Southwest Airlines Community

Winter is here!   Well, not really—it is 100 degrees in Dallas as we speak—but winter is now available to book at southwest.com, at 1-800-IFLYSWA, and via SABRE and Galileo.  Winter—including Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hannukah, and New Years, is now bookable with America ’s Largest Airline—and the only airline where “Fees Don’t Fly!”  As usual, we’ve slipped a few new and interesting things into the Winter 2008/2009 Schedule.  First, and perhaps most importantly, is what is not in the schedule.  Unlike almost every other domestic U.S. airline, Southwest is not shrinking.  We are not abandoning cities.  We are not furloughing Employees.  Instead, we’re tweaking what we’re offering to you guys—growing where we see opportunity, and eliminating flying that just hasn’t panned out the way we’d hoped, particularly with oil at $135 a barrel.    This November, in the midst of one of the worst airline industry downturns in history, Southwest Airlines has taken a scalpel to our schedule and looked at each and every flight in every market we serve flight to determine Customer demand and profitability.  Even after that excercise, we will discontinue just two nonstop markets—Oakland-Tucson, and Kansas City-Sacramento.  We’ll also reduce the number of daily departures in 27 markets, which is an incredibly minimal number.  Still, we will retain service in all of our markets—meaning, you guys can still take advantage of the great Southwest service you love, even if it may be a onestop direct or a connection.  Click here for a PDF file attachment showing frequencies in each of our markets and the changes coming up for November.       The BIG news is what we’re adding!  We’re adding six new nonstop markets—and they’re concentrated on Denver and Florida .  We’re adding new nonstop service between Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood and   Albany , Kansas City, and La$ Vega$....between Ft. Myers and St. Louis ….and between Denver  and Orange County and Tulsa .  We're also adding extra flights in 25 other markets, eleven of which start in Denver.  Our new Florida service will make it easier for you guys to shake off that winter chill….and the new Denver service will add to our incredible success story in the Mile High City .  Even though we only re-started service at Denver International Airport in January of ’06, we will have 115 daily departures from Denver each business day by the end of 2008.  It’s the fastest we’ve ever grown a new Station in our 37 year old history.  Southwest is LUVing Denver ….and Denver is LUVing Southwest!   There is something else that is very important about this schedule.  You may remember my story about the “Garage-o-mizer,” our original schedule optimization model (click here for the link).  It is, in effect, a constraint-based model, one that constructed a schedule that met a list of constraints, or rules.  However, given our schedule network, there are multiple possible schedule solutions—some  better than others, some worse--so the Garage-o-mizer wasn’t looking for the the best schedule possible, just one that met all of the rules.  The November 2008 schedule marks the debut of a new schedule optimizer, the new "Global optimizer"—one that takes all of our schedule rules and preferences and actually picks the one schedule that scores the absolute highest based on the input parameters we supply.  Thousands of criteria are considered.  For example, the Global optimizer actually looks to see what time passengers actually want to travel in every nonstop market we're in--folks want to leave Vegas for L.A. in the later afternoon, while they want to leave Baltimore/Washington for Orlando in the morning.  All 800+ nonstop markets have their own, unique demand curves.  This new algorigthm lets us match our schedule to exactly what you, our Customers, want!  The math behind the model is both complicated and daunting—but we are THRILLED with the output.  And, as with the previous model, it was developed in house!!!  (BIG shout outs to David, Jesus, and Jason from the Operations Research team in Southwest Airlines Technology Department!)   So—let the booking begin for the Holiday Season 2008.  Plan those trips--book those reservations—and know that all of us here at Southwest, all 34,000+ of us, are trying our level best to do everything we can to be the very best airline on the planet for you.  It’s HARD to be an airline these days, but we’re not straying from our mission, which is to provide the best value in air transporation in America .  WITH NO ADDED FEES.  Did I mention that already?  😉                 ... View more

