Air travelers remembering the challenging 2022 winter holiday season no doubt remember scenes at airports of stranded passengers and their struggles to find lost luggage.
Southwest Airlines (LUV) had faced an operational crisis that forced the airline to cancel 16,900 flights affecting two million passengers.
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The U.S. Department of Transportation intervened and ultimately levied a record $140 million fine on Southwest.
The message was clear: airlines were not only ethically responsible for taking care of their passengers: it was required by law.
Now it appears that Southwest has gotten the message and is demonstrating positive results.
Delta Airlines (give it) demonstrated in 2023 that it led all carriers in being the best in punctuality. Alaska Airlines (ALK) He didn't stay far away. and American airlines (AAL) also showed improvement.
But cancellation fees are a completely different matter. Air route news publisher Enilria recently provided some data on cancellations that offered some surprises.
Southwest Airlines challenges perception
According to Enilria data, Delta (one flight out of 98) is slightly more likely to cancel flights than Southwest (one flight out of 100).
“A flight is late if it arrives more than 15 minutes late” wrote Gary Leff of View from the Wing. “But it's important that I get there.”
In practice, regional trips tend to be more likely to suffer cancellations than major flights.
“That's not entirely his fault,” Leff wrote. “When bad weather hits and the number of flights from an airport is limited, regional flights are usually the first to be cancelled.”
Alaska Airlines, on the other hand, has the number one reliable regional operation (one cancellation for every 161 flights). It also cancels major flights (one in 124) at a rate second only to Allegiant (one in 148).
And American Airlines' improvements in cancellations are also notable.
“American has not received enough credit for improving the reliability of its operations,” Leff wrote. “It cancels flights almost as frequently as Delta. And its regional airlines don't cancel frequently either, even less frequently than mainline United Airlines. The problem is that American management has consistently said that they believed that all they had to do to make money “It was operational reliability, when in reality this is basic, necessary but not sufficient.”
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Southwest Airlines has a reputation for value
In addition to its growing reputation for lack of cancellations, Southwest is also perceived to be a great value for regular passengers.
This is largely because travelers gravitate toward their baggage fee policy that allows two bags to be checked free of charge.
This is in contrast to other airlines, which have recently increased their baggage fees.
Alaska Airlines increased its fee for its passengers' first checked bag to $35 in December 2023.
Delta, JetBlue, United Airlines and American soon followed with their own baggage fee increases.
This has led to an increase in travelers choosing not to check bags at all.
Instead, many travelers have been carrying their belongings in larger carry-on bags on flights, challenging the capacity of airplanes in their overhead bins.
Southwest seems perfectly happy to leverage its baggage policy as another competitive advantage.
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