Over the past few months, the once-customer-friendly Southwest Airlines has made a series of unpopular moves that have negatively impacted regular customers. Now, the airline is testing another aircraft.
After ending its long-standing “bag-free fly” policy and moving to assigned seating, Southwest Airlines ran into some very high-profile issues. Now, as the airline attempts to recover from the public backlash, it appears to have only created more negative headlines for itself.
Southwest Airlines gets bad press
Ever since Southwest Airlines switched to an assigned seating model on Jan. 27, the airline has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons, with travel experts and regular travelers alike slamming the airline’s confusing boarding process.
Southwest Airlines’ decision to start charging for checked bags in May has exacerbated logistical problems the airline has been facing. Immediately after this change, Southwest began experiencing problems handling the surge in carry-on bags, particularly because its planes were not designed with enough overhead bin space.
While Southwest has been taking steps to address these issues, so far it has had little impact on the problems caused by recent boarding process changes, and even flight attendants seem to be getting fed up with them.
Another unwelcome change
As if Southwest’s recent unpopular changes haven’t rattled its customer base enough, the airline is testing another change that’s already drawing the ire of flight attendants.
Chris Click, a union board member and safety president for TWU Local 556, the union that represents Southwest flight attendants, revealed this week that Southwest is testing having cabin cleaners on the plane between flights, but only to clean the premium seating areas on the plane with extra legroom, not the rest of the plane.
In a recent video, Kerik said he received a memo from the airline on Tuesday about the plan, which he was apparently not happy with. He even compared the situation to the Titanic, where passengers in the upper decks “smoked cigars, drank brandy, and told stories of their untold riches,” while passengers “below decks” had their seats uncleared.
“The company thinks it’s OK to only do advanced seat cleaning. I found this out and I compared it to the movie Titanic,” he said in the video View from the wing. “I feel like that’s what they’ve created at Southwest.”
“I know Southwest said, ‘Oh, we don’t have cabin service,'” Creek continued. “It’s first-class service. It’s first-class seating. Now you’re bringing cleaners on board with different cleaning products in the front than in the back, and it’s absolutely first-class service.”
“Insult to passengers”
Unlike its competitors, Southwest typically doesn’t have cleaners on board its planes between flights. Instead, flight attendants are often responsible for tidying up planes between flights, which can help turn planes around faster.
But Kerik said having cleaners in one part of the plane but not another doesn’t look good for airlines, calling it an “insult” to passengers who don’t have seats with extra legroom.
“It’s insulting to those passengers who aren’t in ELR seats that they only get what we can clean. You see, there’s a big difference between cleaning the plane and cleaning,” he said. “So in the front, you have these super clean planes. In the back, you have half-hearted, neat planes. Passengers will get on the plane. They will see it.”
Needless to say, if airlines adopted this practice across the board, passengers wouldn’t be happy.
This article was originally published by Men’s Journal on March 6, 2026, and first appeared in the Travel section. Click here to add Men’s Diary as your go-to source.