Southwest Airlines Community

"j. Doe" why don't you tell both sides of your story? Why was your flight cancelled? Is it weather related? Sorry, but no airline has control over that. There were 16 airports that southwest flies to that were posted as having delays/cancellations. Setting trusses with a crane is FUN in windy conditions! Still not a blog boy Joe Friedmann ... View more

Don't worry Bill, I still will fly when I am able. Even if you wont move the n/s to phx back to 6 am. ;-P. (It doesn't matter what time as long as it is still there when I need it.) It is actually chaeper now than it was 2 years ago. I thought I had a steal at $89 each way now it is as low as $72 and dings for even less. Chicago has gone up but I drove last time. Not a blog boy but posting because they told me to. Joe Friedmann ... View more

Ah, Friedman, I like that name! I prefer the german version though with 2 n's. Not a blog boy but Kim Seale said he was my friend Joe Friedmann ... View more

Now that this is all done it is time to start on the next schedule isn't it? One more n/s in dtw 😉 not too bad. Those lower landing fees must be helping. not a blog boy, Joe Friedmann ... View more

I will add a copy and paste from TxAgKuwait over at airliners.net had to say. "You can't say it's a shame.....a man of 86 years who has lived life to the fullest and succeeded beyond one's wildest dreams....who, in the process, made a lot of people rich. I guess you can say it's sad to see him go, it's true that he is seldom recognized for everything he did for the airline industry. We can also say that it'll be a helluva long time before the airline industry sees anyone else like Lamar. I'll share a few memories that might not have gotten captured in the news articles. Lamar was a very soft-spoken individual...so soft-spoken, in fact, that it was sometimes difficult to hear what he was saying. Many times, especially if you were a subordinate who had not accomplished what Lamar thought you should have...what he was saying (when you finally heard it) would curl your hair, cause insomnia, and curdle milk at 100 yds. A nice way to phrase it would be to say Lamar had a way with words, and could cuss someone in very low tones but there was never any doubt that you had been verbally ripped to shreds. Lamar always thought of his employees as his team, and it bothered him somewhat when they organized.....not that he was opposed to unionism per se, but he always hated a union getting in the way between him and his people. As a result, he always wanted to make sure that the employee groups that did not organize got better pay and benefits than those who voted in a union. After the $13 war, when loads were getting bigger and better by the minute....one Sunday Lamar and his late wife Juanice flew in to Love Field and noticed that the gates were crowded, the employees were unbelievably busy...so they went home, made up a whole bunch of food, and brought it to the break room. A nice gesture, nothing outrageous....but stop and think about the last time you heard of an Airline CEO and his wife personally cooking up a bunch of food, with no prior planning or announcement, in order to make sure the employees got a bite to eat on their lunch break. The profit sharing plans that Lamar put in to place ensured that all of the early employees...not just pilots and execs....but the rez agents, cabin cleaners, skycaps, everyone.......walked away millionaires after 25 yrs or so. Millionaires. Millionaire sykcaps. Lamar argued for years that his board room challenge / showdown that led to his departure from Southwest had nothing to do with his desire to install his son Mike as his heir apparent as Prez/CEO at Southwest...but most of us who were around will always believe that was the root of the problem. And while Mike is an okay guy......those of us who were around will tell you that the kid he should have put in charge was his daughter Debbie. Lamar was working for Trans-Texas Airways when they decided they had to have some aircraft to replace their aging (and less attractive to passengers) DC-3s. They decided to try and buy some Convair 240s used from American. Earl McKaughan, president of TTa, told Lamar to try and get them down to $250K apiece (can you imagine buying airlines for $250K)? If I have the story straight, Lamar negotiated American down to a price of $225K or so, and told American it was a deal. He then called Houston, only to be told that wasn't good enough, squeeze another $10K or so apiece out of American. Having made a deal, and then getting back doored by the company the way he did was why Lamar left Trans Texas. He was hired at Central to try and salvage a sinking ship. Central had the worst routes, worst airplanes, worst service, and worse reputation of any of the local service airlines. When two of your really good stations are Lawton, Oklahoma and Fort Smith, Arkansas that ought to tell you something. Lamar got ahold of Central, beat it in to shape.....tried as clever a pricing scheme as the CAB would let him get away with (fly anywhere on Central for the regular price and fly back home for $10)..and within a few months had it more profitable than any of the other local service carriers. Then the people who hired him to save the airline sold it out from under him to Frontier, in the process octupling their investment. Imagine...800% return on your investment in two years. Southwest is often thought of as Herb's airline, and you can't really diminish the fact that Kelleher took what Lamar handed him and managed to not "F" it up. Most executives would have messed it up immensely. But let's not, for one second, think that there would ever have been a Southwest Airlines had it not been for Lamar. A couple of quick anecdotes for now.....I am reminded of when Lamar, in Austin, got the news on a Thursday afternoon that Southwest had received approval to start flying in and out of Harlingen...their first expansion outside the original three cities. He snuck off to a phone booth, called the VP-Ground Ops, and asked in a whisper if it would be possible to start service by Monday or Tuesday. Lamar was afraid Texas International would find a sympathetic judge to grant a restraining order. A measure of how loyal Lamar's folks were---the VP himself and the Dallas Station Manager loaded up a pickup with everything they could think of that they might need to open a station, left Dallas about 8 that night, rolled in to Harlingen Friday morning, and spent the next 72 hrs setting up a station. The first flight arrived from Houston, IIRC, on Monday morning at 9:20 am. The VP was the only one who passed the FAA's weather observer test on the first try, so he had to spend the week in Harlingen until they could train some folks and get them certified to take weather observations. When Southwest inaugurated service to Midland/Odessa and Lubbock the same day (5/20/77?) Lamar was supposed to ride the 7:30 am LBB to DAL, then catch the 8:30 DAL to MAF so he could be at both locations for the inaugural festivities. Well, fog in Dallas kept the 6:25 to LBB (which turned the 7:30 flight back) on the ground so ultimately Lamar hopped in rent car and headed for Midland/Odessa at about 100 mph (in that era of 55 mph speed limits), picking up 3 speeding tickets along the way. Lamar's motto for the airline industry, which so few pay any attention to, was "feed the rich and grow poor, feed the poor and grow rich." Thank you TxAgKuwait! Joe Friedmann not a blog boy. ... View more

