Viva Mexico

[rsweet]

 
 
We're codesharing with who...or is it whom...I always forget, but who cares? I should be writing this in Spanish...do you write in Spanish? Wow, I'm struggling today with what few writing skills I have,  probably because I'm so excited about the announcement of our second International codeshare partner - Volaris.
 
It's Volaris...yes Volaris! You know, if you fuse the Spanish word volar (to fly) with the word Polaris (North Star) you get Volaris? Well, that's how they came up with their name, and I think it's a pretty cool name. What's even cooler is that Volaris is an exceptional low-cost airline flying in Mexico. They are focused on high levels of Customer Service and provide a great inflight experience. Volaris plans to begin flying in to the US sometime in 2009 and will become Southwest Airlines' Mexico codeshare partner in early 2010. If you haven't heard of Volaris, here's a little information that should give you a feel for them and why we think they will be a great partner!
 
Like our new codeshare partner WestJet, Volaris presently serves some pretty cool destinations...or should I say hot destinations! Places like Cancun, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, and Acapulco are certainly great places to vacation. Mexico City (via Toluca), Monterrey, and Guadalajara are great business travel destinations and will complement our efforts to attract more business travelers.
 
Also, like WestJet, Volaris has a fun corporate culture. On one of our visits to their Headquarters, their VP of Sales was having his head shaved in front of the Volaris Employees—it was payback for the Employees who had met a revenue goal that he challenged them to meet. Their Employees are very energetic and love their airline. Their Customers join in the fun as well. They recently had an inflight concert! My favorite Customer experience was influenced by the free tequila and cerveza they served! They also give away Krispy Kreme donuts! It's a regular Fiesta!!! Oh yes, and every Volaris plane is named after one of their valued Customers. I can't wait to see Ricardo!
 
Unlike WestJet, Volaris is an unknown brand in the US. Although they are relatively small and certainly new (they began flying in 2006), Volaris has proven themselves itself as a successful and viable airline and are developing a new generation of flyers in Mexico. Coupled with the Southwest brand, network, and Customer base, the opportunities are huge.
 
Okay, enough of my rambling, whadoyouthink? 
 

[stinkypete]

Judas Iscariot sold out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Southwest management upped the ante when they sold out the Southwest Airlines brand name for 39 routes south of the border.

[Anonymous2126]

**Because I just got a PPL this summer and passed my written exam with a 96%, whoo hoo!!! And I'm not alone, some of my friends here got there's too and we all agree you have a fun job but it isn't really so hard. So boo, hoo, hoo.*** I love this post. If our jobs are so easy to do and get, and we make so much money, and have so much fun, why are you not flying planes for a living? The bottom line is that this decision does not affect you, except that maybe you get to fly to Mexico. We ask the questions because we are generally concerned about our company, the product quality and yes our job growth. Why should we not go to Mexico with the safest most experience pilots in the world? No one has more experience flying 737s than we do. So instead we choose to go to Mexico with a two year old airline that currently does not fly to the US? The ATA codeshare was reported as profitable, but how much did we really make when they went out of business and we had to get people back from their destinations? How much goodwill did we lose when their destinations disappeared off our schedule? If we want to have a true code share lets actually code share mutually, where we go to Mexico from some destinations using Volaris gates in Mexico, and they come to some of our destinations. That is a code share, this is just out-sourcing jobs.

[Anonymous4545]

First of all if we were doing what wew are supposed to be doing, get bags from point A to point B baggage, and answering our calls in Customer friendly way, Maybe the Company would give us more to do, but if we can't handle what we have and do a good job at it, Why bother giving us more??? I mean come on. We need to step up to the plate and stop saying "What's in it for me" and take care of the company that is trying to take care of us. If we all came in and did our jobs that way we should be doing them, then i think we wouls be better off and ready to take on more. Just sayin!

[Anonymous4545]

AMEN! Bird on a tree, tell them like it is.

