Southwest Airlines Community

Well bummer - I guess my response got eaten by BLAST - the Brian Lusk Anti-Spam Technology at BlogSouthwest.com. Or maybe because it took me almost an hour to look everything up. ... View more

I'm going to wonder out loud here. Every piece of baggage has a barcode on it. What if there were humans at the T-point whose only purpose was to scan each bag as it is placed on a cart? I think each cart heads out to only one plane, so a nice soft beep would mean the luggage is being placed onto the correct cart, a big loud ugly beep would mean the luggage is about to get on the wrong plane. Even better - a hand held scanner at each loading ramp and each piece of luggage is scanned as it goes up the belt? One huge advantage here is that the system knows how many bags should be loaded. If the count is one short, well, sorry, that plane needs to depart. But if 50 pieces are missing, then maybe somebody wants to delay departure because somewhere there's a cart where it shouldn't be. With a scanner used on the loading belt, the system would also know whose luggage is AWOL, allowing for a more pleasant Customer experience at the landing city. As Laurie says above, it is much better for a Southwest Employee to notify you about baggage gone astray than for you to discover this on your own after watching the carousel for 20 to 30 minutes. I know this would incur a cost for additional labor, but it would only be about 20 minutes per plane, causing Southwest's labor cost to increase by $10~$20 per flight. But, what is the incremental cost for each and every bag that doesn't follow its owner to its destination? I'm guessing 4 out of every 1,000 pieces of baggage averages to .5 pieces per departure, and I'm also guessing it costs Southwest more than $30 to reunite the lost luggage with its owner. So just in $ and  ... View more

Let's try a simple sentence - "Brian Lusk loves candy corn." English to French to English: "Brian Lusk likes corn of sugar refinery" English to German to English: "Brian Lusk loves sweet corn" English to Italian to English: "Brian Lusk loves the candy cereal" English to Portuguese to English: "Brian Lusk loves the candy maize" English to Spanish to English: "Brian Lusk loves caramel maize" When I try translating any sentence with "West Texas Blog Boy" and "candy corn" in it, I get the dreaded blue screen of death. ... View more

Welcome back Captain Ray! It's been seven weeks since we've heard from you. Your loyal fans, WTBB among them, have missed you. ... View more

West Texas Blog Boy had to run errands this morning, so I did a fair amount of driving. Guess what the topic was on West Texas Talk Radio? Yep - The New Southwest Boarding System. The host started by reading the story in the El Paso Times, then he editorialized about how stupid the change was. Caller one "Dittoed" the host and added her own thoughts on why it wouldn't work. Callers two and three were similar. Caller four must post on this blog, because she said she was never flying Southwest again. Thankfully, caller five came on line. He mentioned he has flown from San Antonio "quite a few" times and really liked the new system. The calls were about even after that, with six or seven callers stating they had used the new system in SAN. Every single one of the people who had used the new system said that it was a great improvement. "Slicker than whale snot" was how one guy described it. So - I have noticed one huge glaring omission amongst all the comments posted here, at Flyer Talk, at USA Today, and on other forums and blogs - I have yet to see even a single posting from someone who has tried the new system and said that they did not like it. Pretty telling, huh? ... View more

Andrew says, "If this is true, I have officially flown with southwest for the last time." Then GSC states, "Though I have been a loyal Southwest customer for many years, I will seek other carriers regardless of the price." Then Dyana pipes in with, "This change puts Southwest right back in the pool as just another unsatisfying option." And finally mnichols let's us know, "Change the policy - i might come back." I figured it out Brian. No matter what SWA does, somebody is going to whine. Heck, you could announce tomorrow that all seats are now $15 each, 10 rows are being removed from every plane to create more legroom, and everybody will be served a complete seven course meal on all flights - and somebody would say, "That does it, I'm never flying Southwest again!" I would be willing to bet at least 3/4 of the people who blog here with statements like "I'm never flying Southwest again" haven't ever flown SWA, or, at best, have less than five lifetime flights on WN. ... View more

I can't wait. This might be the first enhancement any airline has made in the last ten years that is beneficial to the passenger. So many "enhancements" have been considered "de-hancements" by customers. ... View more

Going Like Sixty seems to think Gary Kelly "sounds like a dope". I think he sounds like a genius, making lemonade out of lemons and creating a press release that makes fun of itself in short order. Like Colleen says, the announcement was made in typical Southwest style - with flair! WTBB ... View more

Thanks Brian. As I peruse the travel blogs and forums this morning, I see no mentions of September 11. But you guys put it front and center, where it belongs. I watched the five videos again this morning, just like I did the first time you posted them. And once again, they brought a chill to my skin, a tear to my eye. ... View more

