I’ve flown SW exclusively dozens ( or more ) times in the last 20 years.
Now after this ‘strategic takeover’ or whatever, and the loss of choice of seating, they’re going to be no better than any other crap airline.
I fly Southwest frequently and regret it when I have to fly, Delta, American, United.
1. The pilots are all very qualified, experienced. Company policies have them hand-flying the aircraft significantly more than competitors.
2. Lots of us like the “open seating” as is. It has always allowed SW to be more efficient in ticketing and it showed in the lower fares. Oh, well.
3. What has also happened is that the so-called legacy airlines use feeder lines to compete with Soutwest’s fares. A ticket booked on United sounds good, until you find yourself in a regional jet operated by SkyWest, Mesa Airlines, Commuter Air or the like. They might be painted like a United plane, but they are regionals with captains and first officers having minimum flight hours and paid minimum wages. Think aboout the Delta CRJ rolled upside down in Toronto and the American that was hit by the Blackhawk in DC. Both were regionals that fit this description.
Contrast to the Southwest that last week did the unprompted “go-around” when things didn’t “look right” as the private jet wrongly crossed the active runway. I’m not saying pilot experience or inexperience was the number one thing in these incidents, but it is at least a factor.
That’s my opinion.