Maestro! Queue me up some "West Side Story" please, in the key of F: Could it be, yes it could. Something's coming, something good! If I can wait......... Something's coming, I don't know what it is, But it is, gonna be great! Flight schedules for the time period extending from October 31, 2008 all the way to January 9, 2009, have been sent--and will be open for sale next Thursday, June 26! This (obviously) includes the Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hannukah, and New Year's holiday schedules. So start thinking about where you want to have your turkey and dressing....where you want to light your candles or trim your tree....and where you want to ring in 2009. Something's coming--our flight schedule, that is--and I guarantee it's gonna be great! You might wonder why we sent the flight schedules on the 19th and they won't be available for you to "see" and purchase until the 26th. First off, this is always the most difficult "chunk" of schedule to prepare of the entire year--as I said, it contains three Holiday Schedules, and each one of them are manually tweaked based on anticipated traffic (and traffic is always different over the Holidays than it is during the non-Holiday November/December/early January timeframe). So there is four times as much work to do to build versus a normal schedule send. Then, after Schedule Planning distributes the schedule, a zillion other workgroups, both inside Southwest and externally, have to take the data we've sent and get them ready for you to make reservations. For example, our Reservations Support team in Technology has to take our data and actually load it into our Reservations system. Interactive Marketing has to do the same to prepare southwest.com to receive and activate the schedule dates. Revenue Management has to get the fare inventories ready to accept your bookings. And our partners at SABRE and Galileo (two huge global computer reservations systems) have to ingest our schedule, make sure it's in synch with what we're selling internally, and go through all of their processes to make sure that next Thursday they're ready to hit their big "DING!" button. So get ready. Your phone won't jingle, and your door won't knock, but something's coming sometime next Thursday, June 26. And yeah...it's gonna be great!             ... View more

I'm thinking Wednesday was a slow news day. One of our Warriors in the Public Relations department called me Wednesday after an Associated Press reporter called to ask why Southwest wasn't accepting reservations past October 30.  The reporter was curious about the lack of Holiday availability.  I gave my colleague from P.R. the page on southwest.com where she can find the next schedule release date (http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/travel_center.html?ref=trvltls_gn) and didn't think anything more about it.   Neither did she. Until later Wednesday afternoon, that is.  The reporter actually wrote a story about our not yet offering our schedule for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  True, there are other facts about other airlines in his piece, but the fact that "Southwest is not yet accepting reservations for the Holidays" made the headline. That got me to reminiscing (and laughing) about the sound flaming you guys gave me early in 2007 when I did a blog piece about the subject--and how we actually changed our business practices based on the gaping wound of dissatisfaction I unwittingly ripped open with that blog post.  The very fact that you can now access our next anticipated schedule release date at southwest.com is one of those changes, as is the fact that barring something catastrophic, we will never again drop below 120 days of booking inventory.   And we are working with other groups across the Company to be able to add more and more inventory out there as we go forward. So heads up, Associated Press....we scooped you on this over a year ago!  But we hope you'll become devoted readers of "Nuts About Southwest!"   You'd be surprised what you--and we--can learn!  😉     ... View more

Many of you may remember me writing about my son, the Officer, here on the blog.  My super-sized 24-year-old son, with an even larger heart, is a police officer in the beautiful East Texas town of Jefferson.  Last week, a series of events really brought home two facts for me—one that I forget far too often, and one that I didn’t even know. Last Tuesday night, after a high-speed chase through dark, winding roads near my son’s new hometown, Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Scott Burns was shot to death, viciously and in cold blood.  My son was on patrol duty at the time, and as he was enroute to assist in the chase, he heard Trooper Burns’ last words on the radio—“The suspect is exiting his vehicle!”  Officer Owen will never forget the next words he heard from the radio, this time by a local resident who had witnessed the crime: “OFFICER DOWN!  OFFICER DECEASED!”  My son was one of the first to arrive on the scene of the murder.  Of course, being a fellow law enforcement officer in rural East Texas, he knew Scott Burns—and had seen him as recently as the previous Saturday, at a gathering of local law enforcement officers.    