WOW! I just thought assigned seating was a hot topic. West Texas Blog Boy is going to join the boycott - I'm not going to fly SWA again today, or even this weekend. There - you've lost my business for three whole days. Wait a minute - we have guests in town, I can't go anywhere anyway. Ah - the wonderful world of the internet. The event happened over two months ago and until two days ago, nobody had ever heard of Kyla Ebbert. Now she's on The Today Show - with her attorney - saying all she wants is an apology. Yeah, right - all she wants is a big fat jury award. Be sure to check out the FlyerTalk posting (http://snipurl.com/KylaAtFlyerTalk) mentioned by NSX above, there are some interesting hacks to see what Kyla's MySpace profile looked like before her 15 minutes of fame started. And last but not least, does anybody remember when SWA removed a passenger wearing an "F- Bush" T-shirt a few years back? They made the right choice then, and I'm sure they made the right choice now. It would be interesting if Southwest's legal department would let Kieth make a posting here, describing why he asked her to cover up. And to all the people above who claim they will never fly Southwest again - we will miss seeing your cheerful faces on board. Face it, SWA is a pretty casual airline and to ask somebody to change clothes or cover up means that person had gone way beyond the boundaries. I'm guessing this situation, just like the "F- Bush" situation, was handled properly. ... View more

Kim - Not sure when I will be there next, but my beautiful wife respectfully requests that the quarters come home next time. BTW - good idea about the flashlight, I could have used one recently in Atlanta when the electricity went out as we were leaving the hotel. I'll keep one with my quarters from now on. ... View more

Kim! You're back! I've haven't seen any posts from you for awhile. Maybe Brian looks like Yoda Pitt? ... View more

That sounds like one of those trips of a lifetime. I'm glad you got to go and thanks for sharing with us! ... View more

Gary writes, "And if where youà ... View more

Ever noticed how any posting on any blog or forum about SWA and assigned seats and/or changes to the boarding process always results in many, many posts? ... View more

Wish we could edit our posts Brian - feel free to put that on your to-do list when you get back to work. I misspelled the West Texas Blog Boy acronym and I meant to add a line saying, "Look closely at the rails. Notice the cut outs every five numbers to make it easy to get to your assigned area of the line." ... View more

Q - "Are there numbered dots on the floor or something?" Q - "are their numbers painted on the ground to guide Customers to their spot in the queue?" Q - "Do you have to go down the line asking each Customer what number they are to find your place in the group?" WTTB found a picture that should answer all these questions - http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/v3/08-08-2007.NB_08southwest.GI8271CTG.1.jpg ... View more

@John Cantrell - Turn Time is the time between when the plane stops at the gate and wheels are chocked until the plane starts pushing back. You "turn" a plane by getting people off and getting new people on - it's been Southwest's adage since day one that planes do not generate revenue whilst sitting on the ground. @Matthew - I too remember the plastic boarding passes fondly. Remember the ones in California that were die cut into the shape of the state? I also remember my shock when I received a paper boarding pass for the first time - yuck! And I don't understand what you mean by those silly automated boarding card retrievers - are you talking about the renegade websites that offer to get a boarding pass on your behalf? @Tom - You're like me. It will be a terrible idea if you have BP A60 and get to the airport 90 minutes early, but it will be a WONDERFUL idea if you have BP A6 and get to the gate just as the last deplaning passengers are getting off. But you know what's cool about Southwest? They are trying a new system in one airport to make sure it works before rolling it out system wide. Much better than somebody at corporate deciding this is the way it will be and forcing it on everybody from gate agents to passengers. Kudos to SWA for realizing that the solution might not be the best one. ... View more

Prett cool Francisco - it won't be long before we start saying "Welcome Home!" I've searched the Nimitz website and can't find the countdown clock everyone is speaking of. @Navy Mom - a friend of mine took a tiger cruise once. It sounds like the trip of a lifetime. ... View more

Brian - Consider this posting as your get-well card from WTBB an d the wonderful Mrs. WTBB. We hope all is well, glad you got to leave the hospital early. We, your loyal readers, can probably (but with trepidation) get by without you for a week 🙂 ... View more

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Sgt. Charles Kitowski. What an honor it must have been to know him. ... View more

