Southwest Airlines Community

This morning Southwest began accepting reservations for the January 9 - March 12, 2010 date range.  First---we're beginning new nonstop flights between St. Louis and two of our very newest destinations.  Southwest will add service on January 10th in the Boston-St. Louis and Minneapolis/St. Paul-St. Louis markets, both with two daily roundtrips each.  Not only are these markets very strong in and of themselves, they'll also make it much easier for travelers between Dallas and both Boston and the Twin Cities.  This will bring us up to 13 daily departures to three nonstop destinations (Chicago/Midway, Denver, and St. Louis) from the Hubert Humphrey Terminal at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, and 12 weekday departures to three nonstop destinations (Baltimore/Washington, Chicago/Midway, and St. Louis) from Terminal E at Boston/Logan!   Second, we're making numerous seasonal adjustments in market frequency.   In all, we're reducing frequency by one flight in 92 markets.  We're also adding service in another 42 markets.  What this accomplishes is eliminating service that is not expected to perform well during a very slow time of the year, as well as adding service for which this is the busy season.  Of course, we'll continually monitor our service levels to make sure we're matching capacity with demand.   And third....in the "double your pleasure/double your workload" department....for the first time ever, Schedule Planning actually split the Winter schedule for 2010 into two, completely separate work efforts.  By using two totally separate capacity sets, we were able to use our schedule optimizer to create two separate schedule bases--one that is more reflective of anticipated traffic in the January timeframe (which is historically exceptionally weak) and one that is a tad bit more robust for the Mid-February to mid-March period, which is noticeably busier.  So, in addition to seeing more service in many markets effective February 10th, you'll also notice that departure times in most markets will change on that day--some by just a few minutes, some by several hours.  We're doing this based on historical time-of-day demand information, with the goal (always!) of matching our flights to the needs of our Customers in a way that's....well....optimal!!   Enjoy our new schedules and new service, gang...and here's hoping everyone has a safe and happy Labor Day! ... View more

On my worst days, I remain grateful to work for Southwest Airlines.  But there are other times that just make me feel I'm simply unworthy to be the lowliest member of a Family of 35,000+ Superstars.  One of those moments happened recently, and I just thought I'd share it.   I was headed back to Dallas from a West Coast business trip, was booked on a late-afternoon connection, and noticed there was a onestop, no-change-of-plane flight that would get me home much earlier--and it was still at the gate on a delay.  I went to that gate, asked if I could get on, and was told that I could.  I asked why the flight was delayed and was told they were holding for connections.  Fine, the delay was only 15 minutes--I sprinted down the jetway and found a seat.  Ten minutes later, our Operations Agent came onboard and told us all the airplane we were waiting for was on the ground, and we'd be on our way shortly.    Five minutes after that, an obviously harried older couple (which, these days, means a couple MY age....) boarded.  The Flight Attendant told them that there were no more seats together, to which the woman replied in a deep Texas twang "Oh, sugar, that's fine, we've been married so long I don't care where he sits."  Everyone in earshot chuckled, and the woman took an open seat one row up from me on the aisle, while the Flight Attendant led Hubby to the rear of the cabin.  We were underway shortly thereafter.   The lady in front of me leaned over and told "Connection Lady" that she totally understood--after a few decades of marriage, sitting separately on an airplane can be a vacation in itself.  Connection Lady laughed and said that at that they were just thrilled to be on the airplane.  "We thought we had missed this flight," she said, euphoric, almost giddy.  "We had no idea Southwest had held this airplane for us until we landed here."   And then the oddest thing happened.  The euphoria in her face turned into tiredness, and I noticed her eyes starting to tear up as she continued, "They didn't even know....it's so very important for us to get back to Texas quickly, because we just found out my mother is dying."  Big tears started to roll down her cheeks, and the lady in front of me reached across the aisle and began to pat Connection Lady's hand in support.  "If we'd missed this flight, I'd never be able to say goodbye to her...but now at least we have a fighting chance."  Her words trailed off into sobs that her clenched hand tried to muffle; the lady in front of me reached into her carry-on bag for Kleenex for them both, and I started feeling incredibly guilty for eavesdropping--and embarrassed that I, too, had teared up big time.   It was a three-hour flight, and I spent most of the next 180 minutes trying not to watch the back of Connection Lady's head.  (I was unsuccessful)  She would try and sleep but periodically reach up with the Kleenex and wipe her eyes; I could feel her heart breaking one row away.  I spent a lot of time thinking about losing my own mom...and wondering what it would have been like had I gotten "the call" when I was thousands of miles away.  