Southwest Airlines Community

Here we are, barely past the first freeze of the season in the Dallas area, and Southwest Airlines already has our mind on next summer!  Today we opened the Southwest and AirTran schedules for sale through August 9, 2013.  As usual there are lots of changes to talk about—we’ve really had our schedule optimizer working overtime to make travel more convenient than ever for Summer ’13! As we continue to integrate AirTran operations into Southwest Airlines, starting June 2, 2013 we will convert service at Wichita, Kansas from AirTran to Southwest.  At Wichita’s Mid-Continent airport, we will substitute three AirTran nonstop flights between Wichita and Atlanta with two Southwest nonstops between Wichita and both Dallas/Love and Chicago/Midway, and daily Southwest nonstop service between Wichita and Las Vegas.   This will give Southwest five daily departures, with direct and connecting service to another 70 Southwest cities across America.   Mid-Continent Airport’s slogan is “Convenient.  Friendly.  Affordable.”   That sounds just like Southwest Airlines! Integration between Southwest and AirTran also continues in the Caribbean!  On the same day next June we will convert existing AirTran nonstop service between Baltimore/Washington and beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico to Southwest Airlines, and will add a fourth daily roundtrip between San Juan and Orlando.  All of Southwest’s service to San Juan utilizes our amazing 737-800 complete with Boeing’s beautiful Sky Interior. We’ve also made changes in many other Southwest markets.  The biggest news is the addition of two daily nonstop roundtrips between Houston/Hobby and New York’s LaGuardia Airport!  We’ve gotten lots of requests for this new market and we’re SUPER excited to add it to our route map.  We will also add new nonstop service between Chicago/Midway and Tulsa, another market that has been requested for quite a while, especially since we added our service between Chicago/Midway and Oklahoma City a few months ago.  Other nonstop markets that will seasonally return will be daily nonstops between Seattle and Atlanta, Nashville, Houston/Hobby, and Kansas City, between Austin and Portland OR, and between Las Vegas and Manchester.  We will end Southwest nonstop service in five markets—Albuquerque-Tucson, Oakland-Reno, Little Rock-St. Louis, and between Birmingham and both Jacksonville and New Orleans.  In addition, we’ll eliminate seasonal nonstops between Hartford and Ft. Myers, weekend-only nonstops in the Norfolk-Tampa Bay and Providence-Ft. Myers markets, and will seasonally shift Southwest nonstop service between Ft. Lauderdale and both Raleigh/Durham and Milwaukee to AirTran.  Elsewhere across the network we’ll reduce frequency in 40 roundtrip markets and increase service in 49 others, winding up with an average of 3,382 departures each weekday—which represents an overall increase in roughly 18 midweek departures per day.  As always, you can find schedules and fares at southwest.com. On the AirTran network, even though we’re knee-deep in conversion to Southwest, we’re also making changes next summer.  Besides the integration-related swaps detailed above, we’ll add a second daily nonstop roundtrip between John Wayne International Airport in Orange County and San Jose del Cabo, Mexico!  Frequency on the Baltimore/Washington-Bermuda nonstops, which restart on May 16 th four times weekly, will become daily.  We’ll also introduce AirTran nonstop service between Tampa Bay and both Houston hobby and Raleigh/Durham, both of which will supplement continuing Southwest nonstop service in both markets.  Just as we have on the Southwest network, we’ve adjusted frequencies in a number of AirTran markets, decreasing flights in roughly a dozen roundtrip markets while adding flights in 44 markets.  Schedules and fares are available at airtran.com. This week, as you’re digesting your Thanksgiving dinner, take some time to daydream about a perfect Summer vacation.  Sail fishing off the Baja Coast?  Climbing Mt. Rainier?  Sunning on the beach in Aruba?  Shopping in Manhattan?  Southwest and AirTran can take you there—and lots of other places.  While you’re at it, take some time to be thankful for all that you have and know that we are thankful as well.  We’re thankful for you!  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. ... View more

One of the things that I love most about my wonderful Company is how involved Southwest is in the many communities we serve, including community partnerships with organizations with kindred missions.  And the one most dear to my heart is the partnership between Southwest Airlines and GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.  It’s a partnership about telling the truth about my community … but it’s also so much more! GLAAD focuses on giving a voice to the LGBT community to make sure we’re represented honestly in the media, that bias against the LGBT community is not tolerated unchallenged, and for educating people that we are just like any other communities.  GLAAD tells the stories of struggles, triumphs, families, allies, and they tell those stories with integrity and respect.  