Southwest Airlines Community

Jim, It looks like your foreign language skills are much better than mine, but then again, at my age, I'm doing good to even remember high school. And, as to one of your translation bullets, I'll confess that I'm guilty as charged. But, did they say if I was honey roasted or "just plane", errr, I mean "plain"? Kim 🙂 ... View more

"...I have it on good authority that the real reason is Kim Seale might have a new job and SWA needs to if/know when he starts so they can adjust the candy corn distribution properly. ..." Hey Jim? Do you know something I don't know? You been talkin' to my former classmate from UT, Mr. Kelly, and he's told you sump'n? I know he told me that he is going to repaint ALL of the planes in the fleet to burnt orange and white, but I didn't realize it was a welcoming present for my new job. By the way, when do I start? After twenty-five years, I really should give a two-week notice at my present job. Thanks for the head's up, Kim 🙂 ... View more

Bill, I have to say that I'm pretty frustrated and exasperated with you and this whole scheduling process. I want you to know that I am deeply into the planning process for bringing all of my relatives to town to celebrate my 100th birthday, and YOU are single-handedly holding up the logistics. Would you PLEASE tell me when you expect to post the flight schedules for May 2056? Kim 🙂 ... View more

Well, Leah, of course I agree with you about pilots and co-pilots. However, we have to draw the line somewhere, and I think we need to take a hard look at FA ages. Take James Malone for example -- sure he is physically and mentally fit, but can anyone vouch for his emotional stability?? LOL Kim 🙂 ... View more

Brian, Although I'm on the road traveling this week and haven't seen the Dallas paper's version, I read the story in my hotel in USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-30-pilots-retirement_x.htm As we've discussed on this blog before, it certainly seems like an idea whose time for change was long overdue, much like the Wright Amendment. Of course, I'm selfish, because this extension means I'll get to keep reading new blog posts from Cap'n Ray for many more years to come! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Angela, My high school French never earned me any As on my report card, and the passage of time since then has dulled many of whatever skills I once had in the language. I will forward it to my daughter who took lots of French and will hopefully have a good translation for you soon. In the meantime, I looked through it, and the best I could tell, it says something about "beware of crazy Americans who are addicted to candy corn", but I may have lost part of it in the translation... Kim 🙂 ... View more

Margaret -- FYI: Southwest does not have any competitors, only imitators. All other AAirlines are second-rate! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Psssssst..... Hey, Lacey -- I see your note up there replying to Shelley's blog. I'm sorry I was out of town and couldn't answer right away, but I do appreciate you filling in for me by replying, although I appreciate even more being missed! By the time you read this, you'll know why I didn't jump in here sooner! Hugs, Kim :-) P. S. You and Shelley and Sunny are just terrific at showing real LUV, and it means a lot to me!! Oh yeah, uhhhh, Brian, I LUV you too, man....but I don't want your beer. I'll just settle for a handful of candy corn. 🙂 ... View more

Shelley, Hey! One of my favorite Culture Chicks gets on the writing side of the blog!! Congratulations -- it is great to see your work, and of course, David is correct. You're a fantastic writer and I hope to see MORE of your stuff here very soon. I know that a number of people are very anxiously looking forward to this year's Message to the Field, especially those who will be EXCITED to attend their first one! :-) You gals are wonderful and Brian is lucky to be surrounded by so many talented and lovely ladies! Kim 🙂 ... View more

James -- Great blog about another innovation brought to us by our friends at Southwest! Sure, as some of my fellow bloggers have pointed out, there are a few bugs to be worked out, but I'm proud of my favorite airline for making the effort. USA Today and the Dallas Morning News have both had articles recently about the sudden surge (sorry, I couldn't resist) in popularity for airport terminal power sources. Having lugged a laptop and a cell phone around for years, I can attest to the futility that often accompanies the search for available power outlets. It is not uncommon to see men in business suits sitting on the floor so they can do work on their laptop, or trying to balance their computer in their lap without any kind of solid work surface available. In addition to the fine suggestions made above about staggered outlets spaced further apart for those pesky power converters and child-resistant sliding covers, I would also like to suggest an adaptation of something I read in one of the recent newspaper articles. I regularly see people needing to charge a cell phone for 30 minutes to an hour between flights but then feeling tethered to that area so their phone isn't stolen. I read about a small locking "cage" system where a phone can be plugged in and left inside a cage device that has openings large enough to see in to the phone's display but small enough to prevent reaching in and removing it. The owner can keep the key and go to a food court area or restroom or retail shopping area while leaving the phone to charge. The device could be coin operated like the old "bus station/airport" type lockers. Putting the key back into the lock to open it would "grab" the key and keep it. Thanks for working on this for us and showing us once more that Southwest cares about its Customers! Kim 🙂 ... View more

