Southwest Airlines Community

Southwest Airlines relies on a dedicated group of local Employees in every city we serve who evaluate and respond to each request for a charitable donation that comes from the community. These “Local Giving Boards” allow local Employees to decide how Southwest can be the hometown carrier when it comes to charitable giving in their communities.  Southwest Airlines focuses our resources primarily on five areas of charitable giving: the Military and it Families, Families Facing Serious Illness, Youth Leadership and Community Involvement, the Environment, and Disaster Preparedness and Response. To celebrate the season of giving, this week we’ll highlight some of our memorable stories from 2010 in each one of these categories. Environment Environmental Stewardship is a responsibility Southwest takes seriously, as minimizing waste and effectively using our resources (energy, people, and materials) helps us protect our most vital resource of all—the world in which we live. Efficient operations are the hallmark of our Company and the foundation of our environmental commitment. As many of us watched the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico spread this summer, we were extremely concerned as we read the reports and saw the threats and disturbance to the marine environment along the coastal barriers.  In particular, Louisiana’s state bird, the brown pelican caught our attention as they had just been dropped from the endangered species list about six months prior to the spill.  If you watched the news coverage, you would have seen dozens of brown pelicans being transported to rescue centers for treatment. So, how could Southwest, an airline, do our part to make a difference?  Southwest Airlines is the official airline of the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA), so what better opportunity than to leverage our partnership with them to help to restore what the oil took away.  We launched our first ever cause-marketing campaign—Help Us Help Them—on September 21 to donate $1 (up to $100,000) to the NWRA for every EarlyBird Check-In purchase through October 4.  The brown pelican is a bird, we offer an EarlyBird product—you get it, right??  In celebrating the first anniversary of the Early Bird Check-In product we decided that an investment in our communities was the best gift to both our Employees and our Customers. Thanks to our EarlyBird flyers, we were thrilled to announce our $100,000 donation to the NWRA on October 18.  The money was put to good use.  The NWRA used our donation to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to acquire and restore brown pelican nesting sites along the Gulf—this work will help ensure the survival of 10,000 brown pelican chicks next year. Southwest Airlines is proud to support an organization that works hard to conserve our country’s precious wildlife.  For more information about the EarlyBird Check-In program, visit southwest.com.  And, to learn more about the National Wildlife Refuge Association, visit www.refugeassociation.org. ... View more

Today is America Recycles Day—a nationally  recognized day dedicated to celebrating recycling, a way we can all do our part to get involved with sustainability and to protect Mother Earth.  Although today is a day to encourage others to recycle and buy recycled products, it’s not just about doing something right for one day out of the year.  Reduce, reuse, recycle—this is a mindset we should all consistently maintain to reduce our carbon footprint 365 days out of the year.  America Recycles Day is simply one day when we can all stop and focus on why it’s important to recycle. At Southwest Airlines, we know the right thing to do is to reduce, reuse, and recycle.  In November of 2009, we launched a more robust co-mingled onboard recycling program that builds on the success of our already established recycling program at our facilities.  Our waste diversion percentage doubled just one month after our launch.  We know that environmental decisions can also make good business sense, and this is just an example.  By diverting waste from the waste stream into the recycling stream, we save real costs to our bottomline, because we pay for each trash pickup.   Our vision for the future is to provide more recycling opportunities at all of our 69 locations.  Currently, the majority of our locations that offer the opportunity to recycle are equipped with open-top containers.  Our recycling programs at Chicago Midway and Sacramento have been a tremendous success and continue to gain efficiencies.  These two Stations have been converted to compactors, which allow for more efficient collection of recyclables.  To read more about our environmental efforts, check out the 2009 Southwest Airlines One Report. Get involved in your community and make a difference—find out if there is an event happening in your neighborhood here:  http://earth911.com/america-recycles-day/.  You can also join the conversation on Twitter by using the #americarecycles hashtag.  Happy America Recycles Day, everyone!   ... View more

If you’re flying into or out of Austin, Dallas, or Oklahoma City today, you may see some Southwest peeps alongside some cheerleaders and mascots from various universities.  Why, you ask?  The sun is setting on summer, and football season is firing up.  It’s back to school time, and we’re handing out free laundry bags to students who are making the trek home for the Labor Day weekend AND offering a few lucky college students the chance to win roundtrip tickets at each airport.  We’re showing the LUV to students who are readjusting to college life and to reassure them home is just a plane ride away. In Dallas, we’ve teamed up with the TCU Horned Frogs to show school pride.  Um, is that Super Frog?  That princess sure turned into a good-looking frog! In Austin, we’re joined with some University of Texas at Austin students who have A LOT of spirit going on—Hook ‘em Horns! In Oklahoma City, Boomer is making an appearance and just might be surprising a student with a roundtrip ticket!  Boomer Sooner! We’ve got spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit how ‘bout you??  Tell us who you’re rooting for this weekend! ... View more