GLAAD also gives back to their corporate partners, making sure they’re represented correctly and fairly in the media when it comes to LGBT issues—and we LUV them for that.  Besides Southwest, GLAAD has wonderful support from all corners of corporate America including competitors like our friends at Delta Air Lines and American Airlines; financial institutions like Wells Fargo, Citi, and Prudential; and large corporations like IBM, AT&T, and Time-Warner.  Nearly every major network (both broadcast and cable) on the books is a supporter of GLAAD. Why is Southwest’s support of GLAAD important?  Very simple.  They share our basic principles:  focusing on the situation or issue, not the person; maintaining the self-confidence/esteem of others; maintaining constructive relationships; making things better; and leading by example. GLAAD lives by all of these principles that are central to Southwest’s success and Culture.  And by adhering to them, GLAAD has become a powerful voice for many various stakeholders.   “Southwest Airlines is an airline by the People, for the People … all People from all walks of life,” said Linda Rutherford, Southwest’s Vice President of Communication and Strategic Outreach.  “We get involved in organizations and associations—like GLAAD—that help connect us to people all over the globe so together we can celebrate a commitment to the communities we serve.”  Herndon Graddick, President of GLAAD, agrees, saying, “By partnering with GLAAD, Southwest Airlines not only promotes the stories of their diverse Employees and Customers, but grows acceptance and understanding of the LGBT community across America.  Every person deserves to be treated fairly and equally, and we are proud to work with Southwest Airlines to make sure that the voices of LGBT people everywhere continue to be heard.”  GLAAD has become a very personal cause for my partner and me.  We’ve been fortunate enough to volunteer to attend the GLAAD Media Awards in NYC and San Francisco representing SWA over the past two years, and I can’t tell you how profoundly we’ve been affected by the people we’ve met and the stories we’ve heard.  People like Ft. Worth City Councilman Joel Burns, who delivered an incredibly moving “It Gets Better” speech that has gone viral on YouTube.  And Growing Pains actress Tracey Gold, who has become vocal in her support of the LGBT community.  Or Zach Wahls, the Iowa man raised by two moms who delivered an impassioned speech to the Iowa State Legislature.  Besides being contributors, my partner Kent and I have pledged to join with GLAAD as “upstanders” … not “bystanders.” Southwest believes in GLAAD’s mission to change hearts and minds for our community.  You can go to www.glaad.org to learn more about this organization!  ... View more

Father’s Day is bittersweet for me.  Reminds me of my Pops, who passed in 1991, and it also reminds me that I won’t be around forever for my son, The Officer, and my stepdaughters, and my upcoming granddaughter, Vivian. I miss Pops like crazy… but like any good father he taught me so many wonderful things. Family comes before anything.  Be a parent first, be a friend second.  Shut the toilet lid.  Fight for what you believe in.  Be honest and tell the truth in everything you do. Perhaps the most important thing Pops taught me is to find something you love to do, and then find a way to make a living doing it.  That pretty much describes my journey here at Southwest Airlines.  I do what I do because I love scheduling an airline (OMG it is so much fun!!!) but I came here because of the Culture.  Our Culture is so inclusive and amazing—I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Pops was alive for about a year after I joined Southwest, and after a few non-rev experiences, he told me “You made the right choice…they made me feel like family.”   He LUVed this wonderful airline….and so do I! Taking it down to my generation—as I’ve raised my son, The Officer, his life has been totally infused with Southwest Airlines.  Our Culture has taught him so much about how to be active in his community, how to be a great Leader, and how to be a wonderful friend.  And as we get closer to Vivian’s arrival—my first grandbaby!—you will certainly hear more about how Southwest’s Culture can translate to each of our families! This Father’s Day, please appreciate the fathers in your life, whether they’re blood or acquired, if they’re alive or if they’ve passed.  And take a second to take a nod to Southwest’s Culture…after all, our birthday and Father’s Day are nearly on the same day, and both share common bonds. Sharing.  Serving.  And LUVing. Happy Father’s Day folks! Much LUV— Bill ... View more

