Southwest Airlines Community

Jerry, Cindy is absolutely correct. (Fly SW again and you will almost always find a Shari) On a recent flight, I had a situation where all three FAs were male, and coincidentally, all three of them were named Shari!!! LOL Kim 🙂 ... View more

Please allow me to interrupt this thread with a personal statement that I need to make publicly: KELLI BARTLETT IS AWESOME!!! Thank you, we now return you to our regularly scheduled blog... Kim 🙂 ... View more

Eric, Do you notice the classic response? Poor Brian has relocated his house and is now living alongside a very large river in Egypt... Kim P. S. For you Aggies out there, that is "De Nile" 🙂 ... View more

Gary did look very convincing, and what that picture doesn't show is that his boots were very close to BURNT ORANGE... I'm proud of my fellow Longhorn for coming out of his shell, and I'm convinced that his 'inner pirate' was at least partially inspired by some of the characters on the Drag in Austin! Hook 'em, Gary! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Sharon, To answer your question, "...the first day at training you will have an agility test...", my understanding is that you are required to leap over two inebriated passengers while balancing a tray full of drinks in one hand and holding three pillows in the other hand, and by using just your knee, turn off the flight attendant call button that was pushed for the sixth time by the bratty kid in the window seat who wants yet another soft drink. From what I've heard, it's a piece of cake. Good luck in your career at SWA, Kim P. S. Oh yeah, you have to do all of that while wearing a blindfold. 🙂 ... View more

Kyra, Congratulations, you're now a Southwest Airlines Customer for life! Once you've sampled the SW form of Positively Outrageous Service, you'll be spoiled, and those military transports just won't seem as wonderful as before! You may know that quite a few of the SWA pilots are former military pilots, and some of them are still in the Reserves or the Guard. Southwest has had a long and special relationship with all of the branches of the military, and as a very patriotic company, they support the efforts of our men and women who serve our country. Please allow me to add my own sentiments to those of Henry and his crewmates in thanking you for ALL that you do for the United States. Those of us who are not in the military will never fully know, or completely be able to appreciate, all of the dangers you've faced or the sacrifices that you've made. But, we can enjoy the freedoms here that so many of you have earned for us throughout the 230-year history of our nation and its uniformed defenders. I pray that God will protect you and comfort your family as they await your return home, and that the Lord will hasten that day when you can come home for good. THANK YOU!!! Kim ... View more

Amy, Congratulations on stumbling onto what is probably the best-run company in the world! Southwest Airlines even has a "Culture Committee" that works on keeping it a fun and great place to work! I encourage you to study more about SWA and learn more about the unique approach to Employee and Customer satisfaction that not coincidentally has had the enviable byproduct of 31+ years of profitability in an industry that has seen many airlines struggle to stay afloat and in quite a few cases, gone bankrupt. One way to do this is to read more about these folks, and a good starting place is this bibliography: ( http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/press/bibliography.html ). I would personally recommend the books "Nuts!" (by the Friebergs) and "The SWA Way" (by Gittell). In addition, while I haven't bought a copy yet, I have had a Southwest Employee recommend the work of Lorraine West titled "Lessons in Loyalty..." as I mentioned in this thread on the blog: ( http://www.blogsouthwest.com/2006/10/05/southwest-enthusiasts/ ). For a great read about the history of the airline and its unique struggles, check out the "Airways" magazine special edition discussed in that same blog. It can be ordered through their website. However, if you don't like that "Airways" issue after you've read it, don't mention that here. The guy who adminsters this blog wrote that edition! I wish you well in your task of building a new corporate culture where you work, and can only say that you probably wouldn't go wrong in your company to copy some of what Southwest does. Wait a second...you don't work for American Airlines, do you? Kim 🙂 ... View more

Carole, What a neat idea this is! When I first saw the title of your blog entry, I thought it was about re-gifting, so I figured I'd read about that one fruitcake from Corsicana that keeps circulating around and around the world... Kim :-) P. S. To Jeramy -- hey! This is NOT the place to brag about your puny football victories. If it WAS, I'd be forced to mention MY Longhorns come-from-behind win over Texas Tech this weekend when we spotted the Red Raiders three touchdowns to let them get overconfident and then whooped up on 'em! HOOK 'EM HORNS!! LOL 🙂 ... View more