DING!  The fasten seatbelt sign just came on and you are starting to see something more than an endless field of clouds.  It’s time for the Flight Attendants to come through the cabin one last time to pick up any remaining items.  If you’re like me and Green is on your mind, why are the Flight Attendants accepting newspapers and drink cans in a black trash bag??  Well, never fear, because our co-mingled recycling allows all recyclables to be disposed together.  While sorting isn’t required, Flight Attendants take the time to empty any liquids from the cans so it’s ready for the next step in the process.  Our mighty Provisioning Agents pick up these black trash bags full of wonderful things to recycle to containers located on the airport properties, which diverts this waste from our landfills. The next time you are flying Southwest and you hear, “Ladies and Gentleman, in a few moments we will come by to collect any items you would like to throw away,” don’t fret!  Wait for it…”Southwest recycles, so if you have any newspapers, plastic bottles, or magazines, please keep those separate, and we’ll be happy to recycle them for you.  Thank you for helping Southwest be Green.”  And, if you’ve ever wondered about some of the things you hear about recycling, here are some myths that we’re happy to bust for you. Myth:  If I see the triangular recycling symbol on a can, container, etc., I can recycle it. Busted:  Don’t be fooled by any old triangular symbol since plastic bottles and containers are usually stamped with a Plastic Identification Code, which is a triangle with a number in the middle.  Although manufacturers use this symbol to identify the type of plastic, don’t go tossing it in any recycling container.   Myth:  It’s difficult and inconvenient to recycle. Busted:  If you think you don’t have the time or space to recycle, it really doesn’t take a lot of either, and most likely your city has made it even easier with a city-wide recycling program.  More and more cities offer curbside pickup for residents, so check out your city web site to see what services they offer if you aren’t already taking advantage of this service.  If your city doesn’t offer recycling to you and your neighbors, maybe it’s time for you to join the city council and let your voice be heard! Myth:  Most of the plastic I put in my recycling bin ends up in a landfill. Half-Busted:  Although this is true in some cases, this problem is in the process of being solved.  The truth is that some recycling programs don’t accept certain types of plastics.  However, many cities are hopping on the bandwagon to expand the range of plastics they accept to include rigid plastics like toys and clamshell packages.  Some of these plastics are even being recycled into things like artificial lumber for landscaping. Myth:  If I don’t recycle, it’s not a big deal.  One person doesn’t really make a difference. Busted:  This is astonishing— according to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 60 percent of what goes into landfills is paper, plastic, metal, and glass.  Yikes!  Don’t contribute to this—it is more important than ever to recycle and divert waste from our landfills.  Every piece of paper, plastic, metal, and glass counts! Let us know how you live and work Green by posting your comments below.  DING!  You are now free to be Green.   ... View more

On Southwest Airlines, your bags fly free.  Whether you are traveling with a hand-me-down vintage suitcase, a Bob the Builder duffel bag, or just a plain old black roller bag, we won’t charge you to check your first OR second normal-sized checked bag.  Pull out your calculator—that means you can save up to $120 compared to what other airlines charge for checked luggage.  So, what would you do with that extra money on a vacation?  Last Monday, we asked our Facebook fans to share photos and how they’d spend that cash!  These are our top five favs.  Enjoy! P.S.  We’d LUV to hear more stories on what you did on your vacation with the $120 savings, so post your comments below.  Happy travels! Ashley Wojcik Mancini: On our recent trip to Orlando, my luggage money paid for my daughter’s 4th birthday dinner with Cinderella! Jennifer Cuddeback: On our recent trip from MHT to LAX, my 6-year-old daughter and I were able to take private surfing lessons with our “luggage money.” Margie Mancini: I’m running 14 marathons around the country this year to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This wouldn’t be possible without the low fares on Southwest Airlines. Thank you SW, for making this journey possible! This is me after marathon #7 in Chicago, August 1st. With the money I’ll save flying SW, I’ll be able to afford the next 7 marathons, and help find a cure for cancer!!! 🐵 Gina Roland Dupree: With the money we saved on our family of 4, we were able to stay an extra day in Colorado and wait for Trail Ridge Road to open, so my kids got to go over the Continental Divide. These Southern kids LOVED all that snow! (and Mom too!) Susan Carman McGiffert: Southwest’s “Bags fly free” is awesome. We saved the full $120 on our trip to Albany NY from Phoenix to celebrate my sister’s 60th with family and friends. We used the money we saved to take the family out to dinner. You are the best airline bar none!   ... View more