Southwest Airlines Community

James, I guess I should feel lucky. So far, my older sister (by 6.5 years) has only gotten on the blog twice, but both times, she was complimentary. She could tell some tales herself, although they would be entirely fictional, since I was a perfect child growing up... Kim P. S. In homage to Tommy Smothers, sis, I've gotta tell you: "Mom really DID like me best!" 🙂 ... View more

Lacey, If only James Michener had discovered "telegraphese" sooner, it wouldn't have taken me so long to read "Texas"... UR Frnd, K 🙂 ... View more

Donna, You have one of your abbreviations wrong...didn't you hear about the blonde who was showing off her new athletic shoes to her blonde friend? The other blonde is admiring the lovely styling and great arch supports, but is puzzled by the letters printed on the inside, plainly visible to whoever would be putting them on. She asks the proud owner of the shoes what "TGIF" means. "The guy at the shoe store said this was a special version just for ladies with hair like mine. It is so cool for them to remind you -- it means Toes Go In First!!" Running and ducking, Kim 🙂 ... View more

Brian, If we form a Blog Boy Club, will we get official BB paraphernalia? You know, like a special ring and lapel pin to identify ourselves to the world, our own engraved BBC ID card/badge on a spiffy lanyard (of course, the lanyard would be multi-colored, using the red, white and orange hues of Candy Corn, the official snack food of members of the BBC), and last but not least, would we be taught the ultra-secret "Blog Boy Handshake"? I mean, if we're gonna have a club, let's make it a real club! Oh yeah, can we build our own BBC clubhouse/fort up in a large tree in your backyard? Naturally, we'd have to modify our "No Gurlz Alowwed" sign with "except those cute Culture Chicks"! :-) This is gonna be sooooo cool! By the way, please be sure that our secret meetings are over by 6 pm, cause I've gotta be home in time for dinner. Thanks, Blog Boy Club Member #2 (Brian is our founder, leader and charter member) Kim 🙂 ... View more

Kirk, In answer to your question, I think that often pilots are pretty busy and don't spend as much time sightseeing as us passengers do. While we don't have much to do other than read the magazines, pester the FAs for more drinks or look out the window, the pilots are busy discussing their dinner options. (sorry, Captain Stark, I couldn't resist that one) Seriously, Drew is correct in that a surprisingly large number of people don't want to hear announcements because they are sleeping or just aren't interested. I, on the other hand, am fascinated by the scenery and enjoy picking out cities and landmarks that I recognize from the air. A fun book that you might like is one called "Window Seat" ( http://www.amazon.com/Window-Seat-Reading-Landscape-Air/dp/B00080W3H0/sr=1-3/qid=1167932931/ref=sr_1_3/104-6163979-8635924?ie=UTF8&s=books ). One of the wonderful features of my company's corporate jet is a computer program displayed on a couple of TV screens in our cabin that tell you which cities you are approaching and their distance relative to the plane along with current conditions such as airspeed, altitude, outside temperature and time to landing. I love studying cities from the air! As a humorous aside, I was on a Southwest flight one time that was heading across the area that included the Grand Canyon. The pilot made this announcement: "For those of you on the left side of the plane, if you'll lean over and look out the windows in about thirty seconds, you'll have a wonderful view of the Grand Canyon." After a brief pause, he then made a second announcement: "For those of you on the right side of the plane, if you'll look to your left, you'll see the rear ends of your fellow passengers." :-) Although it was funny, it does point out a disadvantage of the pilot identifying landmarks. In most cases, only half of the folks onboard will get to see the item and the other half may wind up being frustrated. If you're a serious observer, take a road map with you and calculate distance by the time traveled. If the pilot tells you before take-off that it will be a 58-minute flight to...then you can figure that you're halfway there around 29 - 30 minutes into the trip. Of course, planes don't fly a straight line between cities, but if you can start out by tracking an interstate highway out the window and following that on your map, it will give you a sense of what you're over. Happy flying! Kim ... View more

Hey! I was right! I thought it was the hinge to a tray table! That goofy Kim fella can't fool me. Pass the candy corn, BB, let's celebrate! AFoBB 🙂 ... View more

No one should send Blog Boy any money -- he'll only use it to buy more candy corn. Don't be an enabler for this poor addict to continue down his path of caloric destruction. Sorry to Leah and all you OU fans, but as a UT alumnus and proud Texan, I have no sympathy for the Sooners! LOL Kim 🙂 ... View more

