Southwest Airlines Community

Did you know that a quarter of all flowers purchased throughout the year are purchased on Mother’s Day?  Check out this video to see how Southwest serves florists around the country to insure that you have flowers to send to all the mother-figures in your life.      Ship with Southwest Cargo: swa.is/shippingflowers ... View more

  Michael with with King Nut Companies, President and Chief Executive Officer, Marty Kanan Recently I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a day with King Nut Companies, President and Chief Executive Officer,  Marty Kanan, who welcomed me to Solon, Ohio, for a tour of the King Nut manufacturing facilities.  My expectations were simple; I assumed an employee would scoop peanuts or pretzels into a bag, have the bags sealed, and Southwest Airlines would then receive the peanuts.  Boy, was I wrong!      King Nut Company packages peanuts, pretzels, snack mixes and trail mixes for multiple airlines, retail stores, and convenience stores across the country in several manufacturing facilities a suburb about 20 minutes outside of Cleveland.  On the day I visited the facilities, the machines were producing our delicious honey roasted peanuts.  After the peanuts were honey roasted, the peanuts were weighed, inspected for quality, and then packaged into individual bags by high speed machines.  The bags were then placed in a clear plastic bag, which holds 25 small bags in each larger bag.  The next step was putting the bags into a box, and finally the boxes were stacked on a pallet. The pallet, which held 36,000 bags of peanuts, was the final step before the honey roasted peanuts were shipped to their distribution center.  From there, the peanuts were combined with the pretzels they also produce for Southwest into a semi truck and shipped to our distributor.  From there the distributor delivers to our provisioning stations and then boarded on our planes.  What King Nut roast and packages on a Monday may very well be consumed by our passengers on the next Friday!     The tour of the facility was interesting and King Nut Companies staff and CEO, Marty Kanan, were very hospitable.  Mr. Kanan was proud to show me his wall of letters from Colleen, Herb, and Gary.  It is obvious that the relationship between King Nut Company and Southwest Airlines is one that is successful and good for both sides. One last note of interest: each year, Southwest Airlines rotates between honey roasted or lightly salted peanuts, and King Nut produced over 106 million individual bags of peanuts for Southwest Airlines in 2016. ... View more

We’re often asked if Campus Reach Interns are ever hired for full-time employment after their internship. Our answer: we love hiring interns! The Campus Reach Program has built a talent acquisition pipeline here at Southwest, so you will see many of our former Interns roaming the hallways now as full-time Southwest Employees.   Elly Jurgensen interned on the Community Programs and Engagement Team spring 2013, and is now a Senior Operations Analyst in Ground Operations. Read on for more.     Year/semester of internship: Spring 2013   Department/Team interned for: Community Programs and Engagement Team   Department/Team and current job title: Ground Operations Analytics – Senior Operations Analyst   Years at Southwest: 3+   Favorite Southwest city: Nashville   Most memorable Southwest moment/event: Going on a Boeing Delivery! It was like being on a private jet. Ten of us picked up a brand new plane in Seattle and delivered it to Phoenix to go into service for our Customers.   First ever job: BBQ catering   Proudest Southwest moment: It’s not one particular moment, but when people find out I work at Southwest, generally their first reaction is, “I love flying Southwest Airlines.” And that feels good.     Words to live by: It has to be someone!   Reasons other people should intern at Southwest: The airline industry is enthralling, and the People here are great! Additionally, if you’re with Southwest beyond your internship, we have a Culture that supports cross-departmental career moves, and that’s really unique.   Ultimate Travel Tip: The best adventures are the ones you don’t plan, so leave time “unplanned” when you travel. ... View more