Southwest Airlines Community

This episode of Red Belly Radio is about hurricanes and some of the things that Southwest Airlines does to assist our Customers around inclement weather. I interview Rick Curtis who is our Chief Meteorologist about hurricanes and how they are named and what hurricanes are called around the world. In fact, Europeans and Americans are the only people who call these big storms Hurricanes. Did you know that a hurricane or a cyclone (as most of the world calls them) are sometimes called a willy-willy in Australia? They also call women “Shelia,” one’s wife “Cook,” and food “Tucker.” I should imagine referring to a married woman named Shelia who is a chef might get confusing. I digress. Perhaps because I work for an airline or watch TV, but it seems like there have been so many hurricanes this year, not as many as the record setting 2005, but still a lot. Our Dispatch department uses up-to-date weather info to decide how to route aircraft, and in the event of big storms and hurricanes, when to evacuate airports. Fortunately, an airline’s most expensive asset is mobile and we can fly those assets inland to safety. I also speak with Fred Taylor who is the Senior Manager Proactive Customer Service Communications. His group is in charge of communicating with Employees to keep Customers informed and sometimes directly with the flying public. They also help with accommodations if needed and other aspects to keep our beloved Customers "beloving" us. The Red Belly Radio link can be found at the bottom right of the home page or from the drop-down menu, choose Media Center. Better yet, subscribe in iTunes and never worry about getting a new episode again! Above photo: Southwest Airlines sophisticated weather computer on Rick's desk. Photo on right, my second weather system—the first being looking or actually going outside.  ... View more

Length: 7:45 This episode of Red Belly Radio is about the history of this great company. The photo of the Three Shamu aircraft is believed to be the only time all three were together at the same time. ... View more

That's to say: the history of Southwest, via podcasting, not the history of podcasting. This episode of Red Belly Radio is about the history of this great company—I talk about a few of my favorite events that happened during late August through September since we first started service. Learn about our fleet of electric ground equipment, the automated “Quickie Ticket” machine (pictured right), and that important fourth aircraft. Go behind the scenes to discover the trick a director had to use to keep Herb from catching pneumonia and when we became a true coast-to-coast carrier. How many aircraft did we have in 1976? Yep, it’s in there. How many Shamus does SeaWorld have? No idea, but this podcast will tell you how many Shamu aircraft Southwest Airlines has in our fleet. This and much more. The Red Belly Radio link can be found at the bottom right of the home page or from the drop-down menu, choose Media Center. Better yet, subscribe in iTunes and never worry about getting a new episode again! Right: Schedule from February 11, 1975. Prices range from $15 - $40 across our four cities. It was the size of a business card. (both sides are shown) ... View more

In case you were wondering, the earth’s circumference is 24,900 miles around and the moon 238,857 miles away. What does this have to do with a podcast about Southwest Airlines? Well this podcast is about travel. Whaaa? A podcast from Southwest Airlines about travel? Yes. Go back and check the archives, I feel this is the first. (I suppose someone might argue there is one other.) As you may know, one of the perks of working for an airline is the ability to fly for free or for very cheap. Southwest Airlines Employees can fly on Southwest if there is a seat available, and we have agreements with other carriers that allow us to fly stand-by for a fee. The further the flight the higher the fee, but you get the idea. It is nice, but pretty much every Employee has a horror story of sitting in an airport watching plane after plane load and depart leaving him or her sitting there without a boarding pass. But luck is what you make it, and Katie Coldwell (part-time blogger) uses her travel privileges like no one I have ever known. I used to work with Amber, a graphic designer, who in her first six months of employment was only home three weekends. But even Amber can’t hold a flame to the times Katie has been told “Put your seat-back in the upright position…” What is even better is that she has tracked her travel since she started at Southwest in 2000. (Here is where I tie the earth-moon thing together.) Her logged miles would have taken her around the world a number of times but to learn how many, and if she could have gotten to the moon, listen to my interview with Katie on this week’s edition of Red Belly Radio. Better yet, subscribe in iTunes and get it delivered through the magic of RSS to your iTunes account every Wednesday. ... View more

Length: 13:35 Extreme stand-by travel and Parents Day sponsored by the Southwest Airlines Pass Bureau. ... View more

This episode of Red Belly Radio was recorded in Dallas and in Denver and it is about a triple header of events. Denver launched some new non-stop service; we opened up a new Provisioning base in Denver; and we handed off a bunch of backpacks and school supplies to some great kids who have a parent service in Iraq or Afghanistan. I interview Angela from Operation Homefront (operationhomefront.net) about her organization and what this means to these kids. Also, have you ever wonder what Provisioning does? Well Chuck Martin, the Provisioning manager in Denver, gives us the official answer. Pictured right: VP Provisioning Scott Halfmann and EVP and COO Mike Van De Ven dumping a pillow-case size bag of peanuts with hundreds of bags of Southwest Airlines peanuts. ... View more

