(posted by Larry Lonero on Facebook)
I’ve been a pilot for Southwest Airlines for over 35 years. I’ve given
my heart and soul to Southwest Airlines during those years. And quite
honestly Southwest Airlines has given its heart and soul to me and my
family.
Many of you have asked what caused this epic meltdown. Unfortunately,
the frontline employees have been watching this meltdown coming like a
slow motion train wreck for sometime. And we’ve been begging our
leadership to make much needed changes in order to avoid it. What
happened yesterday started two decades ago.
Herb Kelleher was the brilliant CEO of SWA until 2004. He was a very
operationally oriented leader. Herb spent lots of time on the front
line. He always had his pulse on the day to day operation and the people
who ran it. That philosophy flowed down through the ranks of leadership
to the front line managers. We were a tight operation from top to
bottom. We had tools, leadership and employee buy in. Everything that
was needed to run a first class operation. When Herb retired in 2004
Gary Kelly became the new CEO.
Gary was an accountant by education and his style leading Southwest
Airlines became more focused on finances and less on operations. He did
not spend much time on the front lines. He didn’t engage front line
employees much. When the CEO doesn’t get out in the trenches the neither
do the lower levels of leadership.
Gary named another accountant to be Chief Operating Officer (the person
responsible for day to day operations). The new COO had little or no
operational background. This trickled down through the lower levels of
leadership, as well.
They all disengaged the operation, disengaged the employees and focused
more on Return on Investment, stock buybacks and Wall Street. This
approach worked for Gary’s first 8 years because we were still riding
the strong wave that Herb had built.
But as time went on the operation began to deteriorate. There was little
investment in upgrading technology (after all, how do you measure the
return on investing in infrastructure?) or the tools we needed to
operate efficiently and consistently. As the frontline employees began
to see the deterioration in our operation we began to warn our
leadership. We educated them, we informed them and we made suggestions
to them. But to no avail. The focus was on finances not operations. As
we saw more and more deterioration in our operation our asks turned to
pleas. Our pleas turned to dire warnings. But they went unheeded. After
all, the stock price was up so what could be wrong?
We were a motivated, willing and proud employee group wanting to serve
our customers and uphold the tradition of our beloved airline, the
airline we built and the airline that the traveling public grew to cheer
for and luv. But we were watching in frustration and disbelief as our
once amazing airline was becoming a house of cards.
A half dozen small scale meltdowns occurred during the mid to late
2010’s. With each mini meltdown Leadership continued to ignore the pleas
and warnings of the employees in the trenches. We were still operating
with 1990’s technology. We didn’t have the tools we needed on the line
to operate the sophisticated and large airline we had become. We could
see that the wheels were about ready to fall off the bus. But no one in
leadership would heed our pleas.
When COVID happened SWA scaled back considerably (as did all of the
airlines) for about two years. This helped conceal the serious problems
in technology, infrastructure and staffing that were occurring and being
ignored. But as we ramped back up the lack of attention to the operation
was waiting to show its ugly head.
Gary Kelly retired as CEO in early 2022. Bob Jordan was named CEO. He
was a more operationally oriented leader. He replaced our Chief
Operating Officer with a very smart man and they announced their
priority would be to upgrade our airline’s technology and provide the
frontline employees the operational tools we needed to care for our
customers and employees. Finally, someone acknowledged the elephant in
the room.
But two decades of neglect takes several years to overcome. And,
unfortunately to our horror, our house of cards came tumbling down this
week as a routine winter storm broke our 1990’s operating system.
The frontline employees were ready and on station. We were properly
staffed. We were at the airports. Hell, we were ON the airplanes. But
our antiquated software systems failed coupled with a decades old system
of having to manage 20,000 frontline employees by phone calls. No
automation had been developed to run this sophisticated machine.
We had a routine winter storm across the Midwest last Thursday. A larger
than normal number flights were cancelled as a result. But what should
have been one minor inconvenient day of travel turned into this
nightmare. After all, American, United, Delta and the other airlines
operated with only minor flight disruptions.
The two decades of neglect by SWA leadership caused the airline to lose
track of all its crews. ALL of us. We were there. With our customers. At
the jet. Ready to go. But there was no way to assign us. To confirm us.
To release us to fly the flight. And we watched as our customers got
stranded without their luggage missing their Christmas holiday.
I believe that our new CEO Bob Jordan inherited a MESS. This meltdown
was not his failure but the failure of those before him. I believe he
has the right priorities. But it will take time to right this ship. A
few years at a minimum. Old leaders need to be replaced. Operationally
oriented managers need to be brought in. I hope and pray Bob can execute
on his promises to fix our once proud airline. Time will tell.
It’s been a punch in the gut for us frontline employees. We care for the
traveling public. We have spent our entire careers serving you. Safely.
Efficiently. With luv and pride. We are horrified. We are sorry. We are
sorry for the chaos, inconvenience and frustration our airline caused
you. We are angry. We are embarrassed. We are sad. Like you, the
traveling public, we have been let down by our own leaders.
Herb once said the the biggest threat to Southwest Airlines will come
from within. Not from other airlines. What a visionary he was. I miss
Herb now more than ever.
Categories:
Southwest Airlines
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