I agree with several of the postings above -- the story that I'm seeing presented is simply NOT consistent with the behavior of Southwest Employees. Sure, out of 32,000 folks, there could be a few who were having a bad day, but refusing passage to anyone in this sort of scenario just doesn't seem likely. Chalk up one more attempt at creating an "urban legend" about the evil corporate giant that is staffed by cruel and unfeeling people. Kim ... View more

Joe, Now that you mention it, that would be a great place to work. I'd be close to the gift shop (there goes half my paycheck already...), close to The Landing (there goes my waistline), and close to one of the best views of Love Field, my favorite airport (I'd need an extra huge hard drive to accomodate all of the pictures I'd take)!! Oops, guess I wouldn't get much work done, would I? Oh well.... Kim ....wait a second, I just figured out what would keep me out of the gift shop, The Landing, and away from the windows facing east -- all those trips down to Brian's office to sneak some handfuls of his candy corn! 🙂 ... View more

This article was well-researched, well-written and completely superfluous for people who know her! It only reiterates what we already know -- that Colleen is a loving person who truly seems to believe that she has 32,000 children! The reproductive impossibilities aside, Colleen has become a Mother, friend, confidant and encourager to those lucky Employees who work for her. The manner in which Colleen has molded and nourished the Culture of Southwest is one of the poorest-kept secrets in the corporate world. Companies can buy equipment, hire people, create programs and policies and do all of the physical and tangible things necessary to have an organization. Those efforts are much easier than the intangible work that is typified by Colleen. The comment by James above is indicative of the environment that Colleen has had a big part in creating. How many of us work in companies where we feel free to make a statement like James did? How would your boss react if you purposely violated company policies just because you knew it was in your customer's best interests? I would submit that Southwest, and Colleen in particular, do much more than give us the "freedom to move about the country". I believe that she gives her Employees the freedom to be the BEST Employees around, because she believes in them, trusts them and supports them. And, I'm here to tell you that she gives awesome hugs, too! Congratulations, Colleen, on being selected for this cover story, but even more, thank you for being YOU! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Blog Boy, As long as neither of us starts singing in the soprano section, we should be safe. But if Sunny comes around the corner with an evil gleam in her eye and a sharp knife, I'd run for the hills! Kim ... View more

Chris, Unfortunately, it is not unheard of to have collisions between planes on the ground. Weather conditions, pilot inattention, conflicting instructions from Ground Control can all lead to situations that are likely to give you a pretty good jolt even when taxiing. I also know of airports where you land on one runway and then cross another one to get to the terminal. It is pretty unlikely, but again, why take the chance? Another two minutes of wearing the belt seems like "better safe than sorry" to me! Happy flying, Kim ... View more

Captain, Thanks for another well-written and helpful blog entry! I see people on some of my flights who run the gamut from exceedingly white-knuckled flyers to very cavalier folks who ditch the seat belt the second we're airborne and are up and down out of their seats repeatedly throughout the flight. While I've always had the personal rule that whether I'm getting in a car or a plane, before the vehicle begins to move, I'm buckled, and I stay that way until I'm ready to get out. It just makes sense. I think one of the reasons so many people take off their seat belts is because of exactly what you've said above. Most commercial pilots today have such sophisticated weather equipment and make such a diligent effort to avoid turbulence, whether CAT or storm-induced, that passengers have come to expect that their flights will be as smooth as a baby's behind. Perhaps our pilots are TOO good! You should purposely shake things up a bit from time to time to keep us on our toes. I saw a comedy bit on TV one time that had a pilot and co-pilot randomly jinking the plane for no good reason and then laughing uncontrollably at the imagined scene behind them as people were jostled all around. The bottom line is that passengers just need to stay buckled...period. We have to remember that as fantastic as our pilots are, "stuff happens" from time to time, and being held in your seat is preferable to simulating the folks riding the Vomit Comet. Please keep up the great work, both in the air and on the blog! By the way, I'm almost through with "This is Your Captain Speaking" and its a wonderful book! Kim P. S. As a former USAF jock, you might enjoy this joke that a friend of mine told me. He used to fly the RF-4C before his unit transitioned to the KC-135, so he sees both perspectives... F-15 pilot to KC-135 pilot after detaching from a "fill-up": "Hey, old man, take a look at what I can do." The Eagle driver pulls away and does three fast rolls and loops back around to the tanker's wing position. Just then, the F-16 pilot separates and radios to the tanker pilot: "Hey, watch what I can do." He pulls his stick back and accelerates straight up out of sight, returning with a screaming approach from several miles up about 30 seconds later. The -135 pilot just smiles and radios to the two young jocks, "Ok, fellas, watch what I can do." The two hotshot pilots watch carefully as the tanker continues straight and level for one minute, then two, and finally after almost five minutes, the -135 pilot comes back on the radio. "How about that, guys?" The two fighter jocks are puzzled and radio back, "What did you do?" The tanker pilot replies: "Oh, I got up, stretched my legs, walked down to the bathroom, made myself a cup of coffee in the galley and strolled back up here to the cockpit." Age and experience win out over youthful exuberance! 🙂 ... View more