Angela, Well, I assume that by "...meeting you face to face..." you are being figurative, since I got the impression that the "face" I met was not "the" face of Angela. If it was, please accept my apologies for staring, but you could definitely stand to get out in the sun a bit more often. And while we're being brutally honest, you've GOT to find a new hairdresser... LOL Kim 🙂 ... View more

Brian ole bud, I'm proud of ya for finally coming out of the candy corn closet. It is my firm hope that many people in this country, indeed, around the world, who read this blog will be moved by your candid and frightening admission. For too many decades, we've only had spokespeople for other addictions, while Candy Corniphilia has languised in those dark corners that polite folks don't discuss, at least not in public. Perhaps it is time to reveal that even Hollywood, which does not usually shy away from even the most bizarre forms of perversion, would not touch this subject when it was originally presented as a script idea. Many years ago, after candy corn was introduced and its effects became apparent, a writer tried to warn Americans through a movie documentary. Although no studio was interested, at last ONE studio agreed to produce the film, provided the author changed the focus of addiction to something more socially acceptable than the dreaded candy corn. Of course, we know this movie as "Reefer Madness," but very few people know that it was originally titled "Candy Corn Madness". It is also my sincere hope that you are able to find ways to deal with your addiction. I've heard that counseling and therapy can help, and if not, some electro-convulsive therapy could be the answer for you. We all care about you and are here for you if you need us. Best wishes to my sick friend, Kim ... View more

Darrell -- That was not a typo. Southwest makes no secret of the fact that as a company, their first priority is to take care of their Employees. While that might seem selfish and unusual for a company, and even rude to their paying customers, think about it for a minute. If you work for a company and you're frustrated, irritated, mad and/or just unhappy, who are you likely to take it out on? However, if you enjoy your job and feel valued as an important part of the team, what is your interaction with your customers probably going to be like? Herb and the Southwest management understand that a happy Employee will ultimately result in a happy Customer. It is a win-win situation! Kim P. S. Notice that on the blog, I use the Southwest form of capitalization. Lest you think that you are not important to them, internally, they capitalize Employee AND Customer! 🙂 ... View more

Leah -- Glad to see you back on the blog. I'm sorry that the FA position didn't work out, but, hang in there, girl! As enthusiastic as you are, SWA will surely find a place that's perfect for you! Jerry -- Welcome to the wonderful world of Southwest Airlines! What you have seen just a small glimpse of is something they call "POS" -- Positively Outrageous Service!! You'll find that Southwest is a bit different from many other companies and virtually all other airlines. Their Employees are upbeat and happy folks who LUV their jobs, and as a result, they treat their Customers well and as if they appreciate your business. The difference is, they really DO! I hope you get the chance to fly SWA again soon, because after just a couple of flights, you'll be hooked! Since we know that attitudes flow down from the top of any organization, I'll give you a couple of perfect examples of why Southwest is the way it is. How many Chairmen of the Board of corporations of more than 32,000 employees is known just by his first name (Herb) and frequently walks the aisles of "his" planes handing out peanuts to "his" passengers? And how many huge companies have a President (Colleen) whose standard greeting for ANY of those 32,000 people is a big hug? This company based in Dallas has 32,000 goodwill ambassadors who spread "LUV" around this country on more than 3,100 flights per day! Come be a regular part of it! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Susan, Congratulations on your new job and welcome to the BEST airline in the world! I am sure that you will LUV working at Southwest and that the new attitudes you find will be a breath of fresh air. Oh, and thanks for the suggestion: "...scoping out the cute people to sit near." In 30+ years of flying SWA, that idea had never dawned on me... Yeah, right! LOL Kim 🙂 ... View more

Jim -- Okay, Brian has given me back my keyboard now, and I didn't even have to promise not to use adult language like he does ( http://www.blogsouthwest.com/2006/10/25/our-six-month-blogoversary/ : Ã ... View more

Jeff, Kudos to you and to ALL of the SWA Employees who so often "look outside themselves" through various programs such as this. As you said, taking things for granted is very easy if we're never confronted with others who don't have the same things we do. Suddenly, you realize that you are very blessed in ways that you don't think about. Venues such as this and the Ronald McDonald Houses are wonderful examples of the ways that Southwest and its Employees give back to their community and demonstrate a true servant's heart. Bless you for your work, Kim ... View more