That is pretty fantastic what SWA and their Employees give so much back to our heroes so far from home. On a very related subject, early this year someone noticed that Ft. Bliss was shipping containers to Iraq and these containers often had extra room. So a local organization started a drive to get "stuff" to the Ft. Bliss soldiers stationed overseas. The organization (Rotary? Kiwanis ? Jr. League? - I wish I remember) contacted a group of soldiers over there, explained what they were doing, and asked the soldiers what they would like to receive. Bless their hearts, the reply was essentially, "We have what we need. Please send paper, pencils, school supplies, small blankets, children's clothing, etc., etc. We would rather give these kind of items to the children who need them - this will make Iraq a better country much more than sending us stuff will. Speaks volumes about the men and women serving in the uniform, doesn't it? ... View more

Amazing is a bit of an understatement for describing Troy Pavia's photographs. I took a few minutes to peruse other areas of his website, I especially like the Urban Exploration photos. ... View more

OK Leah, here's my birthday gift to you: West Texas Blog Boy respectfully submits his name to the fifth position on the petition. I would LUV to see you and Kim get jobs with SWA! ... View more

WTTB just wants to say, "Happy Birthday Leah!" (Did Francisco send you a card?) ... View more

"David" is too simple. I think Herb's middle name should be "Determined", "Diligent", or "Dependable". His wife probably thinks his middle name is "Darling", "Dear", or "Dashing". The competitors think Herb's middle name is "Destructive", "Dastardly", or just "Disbelief". But "David" is kind of appropriate; remember who slayed the giant named Goliath. "Dichroic" West Texas Blog Boy ... View more

Since when have we stayed on topic Brian? The story is about saving the life of a guide dog, so it stands to reason the great users of this blog would add kudos to an Employee or two and a request for an old piece of paper. Hey - at least nobody has asked if Banner received any candy corn.* West Texas Blog Boy. *Yet. ... View more

Angela - I'm surprised that you are surprised that the lack of change fees is a huge factor in purchase decisions. The top three reasons people espouse over and over again about their preferences for SWA are: 1 - Open Seating 2 - Lower Prices 3 - Lack of gouging over change fees. Actually, the number one reason is the Employees - it is just more pleasant to fly SWA than anybody else. Personally, the lack of change fees is not a factor for me - I think I've had to change my flight maybe five times in the last 20 years (though last month I did miss my most important flight ever - and the next flight to Dallas would cause me to arrive too late). And Southwest is facing new challenges, Mr. Kelly has already stated that some kind of change is coming to the boarding process, and it isn't an automatic given that SWA will have the lowest fares. Since there is a cost to SWA for changing a flight, it would not be surprising to see some sort of penalty imposed at some point. If/when this happens, all we ask is that you don't gouge the Customer. it would be great to have no fee up to 96 hours in advance, then maybe $5 or $10 in the four days prior to departure. Since hotels can somehow manage inventory control by allowing changes or even complete cancellations (with full refunds) as little as 24 hours in advance, surely airlines could too. Since you didn't ask, the three biggest negative factors people mention about Southwest seem to be: 1 - The devaluation of the Rapid Rewards program. 2 - Standby requires upgrading to full rack rate. 3 - Open Seating. 1 - It used to be that somebody with a Rapid Reward ticket had the same privileges as the person paying full fare. It seems like SWA considered RR tickets as well earned and treated RR pass flyers accordingly. Any flight, any time, any day (except four or five near-holiday days). Now SWA claims no blackout dates, but in reality many flights are blacked out. And - earning Rewards is still unbalanced. If I take a $30 Ding flight from El Paso to Albuquerque, I receive the same reward benefit as the person as a person taking a $350 flight from Baltimore to Phoenix. 2 - The standby issue is well known and well discussed, and I absolutely understand Southwest's reasons. But is in in essence a one-day-only change fee. Maybe increased revenue from an across the board change fee would offset revenue from the "standby requires upgrading to full fare" policy. 3 - And of course, please ignore anybody who lists the open seating policy as one of their reasons for not liking Southwest - they know not of what they speak. And (this is just me personally, but I'm sure many others would feel the same way), even if SWA eliminated their Rapid Rewards program, always sold seats at or slightly above the competitors price, and added change fees - they would still be my first airline of choice. Why? It's simple - the people of Southwest are just the best to be around. From reservations, to check in agents, to gate agents, to flight attendants, and all the way to the (rarely needed) person who is in the baggage claim booth. The number of positive interactions between Customers and Employees at Southwest is light years above that of any other airline - and probably any other business too! ... View more

Way to go Troy Andersen! I can only imagine the reception Banner will receive at PHX when Mr. Colbert takes his next flight. ... View more

I sure enjoy the USS Blog Boy Diaries here at BlogSouthwest.com. Thanks Francisco for your great insights into your world. And thanks for being just one of the hundreds of thousands of men and women wearing a uniform to protect and honor our great country. ... View more