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The actual answer is buried at the end of a long article. > Unlike many rival airlines, Southwest’s planes generally hop from one city to another, rather than

The actual answer is buried at the end of a long article. > Unlike many rival airlines, Southwest’s planes generally hop from one city to another, rather than orbiting a major hub. That approach lets Southwest maximize use of its planes and crew, but the daisy chain structure also makes its network more delicate—problems in one corner of the country can be difficult to contain

masklinn 4y ago
I mean... it's not entirely untrue but at the same time airlines have been winding down their "hub and spoke" model for a point to point one for a while. That's in part what doomed the A380, which was popular with airlines still going strong with hub-and-spoke (Emirates being by far the most prominent one) but is worthless in a point-to-point model.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  > the A380 My worst nightmare, was pulling into a gate, and seeing one of those puppies arriving on the same concourse. Immigration queues are bad enough, with 747s, but the A380 is much worse.
  - ikrenji 4y ago
    yeah well there is no reason why an entire A380 is being processed by two customs officers while 8 extra booths stand unused
- nradov 4y ago
  There are still a number of major airports that are slot constrained, especially now that passenger demand is growing again. It seems like there could be a profitable market for an efficient twin-engine airliner larger than the Boeing 777X. Perhaps even a double-decker?
  - masklinn 4y ago
    > There are still a number of major airports that are slot constrained Major airports are major airports even in a point to point system. If everybody wants to go into or come out of NY, NY's airports are going to be slot constrained. Also when I say "winding down" I don't mean "killed entirely", most airlines still have home bases, and mix point to point with regional hubs (especially for international flights). But at the height of the hub-and-spokes model, unless you departed from or went to a hub you'd always need a layover.
    - coredog64 4y ago
      La Guardia is gimped by stupid rules about travel distance. I'm sure these rules made sense years and years ago when planes that could travel long distances were very loud, but by now, the airport has been there longer than most residents and planes are significantly quieter. From a net utility standpoint, NYC should just pay for "port packages" for nearby houses, add the cost to landing fees, and remove source/destination restrictions on La Guardia.
      - inferiorhuman 4y ago
        La Guardia doesn't operate in a vacuum. It's too small for long range aircraft and increased traffic at LGA would create problems for JFK and EWR. Besides, the runways at LGA are much shorter than those at JFK, EWR, and extending the runways at any of those three is problematic. Even SWF has longer runways.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
phpisthebest 4y ago
That is only part of the issue, not every airline is 100% hub system alot most are a pretty big mix. Further alot of major Hubs where imacted by the Storm, yet those airlines where able to transition. Why? Well most airlines have mobile apps, and web portals and other techonology so their crews can be reassigned in almost real time, (just like I would get auto booked on a new flight before I even knew my flight was canceled via the mobile app) Instead Southwest has systems from the 80's they require crews and customers to call and talk to an actual live human...
- masklinn 4y ago
  > Instead Southwest has systems from the 80's they require crews and customers to call and talk to an actual live human... From what I understand (from /r/flying) it's the reporting / fixing of issues which is manual. This means when the reporting / fixing is overloaded and not given a respite it can't catch up, keeps getting more overloaded, and ultimately the scheduling system completely fell over (it lost track of crews entirely is what I understand). "Mobile apps, and web portals and other technology" is orthogonal to the issue at hand.
  - AnimalMuppet 4y ago
    Not entirely orthogonal? If the fixing issues is manual (therefore slower), that means that once issues start happening, it's slower to recover, thereby making a total meltdown more likely. And when a total meltdown occurs, recovery is manual, therefore slower.
    - masklinn 4y ago
      And you can have mobile apps and a web portal in front of that and it won't help none.
      - AnimalMuppet 4y ago
        It will make it faster than manual phone calls. "Faster" actually will help here. If nothing else, it will help the recovery not take so long.

masklinn 4y ago

I mean... it's not entirely untrue but at the same time airlines have been winding down their "hub and spoke" model for a point to point one for a while. That's in part what doomed the A380, which was popular with airlines still going strong with hub-and-spoke (Emirates being by far the most prominent one) but is worthless in a point-to-point model.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
> the A380 My worst nightmare, was pulling into a gate, and seeing one of those puppies arriving on the same concourse. Immigration queues are bad enough, with 747s, but the A380 is much worse.
- ikrenji 4y ago
  yeah well there is no reason why an entire A380 is being processed by two customs officers while 8 extra booths stand unused
nradov 4y ago
There are still a number of major airports that are slot constrained, especially now that passenger demand is growing again. It seems like there could be a profitable market for an efficient twin-engine airliner larger than the Boeing 777X. Perhaps even a double-decker?
- masklinn 4y ago
  > There are still a number of major airports that are slot constrained Major airports are major airports even in a point to point system. If everybody wants to go into or come out of NY, NY's airports are going to be slot constrained. Also when I say "winding down" I don't mean "killed entirely", most airlines still have home bases, and mix point to point with regional hubs (especially for international flights). But at the height of the hub-and-spokes model, unless you departed from or went to a hub you'd always need a layover.
  - coredog64 4y ago
    La Guardia is gimped by stupid rules about travel distance. I'm sure these rules made sense years and years ago when planes that could travel long distances were very loud, but by now, the airport has been there longer than most residents and planes are significantly quieter. From a net utility standpoint, NYC should just pay for "port packages" for nearby houses, add the cost to landing fees, and remove source/destination restrictions on La Guardia.
    - inferiorhuman 4y ago
      La Guardia doesn't operate in a vacuum. It's too small for long range aircraft and increased traffic at LGA would create problems for JFK and EWR. Besides, the runways at LGA are much shorter than those at JFK, EWR, and extending the runways at any of those three is problematic. Even SWF has longer runways.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

phpisthebest 4y ago

That is only part of the issue, not every airline is 100% hub system alot most are a pretty big mix. Further alot of major Hubs where imacted by the Storm, yet those airlines where able to transition. Why? Well most airlines have mobile apps, and web portals and other techonology so their crews can be reassigned in almost real time, (just like I would get auto booked on a new flight before I even knew my flight was canceled via the mobile app) Instead Southwest has systems from the 80's they require crews and customers to call and talk to an actual live human...

masklinn 4y ago
> Instead Southwest has systems from the 80's they require crews and customers to call and talk to an actual live human... From what I understand (from /r/flying) it's the reporting / fixing of issues which is manual. This means when the reporting / fixing is overloaded and not given a respite it can't catch up, keeps getting more overloaded, and ultimately the scheduling system completely fell over (it lost track of crews entirely is what I understand). "Mobile apps, and web portals and other technology" is orthogonal to the issue at hand.
- AnimalMuppet 4y ago
  Not entirely orthogonal? If the fixing issues is manual (therefore slower), that means that once issues start happening, it's slower to recover, thereby making a total meltdown more likely. And when a total meltdown occurs, recovery is manual, therefore slower.
  - masklinn 4y ago
    And you can have mobile apps and a web portal in front of that and it won't help none.
    - AnimalMuppet 4y ago
      It will make it faster than manual phone calls. "Faster" actually will help here. If nothing else, it will help the recovery not take so long.