Some frequent fliers may soon discover that their old tight-connecting itineraries are no longer available. Now the system minimum is 35 minutes and even longer in busy hub airports such as Chicago/Midway. Southwest has also eliminated the tightest connecting times in its schedule-it wasnвЂ™t unusual for travelers to have only 25 minutes to get to their connecting flights, which often meant a sprint from a late-arriving flight or an extra delay as the receiving aircraft waited for passengers. Gate-to-gate timings have been lengthened. Only this year was the airline able to implement a new schedule, starting in August.ДЄs Southwest officials explained to Snyder, turn times for even the smaller-capacity Boeing 737s in the carrierвЂ™s fleet were increased to 35 minutes, and on larger-capacity planes as much as 50 minutes. Even a five-minute delay in an early flight reverberated through the day, so that an aircraft might be as much as an hour off-schedule by its last flight.ДЄmazingly, Snyder reports, Southwest was unable to quickly revise its schedule to eliminate delays because of its antiquated reservations system, which couldnвЂ™t accommodate a large number of schedule changes. As SouthwestвЂ™s service cities had expanded, more passengers were checking bags, another obstacle to quick turns.

Its passengers-per-plane, or вЂњload factors,вЂќ had risen, making it harder to load and unload passengers to meet its narrow turn times. By November and December, it was already clear that the scheduleвЂ™s demanding tolerances could only be met on days with near-perfect weather and no mechanical mishaps-and those were rare days indeed.

Southwest implemented its new, extra-packed schedule in August 2013, hoping to exploit strong travel demand and strong fares. (Snyder conducted the interview in early September during an airline media event for which Southwest paid for SnyderвЂ™s airfare and lodging.) Indeed, SouthwestвЂ™s operational standards were even tighter than most, with turn times as brief as 25 minutes. Van de Ven, is one of surprising miscalculation in an industry with very tight operational margins. The story Snyder tells, based on an interview with Southwest Executive Vice President Michael G. In early 2013, Southwest was consistently beating the industry in on-time arrivals. ItвЂ™s still not home in August, according to FAA figures, the airlineвЂ™s on-time performance still lagged all domestic carriers by a couple of percentage points. Southwest has spent much of the last year trying to undo the damage. As Snyder puts it, вЂњSouthwest was going to operate the equivalent of 16 new airplanesвЂ™ worth of flying without increasing its fleet at all.вЂќ The carrier looked at its performance during 2012, a mild weather year, and decided to roll the dice that it could squeeze more out of the same collection of stones. The problem was caused by SouthwestвЂ™s deliberate, and very ill-advised, strategy to cram more flights into its schedule without expanding its aircraft fleet and while adding seats to its existing planes. Now, courtesy of Brett Snyder of the popular travel website, weвЂ™re getting a fuller explanation. The airline explained to the press, blandly, that its problems were caused by вЂњ scheduling too many flights at the most popular takeoff times,вЂќ and shortening the turn - the time set aside for loading and unloading passengers - to accommodate the super-packed schedule. Luckily for Southwest, the airline had built up a reservoir of goodwill from years of low-frills but effective service so that its statistics on customer complaints didnвЂ™t soar even as its on-time performance collapsed. More flights arrived late, and more flights sat on the ground past their departure times, waiting for connecting passengers from flights that arrived late, and so on and so on. Starting last fall, passengers on Southwest AirlinesвЂ™ usually reliable flights began noticing a sharp deterioration in on-time performance.

Southwest ontime record