[Anonymous1692]

Quote: "If we want to have a true code share lets actually code share mutually, where we go to Mexico from some destinations using Volaris gates in Mexico, and they come to some of our destinations. That is a code share, this is just out-sourcing jobs." Anonymous — Wed, 11/12/2008 - 12:38 * * * Hallelujah! This summarizes everything. Agree with every word. Frame it! That's a REAL code share... BOTH AIRLINES doing the flying. The rest is OUTSOURCING. Wake up!!!!!

[Reggie2]

REGINALD SAYS: I AM going to Mexico my little man. I just got back from lunch and the rumor in my department is that pass bureau deals are a coming. They're coming, they're coming, they're coming!!!! So yes, Southwest employees and their families and partners ARE going to go to Mexico. And if you ask Reggie, I'll feel more than safe without one of you overpaid cry babies driving the bus. Viva La Southwest and Viva El Gordo Gary!!! Whooo, Hoooo!!!!!!!!!!! : ))))))

[Anonymous1757]

Reggie, Step away from the Kool-aid vat. First, congratulations on passing your PPL exam by 96%. You're well on your way. Now get back to me when you have about 12 years of professional or military experience under your belt. That's the AVERAGE for the SWA pilot new hire. Don't forget to buy your own type rating. And that when you do upgrade to a captain spot you get to put your career on the line in front of a FAA designated medical examiner every six months AND you get to take a check ride once a year. Go sit in on a couple of sim sessions to see how much fun it is. My biggest concern is the dilution of our brand. I think Mr. Kelly is making big mistake. Bigger than the one he made with ATA. He's destroying the great relationship he has with the employee group that brought him to the prom.

[Anonymous2920]

Our stock hit the single digit mark today. 9 bucks. Keep announcing code-shares! party is over my friends....

[A_Customer_of_B]

This is really great news! I'm sorry to see that so many are raining on the parade. It's pretty naive of the people on here to keep making these same flawed points over and over again despite refutations which you seem to simply ignore if they carry any real weight. The airline is NOT shrinking(you haven't dropped any cities), you added Denver last year and Minneapolis is coming in the spring so you ARE still growing, you're jobs as they stand right now won't get smaller because of this codeshare because they aren't taking over any US routes you already fly(if anything they'll get busier because you'll be helping incoming passengers transfer and dealing with increased passenger loads), the airline is the only one that has successfully weathered the economic crisis and this will bring in more money at the risk of none(yea...you can be like the others but their service STINKS, they're LOSING MONEY, and their employees are MORE WORRIED THAN YOU and MISERABLE), this will actually give you guys an advantage over other US carriers because suddenly you'll serve more international destinations than Airtran, Jetblue, and Frontier put together, and lastly you're demeanor on here makes me not want to fly with you if that's kind of attitude that you're going to start having. Oh and while I'm at it....your opinion was clear the first time so you don't have to post it an extra 260 something times because I don't know if you've noticed but it doesn't seem producing any kind of a positive effect for you.

[swapilottoflysw]

THIS IS TERRIBLE. SOUTHWEST EMPLOYEES SHOULD BE FLYING SOUTHWEST JETS TO ANY CITY....IT STARTS WITH PILOTS AND FLIGHT ATTENDANTS LOSING THEIR JOBS AND THE S... ROLLS DOWN HILL. DO NOT THINK IT COULD HAPPEN....LOOK AT DELTA....AMERICAN...UNITED...CONT.......ETC.....ONCE WE START THIS WE WILL NEVER GET IT BACK......I FOR ONE WILL NOT SUPPORT THE COMPANY ON THIS AND WILL NOT FOR ANY CODESHARE THAT PUTS MY CAREER IN THE BULLSEYE. YOU WANT US TO HAVE THE SAME RELATIONSHIP LIKE THE AMERICAN AIRLINES PILOTS....HERE WE GO...BRING IT. GARY HAS BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY SINCE HE GOT HERE....HERB AND COLLEEN ARE GONE AND HE SINKS THE SHIP THE EMPOYEES RODE IN ON. HANG ON. DO NOT CODESHARE OUR COMPANY'S BUSINESS....WE ARE BECOMING LIKE EVEYONE ELSE......THAT EQUALS BROKE

[Anonymous462]

Brand dilution and job outsourcing all in one. This is the new Southwest. Our reputation is being sold off to a 2-year old Mexican startup airline. Hey, they can do it cheap so it must be good. Best of luck to our passengers who buy their tickets on southwest.com who think we fly them all the way to Mexico. Their safety is no longer in our hands.