It’s a wonderful day at Southwest and our subsidiary, AirTran!  Today marks the first in a series of new International routes that AirTran will be starting over the next couple of months.  Brand new nonstop service between Denver and Cancun, Mexico, takes to the sky today with the scheduled 10:40 a.m. departure of AirTran flight 74, which will arrive Cancun at 3:25 p.m. local time.  Returning, AirTran flight 75 will depart Cancun at 4:20 p.m. local time and arrive Denver sin parar (nonstop!) at 7:30 p.m. Mountain time.  AirTran will operate the flight daily through July 7 th , and then daily except Monday and Friday through August 12, and on Saturdays and Sundays only through November 2 nd (the end of the available schedule). Of course, neither of these are new markets for us.  AirTran has served Denver for nearly a decade since starting service in May of 2002, and has served Cancun since February of 2009.  But this does mark the first international service AirTran has ever offered out of Denver, and it joins existing nonstop AirTran service from Denver to Atlanta and Milwaukee.  Together, Southwest and AirTran offer 166 weekday departures from Denver to 52 destinations from the Atlantic to the Pacific—and now, with Cancun, the Caribbean! But we’re just getting started.  Next month, we open two more new nonstop Mexico markets.  On May 24 th , AirTran will start daily nonstop service between San Antonio and Mexico City*, and four weekly nonstops between San Antonio and Cancun.  The next day, we’ll start four weekly nonstop Austin-Cancun roundtrips.  Then, on June 3 rd , we inaugurate the first ever nonstop service to Mexico from Orange County’s new International terminal with daily roundtrip nonstops between Orange County and both Cabo San Lucas/San Jose Del Cabo and Mexico City*.  That same day we begin our recently-awarded nonstops between Chicago-Midway and Cancun*. Join me in celebrating the new service by enjoying a nice chilled beverage with a little umbrella in it…after 5:00 p.m., of course. Have a great week, everyone! *pending foreign government approval ... View more

Olé, y’all!! We’ve received U.S. DOT approval for our new service to Mexico! Starting June 3, 2012, our subsidiary AirTran Airways will start daily, nonstop service between Orange County, Calif., and both Cabo San Lucas/San Jose del Cabo and Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City. In addition, to enable us to keep the AirTran 737-700’s used on the international service “route-able” through the AirTran network, on the same day AirTran will add one daily roundtrip between Orange County and both San Francisco and Las Vegas. At the John Wayne International Airport in Orange County, AirTran and Southwest Airlines flights will operate from beautiful new Terminal C! And in Mexico City, all of our new AirTran service will operate out of Terminal 1. Beginning on May 24, 2012, AirTran will start daily nonstops between San Antonio and Mexico City as well as four weekly roundtrips between San Antonio and Cancun. This new service “south of the border” is in addition to our existing four daily AirTran flights between Atlanta and San Antonio, all of which operate from Southwest’s gates in Terminal B. And in beautiful Cancun, the new San Antonio service is in addition to our existing AirTran service between the “Mayan Rivera” and Atlanta, Baltimore, and Milwaukee. To celebrate the new international service, AirTran launched a fare sale today with fares as low as $109 one-way between the new destinations.  Customers must book by Dec. 19, 2011, in order to take advantage of these low fares (see Fare Rules below). Currently, all reservations for AirTran flights—including international destinations—must be booked on www.airtran.com, by calling AirTran reservations at (800) 247-8726, or through a travel agent. Southwest Customers can now see AirTran’s nonstop international routes on southwest.com through its new web referral tool which links Customers directly to www.airtran.com. All flights booked on www.airtran.com will be subject to AirTran’s policies and procedures. We are all SO excited to offer all of this new international service to Mexico—and is a perfect example of how the integration of Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways is going to let us take our Customers to more places than ever before! So whether your wanting to stroll down the Paseo de la Reforma, body surf in the crystal-blue waters of Mexico’s Caribbean, or go deep-sea fishing for humongous marlin in the Pacific, starting next summer we’re your airline! Schedules and great low fares are available at www.southwest.com or www.airtran.com. Introductory Fare Rules All fares are one-way. Fares do not include segment taxes of $3.70 per segment. A segment is defined as a takeoff and a landing. Fares shown do not include Airport Passenger Facility Charges of up to $18 roundtrip. The September 11th Security Fee of up to $10 roundtrip is not included. Fares to/from Bermuda, Mexico and the Caribbean do not include additional government taxes of up to $100. All fares are nonrefundable and a $75 fee per person applies to any change made after purchase, plus any applicable increase in airfare. Seats are limited, subject to availability, and may not be available on all flights. Fares available for purchase Dec. 5, 2011, through Dec. 19, 2011, 11:59 p.m. PST. Fares are available for travel between San Antonio and Cancun or Mexico City beginning May 24, 2012, through June 26, 2012, with a blackout date of May 28, 2012. Fares are available for travel between Orange County and Cabo San Lucas/San Jose del Cabo or Mexico City beginning June 3, 2012, through