YIKES!!! I looked up the exact definition of "capon"...and I think I'd prefer to be a Culture Dude. Do I get to wear a skull belt buckle like the Head Chick? Kim P. S. Maybe I could be the Honorary Southwest Airlines Cup of Yogurt...then I'd have LOTS of culture!!! LOL 🙂 ... View more

Joseph, Thanks for asking about that stadium, as it reminded me that I was supposed to answer that same question for our Blog Master, but it slipped my mind. Yes, I've researched it, and that is Whataburger Field. The ballpark is home to the Corpus Christi Hooks, a farmteam affiliate of the Houston Astros. The Whataburger fast food chain was founded in, and is still based in Corpus Christi, so they apparently bought the naming rights. Here is a link that tells more about Whataburger Field and that includes some closer and better photos than I could get from the window of a SWA 737... http://cchooks.com/whataburger/ Thanks for asking! Kim 🙂 ... View more

I can't think of a good spot to put this, so I'll just throw it in here. The New Year has dawned with another honor for one of our favorite SWA Employees, but it was in small print on the back page of the business section and may have been overlooked by many people. Although I normally would compare trusting a lawyer with a bunch of banks' money similar to hiring a fox to guard the henhouse, in this instance, I believe a hearty congratulations is in order. So, kudos to Herb Kelleher on being named to the nine-member Board of Directors of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. For those of you who are familiar with or your hobby is coin and/or paper money collecting, you may be aware that the code for the Dallas FRB that is printed on each of our pieces of currency is a "K". Now we will know that it stands for "Kelleher"! Another well-deserved honor and recognition of an incredible man's many talents. Wonder how many other FRB directors have run a company that has been profitable for over 31 consecutive years while its competitors are swimming in red ink? Way to go, Herb! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Nice try, Joe, but you can't fool me. The place you've mentioned is FIVE stories tall and does not qualify as a house. I still have a shot at owning (or sharing with my mortgage company) the only two-story Southwest Airlines RESIDENCE! The only drawback will be getting my guests to keep their seatbelts fastened while they sit on the couch and to return their tray tables to the full upright and locked position when they leave. I already expect to have to come along behind them and pick up the empty peanut packages left in the seats as all the FAs have to do, but what am I going to do with 104 used copies of USA Today every morning??? Kim 🙂 ... View more

Colleen, I just took a gander... WOW! It looks cool! As time permits, I'll have to check it out more thoroughly, but I'm impressed so far! One minor suggestion: how about a "search" field on the home page? More when I have time! Thanks for the fantastic update, Kim 🙂 ... View more

Joe, You've ALMOST figured out my ulterior motive. I'm not buttering them up so they'll move my private, windowless and yet sink-enabled cabin to the front. Au contraire, my bud... I'm sucking up so the team will come make over my WHOLE HOUSE into a super cool, Southwest-flavored airplane oasis!!! I want the only two-storied Southwest house in Dallas! LOL Kim 🙂 ... View more

I'll "bet" that's not what the Culture Chicks would say about you... Come on, Sunny, tell us all the things that Brian does when he thinks no one is watching... LOL 🙂 ... View more

Angela and Brian -- Maybe the next set of TV commercials for Southwest need to have Herb with a megaphone standing on the tarmac yelling: "Captain, MOOOOOVVE THAT PLAAAAANNEE!!!" LOL Kim 🙂 ... View more

