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Southwest Airlines Community

BREAKING NEWS....THIS JUST IN.....

Bill
Employee
Employee

I'm thinking Wednesday was a slow news day.

One of our Warriors in the Public Relations department called me Wednesday after an Associated Press reporter called to ask why Southwest wasn't accepting reservations past October 30.  The reporter was curious about the lack of Holiday availability.  I gave my colleague from P.R. the page on southwest.com where she can find the next schedule release date (http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/travel_center.html?ref=trvltls_gn) and didn't think anything more about it.   Neither did she.

Until later Wednesday afternoon, that is.  The reporter actually wrote a story about our not yet offering our schedule for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  True, there are other facts about other airlines in his piece, but the fact that "Southwest is not yet accepting reservations for the Holidays" made the headline. That got me to reminiscing (and laughing) about the sound flaming you guys gave me early in 2007 when I did a blog piece about the subject--and how we actually changed our business practices based on the gaping wound of dissatisfaction I unwittingly ripped open with that blog post.  The very fact that you can now access our next anticipated schedule release date at southwest.com is one of those changes, as is the fact that barring something catastrophic, we will never again drop below 120 days of booking inventory.   And we are working with other groups across the Company to be able to add more and more inventory out there as we go forward.

So heads up, Associated Press....we scooped you on this over a year ago!  But we hope you'll become devoted readers of "Nuts About Southwest!"   You'd be surprised what you--and we--can learn!  😉

 

 

12 Comments
Anonymous548
Explorer A
I'm surprised they didn't use something like "Southwest Airlines currently has no plans to fly during the holiday season".. LoL.. We as Customers do appreciate the enormous amount of time and skill involved in preparing the schedule so it has the perfect blend of feasibility and profitability. Thanks, Bill!
Austin_Blackbur
Explorer B
I received a postcard from Southwest Airlines the other day stating that you had assigned an internal tracking number to my file. What is the website I should visit to enter my code and view my profile? Thanks!!
nsx
Adventurer C
Under normal circumstances, impatient people would just book with another airline. But this year, nobody knows which airlines will suddenly shut down. That makes it much safer to book with Southwest, even before you consider Southwest's lack of any penalty for canceling or changing your ticket. Southwest is going to get a lot of new business this year as customers begin to choose an airline based on solvency first, price second. nsx at flyertalk.com's Southwest forum
chuchoteur
Adventurer B
Hi Bill, funny how the subject has just come bouncing back after the discussion last year... certainly makes me smile... :o) Raphael
blusk
Aviator C
Micah, The file number is one that Customer Relations assigns to every inbound piece of correspondence. It is for our internal use only, and there isn't a web site for you to look up your file. CR will contact you directly. Brian
Austin_Blackbur
Explorer B
Thanks Brian!!
Rick17
Explorer C
The media is in a frenzy on airline reporting.
scottb
Explorer C
Bill How about an update on Wifi? Thanks SB
Mark18
Explorer C
I have set a reminder AND an alarm on my computer for June 26. I will be ready to book our flights for our fall travel needs.
Not applicable
nsx, Right, as usual--and given the current price of oil *plus* the current consolidation frenzy going on in the industry, who knows where it will end. I'm just happy that I can be certain that Southwest moves slowly enough to be reliable yet quickly enough to remain successful! Mr. Sheffield, I forget which Broadway show it's from....but remember the old song, "Everything Old Is New Again"? I know it was in the movie "All That Jazz"....but man, is it ever true! Scott, A WiFi update sounds like a GREAT idea. I'll see what I can scare up. It probably deserves its own blog post, and I'm not sure who would be the best person do write/publish it but I'll check on it on Monday! Mark, We'll be ready for ya! Happy Father's day, everyone! Bill
scottnearsmf
Adventurer B
I've noticed a lot of "special" activity for Southwest going in and out of GulfPort/Biloxi (GPT) are you guys considering adding GulfPort/Biloxi (GPT)to the Southwest lineup?
scottnearsmf
Adventurer B
Since I have never used an airline that imposed a miniumum stay requirement, what happens if someone books a plan that does NOT have a miniumum required stay length. Another reason to fly Southwest, since each trip is handled on a one-way basis, NO Miniumum stay requirement needed or charged.