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I Just Love That New Plane Smell!

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Frequent Flyer B

You know, this is a pretty cool Company. I have worked at a number of different places in several industries and Southwest has them beat. But as with most things in life, this job is what you make of it. 

Last year our Community Relations and Giving Team challenged us to input the multiple hours many of us spend every year volunteering for nonprofit organizations. You may remember Gary speaking about it in his Message To The Field—in fact, for 2012, he charged each Employee to volunteer one hour per quarter!

The contest was simple enough. Click on a pledge button, record 40 hours volunteering during our 40th year (2011), and if completed, be entered in a contest where the 40 winners and their guests would head Seattle to pick up a new 737-800 in 2012. 

The first night there, and during Seattle's most beautiful time of the year, Boeing hosted a dinner cruise around Puget Sound.  The next day we had a tour around Renton Field, where the 737s are assembled (sorry, no photography was allowed). Later that evening, the group enjoyed a delicious dinner at a place called FareStart, which was a really cool and successful restaurant (and also a nonprofit organization) that helps people down on their luck with training to enter the hospitality industry.  On August 8, we flew home on Aircraft #8316.  Most of us had never flown on a new plane, much less a brand new -800!

The trip was fantastic, the Crew was great, and I hope you like this video. For me, it served as a great reminder of a Company that is proud of its Employees who give back to their communities.