To Angela, Brian, Sunny, Shelley, Colleen, Gary, Herb and the rest of my friends at Southwest: Congratulations on the six-month Blogoversary!! I've told each of you separately, but I'd LUV to reiterate here publicly that not only is the Blog a wonderful thing, it is a terrific representation of the true Spirit of Southwest Airlines. I have had a number of occasions to visit the websites of different companies in an effort to reach their home offices. Sometimes I have a question, sometimes a complaint or sometimes a compliment, but I'm not shy about contacting corporations. However, there are quite a few companies that "hide" behind their webpages. They don't list their physical address or phone numbers, but have a website e-mail program that only allows you to communicate with them online. Firms that don't want to talk to their customers make me nervous and suspicious. Contrast that with SWA: your contact information, both USPS snail mail and phone numbers, are very available through your website. But, you go beyond that level of accessibility. By providing this interactive blog, you give your Customers and Employees the chance to 'talk' directly to you, AND to each other, sharing funny stories, gripes, touching moments and suggestions. Being this "open" in an environment that blends internal and external dialogue is a rare thing these days. It also indicates that you WANT to hear from people, and is clear from many of the postings here, you don't censor out the negative comments to make this just a "puff piece" for Southwest. In the words of a real wise guy, oops, I mean, an intelligent fellow ( http://www.blogsouthwest.com/2006/09/13/maybe-ità ... View more

David, Apparently your thread in this blog has inspired the national media to stand up (or to return their seatbacks to the full, upright positions) and sample the cuisine at a number of U. S. airports. Check out this article from the Friday, October 27, 2006 edition of USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2006-10-26-airport-food_x.htm Not every city listed is a SWA destination, but most are! Happy eating! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Darrell, OK, I admit, you've found me out. I actually AM nutz. But, I can assure you that I have flown Southwest before, and as I have said here publicly, I've had my bags misrouted. (I don't use the term "lost" because they usually know where my bags are) Southwest is made up of human beings, and just like folks at any company, they make mistakes from time to time. To me, it is not about finding errors in people's behaviors, it is about the way in which they handle them. If you've read some of my original post that started this thread, it IS about the attitude. Look at the difference in the public relations disaster that Exxon faced when their tanker Valdez ran aground in Alaska. They denied it and had problems for years. Contrast that with the makers of Tylenol and how they proactively jumped into action when someone tampered with some of their bottles of medication. In my experience, when the Employees of SWA make a mistake or encounter a problem, they deal with proactively and in a Customer-oriented way. I've seen firsthand examples over the weekend in Atlanta by an airline that does not do that. I respectfully disagree with you -- Southwest DOES care about their Employees and their Customers. Kim ... View more

Brian, Your fine work on the Airways Classic really only deserved 14 minutes of fame, but James and I agreed that we'd round up. Kim 🙂 ... View more

Dorothy -- I'd LUV to have your two free tickets if you don't want 'em! I've used earned free tickets to fly all across this country, sometimes "enduring" four flights per day to get to the remote corners of our great nation. Aisle, middle, window, in the lav or standing in the aisle holding the overhead strap (no, wait, that's the subway in NYC...nevermind) all works for me. Having just ENDURED a round trip to Atlanta on aanother aairline, I can assure you that I'd rather fly ANYWHERE on Southwest than put up with the surly attitudes, filthy planes and almost hostile ambivalence from thaat compaany! Kim P. S. Don't believe him -- Brian is a very important executive and has a vital job. He is the one who is in charge of keeping fresh and fully charged batteries in the cattle prod that Colleen uses during Employee motivation meetings. 🙂 ... View more

Jim, Nahhh, you're not silly. All of us Southwest junkies are doing the same thing. You can tell us by the goofy grins on our face and the fact that after we type "www.so" our Internet browsers automatically finish typing "uthwest.com" for us! Kim :-) (and for some of us, our browser also auto-types "og.southwest.com"!) ... View more

Jim, I think David is referring to the three newest cities that SW will begin service to following the change in the Wright Amendment. Starting on the second Wednesday of next week, they will inaugurate flights to Plano, Frisco and McKinney. This will provide a quicker alternative to sitting on the Dallas North Tollway or Central Expressway. Some changes will have to occur, though, as the flight times will only be about four to seven minutes, depending on headwinds. Snack service will be curtailed to ONE peanut apiece while the FA squirts you in the mouth with a SuperSoaker as they sprint down the aisle. Enjoy your trip! Kim 🙂 ... View more