Ya know, it isn't exactly telegraphese, but I HAVE always gotten a chuckle out of whoever programs many of the Southwest Airlines arrival/departure TV monitors in the airports. Anyone who spells the largest city in Nevada as "LA$ VEGA$" has a definite sense of humor! LOL 🙂 ... View more

My buddy Blog Boy has pointed out to me that there is another link to get to Captain Ray Stark's excellent book, and that would be through his excellent website! http://www.thisisyourcaptainspeaking.com/ I think the fine Captain is too humble to point that out himself here in the blog! Check out his book -- it is GREAT! Kim P. S. Yes, I'm in sales, but no, I don't get a percentage for helping to peddle his book; I just enjoy sharing things that I know people will like! P. P. S. However, Captain, if you have extra money to dispose of and want a part-time agent, drop me a note... LOL 🙂 ... View more

Jeff, My compliments to the people who not only originally allowed Ann to accompany Karen, but also to the ones with the wisdom and powers of observation to recognize that you had a true gem in your midst! One of the biggest challenges that many managers face is identifying talent, nurturing it and then channeling it in a direction that is both beneficial to the company but also mutually rewarding to the individual. It is very obvious that Ann is a HUGE asset to the HDQ staff, for the output of work that she generates, but even more importantly, for the output of goodwill and joy that she generates and spreads throughout the building! Just one more reason that whenver I've been to HDQ, there is one song that I am reminded of. It is definitely true that "LUV is in the air", literally as the 737s rumble off the nearby concrete at Dallas Love Field but also figuratively in your own building. Thank you for sharing her story, Jeff, and Ann, THANK YOU for ALL that you do! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Angela, What a great blog entry! I actually remember watching the show the night that the young boy got the "Southwest Airlines" room, and while I thought it was WAY COOL, it didn't surprise me one bit. One of the definitions of 'servant' in my dictionary is "one that serves another", and 'serve' is defined as "to be of assistance to". I cannot think of people who more perfectly embody the Servant Warrior spirit than Southwest Employees! Venues such as Extreme Make-over and the Ronald McDonald Houses, to just name two, are blessed to have 32,000 people who love to spend their time serving others. If Southwest was the only airline that DIDN'T make a profit, and yet the Employees still showed the incredible spirit that they do, I'd STILL say that you're the richest organization I know. While I am aware that you earn tremendous gratitude and appreciation from those that you serve, I also know that the Employees of Southwest don't serve because of what they will get, and that very often, your activities are not publicized and stay below the radar. Y'all serve because it is the right thing to do, and that knowledge is its own reward. Nevertheless, please know that there are those of us out here who DO notice many of the things, and that it makes a huge impression on us. As a Customer, as a shareholder and as a fellow Texan, I'm VERY proud of each one of you! Kim 🙂 ... View more

Micah, Captain Stark gives a good explanation of some of the routing foibles used by the FAA to get planes to the right places in his excellent book, "This is Your Captain Speaking" ( http://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Captain-Speaking-Stark/dp/0970562101/sr=1-1/qid=1168456344/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-6163979-8635924?ie=UTF8&s=books -- that's a free plug for Captain Ray!) I've noticed many times on both SW flights and in our company's plane that a straight line between two cities is not always the flight path given. Sometimes it is, but oftentimes, not. Planes are routed along navaids, or navigational aids, that are like signposts in the sky. The ATC folks will tell the plane to fly from City A to Navaid X, then Navaid Y, and then Navaid Z, and then straight to City B. So, it depends on where the navaid is, what other traffic is in the sky in that area and where you're heading. In some cases, it is not a zig-zag pattern, but the pilot is allowed to "cut the corners" off of some of the legs of that route, slightly straightening out the flight path. Some of the times that I'm sitting in the cockpit of our plane, I'll listen to the ATC radio traffic and follow along with our pilots as they dial in new headings to correspond to the instructions given. Watching this on a route map can seem crazy, but it avoids having everyone flying along the same path! That is what makes identifying cities below you so challenging -- you may not be where you expect you'd be! Happy flying, Kim 🙂 ... View more

James, Happy birthday, buddy! In another blog entry, I've gotten to "meet" your sister, and she seems like a great lady! This just helps to confirm it!!! What a great gift to give the guy that you can't seem to think what to give. My wife would particularly like the idea of someone coming in and cleaning out my closet... LOL (that's just to tweak Brian), Kim :-) P. S. WAY TO GO, Dena! Although I've got the BEST sister in the world, it sounds like my friend James is pulling up a close second! 🙂 ... View more