Southwest Airlines Community

You mention more Customers are opting for pretzels instead of peanuts and theorize this is maybe the end of a craze. May I suggest another theory? King Nuts peanuts are pretty lame tasting, and they've been going downhill for a while now. Grab some Southwest (King) peanuts and then next time you are in a grocery store, buy a jar of Planters peanuts and do a taste test. Southwest's nuts are going to lose - badly. I enjoy peanuts and snack on them regularly. But I've stopped eating them while flying SWA, they just aren't very good tasting. ... View more

I just noticed the ability to set this blog so the newest comments are on top. A much needed improvement - way to go! I wonder what else I'm going to discover as I play more? ... View more

West Texas Blog Boy gives his approval. Well done! ... View more

Illinois One might just be the best looking specialty paint job in the entire SWA fleet. I can't wait to see it at an airport soon! ... View more

Let's see - there was the Kyla incident and it seemed like half the people in the country promised to never fly Southwest again. Then there was the boarding procedure change and yet another half of the country stated that they would never fly Southwest again. Then SWA made some adjustments to Rapid Rewards and guess what - yep, it seemed like half the country swore off of ever flying Southwest again. Oh - let's not forget early last year when the reservations window fell below 90 days. IIRC, about half the country publicly swore to never fly Southwest again. And just earlier this year SWA announced the low $25 fee for a third bag. I think only a third of the country self-banished themselves from flying Southwest. So since yet another half of the country has, yet again, sworn off of Southwest due to yet another non-issue, I'm really looking forward to my next flight. Me and the two other remaining SWA Customers should each be able to find good seats. For the record, WTBB has absolute and complete confidence in Southwest and their commitment to safety - it's much higher than any other airline's. ... View more

Pretty easy this time James. 1 - All of them. 2 - All of them. 3 - All of them. 3a - Eighty days (according to Jules Verne.) 4 - Lot's of them. 5 - A bunch of them. 5a - A few of them. 6 - Lot's of them. (Three from me.) 7 - All of them. 8 - A bunch. ... View more

Kim's back! I haven't seen the EBB sig in ages. Granted, I haven't been around much either, but it's good to see you again. And I love your description of AM radio! Poor Leah, Kim didn't read your post very well. If he had, he would have said something like, "AM is when you wake up and it's dark, PM is when it's dark and you go to sleep." AM = Amplitude Modulation FM = Frequency Modulation But back to Leah's query: AM = Ante Meridiem PM = Post Meridiem Ante is Latin for before, Post is Latin for After, and Meridiem is Latin for midday. And today is February 29, that once-every-four-year event that keeps the sun in the right spot in the sky. Here's a factoid for you Leah - In 1712, Sweden had to add TWO extra days at the end of February for leap year. So not only did they have February 29, but they also had a February 30! ... View more

Hmmm - let me see if I have this straight. Bill wakes up, looks in his commode, and there's a dead squirrel there? OK, I've got it now and it leads me to a very disturbing conclusion - Squirrel's spend their lives looking for nuts. Bill is male. I would be very afraid Bill, very afraid. ... View more

The guy in ZIP Code 79922 wrote, "Ming Chanà ... View more

Leah asks, "I wonder what the ZIP stands for in ZIP Code." You are thinking of Ming Chan's acronym thread Leah. ZIP - well, sometimes people think ZIP stands for Zero Intelligent People. But over the past two years I have worked with a company that does a LOT of direct mail and the postal service is really in truly top notch. ZIP = Zone Improvement Plan. The entire ZIP Code history and usage is actually fascinating. My first "lesson" about mail and ZIP Codes was to read the Wikipedia article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_code ... View more

Sherry - BLOG = Boring Long-winded Old Geezers )posting over and over again) or Brilliant Legendary Outstanding Guys (or Gals) DING - Downloadable INternet Great deals. ... View more

BB - Blog Boy. EBB - Kim Seale. OTA - On Time Arrival (used often by SWA, not so common on other airlines.) RR - Frequent Flyer Program. FA - Friendly Attitude (seen in abundance at SWA, not so abundant on other airlines.) GA - Great Attitude (also seen in abundance at SWA.) FT - Flyer Talk, my second favorite airline site. SSSS - S---, S---, S---, S--- (The same four letter word uttered four times under your breath when you see you have been Selected For Secondary Security Screening.) WA - Wrong Amendment. ATC - Air Traffic Control, the people who tell the pilots where to go. TSA - Talking and Standing Around. OP - Original Poster. Used to describe the person who starts a topic on a Blog or Forum. Also describes Ron Howard. More later if I can think of any. Sincerely, WTBB ... View more

How bizarre - This morning I submitted my first ever application to Southwest, and mere moments later Jeff Lamb submits this topic to the Southwest Blog. Karma? Kismet? Pure blind chance? Maybe none or all of the above. But you can be sure I will bookmark this topic to continue reading after it rolls off the front page. ... View more

Edit - it should read "SWA 'Flight 171"" ... View more

I read about this Friday and was awed and proud. Then I dropped off a friend at the El Paso airport yesterday. Since we arrived at the airport with way too much time to spare, I went in and we had a cup of coffee. Two soldiers were at the table next to us and they were talking about SWA "Flight 131" - even though they weren't part of the Ft. Bragg soldiers, they were giddy over the fact that some of their brethren were given this special gift from SWA. ... View more

Oh dear - Drew, you and I might have to agree to disagree. The four "awful" songs you listed? Each of them would go in my top ten holiday songs list. The Jingle Dogs - OMG, I would hope I never, ever - never-ever - have to hear that one again. But Merry Christmas to you, I hope you get to hear anything and everything you like, as often as you want (as long as I'm not in the same zip code at the time). ... View more