[Anonymous1282]

Repeat the mantra: Doing more with less, doing more with less, doing....

[Mr_Biggles]

I flew on Volaris in August with my family. Shortly after takeoff there was screaming coming from the galley. Several passengers jumped up to find out what the comotion was all about. Much to my disgust there appeared almost 150 cockroaches scurrying about the aft galley. In all my years slying SWA I've never seen a cockroach much less a dirty cabin. So Mr. Gary Kelly enjoy outsourcing your strong culture to an upstart that flies invested Airbus's. This is a hit below the belt not only for your people but also your passengers. Sincerely, No more LUV

[Concerned_Emplo]

This is a horrible decision by Southwest. Volaris is an unproven entity, no safety or service record. Notably this agreement does not take effect for 2 years. Most likely it never will and this announcement is just a ploy in the 2+ year pilot contract negotiations. Southwest is outsourcing American jobs in favor of a low rent foreign operator. I fully expect Southwest management to come back to the pilots and ask for wage and benefit reductions if Southwest will drop this sham of an agreement. The fabled trust and spirit of Southwest is being eroded daily by idiotic decisions like this. Southwest is traded under the stock symbol LUV. It should be changed to JAA -- Just Another Airline. Shame on you!!!

[Ground_Ops_Empl]

It is not surprising that we are now #10 in baggage handling because a few years ago the bean counters, pencil pushers and whiz kids decided that SWA needed to be "Redefined" and set out to reinvent the wheel and create a bunch of unncessary jobs in DAL HDQ. This whole project was run by outside business consultants because, I guess, being number one in everything wasn't good enough. Front line Employees are doing the very best we can, but we don't have any control over the changes that are ruining our beloved airline. Just talk to any Ground Ops Employee and you'll understand the discouragement. We want to be number one in everything and take care of our Customers, but our Stations are now micro-managed by HDQ, It is sad and I just hope that someone wakes up before we end up like the other airlines. Please don't blame us--we are the ones taking care of our Customers and we still care.

[CPT_whose_heard]

Go ahead Gary, ram this down our throats. Make our day. WE DARE YOU.

[Anonymous3223]

Be the judge... CODE SHARING: Code sharing is a business term which was first originated in the airline industry in 1990 when the Australian airline, Qantas Airways and the U.S.'s American Airlines combined services between an array of U.S. domestic cities and Australian cities. The code share was part of a "cooperative services" agreement between the two carriers before the various airline alliances were formed. It refers to a practice where a flight operated by an airline is jointly marketed as a flight for one or more other airlines. Most major airlines today have code sharing partnerships with other airlines, and code sharing is a key feature of the major airline alliances. The term "code" refers to the identifier used in flight schedule, generally the 2-character IATA airline designator code and flight number. Thus, XX123, flight 123 operated by the airline XX, might also be sold by airline YY as YY456 and by ZZ as ZZ9876. Under a code sharing agreement participating airlines can present a common flight number for several reasons, including: Connecting flights - This provides clearer routing for the customer, allowing a customer to book travel from point A to C through point B under one carrier's code, instead of a customer booking from point A to B under one code, and from point B to C under another code. This is not only a superficial addition as cooperating airlines also strive to synchronize their schedules and coordinate luggage handling, which makes transfers between connecting flights less time-consuming. Flights from both airlines that fly the same route - This provides an apparent increase in the frequency of service on the route by one airline Perceived service to unserved markets - This provides a method for carriers who do not operate their own aircraft on a given route to gain exposure in the market through display of their flight numbers. Under a code sharing agreement, the airline that actually operates the flight (the one providing the plane, the crew and the ground handling services) is called the operating carrier. The company or companies that sell tickets for that flight but do not actually operate it are called marketing carriers or validating carriers.