But one thing she said stayed with me--"they didn't even know."  Why had this one flight been held for two people, who were travelling on a family emergency, if nobody "knew?"   So when I got back to work the next day...I started doing a little research.  I started by contacting our Customer Service Coordinator who made the call to hold the flight to wait on Connection Lady and her husband.  Why did he make the decision to delay the flight?  Had someone alerted him that there were some unusual circumstances?  Nope, he replied, he always looked for close connections on delayed flights and noticed this itinerary--and knew he could incur a very short delay, accomodate our Customers, and still most likely arrive ontime.  So he didn't know....he just did his job, did the right thing, and made an unintended yet huge impact on the lives of two human beings.  "This was a very routine part of my job," he told me.  (Routine?  I so very much don't think so.)   The second call I made was to the station where Connection Lady and husband originated.  I spoke to the Customer Service Supervisor who checked them in, as well as the Operations Agent who boarded them.  Did they remember anything out of the ordinary?  In both cases...not really.  C.L. and husband arrived late to check their bags for their flight, but the Customer Service Supervisor remembered joking with them while telling them of the slight delay and told them to "slow down and grab a latte on the way to the gate."  The Operations Agent remembered nothing at all out of the ordinary about the couple.  Again--they had no idea why these folks were travelling but were calming and supportive nonetheless, just like they are to every other Customer that they come into contact with.   So here I am, having been a totally voyeuristic observer in a human drama that probably happens who-knows-how-many-times each day on Southwest Airlines flights.  And after digging into it a little, I find out that the right thing happened not because Connection Lady and hubby told the agents that they were traveling to say goodbye to a dying mother--but because it was just the right thing to do.  Being in Schedule Planning, I realize full well that we can't hold for late inbound connections in each case, but in this instance, the result of doing the right thing was, perhaps, giving a daughter her last chance to tell her dying mother that she loved her.  And had I not overheard the story, no one at Southwest would have been any the wiser.   I want you guys to know this story for two reasons.  One, Southwest has an operating strategy that empowers my amazing Colleagues in the field to make decisions to DO THE RIGHT THING without waiting on enormous bureaucracies or decision trees to kick in.  Obviously we can't fix every problem, but we try to make everything as whole as we can at the point of primary contact.    And two--and this is directed to my Southwest Family in Ground Operations, Dispatch, and CSC....so many times you guys make decisions like this just because you see an easy, painless fix, and just do it.  Nobody asks you to--no one ever tells you you can--you just do it.  Just in case you ever wondered if you ever make a difference in the lives of our Customers, I wanted to make sure you know:   You do.   Thanks for reading this, blogosphere....and I wish Connection Lady and her family peace, love, and good memories.    Bill         ... 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At the risk of sounding like the AARP-membership-eligible male that I am....time is just going by faster and faster. It's already the fourth week of June.  How on earth is that possible???  Wasn't Easter just recently?  Wasn't Christmas a month or so ago?  I guess I need to make my plans for Memorial Day.....OH WAIT....that was a month ago! My Mom (still miss her!) always told me that as you get older, time seems to speed up.  When I was young, I assumed it was because Mom forgot so much stuff that time just seemed to move quicker....but now I realize that (1) it DOES go by faster and (2) it's just because as you get older you get BUSIER.  Between my son, my stepdaughters, keeping the house going, yard duty, and my ever-increasingly busy job here at SWA...no wonder time is flying by like a B-1 at Mach 2. Finding a vacation spot with the Officer, his wife, and a seven- and a ten-year-old in tow on the Southwest network is easy.  We could hit beaches, or visit the Mouse, on either coast.  Spend time cruising the Circle Line or in Central Park.  See Rainier up close and personal.  Hang on to cable cars for dear life.  Traverse the Eisenhower Tunnel and be amazed by the "purple mountain's majesty."  So many choices, so little time...   The odds-on favorite destination right now is fairly close to home--fly to Tulsa or Little Rock and drive up to the incredibly artsy and cool Victorian-inspired Ozark Mountain town of Eureka Springs.  Lots of things to do (check out the web site of Thorncrown Chapel--went to a wedding there once and the memories still give me goosebumps!).  Cool shops, quaint B&B's, good restaurants, and it's INEXPENSIVE.  What's not to like about that?   As we plan--and execute--our vacation plans, I hope you guys enjoy your time off.  If you're doing a "staycation" have a GREAT time, but I'm hoping you join us in comfy leather seats on a Southwest flight and Go/See/Do something fun!  (Check out our Travel Guide for suggestions.)  Our Summer Schedule is designed to get you where you want to go--either across your state or across our nation--better than ever before (a post about how we're scheduling that is in the works!).  Take lots of pictures....that way, in about a week, when we'll all probably be celebrating Christmas, we can remember what a great Summer we had. Happy travels, everybody.  And yes, Gary....IT'S ON for Summer!  (Or, to quote Carroll in Houston from one of the commercials--"it's SO on!")!         ... View more

