2022 Christmas meltdown Competition enteries

What did SWA do with the high amount of pandemic aid money they received? Didn’t bother upgrading systems?
 
What did SWA do with the high amount of pandemic aid money they received? Didn’t bother upgrading systems?

If you’ll remember that was not an option. That money came with strict stipulations that it be used to cover payroll and keep crews trained and ready for the recovery.

Not saying they WOULD have used the money to upgrade systems had that been permitted. But it’s irrelevant since it wasn’t permissible.
 
In fairness, almost all of that happened after 1978’s airline deregulation. Before deregulation, the industry ran smoothly (save for the crashes referenced by @BobDDuck).
Not quite, just finished a good read on the history of Pan Am and it was often turbulent there even before 1978 with furloughs rounds of cost cutting. Although it’s been awhile since I read Flying the Line Vol I, it wasn’t all rosy for everyone, however I do agree post 1978 is when it got real wild.

 
Needs to make a return, ASAP!

Even in the old days (which I agree need to return), still no one had a right to enter the secure area.

Not quite, just finished a good read on the history of Pan Am and it was often turbulent there even before 1978 with furloughs rounds of cost cutting. Although it’s been awhile since I read Flying the Line Vol I, it wasn’t all rosy for everyone, however I do agree post 1978 is when it got real wild.


True, Pan Am and TWA were always a bit different because of their international focus.

Wait, so on a normal Tuesday how are passengers supposed to board the aircraft?

Like they always do. Doesn’t mean they have a right to be there. Look at your contract of carriage next time you buy a ticket. Even buying a ticket doesn’t guarantee you much of anything. The airline reserves the right to kick you the f*** out whenever they want.
 
Even in the old days (which I agree need to return), still no one had a right to enter the secure area.
Youngster,

In the old days airports didn‘t have a secure area. My family flew PSA (the real PSA) Burbank to San Diego often.

Starting about 1970, because of the Cuba hijackings, there were metal detectors but you didn’t have to be ticketed to pass. We’d meet grandma at the gate.

IIRC it remained like that until 9-11 when TSA took over.

861B63F3-5B98-4DAF-8C66-AFEBFDBE57D7.jpeg


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Youngster,

In the old days airports didn‘t have a secure area. My family flew PSA (the real PSA) Burbank to San Diego often.

Starting about 1970, because of the Cuba hijackings, there were metal detectors but you didn’t have to be ticketed to pass. We’d meet grandma at the gate.

IIRC it remained like that until 9-11 when TSA took over.

View attachment 68768

View attachment 68769

I don’t have the photo on me, but I can beat that. In the year 2000 I was waiting to pick up a friend at the gate at Lubbock (LBB). Got tired of waiting for him and walked on the plane. It was one of WN’s -200s, which I really wanted to see. Have a pic the Captain took of me in his seat.

Edit - I do actually have the pic
5E922DBF-F17A-4691-9896-7092B7E64722.jpeg
 
I don’t have the photo on me, but I can beat that. In the year 2000 I was waiting to pick up a friend at the gate at Lubbock (LBB). Got tired of waiting for him and walked on the plane. It was one of WN’s -200s, which I really wanted to see. Have a pic the Captain took of me in his seat.

Edit - I do actually have the picView attachment 68770

Oh man. That’s an excellent combination of oldschoolcool and blunderyears.

In 2001 right after 9/11 but before they had shut down secure areas to non-passengers I was flying from DC to LA and made the mistake of telling my mom I had a 40min BNA layover, she was like “I’ll come see you and bring the dog in her crate!”. The “dog” was a decrepit 11yr old one eyed Boston Terrier that hated everyone, and its crate was big enough for a Great Dane. I told her in no uncertain terms she should not bring the dog to BNA to see me.

I got off the plane, she had somehow gotten this massive crate with a crazed rat dog loaded onto a smart carte and through security, and as I got off she was telling everyone “he just wants to see his puppy!!”

I am a fan of secure areas.
 
Youngster,

In the old days airports didn‘t have a secure area. My family flew PSA (the real PSA) Burbank to San Diego often.

Starting about 1970, because of the Cuba hijackings, there were metal detectors but you didn’t have to be ticketed to pass. We’d meet grandma at the gate.

IIRC it remained like that until 9-11 when TSA took over.

View attachment 68768

View attachment 68769

Poor Sailors Airline
 
What did SWA do with the high amount of pandemic aid money they received? Didn’t bother upgrading systems?

Airlines don't upgrade basic infrastructure until something fails that might completely destroy the company.

Take Delta (no, please, take it!)
Delta had an ancient spaghettified system network in multiple locations with multiple standards from multiple mergers and acquisitions slapped together with the lowest cost solutions, duct tape and hope (bailing wire and chewing gum?) that was cropped together over a period of decades.
The I.T. professionals were likely well aware of the limitations and efficiencies of the rats' nest of cables and had tried and failed multiple times to get management to upgrade the anything.

Long story short, somehow, a critical single point failure, which was probably in a 20 year old system, without failback clusters, redundant hardware, let alone redundant power sources and backups, went Tango Uni taking a resolving and/or security server off line and creating a cascade failure that brought an entire airline to its knees AND, because of the complexity of the system AND lack of proper documentation, made trouble shooting and return to service a Rube Goldberg cluster frak.

Amazon has a big sale every summer. It's not to give you a good deal, it's to test the system (the WHOLE system) for weaknesses during a time that has fewer consequences. Expectations are lower (no one really cares of Independence Day gifts don't arrive on time) easier weather, easier personnel solutions.

Southwest, Delta and frankly, ANY complex transportation company needs to test in a similar way. The computer systems/network, HR, crew, dispatch all need to be tested during a non critical time frame.

They don't test because it would uncover a problem that would threaten their end of year bonus or golden parachute to fund their 8th yacht.

Now SW has a black eye that will probably stick with them for the next decade.
I hope the employees are collectively losing their Shizzle and constructing guillotines made of scrapped bag carts and GPU cables for those responsible.
 
I don’t have the photo on me, but I can beat that. In the year 2000 I was waiting to pick up a friend at the gate at Lubbock (LBB). Got tired of waiting for him and walked on the plane. It was one of WN’s -200s, which I really wanted to see. Have a pic the Captain took of me in his seat.

Edit - I do actually have the picView attachment 68770

That's great!
 
Youngster,

In the old days airports didn‘t have a secure area. My family flew PSA (the real PSA) Burbank to San Diego often.

Starting about 1970, because of the Cuba hijackings, there were metal detectors but you didn’t have to be ticketed to pass. We’d meet grandma at the gate.

IIRC it remained like that until 9-11 when TSA took over.

View attachment 68768

View attachment 68769

You remember somewhat wrong. After the skyjacking decade, ALPA successfully lobbied to get metal detectors and security checkpoints. They were just manned by crappy contractors. So while you could go the gates, it was still a secure area, and you still had no actual right to be there.
 
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