The best responses to the Southwest Airlines collapse
Dallas

The best responses to the Southwest Airlines collapse

By Judy J. Beasley

Christmas and the holidays are bad enough, but Southwest Airlines has found a way to make the season even more painful.

This week, the airline had to delay or outright cancel 60% of its domestic flights during one of the busiest travel times of the year. The record blizzard that hit the northeast is partly to blame, but some travel analysts and at least one member of Congress speculate that internal company issues such as poor communication channels, outdated technology and sloppy planning are a major cause of the massive delays, according to a report by NPR All things Considered.

Meanwhile, thousands of people are stranded on tarmacs and in airport terminals trying to get to their original destination or simply trying to get home after a hectic vacation. Since there’s not much to do in an airport other than pay inflated prices for a convenience store turkey club, many people take their frustration out on social media and produce content that will at least give their mates road something to smile about as they wait for the airline to pull itself together.

For example, Kalepopsicle posted on Reddit something stranded passengers can do to help those stranded at airports across the country. As flights get stuck, luggage starts piling up in places it wasn’t supposed to go, so the Redditor suggests people do what Southwest seems unable to do: call the phone numbers on the tags. stuck on lost luggage.
Stoolie Memes posted a video on Twitter of the queues created by Southwest. For the humorless, it should be noted that this is a satire. These are truly images of 5 million Argentines celebrating the return of the national football team.

Ellie Hert on TikTok is stuck at Love Field, where insult and hurt inevitably collide. Here is his reaction.

@elliehert I am overstimulated. #anditssohard #traveling #lovefield #South West ♬ The Day After Tomorrow – Phoebe Bridgers

Twitter’s use of GIFs abounds during this disaster, like this great shot of Kieran Culkin doomscrolling on HBO Succession.

@CamBNewton uses one of AMC’s most iconic and beepable moments breaking Bad to perfectly sum up Southwest’s response to the whole mess.

Some people have gotten a little petty, I’m not going to lie.

And others, quite dramatic.

We don’t want to be sad about any of this all the time, which is why this positive tweet offers a nice change of pace from the understandable grunts about Southwest dropping the ball.

It will take Southwest at least days to repair the damage from all these cancellations and delays. They better start stretching or something if they don’t want to pull a muscle.

Lastly, this tweet from Dallas Love Field’s official Twitter page wasn’t meant to be funny, just a cute way to spread the word about the company over the holidays with a holiday-themed selfie station. Imagine what kind of photos people are taking now and preparing to post when they get home. Southwest will be lucky if he gets his Christmas tree back in one piece.

Judy J. Beasley
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