There's now more LUV for sale!  This morning we extended our booking window out to January 8, 2010, which (of course!) includes the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's holidays.  As with any new schedule opening, there are lots of little surprises in this one!   First and foremost--effective November 1, Southwest Airlines introduces our new Milwaukee service with nonstop service in six markets:  three daily roundtrips to Baltimore/Washington, three to Kansas City, two each day to Las Vegas, two to Orlando, and one each to Phoenix and Tampa Bay.  We'll also offer direct or connecting service to an additional 49 cities, so from the "get-go" we'll offer travel between General Mitchell International Airport and 55 Southwest Airlines destinations from sea to shining sea.   And if that's not exciting enough, we've done some interesting things this year with our Holiday schedules.    I think everyone who travels over the Holidays knows that the Sunday following Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days of the year.  And this year, with both Christmas and New Year's falling on Friday, we expect the Sunday after both of those Holidays to be almost as busy as Thanksgiving Sunday.  However, even with the extremely high demand on those days historically we've not been able to easily add as many flights as we wanted to accomodate all the folks who want to travel on peak Holiday dates because writing Sunday, and Holiday, schedules remained entirely manual.    However, in this insanely challenging and difficult environment, everyone at Southwest is on the lookout for any avenue to improve our prosperity.  Why, we asked, can't we optimize these three, very busy Sundays separately, and let the Optimizer do the work of packing extra flights into the solution?  After running it through our Integrated Planning group (and getting enthusiastic "go for it!" answers), that's exactly what we did.  To illustrate--on a typical, non-Holiday Sunday this November and December, we've scheduled 2,878 daily departures.  However, for New Year's Sunday we're packing in 3,145 flights; for Christmas Sunday we bump it up even more to 3,163 flights; and for the busiest Sunday of them all, we've scheduled 3,315 (!) departures for Thanksgiving Sunday!   Still, to make this work, we had to make some other changes.  For example, up until now, the highest flight number we could use on a normal schedule was Flight Number 3999.  By starting from scratch for these three days (in addition to the standard Monday *and* Saturday optimizations), we quickly ran out of flight numbers.  So we upped the flight number limit to 5999--which sounds so innocuous, but you'd be amazed how much testing we had to do with dozens of other, internal computer systems to make sure they could handle flight numbers in that range!  Several other processes had to be tweaked or monitored to make this work, particularly so that we didn't really tank the ability of our Crew Planning folks to create Crew pairings for our and Flight Attendants.  However, we think it'll be worth it.  After all, our goal is obvious--to meet your travel needs.  It doesn't matter how much y'all LUV us if we don't have enough product on the shelf when you need it!   All of us are hoping we've given you even more opportunity to take a trip for the holidays.  Go see the family or go have some fun......but just go! Happy booking, everyone....and let me be the very first to wish you Happy Holidays!   ... View more

Today, Southwest gave the residents of Wisconsin something to talk about around the bubbler.  We’re adding Milwaukee and General Mitchell International Airport to our network!!!  Starting late this year, the home of the Cunninghams, the Fonz, Laverne and Shirley, the Bucks, the Brewers, and the Packers will become the 68th airport on the Southwest Airlines route map.  (Yeah, I realize the Packers are technically based in Green Bay, but they're the professional football team for the whole state of Wisconsin, so I'll include them here!) We know many of you in the Milwaukee area are already familiar with Southwest (low fares and GREAT Customer Service!)—but for our Customers that aren’t familiar with Milwaukee, you’ve got a treat in store for you.  Besides having a vibrant business base, Milwaukee is just a lot of fun.  Amazing food (please, PLEASE visit Mader’s for German food!), the arts (the Milwaukee Art Museum has masterpiece buildings designed by both Saarinen and Calatrava!), the home of Harley-Davidson (don’t miss their museum!), sausage, cheese, beer, sports, the lake….and of course, the people.  Good people.  Just don’t plan anything other than watching football on a Sunday afternoon when the Packers are playing. You could be very lonely….  *grin* Milwaukee is going to be a GREAT addition to our network.  Wisconsin’s legendary work ethic, which mirrors Southwest’s exceptionally productive Culture, is going to make us a great fit in the land of the Cheesehead.  