David, These aluminum skin "patches" are a good thing. SWA does not spare any expense in making these repairs, while many of their competitors just slap a piece of duct tape over their 'oops' places. Ryan, As a traveling salesman, I spend a lot of hours on the highway. Speak for yourself about driving for four hours with no snacks! My kids have introduced me to, and trained me in, the fine art of making stops at the QT Drink Stations where the combinations and variations of drink mixes are endless! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Lemme give a stab at this -- 1.) the top of the main cabin entry/exit door by the jetway 2.) Cap'n Ray's fold-down desk in his private office, no, wait, a baby-changing station in the lav 3.) close-up of part of the locking latch mechanism for the door; you can see the same part in the first picture, but it is a much "cleaner" example Kim ... View more

James, Many thanks for the positive recommendation about Lorraine -- it sounds like I'd definitely better move her book to the top of my wish list! (let's see, my birthday and Father's Day are past, but Christmas is coming up fast!) You're awesome for giving away your copy of Brian's epic masterpiece! I hope you can still find it in the bookstores in the Windy City area; it was here and gone within a couple of weeks in Dallas. But, if you can't, here's good news for ya: whip out your trusty sterling silver level American Express card (I know that FAs are paid millions of dollars a year) and get online at the Airways store ( http://airwaysmag.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=32 ), where you can stock up on hundreds of copies for yourself, to give to friends (they make great birthday, wedding and housewarming gifts) and to hand out to desperate passengers on those flights where you run out of peanuts! Best wishes and I keep looking for you on my flights! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Tamra, Hey, you aren't reading ALL of the blog! I admitted that I AM on your payroll in a posting to James Malone's thread "Southwest Enthusiasts". Check it out, October 16th -- ( http://www.blogsouthwest.com/2006/10/05/southwest-enthusiasts/#comments ) and you'll see why I'm so loyal. Brian has BOUGHT my loyalty! LOL Kim :-) P. S. All joking aside, I've been flying on SW for almost as long as y'all have been in the air, and how in the world could I NOT be loyal to a company that treats me so well? In ~33 years, I can remember exactly TWICE that my bags were misrouted, and one of those times was a vacation on an earned Rapid Reward (or back then, Company Club) ticket from DAL to SEA just after you guys bought Morris Air. Due to our favorite piece of now almost-defunct legislation, that trip required three segments and two plane changes (DAL-ABQ, ABQ-SLC, SLC-SEA), and I barely made all of the necessary connections, so it didn't surprise me that my bags didn't. In those three decades, I can remember exactly ONE FA that was less than friendly (he was downright surly and rude!). With that kind of track record out of hundreds and hundreds of flights, I think you guys are about as close to AWESOME as is possible!! ... View more

Mark, It's a deal! As I often tell my customers, there is a reason that they make Ford pickup trucks and Chevy pickup trucks. Some folks just love what they love. You say "toe-may-toe" and I'll say "toe-mah-tow", it's all good! Waving at you with LUV for my favorite carrier, Kim 🙂 ... View more

Colleen -- Raj's note concerned me: "That nice service from a 21 year old looking employee with 13 years of experience was wonderful..." When did SWA lower the FA hiring age to 8? LOL Kim 🙂 ... View more

Gordon, We envy you getting to "smell that smell" and to get to be among the first folks on one of your new planes! While I don't know how fresh the planes were, since I don't know how 'fragrant' they are when they start out, but I've been on several flights where I could tell the second I stepped through the door from the jetway that I was on a fairly new plane. Not only the aroma, but everything just looked so new! If I could figure out where the odometer is, I'd peek into the cockpit and see if it really was brand new. You guys should do what new car owners do to show off their purchase -- leave the Boeing sticker in the window for the first week or so! Ha ha Kim 🙂 ... View more

Jeff, In addition to smoking in the lavatories and tampering with the smoke detectors, it is seriously frowned upon for you to nibble on the winglets or to add any BBQ sauce to them. Teeth marks will significantly disrupt airflow and at altitude, that sauce is forced off by air pressure and people standing in their backyards get an unexpected red shower. Fortunately for SWA, if they do find any planes with chewed up winglets or traces of BBQ sauce on them, they now know who to suspect first! Ha ha Kim 🙂 ... View more