Don’t panic (yet) – Cranky Flier

Of all the things Southwest announced in its turnaround plan, the seat changes were obviously the most vibrant. But I was surprised to see how much talk there was about the decision to reduce processing times. This isn’t quite what everyone assumes, so I thought I’d dig deeper to explain exactly what’s happening here.

Your first thought was probably the same as mine. I assumed this would be like 2013, when demand was strong and Southwest wanted to add more flights. To achieve this, Southwest’s network team reduced processing times. The operations team under COO Mike Van de Ven agreed they could pull this off, but it wasn’t possible. It was a disaster. Planned turn times were shortened, but an aircraft’s actual turn time did not improve. And thanks to Southwest’s terrible technology at the time, it took over a year to nail down the schedule.

Mike is long gone, and the airline knows better than to try to repeat such massive mistakes. This time, instead of focusing on schedule, Southwest is trying to physically shorten the time it takes to turn a plane. At Investor Day it showed what it had learned.

Let’s go through some of the initiatives.

Baggage report

Southwest handles a lot of checked bags and is working on ways to speed up the process. The only thing that stood out to me during the discussion was the discussion about how they will handle the connector pockets better.

The airline prepares a report for ground staff the day before travel that assumes one checked bag per person – the danger of not knowing in advance whether someone will check a bag. This will help the ramp get an idea of ​​how many connection bags to expect the next day. Then the ramp works so that the bags are loaded last, making it easier to remove them first.

I admit, by the time we got to this part of the day my eyes were glazed over so I didn’t fully understand what was going on in the process, but the idea is that things work better with luggage.

RIDS

I remember more than 20 years ago when we at America West had Ramp Information Display Systems (RIDS) installed at every gate in Phoenix. So it was more of a shock than anything that Southwest still hasn’t done this. A copy was built for us in the hangar.

If this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because they’re the same company that makes scoreboards. And as you can see, there are only 50 seconds left in the game and I think BWI wins.

But really, that just keeps the rampers on the same level as everyone else. It makes it clear when the plane leaves, how much time is left until then, where you are in the boarding process and much more. It’s a given that most airlines discovered long ago. If nothing else, this is a damning indictment of the airline’s investment failure in recent years.

Paperless transition

Meanwhile, Southwest has embarked on a paperless transition at the helm, meaning there will no longer be the reams of paper that previously had to be handed out to crews. Instead, they use the tablet. Sure it saves paper and so on, but the real benefit is that employees don’t have to wait for the paper to be delivered. You can see what’s happening in real time and don’t waste time sitting around. This speeds things up – again, as most airlines have known for years.

Visual announcements

Up in the terminal, Southwest is working to move people faster. This includes visual announcements on the screens around the gate area. Is that important? Apparently it makes a difference in their tests. It definitely prevents passengers from wandering around aimlessly asking, “Which group is boarding?”

Entry opportunities

It’s kind of fun to think about. Southwest has said it will maintain its boarding process with seating assignments. People will still line up and get in when called. However, with assigned seating, Southwest can rethink the order in which passengers are brought on board.

Of course, the elites will still get on board first, but when it comes to the regular population, Southwest can do whatever it wants. The best idea seems to be to have people board in different parts of the plane at the same time. This creates fewer clusters and makes boarding faster.

But the best part is, if that doesn’t work, you can easily rearrange the way people get on board. The seat number and the boarding number do not have to correlate, and that creates a real opportunity.

The Jet Bridge Experience

That’s her name, not mine. But Southwest wants people to move faster across the jet bridge. How will it do that? First, loudspeakers are installed in the jet bridges and fast-paced music is played. Tests seem to suggest that this actually works to get people moving. It seems to me that this could also increase the number of fist fights on the jet bridges (from, er, zero to more). At least it’s just audible and they don’t use cocaine nebulizers to get people moving.

With these speakers, Southwest can also have cabin crew make announcements on the jet bridge. This can help tell people that, for example, the overhead compartment space is full. It’s designed to prevent weirdos from searching the aisle for places to put these bags. On this point I am more optimistic.

Crew and gate agent chat

The last thing I want to point out is a new chat feature that allows all of these people who work for the airline to talk to each other. Think about it this way. What happens when the containers are full? The flight attendant in the back can tell the flight attendant in front, and then it eventually gets to the gate agent, who no longer allows anyone to bring large bags on board. But there are a lot of people who aren’t stopped because it takes a while for the message to make its way up the chain.

Southwest is now installing this chat feature on its tablets so everyone can talk to each other in real time, eliminating the lag.

The hope is that all of this comes together to give Southwest an additional 5 minutes of leeway. Of course, not all of this will happen immediately. It’s not as easy as just setting up RIDS at every gate one night (in the first round it will be at 12 stations) or installing loudspeakers in passenger boarding bridges everywhere (this part isn’t expected to start until 2027). But Southwest says what it can implement immediately will get the airline to where it needs to be to see actual improvements.

As physical turnaround times shorten, Southwest can then also begin adjusting schedules. This will be slowly implemented from November. I confirmed that the reduced schedule will begin in Austin, Sacramento and a few smaller stations that they didn’t name. They don’t build it out in the major hub cities until there is more infrastructure in place. It sounds like Houston/Hobby will be the first to get the royal treatment in March.

In November, the airline’s schedule brings in the equivalent of an additional aircraft. But by the time the rollout is complete in November 2025, Southwest will have reached a flight capacity of 16 aircraft through the slight reduction in turnaround times alone.

Whether that works or not, who knows. But at least the rollout will be slow and methodical, so if something goes wrong, it doesn’t bring the entire operation to a halt.

Jon, Brian, and I are covering Southwest’s investor day this week, and I seem to be the most optimistic of all of us about the plan. Come and listen to the alternative viewpoints because it will be worth it. I promise it. If not, blame Brian and Jon.

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