[Bill6]

Pilot here, married to a FA. LUV the company, but... Since ATA, I've watched the pilots extend patience and flexibility to a new management team. At every step there's been good faith and good will by SWAPA. But now? I just think that patience has run out. And what worries me is I know this group. When the trust goes away so do a lot of initiatives like fuel conservation, RNP, extra fly, strollers, etc. This is worse that I witnessed in 2001 so I'd urge the company to rethink the value its placing on this strategy. With respect, ^ bill

[Anonymous705]

time to bring this horse to the soap factory, she is getting old and her manager is getting greedy. Let's save the farm and get rid of the manager.

[Bill6]

F/A here, married to Bill the pilot! He's great! My two cents? This is just not worth it. We need to get back on track and start growing again. If we're now a big airline and there no where to go, then just say it. If our labor costs are killing the company, then just say it. But this is not the way. We are Southwest Airlines and we built this company by going it alone. That really does matter to us. My brother is in the US military and he sometimes talks about the problems the government has with contractor companies doing what the military should be doing. Same thing here. Keep it together. Just my opinion.

[Anonymous931]

Quote: This is really great news! I'm sorry to see that so many are raining on the parade. It's pretty naive of the people on here to keep making these same flawed points over and over again despite refutations which you seem to simply ignore if they carry any real weight. The airline is NOT shrinking(you haven't dropped any cities), you added Denver last year and Minneapolis is coming in the spring so you ARE still growing, you're jobs as they stand right now won't get smaller because of this codeshare because they aren't taking over any US routes you already fly(if anything they'll get busier because you'll be helping incoming passengers transfer and dealing with increased passenger loads), the airline is the only one that has successfully weathered the economic crisis and this will bring in more money at the risk of none(yea...you can be like the others but their service STINKS, they're LOSING MONEY, and their employees are MORE WORRIED THAN YOU and MISERABLE), this will actually give you guys an advantage over other US carriers because suddenly you'll serve more international destinations than Airtran, Jetblue, and Frontier put together, and lastly you're demeanor on here makes me not want to fly with you if that's kind of attitude that you're going to start having. Oh and while I'm at it....your opinion was clear the first time so you don't have to post it an extra 260 something times because I don't know if you've noticed but it doesn't seem producing any kind of a positive effect for you. Anonymous — Wed, 11/12/2008 - 15:31 *************************** Yes, sure you are a customer. Not management at all... wink, wink! ;) By the way I haven't seen a valid refutation to the "no more code shares" case. LUV STOCK: Almost 8 bucks an hour ago!

[Anonymous3521]

"Our stock hit the single digit mark today. 9 bucks. Keep announcing code-shares! party is over my friends.... Anonymous — Wed, 11/12/2008 - 15:20" This makes me wonder if that is because of the few of you who are spamming this blog with all your whining. What else are investors supposed to think when they see all of the complaints? I'm a union employee myself, and while I am a little apprehensive about this codeshare, if it's a way to gain revenue so we can all keep our jobs, it can only be a good thing. Who's to say we won't be taking over these routes in a few years with our own metal? We can only wait and see what will happen instead of making doomsday predictions. Keep in mind that once upon a time, Southwest was just a startup company, and without the support of our Customers, we wouldnt be here.

[Blue_Christmas]

About five years ago, management got us all excited about going outside of the border- Hawaii, Mexico, Canada were mentioned! We fed on the anticipation of something new and exciting. Morale was high which led to a highly productive workforce. Two years ago, an impending huge historic announcement was released from Dallas. Everyone thought, at last, we're going to Hawaii or Puerto Rico. When the "historic day" came, "New gates & boarding process!!!" was the earth shattering news. As the air slowly leaked out of the balloons, everyone walked around scratching their heads...."This is it? You've gotta be kidding!" At one time, we thrived on being part of a company that took chances and truly trusted their employees to follow through on the risks. Now we watch with dismay and disappointment as our jobs and dreams are farmed out to a foreign airline with no record or reputation of the "positively outrageous service" that's expected of us. I kind of feel like the kid that was promised a brand new bike for Christmas, only to find out that the new kid across the street got it instead. Oh well, four flights a day between Minneapolis and Chicago is a nice stocking stuffer.

