Southwest Airlines Testing Another Unpopular Change: 'Insult to the Passengers'

Over the past several months, the once customer-friendly Southwest Airlines has made a number of unpopular moves that have negatively impacted the average customer. Now, the airline is testing another one.

After ending its longstanding "bag fly free" policy and moving to assigned seating, Southwest Airlines has run into some very high-profile problems. Now, as the airline attempts to bounce back from the public backlash it has received, it seems to just be creating more negative headlines for itself.

Southwest Airlines Gets Bad Press

Ever since Southwest moved to an assigned seating model on Jan. 27, the airline has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, as travel experts and common travelers alike have been blasting the airline's chaotic boarding process.

The logistical issues that Southwest has been having have been exacerbated by the airline's decision to begin charging for checked bags back in May. Following that change, Southwest immediately began having problems with handling the surge in carry-on luggage, especially since its aircraft were not designed with enough overhead bin space.

While Southwest has been taking steps to address these issues, it has had little impact on the issues the recent changes have created with the boarding process up to this point, and even the flight attendants seem to be fed up.

Another Unpopular Change

As if Southwest Airlines hadn't already upset its customer base enough with its recent unpopular changes, the airline is testing out another one that has already sparked outrage with its own flight attendants.

Chris Click, who is a union board member and safety chair for the TWU Local 556 union, which represents Southwest Airlines flight attendants, revealed this week that Southwest is testing having cabin cleaners come onto its planes between flights, but only to clean the premium extra legroom seat areas of the aircraft, not the rest of the plane.

In a recent video, Click says he received a memo from the airline about the plan on Tuesday, and he's clearly not happy about it. He went as far as to compare the situation to the Titanic with the upper-class passengers “having cigars and sipping brandy and telling their stories of their untold fortunes” while passengers “below deck” don’t get their seats cleaned.

"The company thinks it’s okay to only do the premium seating cleaning. I find that, and I liken it to the movie Titanic," he said in the video via View From the Wing. "And I feel like that’s the conditions they’re creating here at Southwest."

"I know Southwest says, 'Oh, we don’t have class service,'" Click continued. "This is class service. This is first-class seating. And now that you’re bringing cleaners on board to provide a different cleaning product up front than you are in the back, this is definitely class service."

'An Insult to the Passengers'

Unlike competitors, Southwest hasn’t generally had cleaners come on planes between flights. Instead, flight attendants are responsible for generally tidying up the plane between flights, which helps turn the planes around faster.

But having cleaners for one part of the plane and not the other, Click said, is not a good look for the airline, calling it an "insult" to the passengers who are not in those extra legroom seats.

"It’s an insult to the passengers that aren’t in ELR seats that they’re left with just what we can tidy. And look, there’s a big difference between tidying the airplane and cleaning," he said. "So up front, you’ve got these super clean airplanes. In the back, you’ve got half-hearted, tidied airplanes. The passengers are going to come on board. They’re going to see it."

Needless to say, passengers are not going to be happy if this practice is fully adopted by the airline.