2009 has turned into a banner year for new cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York LaGuardia, Boston...and now Milwaukee) at Southwest.  Four new destinations this year—the most new airports we’ve added since 1996, when we added Tampa Bay, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, and Providence.  But the significant difference is that in 1996 Southwest was in full growth mode in a robust economy.  Now, in 2009, we’re adding all four of these cities without adding aircraft to our fleet—instead, we’re doing it by continuing to trim unpopular flights from existing markets and redeploying our resources by adding new destinations to our network.  Once again—the enormous power of our Schedule Optimizer gives us the ability to reshuffle the “deck” and deploy our aircraft in a way that allows Southwest to expand our reach without expanding our fleet. We’re still working out the details of our service at Milwaukee, but we’ll get back to you soon with the specifics.  Welcome to the network, Milwaukee—and from Laverne and Shrley’s theme song—“Schlemeel…Schlemozzle….Hasenfeffer Incorporated…..We’re gonna do it!!!”   ... View more

Tomorrow, May 15, is National Peace Officers Memorial Day, a day dedicated to remembering the more than 18,600 law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty in the United States (133 killed in 2008 alone)--and to showing our appreciation to the hundreds of thousands of law enforcement professionals whose job it is to protect Americans from crime, harm, and yes, from ourselves.  Flags across our nation will be at flown at half staff Friday, which is the culmination of National Police Week, which this year is May 10-16.   Many of you know that my son is a police officer.  Most of you don't know that he is now also a Deputy U.S. Marshal.  Before Officer Owen went into this line of work I had no idea how often men and women in law enforcement put themselves into harm's way simply doing their jobs.  They don't have to; it's just part of the work, and they do it because they believe in their mission.  It's one thing watching an episode of "CSI" or "Hill Street Blues" when the cops are going after the bad guys.  It's entirely another thing when you're hearing a story first-hand about what it was like responding to a domestic violence call....or what it was like trying to comfort a small child whose parents you've just busted for running a meth lab at home....or of having to keep it together when you had to go to the home of a fallen colleague to inform his wife that her husband had been murdered.  I have to admit that every time my phone rings after midnight my heart skips several beats--but I also admit that I am incredibly proud and grateful that my boy chooses to put his life on the line every day to protect people who, like me, have no idea of what dangers can be lurking "out there."   When you see a flag at half mast tomorrow, I hope you'll take a second to reflect on its significance--and if you see a law enforcement professional, even if you can't thank them in person, send a good thought or two their way.  And on behalf of the 35,000 men and women that make up the Southwest Airlines Family--thank you, Officers.  Be safe....and take care.     ... View more

Okay.  I've shared a LOT with you guys.  But here's a new guilty secret revealed (and not a good one)--I have really, really bad teeth, through neglect....and because of fear.   Now at the risk of not “holding myself accountable” for the issue, I had an incredibly abusive dentist as a child.  Seriously.  Psychotically abusive.  He used to slap my brother and me if we’d whimper in fear or pain, and when we’d make that “SCREECH!!” face when he’d spear a nerve with the Novocaine needle he’d yell “BULLSEYE!”  And do not EVEN get me started on having my wisdom teeth extracted.  Grisly.  Let’s just say that if they were to make a movie of this guy’s dental “practice” it’d have equal parts of Little Shop Of Horrors and Marathon Man with liberal doses of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Mommy Dearest thrown in for good measure.   So fast-forward to today.  I’ve been scrupulous about brushing my teeth all these years, but despite the *excellent* dental plan I have as a Southwest Airlines Employee, 30 years of phobia-induced dental neglect have taken their toll.  I have 14 amalgam (silver) fillings that need to be replaced, need a “deep planing and cleaning” (read:  lots of novocaine and then cram the dental probe as far down my dental roots as the hygienist can reach, then scrape like crazy), and extraction of my lower left third molar which has become infected.  To add interest to the story, the tooth infection started on a Friday afternoon, so I got to sit through a whole weekend looking like I had the mumps on my left side in absolutely miserable pain.   So when I declared a “dental emergency” (yes, I actually used that phrase) to the new dentist Monday and went in for my consultation, she examined my teeth and her summary remark was “…oh, my…..”  The suggested plan of dental treatment would take me through at least four lengthy appointments involving nearly two dozen separate procedures, which had me imagining entire salvos of Novocaine missles landing agonizingly in my gums as my alarm level neared Defcon Four.  Then the dentist added, “or, we could do oral sedation, and get it all done in one day.”   Say what???   You’ve probably heard radio ads for dentists crooning “take a pill before your appointment and sleep right through your dental procedure."  