[_______________1]

I have an idea for Plane Smart Business. Whatever happened to that money wasting entity? Lets code share/outsource Mr. Kelly's job and Mr. Ven De Ven's job to the Mexican and Canadian CEOs. Should save us millions. No golden parachutes allowed though. Anybody think they'll go for it?

[Anonymous2930]

>>>Our stock hit the single digit mark today. 9 bucks. Keep announcing code-shares! More disingenous information, as if the $9 LUV price was a direct result of the codeshare news. It's funny, but the AP story I'm looking at opens with: "NEW YORK – A disheartened Wall Street fell for the third straight session Wednesday as investors absorbed another series of dismal corporate reports **and news that the government won't buy banks' soured mortgage assets after all.**" [My **] As I said earlier, I fully understand the frustration that the pilot contract negotiations have run 2 years, and also that your 401K and PS accounts have taken hits (Our have too, you know), and that the pilot group feels the need to do "something" rather than sit idly by and watch flat 2009 growth. Did it ever occur to anyone that another reason (unmentioned by SWA) for the codeshare might be to retain operational flexibility on the domestic side should, say the new DL/NW combo decide to close or drawdown hubs at MEM or CVG, ala' the way USAirways gutted PIT? Maybe another carrier shutting down? Have any of the armchair CEOs here considered these (or other) possibilities? As many of you may know, Circuit City recently announced the closure of 100+ stores, and a couple of days later filed for Chapter 11 bancruptcy. Meanwhile, their arch rival Best Buy continues to do well. The Consumerist.com got a copy of an email from Best Buy's head dudes to all their employees, and although it's a different industry, there are obvious lessons here that are just as applicable to SWA. Circuit City made some bonehead moves over the years, while Best Buy didn't. I think everyone can agree that SWA management has made similar good moves that have kept us out of the situations that most airlines find themselves in. What SWA folks need to be doing (ALL of us) is focusing on the Customer, instead of this "The Sky Is Falling" and "SWA is doomed" crap, and let management do their jobs while each employee does theirs (and nobody else's). The Best Buy memo: Best Buy says: A Message from Brad Anderson, Brian Dunn and Bob Willett To all employees: This morning, we announced that we've seen a sudden change in consumer spending, in our comparable store sales, and in our expectations for this year's earnings. We'd like to provide more context around these changes and their impact on our business. The year started off well, with total company comparable store sales (sales at stores open more than 14 months) growing 4 percent for the first half of our fiscal year, a period that runs March through August. Our results were fairly consistent until September, when our comparable store sales turned negative, declining by 1 percent. Then our comparable store sales softened further in October, declining by nearly 8 percent, amid unprecedented changes in the financial markets, a deteriorating economy and weakening consumer sentiment. From where we stand today, we could see total company comparable store sales for the rest of the fiscal year decline by 5 percent to 15 percent. Revenue gains are important to our business model because the majority of our costs ─ such as rent and store operating costs ─ are fixed. Typically, when comparable store sales increase by 3 percent or better, revenue growth outstrips expense growth (including merit increases, rising health care costs and the like), and our earnings rise. Currently, due to comparable store sales declines as well as spending increases, we have expenses rising faster than revenue. That's why we're now anticipating an earnings decrease for the year. Specifically, today we also announced a new range for our earnings expectations: $2.30 to $2.90 per diluted share. The midpoint of our range is a 17-percent earnings decline compared with the $3.12 per share we earned last fiscal year. Let us be very clear. These reduced earnings expectations reflect the unprecedented tumult in the financial services industry, which has reduced consumer spending across the board in retail. The outstanding work of our 165,000 employees doesn't make us immune to our environment. We can't change the overall level of consumer spending, but we can focus on deepening our relationships with customers wherever we interact with them: in our stores, on our Web sites and through our call centers. While our comps have been negative, we gained market share in September and October. So we're getting a bigger piece of a business that is currently shrinking. Customer satisfaction remains at all-time highs. Employee turnover is at historic lows. We firmly believe that our strategy of customer centricity is of great value in driving our performance versus the industry, and that's the strategy we plan to pursue to continue to strengthen our position in the marketplace. We must find ways to win with the customers who are coming to us today. Serving our customers better than anyone else is the best way to create value for customers, employees and shareholders alike. We need every employee engaged in serving customers better, and more efficiently. We want your unique perspective on what we should do differently in this market, based on what you see and touch, and using the talents you have. **We could let today's turmoil distract us from serving customers. Other retailers might do that. But we will not. Instead, we will use these circumstances to redouble our efforts and deepen our commitment to each other, to our company, to our strategy and to the customers we serve. In so doing, we will strengthen and fortify ourselves as a team. A winning team. That's who we are, and that's Best Buy.** Brad Anderson, vice chairman and chief executive officer Brian Dunn, president and chief operating officer Bob Willett, chief executive officer of International and chief information officer

