It also is taking out a hard-hitting ad in USA Today that attacks Southwest chairman and chief executive officer Gary Kelly, accusing him of putting profit ahead of people and service.
“In our industry, it’s all about the customers,” Local 555 president Charles Cerf said in the union’s notice. “We can’t stand idly by while management makes bad decisions that drive away passengers. If people keep losing bags on Southwest, they’ll vote with their wallets and select other carriers – and that threatens the livelihood of our members.”
While the union doesn’t point it out, Southwest also carries the most passengers of any carrier.
Here are some factoids from U.S. Department of Transportation’s consumer service reports:
– Southwest has carried more passengers than any other U.S. airline since 2005.
– Southwest has received more bag reports – damaged, lost or other unhappy results with passenger bags – than any other U.S. airline every year since 2006. Just about every month, it has more reports than any other carrier.
– Southwest’s position relative to other carriers has gotten worse since 2008 when other airlines began charging for checked bags, causing more of their customers to use carry-on bags rather than checking their luggage.
– Between 1998 and 2010, its rate of bag reports was worse than the industry average only once – in 2001. Since 2011, Southwest’s rate has been worse than the industry average for three of four years.
– Through September, the 2014 rate is 4.27 bag complaints per 1,000 passengers, or 10th out of 14 U.S. carriers. That compares to the 1998-2013 average of 4.10 reports per 1,000 passengers.
UPDATE, 4 p.m.: Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Brandy King issued this response:
“Although it’s a common practice, informational picketing does not change the Company’s approach to negotiations. We continue to share the Union’s sense of urgency to secure a fair agreement. Reaching the right deal for both Employees and the Company remains a top priority; and it must be one that is fair to all Employees, enables the Company to grow, and protects our position as a low-cost leader in the industry.
“We have a renewed focus and effort on improving baggage delivery and over the past few months, we’ve seen a steady decline in our mishandled baggage rate. In October, we proudly delivered approximately 99.5 percent of our bags correctly and we continue to see improvements.
“Regarding the number of bag carried, the packing habits of Southwest passengers haven’t changed. Customers continue to pack the same number of bags since the “Bags Fly Free” campaign was initiated in 2008. What the campaign has done is attract more Customers to Southwest, improving the bottom line. At the same time, the number of bags carried on other airlines has decreased, which improves their overall DOT ranking.
“As the number of Southwest Customers increase, we continue to hire in response to that growth. Over the last three years, the annual number of bags handled per Ramp Agent has steadily declined, not increased.”
TWU is taking out an ad in Tuesday’s USA Today with the message “Help me… I’m Lost.” In TWU’s release, Cerf noted that Southwest is operating bigger airplanes — 143-seat and 175-seat Boeing 737s rather than the 122-seat and 137-seat 737s of the past.
“Quite simply, under the leadership of Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines places profit ahead of people and a quality product. The airline now flies larger planes packed with more bags than ever before but doesn’t hire additional baggage handlers and in the past four years, hasn’t provided a raise to half of its ground workers,” its ad says.
While the ad says Southwest was “historically known for rarely losing luggage,” the carrier has ranked in the bottom half – the worse half – of the industry for eight of the past 17 years. It has finished first only once.
“With more suitcases, larger planes, tighter schedules and an overworked ground crew, it is sadly no surprise that we’re losing more bags than anybody else. That means delays for all Southwest customers – even those who don’t check their baggage,” Cerf said.
Contract talks between Southwest and Local 555 started in July 2011. The union had picketed in March 2013 and focused its criticism then on Southwest’s efforts to use more temporary labor during high-demand periods.
Cerf was one of 10 union presidents to sign a June letter in which they criticized the poor morale at the carrier and urged management to reach new contracts with their labor groups.
Below, we have some charts of Southwest’s position relative to the industry.
First, here is Southwest’s ranking on total bag reports (complaints) and on total passengers carried.
| Year | Reports | Passengers |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 5 | 4 |
| 1999 | 5 | 3 |
| 2000 | 4 | 3 |
| 2001 | 2 | 2 |
| 2002 | 3 | 2 |
| 2003 | 3 | 2 |
| 2004 | 3 | 2 |
| 2005 | 3 | 1 |
| 2006 | 1 | 1 |
| 2007 | 1 | 1 |
| 2008 | 1 | 1 |
| 2009 | 1 | 1 |
| 2010 | 1 | 1 |
| 2011 | 1 | 1 |
| 2012 | 1 | 1 |
| 2013 | 1 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1 | 1 |
Next, here is Southwest’s rate of bag reports per 1,000 passengers compared to that of all carriers tracked by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
| Year | Southwest | Industry | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 4.53 | 5.20 | -0.67 |
| 1999 | 4.22 | 5.08 | -0.86 |
| 2000 | 5.00 | 5.29 | -0.29 |
| 2001 | 4.77 | 4.55 | 0.22 |
| 2002 | 3.52 | 3.84 | -0.32 |
| 2003 | 3.35 | 4.19 | -0.84 |
| 2004 | 3.35 | 4.91 | -1.56 |
| 2005 | 4.25 | 6.04 | -1.79 |
| 2006 | 5.34 | 6.73 | -1.39 |
| 2007 | 5.87 | 7.03 | -1.16 |
| 2008 | 4.57 | 5.26 | -0.69 |
| 2009 | 3.43 | 3.91 | -0.48 |
| 2010 | 3.47 | 3.51 | -0.04 |
| 2011 | 3.65 | 3.39 | 0.26 |
| 2012 | 3.08 | 3.09 | -0.01 |
| 2013 | 3.72 | 3.22 | 0.50 |
| 2014 | 4.27 | 3.71 | 0.56 |
(Terry Maxon - Dallas Morning News)
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