwest is not the airline for you.

13

Too funny. I had a post all ready to go: “Paging I_Love_Me, what the hell is WN?”

14

It is the opposite of Northwest Airlines, which was NW.

15

I’ve never seen a major airline that charges extra to select your seat or have a carry-on. Are you only taking about smaller carriers? That’s not a thing on United, Delta or Jet Blue.

16

It’s pretty much only a thing on the “ultra low cost” airlines, e.g. Spirit, Frontier, and Allegiant.

17

I’m guessing you two haven’t flown recently.

United:

Basic Economy

  • Choose your seat for a fee
  • No upgrades
  • No changes allowed
  • Checked bag fees
  • No carry-on bags

Delta:

Basic
Low Fare with Restrictions

  • Seat(s) assigned after check-in, not together
  • Cancelable for partial credit in the form of an eCredit
  • Non-changeable
  • Last to board with limited overhead bin space
  • Not eligible for earning miles in the SkyMiles Program or earning credit toward Medallion Status

Jet Blue:

Blue Basic

Carry-on bag not allowed (except for transatlantic flights). Fee for change/cancel and advance seat selection. Late boarding.

Air Canada:

Features: Basic
Refundability: No refund, no credit
Seat selection: For a fee
Checked bags: For a fee
Changes: No changes

So Delta and Air Canada don’t charge for carry-ons, but United and Jet Blue do. They all charge for seat selection.

(I happen to have looked at flights on these four carriers recently, so I knew about them. I didn’t check any others for the sake of this post.)

ETA: Thanks to @robby for adding the info about American.

18

The legacy major airlines (United, Delta, and American) do sell “Basic Economy” seats that do not allow you to select a seat, and I saw a Basic Economy fare yesterday from United that did not include a carry-on either. They also typically do not allow any itinerary changes to be made.

Of course you can pay more to get a “Main Cabin” or “Economy” seat which allows seat selection, and even more to get so-called “preferred seating.” And none of these fares include checked bags, of course. The bottom line is that I find myself paying at least $100 more than the advertised price on Google Flights or Kayak so that I can select a seat in advance and check a bag.

On Southwest, on the other hand, I can sit in any available seat when I board, and it includes two checked bags at no extra cost. The advertised price is truly all I pay.

19

I am in a similar situation to the OP, and I actually have two upcoming trips on Southwest. The first trip is over Thanksgiving, and I got a really good fare, possibly because they are having trouble selling tickets with all of this bad news about a possible pilot strike.

The second trip is in April and I am going down to Texas to see the upcoming eclipse. I got a great fare on Southwest at a convenient time. However, I don’t know when or if this pilot labor issue is going to be resolved, and I really really do not want to miss the eclipse. So on the advice of some travel sites, last night I booked a fully refundable ticket on a legacy carrier as a backup. It’s both more expensive and not as convenient, but I thought it would be a good idea if there is a work stoppage around the time of my trip. My plan is to cancel the other flight and get a refund if everything looks good with Southwest in April.

I’m not going to do this with my Thanksgiving trip, because it won’t be the end of the world if I don’t make it and because the flights on legacy carriers are much more expensive at that time, especially for a refundable ticket.

…On second thought, I might do it for my return flight after Thanksgiving so I don’t get stranded across the country.

I hope things get resolved soon with Southwest. I’ve always liked them, but this has been a real source of worry and a pain in the neck to plan around.

20

Yeah. “Basic Economy” is the majors selling the same feature bundle as the Spirits and Allegiants of the industry do. Which is fully unbundled a la carte. But with more room.

The major’s ordinary coach fares include all the traditional amenities.

And yes, there are all sorts of permutations in between for all sorts of discounts off the full coach fare.

Over time the public has demonstrated that they don’t value the extras they don’t see. And frequently don’t use. Better then to make those items an add-on and reduce the sticker price accordingly. As much as that annoys some folks who used to use that feature a lot.