June 26, 2012, with blackout dates of June 10, June 17, and June 24, 2012. Sale fares between San Antonio and Cancun or Mexico City are valid for travel every day except Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Sale fares between Orange County and Cabo San Lucas/San Jose del Cabo or Mexico City are valid for travel every day except Fridays and Saturdays. A first bag may be checked for a fee of $20 each way and a second bag may be checked for a fee of $25 each way. Reservations may be made via AirTran Airways Telephone Reservations Center for a fee of $15. Reservations may also be changed via AirTran Airways Telephone Reservations Center for a $15 fee plus any applicable change fees and fare differences. Fares, routes, and schedules are subject to change without notice. ... View more

Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend the launch of Southwest’s service at Newark Liberty International Airport.  Inaugural service festivities are always a lot of fun, with tons of excitement, celebration, and SWA Spirit, and this one was no different!   To get up to Newark for the fun, I was one of over 100 Southwest Employees who rode aboard the “ferry flight,” a non-revenue, nonstop flight from Dallas Love Field to Newark to position an aircraft to begin our new service on Sunday, March27.   As we cruised from Texas to New Jersey, I did some reminiscing of my very first commercial flight—also a nonstop from Dallas Love to Newark.  It, too, was aboard a Boeing jet—only instead of a 737-700, my trip in 1964 was aboard an American Airlines 707.  Our departure in 2011 from Love Field was not extremely different than mine in 1964—last weekend, we departed from Love Field’s Gate 1, and back in 1964, American was operating from almost the exact same location in the then brand-new terminal.    However, today’s Newark Airport is a vastly different animal than what my family and I encountered when we arrived in 1964.  Newark Liberty in 2011 is a bustling, airy facility with multiple terminals linked by an elevated train which also provides great, quick access to commuter rail service to Penn Station in Manhattan, as well as Amtrak’s entire Northeast train grid.   Newark Airport in 1964 was a single-level, dingy, relatively unpopular facility with minimal amenities and no “modern” conveniences (such as jetbridges!).  I remember climbing down air stairs in the snow when we arrived, slipping and sliding across the icy ramp towards the terminal, and nearly getting blown over by the prop wash from a passing propeller plane.  (Remember, I was much younger—and lighter—then!) These pictures from 1962 and 1964 (supplied by the Port Authority of NY/NJ) show how relatively small and antiquated the airport was back in the early days of the Jet Era.  It also illustrates what Newark Airport’s primary role was back then, which was for the most part short-haul regional service operated by propeller planes. For you airplane geeks, also note the United Airlines French-made Caravelle twinjet—love the triangular cabin windows!)     Other parts of the airport were equally cramped.  This picture shows how passengers walked in close proximity with service vehicles across the ramp between the aircraft and the gate—a good concept for sunny Southern California, but more problematic for New Jersey!     Here we see the sixties-era cab of the control tower, as well as the old tower itself (in the previous photo).      Again, for all of you airplane geeks—note that in this picture, there are two AA tails in the shot, one of which was of the elusive Convair 990!     The last in this series of photos shows the congested ticketing lobby of the old terminal (note the group of school kids, presumably touring the airport, in the foreground).     Newark’s modern, new terminal complex opened in phases, with the first phase (current terminals A and B) opening in the mid-1970’s, Terminal C in the 80’s, and improvements and enhancements continuing almost unabated to this day.  My thanks to Carol at the PANYNJ for providing a pictorial guide for my trip down memory lane.  After looking at them, however, I much prefer today’s Newark Liberty International Airport—specifically, Southwest’s new operation there.   We’ve set up shop in Terminal A, gates 14, 15, and 16, and we’re excited to be here.   If you’re in town, come on over and say “howdy,” and make some great new memories of your own. ... View more