Captain Stark, Wow! What a brilliantly written piece! You should consider writing a book! 🙂 (I'm teasing, as I am currently working on reading one of my Christmas presents from my "wish list", a book entitled, "This is Your Captain Speaking", which is by an author with a name surprisingly similar to yours) Seriously, there are a lot of people who are very experienced and highly qualified in their field, but who cannot translate a technical job into readable English for us laymen. You do a masterful job of taking a highly technical profession and presenting it in a way that folks can understand. I've had a fair amount of exposure and education about the things that you've described above, but I really like the way you've explained them. Although it was on a much smaller scale, I had a similar experience to what you described above a few years ago on our own company plane. I was sitting in the third ("observation/FA") seat of our Falcon 50 with a few customers in the cabin enroute to an airport in Missouri to pick up five more passengers when our pilot did another check of the weather at our planned destination. He had told me when he picked me up in Dallas that things were not looking good for that part of Missouri (January snow storms are common) and that he would be monitoring the conditions more closely than usual. Sure enough, we were about 30 - 40 minutes out when the minimums at the airport disappeared and he announced that we could not safely land there. I watched and helped in the process between him and our co-pilot as an alternate airport was selected from our available options outside the range of the snow storm. In that particular case, fuel was not an issue, but we had the opposite problem that you had. You were carrying a bunch of passengers that weren't going to get to their planned destination. On that day, we had passengers waiting at an FBO at a small airport that we had to then contact and have them drive somewhere to meet us! As the senior management person onboard, I had to make the decision of where and how far we would ask our waiting passengers to drive and into what kind of weather conditions I would be directing them. Just because we could land somewhere didn't mean they'd have clear roads to drive to reach that place. After some deliberation of runway lengths, weather, distance and FBO facilities, we made our choice and called the waiting passengers. We wound up landing in about 15 minutes and then waiting almost 90 minutes for them to arrive, but everyone was safe and our trip continued after the detour and delay. So, I have a good appreciation of some of what you've talked about above and beyond the awareness that a "typical" passenger might who has never been on the other side of that cockpit door. And by the way, I'm one of those passengers who ALWAYS sticks his head in the cockpit at the end of the flight to thank the two well-trained professionals who have safely taken me from point A to point B, regardless of whether I originally wanted to go to that particular point B or not! Thanks so much! Kim 🙂 ... View more

HOWDY LEAH STOP HAPPY NEW YEAR STOP KIM STOP :-) P. S. Gee, you never e-mail me...I guess you're not close to me...boo hoo hoo :-( LOL ... View more

Brian, All kidding aside, you might also be familiar with another famous, but short telegram that Mr. Hearst sent. In 1949, the publisher became quite impressed with the Reverend Billy Graham, and just prior to Graham's fall crusade in Los Angeles, Hearst sent a two-word telegram to all of his newspaper editors. Using a newspaperman's slang term that indicated he wanted each of them to give Rev. Graham the maximum amount of publicity as possible in their papers (front page headlines, etc.), he instructed them via telegraphese to "PUFF GRAHAM". To this day, Billy Graham tells the story of the impact on attendance that Hearst's two-word telegram had in Los Angeles and his following crusades. Kim ... View more

BRIAN SOUTHWEST=LUV DONT EVER STOP BCNU KIM ... View more

Dena, Thank you for such a warm contribution to the blog! Yes, I can echo your sentiments, because as a visitor to HDQ, I've received the same hospitable and welcoming feeling. Southwest is not a "company" -- it is a very large and diverse FAMILY, with 32,000 siblings who share a common dream, a love for their jobs and each other, and a wonderful sense of humor. As far as being James' sister, although I only know James through this blog, I am sure that you get the same questions that my sister gets: "why did you get stuck with such a goofball brother???" Kim 🙂 ... View more

James, Thank you for those wonderful and beautiful pictures! They just serve to remind us that above all other things, it is the Culture that makes Southwest Airlines what it is. Much of the credit for that belongs to Colleen, but many other people carry that Spirit forward throughout the organization. I look forward to many hours (and lots of bags of peanuts) in the company of those fine Employees on the ground and in the air. Best wishes for a wonderful 2007 to us all, Kim 🙂 ... View more