[p131]

First this and I hear baggage fees next. What is going on with the LUV airline. ?

[Anonymous4573]

Geez Gary, you're gonna code share me right out of a job aren't ya!?!

[Anonymous4423]

President elect Obama is promising a $3,000 tax credit for every company that creates a new job, wonder if Southwest will get the credit for the new hires over at Volaris due to THEIR growth. Still an FO, with more than a ppl

[SWA_F_A1]

As a Southwest flight attendant I feel we should fly our planes into Mexico.. Even Mesa Airlines aka US Airways EXPRESS fly directly to Mexico and we should as well.

[Anonymous705]

Just read the letter put out by the President of SWAPA. Looks like Gary is one to make promises he can't keep. Looks like he agrees to certain terms with his employees and then changes his mind. Well, my mind has changed about this company. SWA will not go on without its pilots. Reggie, you can be SOOO mad at us, maybe they will make you a capt soon Mr. 96%. Woo Hoo is right, I can't believe you missed two questions. My 8 year old made a 100.

[Anonymous118]

your opinion was clear the first time so you don't have to post it an extra 260 something times because I don't know if you've noticed but it doesn't seem producing any kind of a positive effect for you. ******************************************** Yeah, you are a customer that cannot stand almost 300 mad people venting their frustration about this code share... Sure, you are a customer.... 😉

[a_pilot_that_kn]

Hey Reggie, You might want to rethink you PPL arguement. It takes a heck of a lot more then getting your PPL. So for all you GO employess who think you could do the pilots job tomorrow. Go get all you ratings, build your time, try to ge thired at SWA or anywhere else that will take you. It only took most of 12-15 years to reach this level. Then put your career and family on the line everytime you have to get a medical, see a doctor, have a check ride or God forbid screw up and have to do a carpet dance and maybe get fired. We dont need to talk about how hard the job is. I think most intelligent people know it isnt as easy as Reggie thinks. So good luck and I hope to see you out on the line in 15 more years. Oh and in the mean time while you are flying that 172 VFR. Remeber we fly in the real weather. That includes whiteouts, thunderstorms, very low visibility approaches. You get the idea. Oh yeh if we screw up it will cost $2 billion. That right with a B. You screw up in your GO job what will it cost. Not to mention the lives at stake. Get a clue Reggie. By the way been to Mexico 1000 times. The ill will it will cause amongst the employees wont be worth your little passes.

[Anonymous705]

goodbye cruel world, I'm leaving you today, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. Goodbye all you people, there's nothing you can say, to make me change my mind, Goodbye. Pink Floyd, about SWA

[Anonymous3134]

If you want to have the safety of a SWA crew up front...If you want the service of a SWA crew in the back.Fly a SWA aircraft. The possible loss of a code share aircraft hauling SWA passengers could very well be the end of SWA as we know it. If GK keeps pushing this type of code share.It WILL be the end of the SWA I know and used to Luv. No longer a "happy camper".

[stinkypete]

Reggie is in his "department"..... hmmmm translated "GO"....... man, I bet he'd have the best job in the world if it weren't for all those "overpaid crybaby pilots" / FAs. while we're talking about it, I bet his job would be loads more fun without all the airplanes and passengers too!! Who actually needs the hassle of flying passengers in airplanes. without all that trouble, he could just nonrev around the world and have parties on the deck at HQ .

