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Southwest Airlines Begins Service to Minneapolis/St. Paul

cfox
Frequent Flyer C

On March 8, 2009 Southwest Airlines began service to Minneapolis/St. Paul, with 41 Employees and eight daily nonstop flights to Chicago Midway, with additional direct or connecting service to 57 destinations, including: San Francisco, Denver, and Philadelphia. Welcome to the Southwest Family, Minneapolis/St. Paul. LUV has come to town!

8 Comments
Patty10
Explorer C
Great that you are serving the Twin Cities and welcome. Shame on you that your employees (some of whom are this video even) elected to advertise your new service and chant obnoxiously during a reception held by the Armed Forces Services Center at the Lindbergh Terminal at MSP on Monday upon the arrival of a military charter flight that was not operated by your airline. While it is important to recognize the valiant and brave efforts of our men and women in uniform, and the Armed Forces Services Center in Minneapolis/St. Paul honors them on each and every military charter flight that operates through our airport, the events are designed to honor these men and women and are not an appropriate venue for any airline or any company for that matter, to advertise or chant such tacky slogans as "Southwest is in the house". It was a great disappointment and did not represent the best of your airline, moreover, it left a poor impression of Minneapolis/St. Paul for our men and women in uniform as they flew through our airport on their way home from Iraq. If that is the brand of activity that you want to bring to our community, then Minnesota doesn't need your service and collectively you owe the AFSC, the people at the Lindbergh Terminal and the uniform your employees disgraced a large and public apology.
Rena
Explorer C
Nice works! I fly SW 7-10 times a year. Why not work and plan for Southwest airlines fly into Killeen/Fort Hood Texas? It is the biggest Army base in the nation, plus cities and people around it. It sure would be much more convenient for me and for lots of my friends!
cmainz
Employee
Employee
Patty - Thank you for sharing your concerns with us regarding the reception that our heroes from the Military received upon their arrival into Minneapolis/St. Paul on Monday. We appreciate your feedback and have shared your thoughts internally with the appropriate folks. Please understand that it was never the intention of the Southwest Airlines Employees to greet our Military heroes in an inappropriate manner. As you know, Southwest Airlines was celebrating our inaugural flights to the Twin Cities all weekend long, culminating with a press conference on Monday. The Southwest Spirit was flying at an all-time high, and our Employees were really excited to see the fruits of their labor preparing to launch service finally pay off. That said, we certainly understand that there is a time and place to exude that excitement, and the reception for the Military was not the appropriate venue to do so. For that, we sincerely apologize. We have taken your feedback to heart and appreciate you sharing your concerns with us. Chris Mainz Southwest Airlines
Mark_Pellstrom
Explorer C
Well said Patty. Nice response Chris. I gotta tell you though, while you may not be the leader of this activity, and while your apology is heartfelt, I hope this one gets legs. With thousands of our men and women dying in military service around the world, this is the last thing those who survive combat need to come home to. Who do these employees think they are? These troops just served our country. They don't need to come home to a bunch of people whose freedom they did battle for, chanting their enthusiasm for their job while they take a break from flying around the world and when all they really want to see is their family. As a proud retired member of the armed forces, former Captain at an airline that flew hundreds of troop movements, this is disgraceful. Southwest spirit or otherwise, this is classless and pathetic. Interesting how Southwest's pilots wear the US flag on their ties, the same flag their own people just put below their own personal, individual and apparently corporate-encouraged enthusiasm.
Chuck_Anderson
Explorer C
I was walking by that hallway and saw the Southwest lady chanting at the troops, Couldn't believe it! Lots of us were trying to say thanks and she was yelling about being able to buy tickets on Southwest out of Minneapolis. Kudos to the tall guy in the suit that called her on it. He was a lot more polite than I would have been.
ericachoice
Explorer B
Great video. Erica from Dallas
Anonymous3227
Explorer C
Any chance SW will ever have service into Shreveport Regional...? Perhaps from Moisant (N.O. Int)?
Linda25
Explorer C
When are you going to start flying to and from Boston, (Logan Airport)? It's really quite an expense flying in to Manchester N.H. or Rhode Island and then renting a car.