Southwest Airlines’ #epicfail takes social media by storm
One of the most powerful things about social media is that it can take you to the heart of a situation: a Lizzo concert, a political rally, an emu farm in Florida, a picnic where a young man expresses his devotion to corn …
Or a Southwest Airlines baggage claim at the Houston airport on Christmas Day, where an ocean of suitcases stretches as far as the eye can see.
@hillaryhelennn I think I need food and maybe I’ll forget this is happening 😅 what do we think? Maybe it’s time to cut my losses with my stuff 😠#delayed #delayedflight #christmastravel #southwestairlines @hillaryhelennn ♬ original sound – Hillary ✨big tips sis
This video was posted by Hillary Chang, 29, a longtime Southwest Airlines loyalist. “I’m a very loyal Southwest customer,” says Chang, who travels frequently with her boyfriend. “I have a Southwest credit card. We actually only fly Southwest.”
At least they did.
Chang and her boyfriend were booked on a Southwest flight on Christmas Day, from Baltimore to their home in Los Angeles, with a connection in Houston. They arrived in Houston a few hours late, only to learn that their flight to LA had been cancelled. They were told to take their bags and try to book again.
They rushed to the baggage claim, where the TikTok stage lay before them. What Chang didn’t mention was that her boyfriend had recently proposed and (while the ring itself was on her finger) the ring box was in her checked bag and she had hoped to keep it as a memento.
“I’m not going to lie, I was in tears,” she says, laughing. “I was. I was crying.”
Trying to get any help from (or even be heard from) Southwest was futile, Chang says. There were hundreds of people waiting in line for customer service. However, Chang can have a voice and find a sympathetic ear on social media.
“This is what the Houston airport looks like,” she says on TikTok, looking over hundreds of undeclared suitcases. It’s enough to make any frequent flyer’s blood run cold.
Last week, a series of massive winter storms hit the US and virtually shut down holiday travel in some parts of the country.
All airlines experienced cancellations and delays, but none like Southwest Airlines, which has canceled more than 15,000 flights — 10 times more than any other airline.
It’s a public relations disaster for Southwest, not to mention a huge financial hit. Citigroup estimates that the holiday flight debacle could cause significant damage to airline revenues.
Magnifying the black eye for the Southwest is social media. Throughout the week, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok have been full of images and videos of people’s shocking travel experiences, making the scope of the failure that much deeper.
One woman tweeted that she was stuck at the airport for days with her two toddlers and a baby.
Posts like these get millions of views and comments like “Don’t fly @SouthwestAir folks” and “Southwest is going to get busted for this and rightfully so.”
Even the White House rallied, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Twitter shaming the airline.
Airline analyst Richard Aboulafia, with AeroDynamic Advisory, says he was shocked by the meltdown at Southwest.
“They have the best reputation for customer service and management agility,” he says. “They’re usually pretty good at crisis response and I’m really surprised by all of this.”
However, Aboulafia thinks Southwest Airlines can win back those customers if it handles this situation the right way. “As bad as this weekend was, there wasn’t a safety issue,” he says. “I think customers can forgive them.”
Southwest stalwart Hillary Chang isn’t so sure.
Stuck in Houston, staring at billboard space and a giant line of frustrated commuters, Chang and her fiancé realized they would have to fend for themselves.
They rented a car and drove back to LA in 21 hours. Chang posted a short TikTok of the road trip, which involved driving through the night to get back to work on the morning of December 27. TikTok bore some fruit – one of Chang’s friends sent her $50 for gas, wishing the couple well on their long journey.
@hillaryhelennn It’s a miracle we’ve made it this far – when we passed the rental car place there were no vehicles left
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan posted a video of himself on social media, calling the week-long crisis a “giant puzzle” and vowing to get to the bottom of what happened. And although thousands of customers are still stranded, Southwest says it expects to resume normal operations by Friday and is taking new reservations for the first time in days.
It’s cold comfort to Chang, who says she has questioned her loyalty to the carrier for years.
“I have 50,000 miles with them… and I’ve thought about it, believe me. I’m not completely done with Southwest, but I’m open… I’m open to meeting with another airline.”
Chang never expects to see her suitcase (or ring box) again. “People keep telling me to stay positive, but if they had seen what I saw at the Houston airport, they wouldn’t have,” she says. “I can hope that maybe it will show up in a couple of weeks, but at this point, I think mentally I have to be like, ‘It’s gone and that’s OK.’
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