Length: 11:21 This cake, made to look like one of our peanut bag wrappers, for the guests at the triple event. New Denver service, a new Denver Provisioning base, and we handed off backpacks with school supplies to some great kids who have a parent serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. ... View more

I have always loved words and there is what seems to be a new phenomenon happening—the portmanteau. These are words like “Podcast” from iPod and Broadcast, or “Blog” from Web and Log combined to make new words. We recently combined the word “correspondent” and the portmanteau “blog” to form Blog-o-spondent. Technically, a portmanteau is a combination of two words, so if we combined a word and a portmanteau, did we make a “wordmanteau” or “portmantord” or maybe “portwordteau?” If we did, I should register it or at least put an entry into Wikipedia claiming I invented it. I suppose I should decide what to call it first, though. Either way, you are going to start hearing one of these words and you will think of me! The Ultimate Blog-o-spondent contest is in full swing and you can read the press release about it under News or go straight to the video contest site. (link here) I, along with Paula, Christi, Brian and others will be at BlogWorld (I don’t think this is a portmanteau as much as just writing two words without a space and a capped second word) and we are planning all sorts of fun for our booth. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by—we would love to meet you. The gang (see above mentioned names) have conned me into being the emcee of our booth. I can’t decide if should do it old-school Vegas (with a martini in-hand) or mid ‘90s Vegas (with a small child with me—remember when Vegas was trying to get families out there—what were they thinking?) or just be my own charming self. On this episode of Red Belly Radio, I speak with several people from BlogWorld 2007, including Luther, our winner from last year’s photo caption contest. This year’s contest will be a little more work, but we will be taking the top three to Vegas with us where they will shoot and edit a video to win the Ultimate P ortmanteau! (Blog-o-spondent.)   Pictured right: Christi Day with a BlogWorld 2007 attendee. ... View more

Length: 8:33 Blog-o-spondent Video Contest to win Trip to BlogWorld. Photo from BlogWorld 2007. ... View more

Length: 8:10 Southwest launches a new recycling program. The photo is one side of a bale of aluminum cans worth $1000. ... View more

Most people attend banquets and never give a thought about what it takes to put on large events. This episode of Red Belly Radio, recorded at our 2008 Annual Awards Banquet, is not a recording of the awards presentation but how an event like this comes together. Things that might seem simple, like sending out a “save the date card,” are actually rather complex. Sure the database is there, but cards have to be printed, returned cards have to be dealt with—you really do want to get it in the hand of the Employee (Some of whom have to be tricked to attend!) —and don’t forget all of the planning! The months of details, days spent getting the acres of tables ready for the thousands of attendees—and don’t forget the flowers! Don’t even get me started on flowers! Give this episode a listen and think about what effort it takes to get 1300 photos (prom pics) in just more than one hour! Jake, pictured above, gives his impression on Herb. Does your company hold an annual event that recognizes its Employees? Do you have any ideas how I could win one of those prizes? ... View more

Length: 10:06 All about how a really large banquet gets put together—more interesting than you might think. I talk to Sunny Abercrombie about how some Employees have to be tricked into coming; with Laura Runge on how to take 1300+ prom pics in one hour; and Jake Woods, an Oakland Flight Attendant, gives his impressions on Herb. The photo is the room before guests were allowed in. It is large. ... View more

As I have mentioned on this podcast, I recorded Red Belly Radio for about a year only for the Employees of Southwest Airlines before we made it public. From time to time, I will be diving back into the archives to play an interview. This episode features an interview with Bill Morton from our Maintenance department who keeps track of all the tail numbers of our aircraft. I also talk about an event that took place at The Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Seattle about a year ago where Boeing honored all its 7-Series family of aircraft. Each airplane—the 707 through the 777—landed at Boeing Field in sequence of airplane model numbers matching to the landing time. The photo on the right is the first time all of the models were lined up this way and is one of my all-time favorite photos. Listen to this episode for details. (Pictured L. to R.) The 777, 767, 757, 747, 737, 727, 717, and the 707. ... View more

Length: 9:52 Recorded about a year ago for the Employees only of Southwest Airlines before we Red Belly Radio public. This episode features an interview with Bill Morton from our Maintenance department who keeps track of all the tail numbers of our aircraft and I talk about an event that took place at Boeing Field in Seattle that honored all its 7-Series family of aircraft. ... View more