As the investigation turned into a manhunt during the darkest hours of the night, my son called a few family members—me included—to tell us what had happened, so that when we got our morning paper and saw “Officer Slain In Marion County” we wouldn’t drop to the ground with heart failure.   The next several days were a blur, with my son actively participating in the search.  Officials were very certain that the suspect, who himself was a former policeman, was still in the Jefferson area.  They also knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was armed and very dangerous.  As any parent can understand, I was more nervous and worried for my son than at any time in his 24 years on this planet.  The whole “my son is a cop” thing suddenly was very, very real, and very, very scary. Wednesday afternoon, I called my son as he was on his way to the police station to start his shift.  I knew that even though he had gotten a few hours off duty he had not slept at all and was exhausted.  The conversation went something like this: Me:  “Buddy, PLEASE be careful tonight.  I know you haven’t slept, and you probably shouldn’t even be going in to work now.” Son:  “I’m fine, Dad.  I have to go in.” Me:  “Well, just be careful.  Don’t try to take that guy alone…just please, please be careful.” Son: “Dad….let me ask you something.  After 9/11, if you had been a pilot or a flight attendant….would you have been nervous when you went back to work?” Me:  (Pausing)  “Well….sure I would have been.” Son:  “Would you have called in sick?” Me:  “Of course not.” Son:  “You would have gone in to work?” Me:  “Certainly I would have.” Son:  “So I’m going in to work my shift tonight.” Game, set, match:  Officer Owen. On Thursday, my son called to tell me two things: one, he was okay.  And two, the suspect had been found—he had committed suicide as the police were closing in.  I breathed a VERY loud sigh of relief for mt son and slept very well that night for the first time in about 72 hours. As I said, this chain of events brought two facts into crystal clarity for me.  Number one–the fact that I too often forget—is that there are a great many people in this world whose job is to risk their lives every single day to keep my sorry, unworthy hide safe.  People like Trooper Burns.  People like the anonymous policemen and firemen I pass on the street every day, and the soldiers that I only see on the t.v. screen because they are half a world away, are risking their lives, day in and day out, so that I can sleep at night and live without fear.  I forget about the magnitude of the sacrifice that they are offering, just to keep me secure.  I may get angry when I get pulled over, or may not agree with a war our soldiers are fighting, but I need to constantly remind myself that they have all taken oaths, quite literally, to take a bullet for me if necessary.  For that…I am humbled, awed, and deeply grateful. The second fact—the one that I had never realized—is that somehow, some way, my son has become much wiser than me.    When on earth did THAT happen?  Of course I fully realize he’s now a bona-fide grown up, but somewhere along the way, he has become a wise grown up.  I know many adults—some even my age—that never attain that level of maturity.  Little Buddy (my pet name for him—which is now WOEFULLY inaccurate), know when you read this that I am proud of you.  And be careful. Rest in peace, Trooper Burns.  Thank you for your service.  Thank you for your sacrifice…and my thoughts and prayers are with your wife, infant daughter, and your family and friends.   ... View more

See below for April 10 update  Everyone at Southwest Airlines was saddened by the sudden termination of service by our codeshare partner, ATA Airlines. Setting aside the business relationship for just a second, we appreciate the hard work of our colleagues at ATA, and wish them nothing but the best in the future. However, I thought I should post a quick blog about a question that's come up MANY times since ATA ceased operating–why didn't Southwest buy (or take over) ATA's Hawaii routes? As much as all of us at Southwest would love to have done it, there are a few absolute brick walls that prevent us from just jumping in on short notice to fill the void left by ATA. The simple answer: we can't. First, there is no such thing as "buying" a domestic US route these days. Deregulation of the industry the late 1970's meant that any airline could fly between any two points in the US if they wanted to. Some international route authories are still tightly controlled, but mainland–Hawaii service is considered domestic. So there was nothing to buy. Okay--on to the brick walls. Brick wall #1–Southwest's aircraft are not ready to quickly start flying to Hawaii. Twin-engine aircraft require extra equipment, and their flight and ground crews extra training, in order to fly longhaul flights over vast stretches of open water. ATA's Boeing 737's and employees (as were those of Aloha Airlines) were already fully certified in that process. Southwest's haven't been, because we have never needed it. Brick wall #2–resource