This will be a BIG weekend at Southwest.  This Sunday we begin service to the third in our trifecta of March new Station openings--we add Newark Liberty International Airport, as the 72nd airport in our growing network!   We're bringing our new Southwest service at Newark service in two waves.  The first wave—starting Sunday—will start with six nonstop roundtrips each weekday to/from Chicago Midway, and two to/from St. Louis.  When you add in connecting and through service, this will tie Newark together with 54 Southwest cities! Wave two begins on June 5th, when we add three daily roundtrips to Baltimore/Washington; three to Denver; two to Houston; and two to Phoenix.  That'll give us a total of 18 flights to and from Liberty each weekday, with access between Newark and a whopping 67 other Southwest airports! Why is this BIG for Southwest?  Many reasons.  Newark will be the third Southwest airport in the metropolitan New York City area (we began service to Long Island in 1999, and New York's LaGuardia Airport two years ago in 2009).   And the opportunity to add some LUV in the NYC—the largest air travel market in the Western Hemisphere, that generates more than 66 million passengers paying over $13 BILLION dollars in airfare each year—isn’t just BIG.  It's HUGE!  And why is this BIG for our new Customers flying to or from Newark/Liberty? Simple.  SOUTHWEST IS NOW ON THE SCENE!  Low fares.  No baggage or change fees.  And the best Employees giving the most outrageous Customer Service in the skies!  Flying between Newark and Austin or San Antonio?  Low-cost airline service available.  Newark to Reno/Tahoe?  Excellent connections, now wearing the Southwest brand.  St. Louis to Newark?  Welcome aboard our nonstop flight…would you like some FREE snacks or a FREE soft drink?  Plus, Newark/Liberty International Airport offers arguably the quickest train access into Manhattan, and the location directly adjacent to the New Jersey Turnpike/I-95 gives incredible access to all of the Garden State...and the Empire State...and, ultimately, the entire Tri-State Area.  So this Sunday at Newark you'll find the Southwest Team partying BIG in Terminal A, gates 14 and 15, celebrating the opening with our Employees, our Customers, and anyone else that comes along.  Other Southwest Employees will be celebrating our Newark arrival by cleaning up the South 17 th St. School in Newark (as usual, Southwest will become an active partner in the community).  And after the partying?  You’ll find that low fare, high-quality, SOUTHWEST service has arrived at Newark.  And the marketplace will change, BIG-time, as Southwest gives Liberty the FREEDOM TO FLY! ... View more

Southwest Airlines placed fourth on Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies list, and one of the criteria that companies are judged on is innovation.  Network Planning has always been all about innovation—planning the most efficient, creative way to use our fleet of “red-bellied warbirds” to serve the best interest of our Company.  Many of you have heard about our incredibly unique schedule optimizer, and how it came to be.  It’s an amazing story of Southwest entrepreneurialism and ingenuity at its best; if you don’t know the story, you can click here to read a blog piece I did about it back in 2007.  The Optimizer gives us enormous flexibility to innovate within the schedule, whether it’s “harvesting” available aircraft time on the West Coast and applying it for new service on the East Coast; better aligning arrivals and departures at some of our large stations to improve connectivity; or just putting our flights at better departure or arrival times.   But there is a lot more innovation involved in writing a schedule than meets the eye.  A lot of the art of schedule writing boils down to where to “put” time.  Realistically, time is a zero-sum game—flights can only leave so early, and can only get in so late, from a Customer-desirability perspective (for example, very few people would want to leave Dallas Love Field for Houston  Hobby at 3:00 a.m., even if what might be the most efficient way to schedule the airplanes).  In general, we know that a Customer demand-based operating day means that we can’t have our airplanes start before 6:00 a.m. or finish much after 10:00 p.m.  So, given that finite amount of time, the innovation comes in what you do with that time.  Do you increase block times at the expense of turn times?  Do you increase turn times and shave block times?  Depending on how you do the math, you could get either answer.  The art of innovation comes in the formulas of the arithmetic and the historical analysis that’s done so that you don’t just get an answer,  you get the right answer.   There are lots of other behind-the-scenes innovations that are baked into our schedules.  Things designed to improve operating efficiency, like devising ways to avoid assigning similar-sounding flight numbers to airplanes operating at airports at roughly the same time.  Things like finding ways to rapidly offer the Customer more choices to get them where they want to go during peak-demand times (with a little help from our friends in Revenue Management!).  And things that are entirely behind-the-scenes, like finding innovative forums to enable better collaboration and communication between the operating Departments within Southwest, like our Integrated Planning effort.   This continual innovation, both of our schedule product and of the processes we use to create it, takes a group with extremely varied talents.  The 50 Southwest Employees in the Network Planning departments have backgrounds and educations that range from mathematics and operations research to geography to psychology.  And each one of us have just one goal in mind—writing the most efficient, safest, and most profitable schedule in the airline industry.  We’ve been schedule innovators for 40 years now….and here’s to 40 more! ... View more