Length: 22:54 Several hundred Employees surprised Colleen with the ringing of cowbells and a display of a large image made up of tiles--like they do at football games. Cheryl Swanson, show here with John Jones, the graphic artist who designed the giant image, holding the tiles over their heads. ... View more

There is an old joke around Southwest that goes something like: How many Southwest Employees does it take to change a light bulb? Three. One to change the bulb and two to design the T-shirt commemorating the event. OK it’s not a great joke, but we do like our T-shirts at Southwest, and there does seem to be a new one for every major event. This episode of Red Belly Radio was recorded at an event to celebrate the career of Colleen Barrett—where a bunch of us all got T-shirts. I encourage you to listen to this recap of the event to celebrate Colleen Barrett's 37 years of service. Don't forget to read the blog post “For Whom the Cowbells Toll” not only because my boss wrote it, but because it tells the full story of how this event came about. In a nutshell, as a tribute to CCB (as she is known in memo-land) we are all ringing bells. Not pretty angelic bells—cowbells! (pictured on left) I also share why I love Colleen and my personal observation of American pop culture and fashion trends. You’ll love how I tie together airline industry history with Reeboks. The history part is our five-consecutive-year Triple Crown award. (pictured right) ... View more

Length: 8:21 I interview Howard about a shenanigan he has been up to at the Phoenix airport and why he likes the Southwest brand so much. He is quite entertaining and adds a fun story about his service in the Mississippi Guard. ... View more

Howard Schultz, long-time Southwest Airlines Customer, not the CEO of Starbucks, has been up to a shenanigan at the Phoenix airport lately. It seems Howard travels between Houston and Salt Lake City fairly frequently and on a recent layover in Phoenix, he was handing out Southwest Airlines peanuts to US Airways passengers and crew in their waiting area! I guess it is his way of saying “You picked the wrong airline.” I interview Howard about this event and why he likes the Southwest brand so much. He is quite entertaining and adds a fun story about his service in the Mississippi Guard. When Red Belly Radio™ first launched as part of Nuts About Southwest, the iTunes subscription capabilities were…well to use an airline vernacular, “Noop” (pronounced No Op) which is short for Not Operational. Well now if you click on the iTunes link in the Red Belly Radio™ corner of the blog homepage it will jump you to iTunes and allow you to subscribe. You can also subscribe directly from iTunes by going to the iTunes store and searching for Red Belly Radio™ or Southwest Airlines. ... View more

Do you know that song that everybody erroneously thinks the name is I’ve Looked at Clouds and that Judy Collins wrote? I’ve been humming that song today—which is really named Both Sides Now and was written by Joni Mitchell—as I recorded this episode of Red Belly Radio. Why you may ask? Well, on this episode of Red Belly Radio, I recap my favorite thing to do on July 4, which ends with my observation of watching fireworks displays from an aircraft at 30,000 ft. The new verse, in my head, goes something like: I’ve looked at fireworks from both sides now, and then again, I still say wow!... You get the idea, it only works if you really force it and don’t try too hard to make sense of it. In addition to buying cars and mattresses (that are always on sale over the 4th), I like to float in an inner tube on the Comal River in New Braunfels, Texas. Spring fed and constant 72 degrees all year round, there is nothing better. Also in this episode, the winner of the tagline contest. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, and it seems only fitting to announce the winner in the podcast. So go click on the Red Belly Radio corner to hear the big news and how I like to spend the 4th. ... View more

Length: 7:39 My favorite thing to do on the 4th of July: tubing the Comal River in New Braunfels, Texas. Also, I announce the winner of the tagline contest! ... View more

For years now, Boeing has thrown us a birthday party. It has been dubbed “BBBBB” for Boeing Burgers and Beer Birthday Bash. As you might expect, there are Burgers, Beer, it is in a hangar so there are Boeings nearby, and it is around Southwest Airlines’ Birthday. There is a Band, but frankly I was hoping for Bingo, Brownies, Baklava, Bacon, Burritos, Brisket, Bourbon, and a little Broccoli (got to get something healthy in there). But that would be ridiculous! Really, you can’t hear bingo numbers being called with a band playing! With just a little work, we could get it to 10 or more “Bs.” This episode starts out with a short history of Southwest of the meeting between Rollin King and Herb Kelleher where they decide to start an airline. I speak with Dara from Boeing, bloggers Bill Owen and Gordon Guillory, Flight Attendant Beth Mosby, and our CEO Gary Kelly. Feel free to comment about things that start with the letter “B” that you might have wanted to see at the BBBBB. ... View more

Length: 8:07 Photo: You can't have a birthday bash without cake. In this case, a lot of cupcakes! ... View more