[Anonymous1644]

Ok guys, ease up on Reggie. He can't help it. He is pumped full of kool-aid and at HDQ he is totally insulated from the real world. He is luvin his job----good for him. Quit trying to burst his bubble with hard, cruel facts.

[Anonymous_Pilot]

After reading the SWAPA letter from President Carl I'm dismayed that Gary Kelly gave his word he would abide by the negotiated language on codeshares then turn around and violate it anyway. Gary just lost my trust and my drive to care about SWA anymore.

[Anonymous1394]

Quoting Blue Christmas... About five years ago, management got us all excited about going outside of the border- Hawaii, Mexico, Canada were mentioned! We fed on the anticipation of something new and exciting. Morale was high which led to a highly productive workforce. Two years ago, an impending huge historic announcement was released from Dallas. Everyone thought, at last, we're going to Hawaii or Puerto Rico. When the "historic day" came, "New gates & boarding process!!!" was the earth shattering news. As the air slowly leaked out of the balloons, everyone walked around scratching their heads...."This is it? You've gotta be kidding!" *************** I remember all these grandiose announcements... And how excited we were....

[Anonymous4100]

Ladies and gentleman, Allegiant Airlines (yes Allegiant, the only PROFITABLE US based airline last quarter) just announced that will pursue International service (Mexico). That makes us pretty much the ONLY airline in this country without international or Puerto Rico and Hawaii service in this country. Good night and good luck! (I sold my stock @ $18.02 years ago)

[Anonymous957]

About five years ago, management got us all excited about going outside of the border- Hawaii, Mexico, Canada were mentioned! We fed on the anticipation of something new and exciting. Morale was high which led to a highly productive workforce. Two years ago, an impending huge historic announcement was released from Dallas. Everyone thought, at last, we're going to Hawaii or Puerto Rico. When the "historic day" came, "New gates & boarding process!!!" was the earth shattering news. As the air slowly leaked out of the balloons, everyone walked around scratching their heads...."This is it? You've gotta be kidding!" ********* OMG, that's so true! And we spent several million in the new boarding procedures and that scam called business select.... All that money could had helped launch Intl. Service.... A lot more people will be more excited than with this mess....

[Anonymous1370]

I don't know if DAL is very happy with this milestone, but this is now THE MOST COMMENTED ITEM IN THE SOUTHWEST BLOG'S HISTORY! How sad that most of the comments are so full of anger, frustration and resentment...

[Anonymous619]

From "Plane buzz"... PlaneBuzz « PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted | Main Southwest Airlines Announces Codeshare And Some Pilots Are Not Happy Today we have a new subject to talk about. Well, I guess the main topic is a familiar one. Pilots who are not happy with things that management is doing for, er, to them. But in this case, the players on the playing field have changed. You may have read the news release yesterday in which Southwest Airlines announced a new codeshare agreement with Volaris -- a Mexican airline. In the release Monday, Southwest said that the airlines will coordinate flight schedules and reservation systems, allowing Southwest customers to book flights to Mexico using both carriers. Volaris currently serves cities including Mexico City, Tijuana, Cancun, Guadalajara, Mexicali and Acapulco. But wait just a minute. Who stands to lose potential flying if the airline goes ahead with this codeshare agreement, as well as the agreement already announced with WestJet? That's right. Southwest Airlines' pilots. Today the PlaneBusiness email box has received more than a fistful of emails from Southwest pilots who are not happy campers. To say that this is an unusual occurrence would be a hefty understatement. Here is an excerpt from one of the longer notes: "In really simple terms, and feel free to use it (just don’t credit me, a bit of a witch hunt going on here), it should not be called Code Sharing, but Outsourcing. [Southwest CEO] Kelly and SWAPA negotiated a codeshare (outsourcing) agreement in the new contract during the initial current negotiations. This was about a year ago. He stated publicly that even though it had not been voted on, that he would honor that agreement. He has since come back to our negotiators and said he wants to re-negotiate that portion of the new contract. Meanwhile, he is doing all the codesharing (outsourcing) he can while he “slow rolls” our contract negotiations. WestJet has announced 15% growth after our agreement with them. Volaris says they will double in size. Kelly cut 6% of our flying. Now the rumor is that Republic is negotiating with Kelly to take over our short haul intra-Texas flying. I am a 20+ year guy and am really disgusted with what is going on here. I spent several years at a Lorenzo airline and am seeing parallels that I thought would never happen here. The line employees realize they are just numbers to Kelly." Where is the LUV? Yes it's now been two years and counting and there is still no new contract between the pilots and the company. From the sound and tone of the notes we received this morning, it sounds like maybe the tone from the pilots' side has just taken a little turn towards a more defensive posture.

