Southwest Airlines Community

On Tuesday, Customer Representatives from Southwest Airlines’ Customer Support & Services (CS&S) Department—the Employees who assist Customers who call Southwest—were surprised by the calls they received.       As the Vice President of Customer Support & Services, I had the opportunity to participate, and enjoyed talking with Representatives on calls.While these Employees are used to showing legendary Southwest Hospitality over the phone to Customers who often have complicated situations, they weren’t expecting to receive phone calls from Fellow Employees and Southwest Leaders, including Southwest CEO & President Bob Jordan, COO Andrew Watterson, and SVP Operations & Hospitality Steve Goldberg, with words of encouragement and gratitude. As the Vice President of Customer Support & Services, I had the opportunity to participate, as well, and enjoyed talking with Representatives on calls.     These calls were part of an event called “Heart 2 Heart Connection” at Southwest’s Corporate Campus in Dallas. The event included more than 300 Employee volunteers who completed nearly 1,500 calls to 714 Cohearts, a term Southwest uses to describe coworkers, to brighten their days.        Southwest CEO & President Bob Jordan“I wish I could tell everyone of our 75,000 Employees ‘thank you’ for all they do,” said Southwest President & CEO Bob Jordan. “Our Culture and our People set us apart, and to me, our Culture is simple. We hire great People who are low ego, and they look to serve others before they look to serve themselves. That’s what I heard on the phone today.”     In addition to making phone calls to Customer Representatives, volunteers at the event also sent chat messages to encourage more than 80 Source of Support (SOS) and EComm/Chat Representatives who field outreach from internal teams.    These Representatives transitioned to working in a remote Customer Service environment in 2022, and we designed this event to share our Southwest Culture with them, no matter their location.    “I was the recipient of one of the calls,” said Liz R., a Customer Representative. “As a new hire, I can’t even begin to tell you the lasting impact this call made on my day, as well as the impact on my future. I was WOWed from day one and it keeps getting better!”    ... View more

Throughout the month of October, Southwest Airlines proudly recognized National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM).  One of the ways we recognized NDEAM was through a Coffee & Conversation event, hosted by the Southwest Airlines Diversity Council, where I had the privilege of speaking with some of our Employees.  During the event, Southwest Flight Attendant Glenn Fox and I discussed how disabilities have impacted our lives, both personally and professionally. I joined the Southwest Family in January 2012 after transitioning from AirTran Airways, where I had started my career in June 1994.  As a Sr. Operations Manager for AirTran, I was given my first major assignment for Southwest, which was managing the consolidation of all three of the AirTran Call Centers into one Georgia Center, and overseeing the integration of AirTran’s Customer Support & Services (CS&S) Operations into Southwest Airlines CS&S. To say that our integration involves a lot of moving parts is an understatement, but one part I have been particularly impressed with is Southwest’s desire to provide their Employees with everything they need to be successful.  At AirTran, we created a program where we would hire people who were blind or have low vision and provide them with the tools they needed to do their jobs.  As someone who was diagnosed with macular degeneration more than a decade ago, these tools are a very important part of my daily life. So, when we started the integration process, Southwest Airlines wanted to understand the technology we had in place to assist our Team Members who are blind or have low vision (VIP).  Southwest’s Technology Team and People Department made sure they had everything ready when the VIP Group went through their training as part of the integration process.  Although integration completion was still two years away at that time, it was easy to see how much of a priority it was for Southwest Airlines to set up their Employees for success. Now, two years later, we have tools and resources in place at Southwest that make the transition that much easier for Employees like me who are blind or have low vision.  I’m proud to work for a Company that truly cares about its People.  I LUV this Company for all of the great things that it does, and I’m glad to call Southwest Airlines my home.   ... View more