availability. Southwest's low costs are predicated on efficiency and part of that efficiency means we don't have spare, unused aircraft and Crews simply sitting around waiting for something to do. If we were to undertake a large-scale new operation on very short notice (and simply duplicating ATA's Hawaii operations would require nearly a dozen aircraft and the opening of five new cities), we would have to cancel existing service to free up aircraft, reaccommodate Customers booked on those flights, and reroute possibly hundreds of Crew pairings–all at a huge cost to both Customers and Crews. In these days of $100 a barrel oil, that is a cost Southwest just couldn't justify. Going further...in response to these brick walls, many have asked why Southwest just didn't buy ATA's aircraft (already certificated and in use for Hawaiian operations) and use those aircraft to fly ATA's former routes. Again, it's a lot easier said than done. First, the certification for longhaul overwater operations is specific to the airline, not the aircraft–so even if we had slapped a Southwest logo on ATA's aircraft, we still couldn't immediately begin boarding our first departure to Honolulu. And while ATA flew 737's (among other aircraft types) to Hawaii, they were the 737-800, a different type of 737 than Southwest's (we fly -300's, -500's, and -700's). Introducing a new aircraft type into an airline's fleet is an expensive, time-consuming, and resource-intensive activity, and our current focus and efforts are better spent on improving the efficiency and performance of our existing, mainland-based network. Again, we are enormously disappointed at this turn of events–but I hope this answers some of your questions as to why Southwest isn't able to simply swoop in and take up the Hawaiian "slack"....and we sincerely wish all of ATA's employees the best of luck. Thanks for reading "Nuts About Southwest!" Update as of April 10, 2008:  Today, Southwest began contacting Customers who purchased Southwest tickets operated by ATA Airlines and were scheduled to commence travel after from May 3rd to process full refunds of their tickets. While we have successfully reaccommodated the majority of our Customers traveling between now and May 3, we have also realized that the only realistic option as we go forward into peak travel season is to give full refunds on existing purchased tickets.  As we examined reaccomodation options beyond May 3, it became readily apparent that, given the significant reduction in capacity between the Mainland and Hawaii after the discontinuation of both ATA and Aloha Airlines, there were simply too few seats left available to offer all of our Customers suitable rebooking options. Why was May 3 picked as the date?  Well, the simple answer is that it gave Southwest 30 days to handle Customers that were most immediately impacted--to contact them, to reaccomodate them, and to get them on their way.  Looking past that date, though, it was pretty clear after a week of study that the options past May 3 were not greater--they were fewer. I can honestly say that everyone at Southwest is heartsick at this outcome, just as we are enormously disappointed at the sudden demise of ATA.  However, we *do* think it is better to refund existing, paid Southwest tickets on ATA flights, rather than to keep you waiting on options that would most probably be inferior to the great service that we had planned to provide for you. To answer a harder question.....did we look at other options?  Of course.  Read the blog post above for a detailed explanation of why Southwest can't just start immediate service to Hawaii. Further, when the numbers of people booked on each, individual day were studied, there just weren't enough people on each single day to funnel them through a logical "collection" point, given their existing reservations, and arrange charter service even in the short term.  And to make that option even more difficult, the list of available charter options has been significantly reduced by the current industry crisis.  So, that just wasn't an option.  Nor was it an acceptable option to keep you on pins and needles.....thus this decision. Again, those Customers who purchased Southwest tickets operated by ATA Airlines and were scheduled to begin their trips between May 4 and August 22,2008, will receive a full refund delivered to your original form of payment and a Southwest LUV voucher as a gesture of goodwill for this inconvenience....but I thought it was important to update the blog with the "breaking" news.   We had hoped to build on our relationship with ATA, but they decided they couldn't continue in the current business climate.   We have done what we hope is best for everyone. All of us here at the Southwest Airlines are very saddened by this.  We hope you will understand that ATA's discontinuation of scheduled service was just flat beyond our control...and that we are doing what we can to provide the best Service to our wonderful Customers.    Bill ... View more