Southwest Airlines Community

    Well, I've been prowling the picture vault, and I found this photo (click on the pic to enlarge) of Customers playing that Southwest traditional "toilet paper race."  I have a feeling that our creative "Blogians" will have a field day coming up with some funny captions for it.  (By the way, the photo is shot inside of our Spirit of Hope aircraft, which is dedicated to the Ronald McDonald Houses.)  ... View more

As James pointed out in a previous post, I "moonlight" as a contributing editor for Airways magazine. (And, I promise, "cross my heart and wanna die," that I didn't put him up to writing the post!)   The publication recently held a dinner in Seattle where the public could meet the editorial staff, and thanks to Southwest's generosity, I was able to invite some of our folks who work in the Seattle area.   (click on pic to enlarge)  This includes Bill Rogers (l), who represents Southwest at the Boeing plant in Renton; next to Bill is Eli Rodriguez, our Seattle Station Leader; followed by Richard Juen, a Seattle Operations Supervisor; and on the right is Stuart Shrum, a Seattle Customer Service Supervisor. The event was held at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field, with a private tour of the facility followed by a reception in the Red Barn, which was Boeing's original factory.  The dinner was held in one of the Museum's conference rooms and featured salmon from the Pacific Northwest. The guest speaker for the evening was Steven Udvar-Hazy, who is the Chairman of International Lease Finance Corporation, a company that leases over 800 aircraft to airlines around the world.  In addition, Mr. Udvar-Hazy donated millions of his personal money to fund the Smithsonian's magnificent Steven F.Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, where Southwest just started service!  I found several personal comparisons with Mr. Udvar-Hazy (although I am no way as successful as he is!).  Both he and I took our first airplane trips in 1954.  I flew on a DC-3, and he flew with his family on a Soviet copy of the DC-3, an Li-2.  Both of us grew up as airline "nuts," and in 1958 after his family escaped the Soviet occupation of Hungary, he and his family eventually moved to Los Angeles in 1962.  That was the same year my family moved to LA, and we both hung around LAX as much as possible.  He also began collecting airline timetables then, as did I, and we both have kept our collections.  In the audience question and answer session, I asked him to talk about his relationship with the Smithsonian.  The Institute was trying to raise over $100 million to finance the Dulles facility, and they were looking for a lead corporate sponsor.  He wanted to show his gratitude to America for all our country has meant to him, and he donated over half of the Smithsonian's goal.  Other companies then pitched in the rest.  All Americans, and all aviation enthusiasts everywhere should be grateful for his generosity. ... View more

After so many serious topics lately, we thought it might be time to dust off the ol' Write Your Own Caption feature.  This time, we have a Southwest Pilot conducting the preflight walk around inspection (click on pic to enlarge).  Okay, all you witty inhabitants of the blogosphere, it's your turn to come up with a caption. ... View more

It dawned a beautiful late summer's day here in Dallas too, and the sky was so crisp and clear, it almost hurt.  Little did I know until later that morning just how much the sky could hurt. I was in my doctor's office for my annual checkup, when the X-ray technician told me that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center, but I assumed that it was a wayward light aircraft.  It wasn't until I turned on the radio in my car and headed to work, that I got a grasp of the devastation.  One of the only bright spots of that day, which had turned so dark, was when we received word that our last aircraft had landed safely. The other bright spot in that dark day was the way we pulled together to take care of our Customers, our Coworkers (several of whom lost family members in the attack), and our own families.  That day, and the days that followed were the scariest, yet the proudest time of my own Southwest career.  If you would like to hear the thoughts of some of our Employees, please play the videos below.  (These videos were made shortly after 9/11, and although some Employees' titles have changed, their sentiments still remain moving five years later.) My parents used to tell me about how and when they heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  During my youth, I was in my sixth-grade class when the teacher next door, Mr. Montgomery, brought us news of President Kennedy's assassination.  Like those two earlier events, September 11, 2001, was one of those defining moments that reshape our lives forever.  This is your opportunity to share your memories of that horrible day, and we are asking you to share what you were doing when the world changed.  We ask that you keep your comments on topic and free of politics because this isn't the forum for that kind of discussion.   (There are no stories associated with the videos below.  If you'd like to leave a comment, please post to this story.)     ... View more