Air travelers who recall the challenging winter holiday season of 2022-23 no doubt remember scenes in airports of stranded passengers and their struggles to find lost luggage.
Southwest Airlines (LUV) had faced on operational meltdown that forced the carrier to cancel 16,900 flights that affected two million passengers.
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The U.S. Department of Transportation got involved and eventually imposed a record $140 million penalty 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 seems, Southwest has received the message and is demonstrating positive results.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) proved in 2023 that it led all carriers in being the best in on-time performance. Alaska Airlines (ALK) did not trail by far. And American Airlines (AAL) showed improvement as well.
But cancellation rates are a whole different matter. Airline route news publisher Enilria recently provided some data on cancellations that offered a few surprises.
Southwest Airlines defies perception
According to Enilria's 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 behind schedule," wrote Gary Leff of View From the Wing. "But whether it gets there at all matters."
As a practical reality, regional travel tends to be more likely to experience cancellations than mainline flights.
"That's not entirely their fault," Leff wrote. "When bad weather rolls in and the number of flights out of an airport are limited, it's usually regional flights that get cancelled first."
Alaska Airlines, on the other hand, has the number one reliable regional operations (one cancellation per 161 flights). It also cancels mainline flights (one per 124) with a frequency only second to Allegiant (one per 148).
And American Airlines' improvements with regard to cancellations are also notable.
"American hasn’t gotten nearly enough credit for improving the reliability of its operation," Leff wrote. "It cancels flights nearly as infrequently as Delta. And its regional carriers don’t cancel often either — less often, even, than United Airlines mainline. The problem is that American management has consistently said they believed all they needed to do to make money was operate reliably, when in fact this is baseline, necessary but not sufficient."
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Southwest Airlines has a reputation for value
In addition to its improving reputation for lack of cancellations, Southwest is also perceived to offer great value for regular passengers.
This is largely because travelers gravitate toward its baggage fee policy that allows for two checked bags for no charge.
This runs in contrast to other carriers, which have recently been raising their baggage fees.
Alaska Airlines raised its fee for its passengers' first checked bag to $35 in December 2023.
Delta, JetBlue, United Airlines and American soon followed with baggage-fee increases of their own.
That has led to an increase in travelers who choose not to check bags at all.
Instead, many fliers have been bringing belongings in larger carry-on bags on flights, which is challenging aircraft capacity in their overhead bins.
Southwest seems perfectly happy to leverage its baggage policy as another competitive advantage.
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