[Anonymous4442]

Listening to the company excuses makes me think that we need to look at other airlines with renewed respect: They all (but us) have managed to enter international (and Alaska, PR and Hawaii) markets with more or less success. They all did the paperwork, trained their crews, made the investments and pulled it off. If we cannot do the same and make money, well, we are not that extraordinary.

[swaisnutz]

Point in case - code sharing of this type has hurt every previous airlines' employees due to outsourcing their work. The only way to make code sharing work is through synergistic code sharing (i.e. Westjet flies people down to the US and then uses our assets to turn the plane, and we fly people to Canada and use their assets to turn the plane). This type of code sharing can provide a win-win solution to growth and profits for both airlines. ATA is an example of how code sharing will fail and ruin our brand name which has been so carefully developed over 35+ years. ATA started flying routes that directly competed with SWA routes - how did that work when the SWA brand was extremely tarnished when we stranded thousands of customers with tickets bought on Southwest.com when ATA went bankrupt. How much did it cost to try to make things 'right' for those customers? As all pilots have to have been a captain with over 1000 hours of PIC experience, and a large percentage did so all over the world (not just near international), why is it the company does not have faith in our own, 'Best', employees? We would rather risk more brand dilution by betting on an unknown, unproven, start up? Senior leadership has been quoted as changing Herb's proven success plan: Take care of your internal employees, they will take care of the customers, which will take care of the shareholders" to "shareholders are the number one priority". The good will, spirit, and PRODUCTIVITY of our employees, cannot, and should not be underestimated by the number crunchers. Thousands of students have done case studies on SWA, and what made it successful, and they all come back to the Southwest Spirit which is being eroded faster by these outsourcing decisions than I ever thought possible. This is a very sad chapter in Southwest's history. I hope and pray that it will be the long novel I dreamed of when applying here, but the history of disgruntled and bankrupt airlines going down this path foreshadows a quick ending to one of the best stories written of all time. Extremely concerned and disappointed employee

[Anonymous4288]

If Gary wants to cut costs..He needs to get rid of the Rx or API team whatever their title is...Just a bunch of arrogant emplpyees.. I would like to see Mr.Kelly and this HQ's guy Reggie work a gate with back to back flights that are over selling all by themselves!!!!! Apparently WN thinks one agent can do it all alone.

[Anonymous90]

This airline has become the most boring in the world. Fuel prices are going down (I believe we are starting to lose on those hedges) and every other carrier is announcing new cities, new ideas, expansion, etc. Meanwhile, we became stagnant, almost paralyzed. Our "thrills" now come in the form of code-share announcements, costume contests, chili cookoffs, raffles, the weekly trivia in Today@SWA, surveys that nobody cares about, "new" boarding processes, etc. I almost look forward to the change of snack twice a year or the new SPIRIT magazine at the beginning of the month... Those are my thrills nowadays... I'm seriously thinking about leaving.

[Aircam]

Great another legacy farming it flying out.

[Employee]

Can we, at a minimum, all agree that this is contentious and toxic to employee relations? If you think that this is just a few pilots that are upset by this, you have gravely miscalculated the sentiment. "Bad Faith" contract negotiations are a quick way to ruin a business.

[Anonymous4106]

"That's why this little kitty got a 96%. SNAP, SNAP! REGINALD HAS LEFT THE BUILDING" Whew! Nuff said.

[Concerned_Emplo111]

I've not been with SWA for 2 long but I've never heard the pilots so angry at management and what it is they are doing. Has this ever happened before? Wil they go on strike? It seems like the new US president might let them if it's about outsourcing to a foreign country. concerned employee