Francisco, Thanks for keeping us posted on your trip. I'm glad you got out of ABQ before the weather turned sour; I had been wondering if you were shoveling snow to find your Christmas presents! My condolences to your crewmate's family and my prayers to the injured sailor for his full and quick recovery. Thank you again for ALL that you, the crew of the U. S. S. Nimitz and ALL of our military men and women do for us each and every day of the year. I pray for God's protection over each of you and for your safe return home to your anxious families. A salute to our military and my best wishes for 2007, Kim ... View more

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of my friends at Southwest Airlines and to my fellow bloggers! Let's have a great 2007 together, Kim 🙂 ... View more

Todd, You are correct about the less-desirable flights. I've been on quite a few flights over the years that were not popular with either the cabin or the cockpit crews. At first, it was a bit of a shock, but I've started getting used to it. The way it works is one of the passengers will get on the public address system in the cabin to see if there is anyone onboard who is a 737-rated pilot. Usually we can at least find someone who has spent an hour or two behind the controls of a Piper Cub, so that takes care of the left seat up front. Then, we can usually find someone who has watched the cockpit scenes of the movie "Airplane" enough times to qualify for the right seat. That leaves the tough jobs, but most times, there will be a handful of us who have enough flight experience on Southwest that we split the peanuts and drink distribution duties. There just is nothing that quite compares to those do-it-yourself flights! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Chris, My hat is always off to our firefighters and police officers who work around the clock every day of the year; they are truly the unsung heroes of our country! If you are looking for a career change, I couldn't recommend any company more highly than Southwest Airlines. Give 'em a shot -- they're always looking for great people! Best wishes to you and "the Captain", Kim 🙂 ... View more

Jim, Yes, it IS a surprising sight, isn't it? But, then again, our friends at SWA have always thought "outside the box", so a white Southwest plane shouldn't be too shocking! FYI -- I'm not sure where you searched for several hours, but in the future, any time you're curious about a plane's ownership, all you have to do is type its tail number (in the case of the new Ford/SWA 737 I flew from Lubbock a few weeks ago, it is N271LV) into the search box on Google, and it will link you to the FAA registration page for that plane! (in the case of this plane, it also shows you several different webpages with photos of that particular new addition to the Southwest fleet) Happy flying, Kim 🙂 ... View more

Francisco, Welcome home and Happy White Christmas! I understand that ABQ got some snow, so it must be a cold but welcome relief from the hard deck of the Nimitz! Your story is just so typical of exactly why Southwest is the BEST AIRLINE IN THE WORLD!!! I'm sure you saw many people around you who did not make it on standby, but I've seen our SWA friends go out of their way for our service men and women lots of times, so that doesn't surprise me. But then, to find that the airline had gifts just for you is certainly above and beyond the call of duty! I hope that you have an extremely restful and blessed time with your family and I really appreciate you sharing with us all of the ways that Southwest Employees took care of you. Although I don't know your rank in the Navy, it sounds like they treated you like a four-star admiral! Best wishes always, Kim 🙂 ... View more

Well, the folks who have to work today probably won't see this today, but on behalf of all of your loyal fans, Customers and the general public, THANK YOU to all of you SW Employees who are working today and keeping those planes moving so folks can get where they need to go. Y'all are real troupers! MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone at Southwest Airlines, Kim 🙂 ... View more

Leah, It ain't no big thang knowin' ASL. You should come to Dallas and spend some time on our freeways. Lotsa folks use ASL down here, but it is usually just one finger at a time... LOL Kim 🙂 ... View more

Gee thanks, Joe, now if I want any privacy, I guess I'll have to claim one of those seats on the wings, where the FAs always threat to put passengers who smoke in the lavs, forcing them to watch the in-flight movie, "Gone With the Wind." European aircraft?? I'll have you know that after an Army career that took him to Colonel, my wife's grandfather spent a second career at Boeing in Seattle. I've visited Boeing Field a number of times and have spent many enjoyable hours at the Museum of Flight there. I ain't hawkin' no furin' made goods! Besides, you can tell I'm a true-blue Southwest fan; who else would check the blog on Christmas Day?? Best holiday wishes from the Lone Star State, Kim 🙂 ... View more

