Southwest Airlines has been making a lot of changes lately — and not all of them have gone over well. Now even The Onion is getting in on the action.
You probably know that Southwest Airlines hasn’t been having a good start to 2026. That’s when their assigned seating went into effect and, needless to say, people have NOT been happy from day one. Boarding was still a mess a week later.
Just a couple of weeks into their new system, the airline said that fixes were coming. And a few weeks after that, they announced even more changes because their boarding system was still a mess.
Of course, most of the problems were their own fault:
- They labeled passengers incorrectly.
- They did nothing to ensure (only “endeavor”) that young children would sit next to their family members instead of strangers.
- And their latest? They’re experimenting with only cleaning premium seats between flights, while the rest of the plane will only get a quick tidying by flight attendants.
Nice.
The Onion’s response
The Onion is a U.S.-based satirical digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes articles on international, national, and local news. Some people love it, some hate it. Either way is fine to them, I’m sure, as long as you keep clicking on their site ;-).
The Onion has done satire on the travel industry for years – we’ve covered some of their (very funny) travel-related stories in the past. I’ve particularly enjoyed when they take aim at Disney parks.
But with all the recent brouhaha about Southwest, you couldn’t blame The Onion for adding their own flavor of humor in the form of this headline:
The accompanying article said that as Southwest passengers board the plane, they would now be assigned a job. Maybe those in a specific row would be assigned to pick up trash. Or those in the exit row would have to push the beverage cart. Assigned jobs would appear on passengers’ boarding passes – but you have the option to pay more if you want a more comfortable job.
Again, this is all satire, but when you think about all the changes Southwest made in recent months, you can see where writers for The Onion got their ideas.
You can read the entire article here.
The internet reacts
Of course, the internet had something to say about this, with no less than 3 separate threads about it on Reddit’s forum devoted to Southwest Airlines.
- But when I tried to move my mop bucket over to another row, I got yelled at over something called “balancing??”– mrgraff
- Maybe South Park needs to do an episode on southwest.. you know you are really bad when south park roasts you 🤣🤣🤣🤣 — Tinderguy529
- But that means we’d have to get out of our assigned seats. — Hour-Succotash7176
- The last southwest flight I was on the attendant made me hand over the paper cup my toddler was entertaining themselves with before landing. Needless to say…He was distraught to give it up. I questioned my compliance as I exited the plane passing cup after cup on the ground. — landarrr
- Southwest is now the AirBnB of the skies. — VitaminPb
- I just keep hoping that Herb Kelleher shows up to reveal that he wasn’t actually dead (just super hungover) and challenges current management to an arm wrestling contest for the fate of the airline.– thomasonbush
- Group 1 does get first pick of chores. — excoriator
Not the first time
To be fair, this isn’t the first time that The Onion has made fun of Southwest Airlines. But it’s the first time they’ve, what’s the word I’m looking for? — eviscerated them.
It may be satire, but given Southwest’s recent changes, it’s not hard to see where the joke came from. But for now, the airline is still laughing all the way to the bank.
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