Oh Brian - I had forgotten the David Bowie.Bing Crosby duet. You are right, that one belongs in the very, very top spot. But you've got to watch the full video, including the almost two minute introduction, to get the full flavor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKTHvW2JcAA ... View more

Forgot to add - Love the candy cane motif! ... View more

I'll cast my à ... View more

What a beautiful eulogy Bill. Your Mom sounds like the kind of person who enriches the lives of all those around her. Your eighth paragraph - "Mom was telling them, and us, that she was going to see her soulmate" - brings goosebumps and a lump to my throat. ... View more

1 - Depends entirely on if Kim Seale is busy or bored. 2 - The quantity of calls is completely irrelevant; what is important is that each and every call answered is handled politely, by an intelligent human being. 3 - The good ones last long enough for the agent to eat 1/2 bag of candy corn. 4 - Enough to where I've never been on hold for more than a minute or so. 5 - Albuquerque, Chicago, Houston, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, and San Antonio. You left out an important and educational question James - "How many buttons do you have to press before you can talk to a real live human being?" ... View more

I want to join you Kim. When do we go? That America by Air exhibit looks really, really cool. And - I do Milwaukee 3-4 times a year from El Paso since that's where the company I work for is. My boss does Milwaukee to Vegas at least six times a year. So add my vote to mike's for MKE as a new SWA city! ... View more

God bless every man and woman who is currently or has ever been a member of The United States Armed Forces. They are willing to die to defend my freedom. They go places they don't want to go, do things they don't want to do, all in order that I can enjoy the freedoms to go where I want to go, and do what I want to do. On November 11 each year, we stop to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifices for us - the fellow citizens that make up this country. And for each man or woman who has died serving , there are always parents, spouses, and/or children who mourn - with honor - their personal fallen hero. And we mourn with them. We shouldn't choose only one day out of 365 to honor those whose souls leave this earth early, we should say a prayer of thanks every single day for every man and woman who was willing to give their life - and did give their life - so that this great country can be great. ... View more

You guys did a GREAT job of enhancing the RR program. Face it, every airline (including my favorite) in the past has "enhanced" their frequent flyer program by devaluing awards, availability and more. This is the first enhancement I can think of that is truly a step forward for travelers - not a step backwards. Once again, SWA leads! ... View more

James - we love the blogging gate game. Keep them coming. But maybe, just maybe, make the next one a little more challenging that doing a Google search for "Top Ten Southwest Cities based on number of daily departures" which takes you straight to http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/press/factsheet.html#Top%20Ten%20Airports But - don't make the next blogging gate game too hard for me 🙂 (Or - West Texas Blog Boy needs to check in more often - I missed the start of this one by over 24 hours!) ... View more

Santa? Mr. Claus? Is that you? Oh my gosh - it is you! What are you doing down here? There's only two months until your Big Day - you can't leave the North Pole now! Kids around the world are depending on you and you are out pretending to be Blog Boy? My grandkids are depending on you. Ding Boy's kids are depending on you. Kim Seale is depending on you. Please - return home as soon as possible and get back to work on those toys. Sincerely, West Texas Blog Boy PS - cute elf. ... View more

A huge West Texas Blog Boy congratulations for Brian and Paula. This is the best blog, so it's a very fitting award. ... View more

The August numbers were released yesterday, the 4 per 1,000 figure we have been batting around is off by a large amount - the industry average is almost DOUBLE that at 7.6 per 1,000. And I'm bummed - SWA wasn't in even in the best five for mishandled baggage. From the USA Today story: Airlines mishandled 7.6 bags per 1,000 fliers, which USA TODAY notes showed a "slight" improvement over the 8.1-bags-per-1,000 fliers mishandled during the same month a year ago. The paper writes "US Airways improved its bag handling, yet its performance still was the worst of the major airlines." But several regional carriers fared worse, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report (page 30). American affiliate American Eagle had the worst rate (13.96 bags per 1,000 fliers), followed by Delta affiliate Atlantic Southeast (13.68), regional giant Mesa (12.42), Delta subsidiary Comair (12.14) and Northwest affiliate Pinnacle (10.64). The top five: Hawaiian (3.1), Aloha (3.72), AirTran (5.19), United (5.42) and Northwest (5.49). Full Story - http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/2007/10/us-airways-tops.html ... View more

Bert - after I wrote my missive above I thought about RFID and berated myself for not thinking of it before I posted. I considered Google researching the RFID technology and submitting another post, but we have a tight deadline on getting ready for a new product roll out - I'm at about 16 hours a day right now reworking a plan that was destined for failure. The extra penny per bag tag seems awfully inexpensive to me. Granted, 100 million bags a year comes out to 100 million pennies, which equals 1 million dollars. I'm sure the RFID scanners (readers?) also have a significant cost. But what is the cost of delivering a wayward bag? How much extra labor occurs hunting down AWOL bags and sending them to the proper station? Last but not least, what is the value of decreasing customer dissatisfaction? And, of course, the bragging rights SWA could have by claiming the absolute lowest lost and delayed figures in the industry! Heck - if you install the RFID readers first, you could license the technology to other airlines and charge them a tenth of a penny for each bag going through "your" system - brand new revenue applied to the cost of a system you set up for internal use. We call that "Free Money" in my industry, charging others for something you are doing anyway. ... View more

Oh well - West Texas Blog Boy will have to wait for the next episode of The Blogging Gate Game. ... View more