Awwww, Mary, that's very nice of you! Having never visited Phoenix, I'd be honored! If I'm made an honorary Employee, do I get my own pair of cute shorts and knit polo shirt with the official SWA embroidered logo? I warn ya, I've got knobby knees! Seriously, I'm touched by your sentiment, and you have no idea how close I come some days to submitting an application to my favorite airline. The idea of flying with some of the greatest folks in the air is very appealing, especially on those days when at my own company I'm flying with a buncha turkeys! It is a rare treat and a distinct privilege to be able to interact so closely with such a wonderful organization, and even if I'm on the periphery, I almost feel like an honorary Employee. You work for an awesome company and I hope that many of the 32K of you have worked somewhere else first so that you'll have a greater appreciation for just how fortunate you are. Believe me, life in the "real world" ain't as nice as it is at Southwest. Best holiday wishes to all y'all* in Arizona, especially to YOU, Mary J! Kim :-) * if you need help translating Texan, that means "each and every one of you", which in New Jersey is pronounced "all youze guys". There are singular and plural forms: "y'all" is for one and "all y'all" is two or more. You can tell a counterfeit Texan if he spells it "ya'll". Of course, you can always tell a real Texan, you just can't tell 'em much! 🙂 ... View more

Francisco, Well, I "stand" (or fall, as the case may be...) corrected. I had assumed that the USS Nimitz was every bit as plush and comfortable as Holland America's cruise ships. Does the lack of stability in the water mean that the wine steward has to keep your champagne glasses less full at dinner so they don't slosh out and get your caviar soggy? I'm guessing that your cabin steward likewise has a harder time when he comes by your suite in the mornings to make your bed and replace the towels and linens? Is it also a bit disorienting when you're lounging by one of the top deck pools and the water down by the diving board has white caps? Maybe the US Navy shouldn't take the low bids to build those boats... LOL Have a great Christmas with your family, have safe travels back and forth, and may God continue to watch over you and your crewmates and keep you safe! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Adi, Southwest doesn't have competitors -- they have imitators!!! Besides, why would you WANT to fly on one of THEIR planes??? Kim 🙂 ... View more

Joe, My private cabin is in the rear, and yes, it has a sliding latch. How did you know? Southwest hasn't been renting out MY cabin when I'm not onboard, have they???? Kim P. S. It is a great place to make notes for the blog, since they provide you note paper in long rolls conveniently perforated in pocket-sized sections. 🙂 ... View more

Jenny, While I've never been on an aircraft carrier that was deployed at sea, I have been on several stationary (floating museums) ones. They are much larger than a Holland America cruise ship that I was on, and in seven days on the cruise ship, I only ONCE felt any significant movement onboard. I suspect that due to the large size of the U. S. S. Nimitz and its peers, onboard movement, especially below deck closer to the waterline, is probably fairly minimal. However, Francisco confided in me that he DID have a hard time getting used to the water ski launching catapults on deck at first, although catching the wire when he returned to ship was easy with those long skis... Kim :-) \ ... View more

Adi, That is a good question, but with close to 500 planes, you can imagine that the logistics of scheduling is complex. However, it is not geared to telling the Customer which specific plane they will be on in advance. That is because due to maintenance or weather issues, they may have to "substitute" a plane for one that was originally scheduled at the last minute. They try to exchange a 737-300 with another -300 if possible, for example, so that the original passenger load can still be achieved, but even that doesn't always work. So, not trying to speak for Brian, but as a Customer, I think the answer is that they really aren't set up to be able to supply that information. But, the good news is that the pilots and FAs are fantastic on every plane they fly! Happy flying, Kim ... View more

Leah, It is good to see you active on the Blog again! I hope things are going well for you and that the day you pin on that SWA Employee ID is getting closer!! If you've taken some good ones, how about sending 'em in? Besides, even if you haven't, you can fake 'em like I did. I just used a model airplane wing, some cotton balls and a small flashlight suspended over my bathtub to simulate the view over South Padre Island at sunset... LOL Kim 🙂 ... View more

...the sound of flushing is heard in the background... Joe, What do you mean about me spending a lot of time in the lav? I'll have you know that I pay EXTRA for my own private cabin, where I never have to share an armrest with anyone's elbow and I can get a drink of water whenever I want! Actually, my buddy James has already been disqualified in this identification contest. He is definitely the Jedi Master when it comes to recognizing parts of the SW airplanes, In fact, I sent him the picture first just to test him, and by using The Force, he was able to discern what it was even BEFORE I e-mailed it. I'm telling you, the guy is good! Not only that, he has convinced me that these are not the droids I'm looking for... Keep up the guessing, I'm pleased that some folks have started thinking "outside the box" now. While you contemplate this photographic mystery, I hope that all of my blog friends have a blessed and joyous holiday season, and to whom it applies, Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah! Kim 🙂 ... View more