Well, that’s what she was talking about.  Although it’s not one little pill—its several little pills, and you still wind up getting the Novocaine shots and all that stuff….the COOL thing is that the pills are supposed to make you (1) sleep right through even lengthy treatments and (2) not remember  ANY of it.  Still, my Southwest Employee dental insurance, while superior in every measure, doesn’t cover the sedation.    But after thinking about it—condensing the series of four or more appointments into one and minimizing the time away from work, plus not having the procedures done while I’m as jumpy as a platoon of Paratroopers about to leap from an  airplane, PLUS not feeling or remember anything of the procedures, made the additional out-of-pocket cost worth it.  So guess what?  Very soon--in less then two weeks, in fact--I’m having seven hours of dental work done while I “snooze” through the whole process (which makes me wonder--when will the staff have lunch?).  Now, let’s be honest.  If I wasn’t going to take advantage of sedation dentistry and I was facing this array of procedures, I would either be already jumping through the ceiling or wouldn't have scheduled the procedures at all.  My phobia is, seriously, that severe.  But I’m currently feeling pretty relaxed about the upcoming process.  I suppose it's a testament to the hope of better living….through chemistry.         So we’ll see.  I’ll post something after the procedure, and we’ll see how it goes.  Who knows….maybe this is the alternative to being miserable, hurting, giving into fear, or simply doing nothing and letting your teeth rot.  We’ll see.  Updates to follow!     Bill had his procedure on Thursday May 7, and all went well. ... View more

For the very few people on this planet that haven't seen or heard of Susan Boyle by now, she’s the 47-year-old, single, frumpy, unemployed, "never-been-kissed" Scot that blew the socks off an entire theatre full of Glaswegians (not to mention three cranky English judges) on "Britain's Got Talent" recently.....and now millions and millions people have watched the YouTube vid of her performance.  Go, please go NOW, to this link and watch her performance.  Prepare to be “gobsmacked.” Susan gives a performance of “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Mis that was every bit as good as the cast recording from the stage show.  However, it doesn't look promising at first; she walks onto the stage in Glasgow looking like a cross between Hyacinth Bucket and Benny Hill, receives hoots and snickers from the audience...and then the music starts.   Susan opens her mouth and out flows this incredible voice every bit as crystalline and commanding as Sarah Brightman’s.  Both the audience and the judges are on their feet, eyes wet and voices screaming their approval, for nearly the entire number.  And in the end, the COOL thing is how totally humble and non-plussed the woman is about this whole thing, waving kisses to judges and new fans alike.  She is now the odds-on favorite to win the competition, to sing for Her Majesty the Queen, and most likely to sign lucrative recording and singing contracts—but Susan says she plans to remain just "a simple woman from Scotland ." Miss Boyle's jaw-dropping performance and impending success takes my thoughts in several directions.  One, we have many amazingly talented folks working at Southwest Airlines—not only the Flight Attendants and Operations Agents that sing, rap, or joke their way through their announcements and capture the hearts (and attention!) of their Customers, but also those Employees working in behind-the-scenes jobs in Customer Service and Support, at Headquarters, and everywhere else that have hidden talents like world-class singing voices, incredible photographic eyes, gifted musical ability, and other non-work-related talents.  To all of y’all—you are *our* Susan Boyles. Two, having a talent, as opposed to acting on that talent, are distinctly different  things.  Susan Boyle bears that out.  How could she be so incredibly talented for decades and not be featured in venues in London and New York ?  When asked that very question on stage, she replies “the opportunity never presented itself….until now!”  I guess you can wait for opportunity to knock on your door, or you can go knock on opportunity’s door.  Susan waited for years for that knock at her door….and when it never came, she went and did some knocking of her own.  And the door opened for her! And three…it now seems probable that Susan will, indeed, live her dream.  Having both talent and a dream, then using the former to fulfill the latter, is something that so few are able to do within their lifetimes.  For me, I’ve been able to utilize my talents to have a great career at Southwest Airlines—but all of us have other, more ambitious dreams and aspirations.  Watching Susan Boyle take an opportunity, a chance, to make that leap and then watch her realize her dream gives me renewed hope that all of us still have the opportunity...if we just persue it. So congratulations, Susan Boyle, on a job well done.  Good luck and Godspeed.  And to all of you out there in the blogosphere (and to my own inner cynic), just remember:  it doesn't matter how old you are, or what you look like.....if you have talent and a dream, and you don't get a knock at your door, then go out and start doing some knocking for yourself.  You never know what may happen! ... View more