Throughout our years of flying, we’ve witnessed a wide range of unusual events. These oddball occurrences are typically part of daily operations, but the odds of experiencing them during a random flight are low. However, the more you’ve flown, the more likely you’ve experienced one or more of these:
- We’ve been on a flight that was diverted due to a medical emergency.
- We’ve had a flight be canceled and rescheduled for the exact same time
- We’ve had a flight be delayed and then undelayed
- We’ve booked an award ticket for a flight with no available seats
But until now, I’ve never even heard of the strange travel event encountered by one of our friends on a Southwest flight from Albany to Orlando.
Southwest’s Solution For A “Mechanical” Cancellation
Our friend is originally from upstate New York and has family there, so he’s familiar with the Albany-Orlando route. The only airlines that fly non-stop between the two cities are JetBlue and Southwest, and for this trip, he was flying on SWA.
On the day of his return trip, he received a notification from the Southwest App that his flight to Orlando had been canceled. As the flight was scheduled for an evening departure, this would usually mean heading back to spend another day with family or spending the evening at a hotel near Albany Airport.
Southwest Gave Away Their Plane
It turns out that flight SW157 was canceled because they no longer had a plane. Not because it was broken but because Southwest used it for a different flight. Albany isn’t a big airport, and there are few Southwest gates. While our friend was waiting for his flight to Orlando, he head a Southwest agent announce that the plane for the Chicago Midway flight had to be taken out of service. However, that flight wasn’t canceled, only somewhat delayed. I bet you can guess where Southwest got a replacement plane.
That’s right, they took aircraft N7877H, which was originally scheduled to fly to Orlando, and used it for the flight to Midway. Here’s the listing from FlightRadar24:
Pretty sneaky, Southwest!
However, our friend was rebooked on another flight to Orlando that evening. This was strange because there were no scheduled flights from Albany to Orlando after the one he was on.
Southwest Diverts Plane to Pick Up Stranded Passengers
Southwest Flight 174 usually flies from Providence, RI, to Orlando. Well, except for May 4th, when the plane flew a route from PVD-ALB-MCO. Southwest flew Providence passengers to Albany to pick up the passengers stranded by the canceled flight, before continuing on to Orlando.
This added 2 and 1/2 hours to the flight for passengers from Rhode Island, who wondered why they were flying northwest instead of south.
According to FlightRadar24, the flight from Providence was “diverted” to Albany. I call this shenanigans, as the new schedule was decided before the plane left the airport. Diversions are due to medical emergencies or bad weather and the plane is unable to land, not to pick up stranded passengers. This was rerouting a plane to add a stop, and there’s a difference between the two.
How would you feel?
According to our friend who got onto the plane in Albany, the passengers there were happy to get on a flight instead of having to spend the night. Even if it meant a long delay and getting the worst seats on the plane, as everyone who was flying from Providence got to keep their seats when the plane took on extra passengers.
Apparently, Southwest took this measure because the flights from Providence and Albany had light loads, and a single plane could serve passengers from both airports. IMHO, the ones who got the short end of the stick were the people flying from PVD who had to fly via Albany to Orlando through no fault of their own. At baggage claim, it was overheard that Providence passengers were told their flight was “diverted” to Albany to pick up passengers.
On one hand, you have to give it to Southwest here. It’s not unusual to use a plane from another flight to cover a mechanical problem. However, with no other planes at a smaller airport like Albany, they came up with a creative solution and added a stop to another flight headed to the same place from a different city.
Everyone arrived at their destinations, which is what the airline promised. However, do you think Providence passengers are owed compensation from Southwest for using their plane to transport passengers who were stranded at another airport due to a mechanical issue? It is one thing if it’s your own plane that has issues, but when the airline lends a plane to another flight, which then delays two other flights, it seems unfair.
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3 comments
I’d say it’s creative. It’s what you get when you fly SWA.
What you describe is known as a flag stop. This type of passenger accommodation happens most often in the exact situation described where a city with limited service requires a flight with enough empty seats to drop through and pick up passengers continuing on to the original destination. It’s not just Southwest that do flag stops. It is definitely creative thinking outside the box. Although the PVD passengers were inconvenienced they were likely compensated by Southwest for their arrival being delayed.
Thanks for providing additional information.