Let's take a moment to remember one of your first leaders who passed away yesterday. Although he left on not so good terms he was the third "partner" in the humble origins of southwest. Rest in peace M. Lamar Muse. Joe ... View more

Should I mention the lions? Nah, that will never happen. Joe ... View more

I have to agree. If all the companies in the US were run this way, we'd all be better off. Joe ... View more

Sure would have been nice to see a wanna get away ad! Starring Bill Owens and his story of the schedule extension thread. Hopefully he is getting some vacation time and a better motherboard. Joe ... View more

Feburary 8 at 10 am central! ... View more

Kim, you already have a job at Southwest. Lav cleaner remember? Joe 😜 ... View more

Brian, Give them some candy corn. They will come back real soon. Joe ... View more

Brian, Could I suggest an edit function and a marker to show which posts have not been read yet? Also, a jump to next unread function would be cool. I know I have made some spelling mistakes and posted before I proof read and it was to late to fix it. The this old house forum gives you a half hour to fix it. thank you Joe Friedmann ... View more

Blog bog? What happened to blog boy? Are you an imposter? Joe Friedmann ... View more

Thanks, Bill! I'll just wait until Thursday the first or the eigth or.... J/K. We'll see if any of my theories are correct. 🙂 I have been wrong before... Once. ;-) Keep up the good work! Joe Friedmann ... View more

Bill, I am not sure "king" Daley would go for that. Although Herb is far more respectable. Joe Friedmann ... View more

Sit over the wings for the smoothest ride. Captain Ray and the rest of the 32,000 plus employees, I want to thank you for the pleasant experiences that my Mom, Aunt and Uncle had on #2988 on Monday and # 1255 on Thursday. (From and to Phx/Dtw) It was a journey they didn't want to make because it involved a funeral. They had good flights and #1255 was 40 mins early. Thank you again. Joe Friedmann ... View more

New service added from the additional 5 gates at PHL. That is causing the delay! ;-P Joe Friedmann ... View more

Aw ,shucks! No extra phx n/s 😞 Oh well. My Mom, Aunt and Uncle got in to phx from dtw 40 mins early today. So the winds are already changing. Guess you are not renaming midway airport to southwest airlines continental us airport. Joe Friedmann ... View more

There is probably going to be some new city pairs. It takes time to add all of these. They are going to have 300 flights out of mdw. Phx to vegas will go to every half hour and I'll get 3 n/s to phx instead of two. Joe Friedmann ... View more

Another good show today. I can't believe you let Ty out on the ramp! Remember Airplane? The guys at RDU had to be enjoying that! Kim, When are you going to get moved into your fifth floor office in Dallas? Joe 🙂 ... View more

What a surprise when I went to check flight status this morning. Well, 2 actually. One was the new homepage and the other was all of the first dtw departures were cancelled. I like the new design. Those with screensize problems... Have you tried resizing your desktop? The webmaster could put "site best viewed in 1040x580 " or whatever the size is. Joe ... View more

Kim, that already exists. It is the Dallas headquarters. There is a whole closet full of notepaper and one of candycorn. Joe ... View more

I'd like to add this link: http://www.extremehomedetroit.com Still holds the record :-). I didn't get to work on this one. Maybe next time. Joe ... View more

Great episodes. I am looking forward to more with southwest employees. When they fly families to a non southwest city or country is it on ata? My two favorite activities construction and southwest airlines. ;-) Kim, buttering them up wont get your private cabin moved to the front of the plane! Joe ... View more

"Never been to PHX!" Kim, how could you not?!! I have been there many times and taken the whole family a couple of times all the way from MI. You are a lot closer. We only have 2 n/s there. You must have about 100 per day. Next time a delivery comes from Boeing, get yourself onboard and go see PHX. Nothing like rounding the corner of the mountains and seeing the phx valley as the plane levels out. You can sit at your gate area and look out the huge windows and see alot of planes. Many little fed ex's and Southwest planes. Joe 😉 ... View more

Kim, you wouldn't happen to be leaving notes for Herb now would you? I know you are in sales, but Southwest isn't interested in your European aircraft. ;-) Now you wont have that cabin anymore. Joe. ... View more

Kim, it was from the other post where you guessed the correct answer of the diaper changing table. Someone mentioned you spend alot of time on planes and I asked if it was in the lav. ;-P Where is this private cabin anyway? In the rear of the plane with a sliding latch the says Occupied/available? Or is it on the lower floor with the candycorn stash? Merry Christmas to you or happy holidays if that applies. Joe- in my own seat not a private cabin. 🙂 ... View more

Since we know that Kim spends alot of time in the lav, it is a screw that holds the hinge to the toilet seat. 😜 ... View more

Are you sure Kim spends too much time in airplanes or in the aiplane lavatory? Some airlines are also reducing the water on board for the toilets. Yech! ... View more