A DansDeals reader aboard Southwest Flight 957 from Chicago/MDW to Newark reports that his flight was just diverted to Cleveland after a window shattered during his flight. He reports that it sounded like a loud crack after something hit the window and shattered it, causing the crew to divert the flight to Cleveland.
Passengers in the row ran away from the window and some people on the flight were crying hysterically during the incident.
He said the crew acted very professionally and that they are getting a new plane in Cleveland to take them to Newark.
It’s great to hear that everyone aboard today’s flight is safe and sound!
Flew mdw-lga everyone speaking of issues is nonsense. Both these events were/are capable of happening on aa,cx,dl, NH and every other worldwide carrier. It’s pure coincidence. Like one dog dying on united and 2 others ending up in wrong country.
Southwest was great today. A little cramped at a window seats but overall everything as expected. Except gate a4b. Firstly, that’s a retarded way of naming gates. Second, it was a very distant walk from tsa. At least 12 min. So be prepared if your leaving from this gate
Now the hero pilot and crew will get to meet the president in the oval office… I think the CEO of Southwest should be called into the oval office to pick up his pink slip…
Best thing to come out of all this is hopefully an emptier flight on my Southwest Airlines LGA-MDW flight for shavous. Maybe get my own row?
saving a few bucks and risking your life….what a way to go…
Nice HT!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2018/05/02/southwest-airlines-flight-makes-unplanned-landing-in-cleveland-following-reports-of-a-broken-window/
And the credit goes to… you guessed it.
http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2018/05/southwest_flight_diverts_to_cl.html
Chicago Suntimes quotes DansDeals
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/southwest-flight-emergency-landing-broken-window-chicago-newark-cleveland/
FoxNews just had this story and credit twitter handle #Chaikel for it. very cool
Very cool, indeed!
Yay for Dan getting great coverage on all the news sites for providing the pics!!
Reminds me of the Malaysia airplane that went missing and then a few weeks a later another one was shot down over Ukraine. Should be fine from here on…
Interesting to watch this being picked up by the media in real time
thanks was a decent short on the stock
Dan,
Can you tell if that’s a through-and-through break in the window, or just one layer?
If it’s a full break, at altitude, you’d have decompression.
Any more details on this?
WOW Dansdeals first to break the story! I vote Dan for the 2019 Merriman Smith Award! 🙂
Low cost airlines have to be saving costs somewhere in order to remain profitable. Now we know where. Maintenance!
Low cost? Seriously?? SW ceased being a “low cost carrier” long ago. I recently booked an AA first class ticket for a little more than half the price of a SW business select, and this is consistently my experience. I book a lot of flights for 5 bosses and the main reason they choose SW is because SW often has the only nonstops. Cost is always a consideration, but often TIME is more important. And with nonstops they can often get in/out in one day, saving the cost of a hotel. Being able change and cancel without penalty is also a HUGE plus with SW. But they are no longer CHEAP. But I agree, it seems that maintenance is being sacrificed for profit.
Business select is a waste of money if “Wanna Get Away” is available. You’re paying hundreds of dollars for the ability to board the plane early, a drink voucher, and the ability to get a refund in cash instead of SW credit.
Better bet would be just to get Wanna Get Away with Early-Bird Check-in.
Ronda, which market do you live in that you only have SW as the non-stops for your destinations? If you think SW is expensive take a look at Jetblue. I usually travel EWR-FLL and haven’t used Jetblue in years- as they are usually always significantly more than United, SW, and Spirit.
What kind of maintenance would you perform on a window to prevent things that strike it from shattering it?
Oh my God, this is terrifying. I hope something didn’t break off the plane itself, like the last one.
I would have been crying too!
It’s a good thing that window crack was that small, and I’m so glad everyone is okay.
Hugs to you all, who were on board.
WTF – I have 2 SW flights this week. Can they fix this problem already? I’m scared to get on these flights now. This sounds like a lawsuit if they repeatedly have windows cracking midlfight and there appears to be a systemic structural issue with these planes. They should ground all of these place models.
Take the Greyhound. Then use all that time to learn proper English and maybe, just maybe, a bit about aviation. What systematic structural issue are you referring to? In the earlier accident, the window was broken by a rogue engine piece. In this incident, one of the multiple panes in this window cracked but the window didn’t seem to have failed.
Lord Dima-you’re rude. Go away and make the world a better place.
lol
Did the oxygen mask come down? Was there decompression of the aircraft or was it at a safe altitude?
I don’t think it popped out or open. It cracked… but the seal did not break and so cabin pressure did not change. Reminds me of being on a bus in Israel when the rubber came off the tire. We dove for the floor thinking someone was machine gunning us.
I think I was on that bus!! When was this? I remember on a bus leaving Gaza years ago
whats worse? The cracked window or diverted to Cleveland
lol
ALOL
מחוצף
2 busted windows in 2 weeks?! I wouldn’t fly with them….
seriously whats going on? how old are they flights typically? this seems super scary!
I think window seats and exit rows will become less popular
I agree, however it’s a shame that Southwest’s business model fails against Spirit Air in one regard- you can’t choose your seat. I will not fly with Southwest because just like the chulent pot at a kiddush at the conclusion of shul- it’s a free-for-all and first come first serve. Even with family boarding, SW was unable to group my wife and infant together with me as the plane was already full from other families, elderly, military. So far Spirit has been able to accommodate seat requests at the ticket counter.
I’m a big Southwest fan. We use family boarding. Family boarding starts before the B numbers. Our family ALWAYS sits together as we use family boarding. Never had nor heard of a problem in that regard.
Try day after pesach from Fort Lauderdale to Newark. Family boarding means 80% of the passengers, many of whom didn’t buy a seat for their 1 year old but as a chillul Hashem sit the kids down after family boarding. Flight attendants had to go row to row reviewing people’s boarding passes and readjusting appropriately bought seats. Yea, we got lousy seats on Spirit and United once before, but at least it was a confirmed seating arrangement
lol
You can pay $15 for early-bird checkin which should get you a spot in Group A.
Additionally, many legacy carriers restrict so many seats that I can’t reserve family seating to begin with. I’ve never had an issue on Southwest, even on full flights.