In the pilot episode of “Mad Men,” Don Draper gave a bit of advice to a tobacco executive who was trying to get consumers to forget about the whole “cigarettes are really bad for you” thing.
“If you don’t like what people are saying,” Draper advised, “change the conversation.”
On one hand, sure, this is reasonable advice, one that many younger advertising executives now live by.
In some situations, though, it's easier said than done, as sometimes people rightfully don’t want to move on from the conversation, despite a company’s best efforts.
This is where Southwest Airlines (LUV) now finds itself: desperate to move on, when the world around it seemingly has no intention of letting the company change the conversation.
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Hey Look, Southwest Changed Its Boarding Process!
As you’ve likely heard, Southwest spent the holidays dumping coal in its customers' stockings. Due to a massive winter storm, the airline ended up canceling or massively delaying flights, including nearly 75% (or 4,000 domestic flights) on the day after Christmas alone. As the week between Christmas and New Year’s went on, more than 16,700 flights were impacted, which could end up costing Southwest $825 million, at least.
The delays were due to a number of factors, but several critics have charged that the main factors were due to executives’ unwillingness to spend enough money to recruit a new generation of pilots (to make up for people who retired early in the pandemic) and to upgrade its flight scheduling software, instead opting to give executives bonuses and shareholder dividends.
The fallout was severe, as Southwest “said its adjusted loss for the three months ending in December was pegged at $226 million, or 38 cents per share, well south of the Street forecast of a loss of around 12 cents per share.”
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan has made multiple public apologies, saying "With regard to the operational disruptions, I am deeply sorry for the impact to our employees and customers," and pledging to do better, but it’s not been enough to get people to forgive and forget.
After the cancellation fallout, Southwest has begun offering low cost fares and has added a number of new flights to people who might want to attend Super Bowl LVII.
Before being well known for leaving customers high and dry, Southwest was known as the airline without assigned seats. Instead, people just line up at the gate in order of boarding assignment, and from there they can grab a spot on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Some people like this system more than others, but Southwest has allowed families with children under the age of six to board together between its A and B boarding groups, in an effort to ensure parents and kids can sit together.
It seems that some Southwest flights might be expanding the boarding age range, as some passengers have reported announcements thatinclude children all the way up to 13 years old, as reported by The Points Guy, which reported on several gates that have been informally changing their policies.
But The Points Guy also noted that the airline has not officially confirmed any changes to its policy.
Update: Southwest has sent the following clarification:
Southwest offers Family Boarding, which occurs after the “A” group has boarded and before the “B” group begins boarding.
· Up to two adults traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding.
· If the child and adults are all holding “A” boarding passes, they should board in their assigned boarding position rather than waiting for Family Boarding.
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Southwest’s Public Image Isn’t Getting Any Better
While a potential change in boarding protocol could make life easier for parents of pre-adolescents, Southwest is continuing to get a shellacking in the media.
Over the weekend “Saturday Night Live” aired a parody featuring host Michael B. Jordan which mocked the airlines’ pledges holiday troubles and pledge to improve services.
“We are finally upgrading our computer system to 2008 Dell Computers,” notes the parody, which also touts Southwest’s new premier lounge, which will be “located inside an active Starbucks.”
“We just get there early and hold down two or three tables for y’all,” says a flight attendant played by Jordan.
“Here at Southwest, mistakes were made, and that’s on us, mostly,” says another attendant, played by cast member Heidi Gardner. “Some of it's on you.
“You bought a Southwest ticket,” she adds. “You obviously don’t respect yourself, so why should we?”
Ouch. Well, it seems that despite Southwest’s best efforts, the conversation isn’t going to change anytime soon.
