Southwest Airlines Community

... looking on the bright side of things, at least the "wasn't Judy" lady was alive, in one piece and well enough to give her a piece of her mind... :o) I usually stock a tow rope in the boot of my car, and a few weeks ago I stopped by to check on a lady who had broken down on the side. It turns out I was the first one to stop, and she'd been there for 3 hours! (her friend was coming to pick her up and she was waiting for a recovery truck, no help required). ah well... at least you made the right move! :o) ... View more

Brian, the closest I ever got to a launch was in french guyana, watching an Ariane V rocket launch... it turned night into day! A shuttle launch must be even more awesome... I hope I get to see one before the shuttle is decommissioned :o| Raphael ... View more

wow.... visiting Houston mission control just has to be right up there in that list of cool things to do! what a fantastic opportunity! thanks for sharing the experience and the pics! :o))) Raphael ... View more

Hi Francisco, I had the priviledge of being on board the USS Nimitz when it was in Marseille (south of France) a few years back. As (very junior) Naval Reserve officers, we had been invited for a visit whilst the ship was on a stopover. What a fascinating workplace you have! back then, the deck had quite a few F14 Tomcats, and they definitely remain one of my all time favourite aircraft... It is amazing the amount of work and coordination that is required by the whole crew to make it happen... so congratulations on a good job well done! Stay safe, and I look forward to hearing that you all got back to San Diego, mission accomplished. Raphael ... View more

Hi Ray, I remember my first solo navigation (cross country, in a single engine piston aircraft, for my private pilots licence!). It was the first really good day of the year with a clear weather forecast, so quite a few solo navigators had been launched! The rule was the nav had to be at least 100 Nm long, with two intermediate stops at different airfields (other than your departure/arrival!). One of the solo students was making time go by faster in the solitude of his cockpit by singing songs to himself (awfully out of key - alas). Little did he realise he had the transmit switch pressed, and we all had to endure 20 minutes of pretty awful singing. When he eventually stopped broadcasting, there was a pretty awful silence, and nobody had the heart to tell him what he had just done! I have been paranoid about where my fingers happen to be on the stick since then :o) Raphael ... View more

Hi Joe! ... however, if you look over the last 30 years and count all the late nights and weekends that Herb has spent in the office working to make Southwest the great airline it is today, I'm pretty sure he earnt every single cent of that wad of cash he has made! Plus all the crazy stuff he's had to do, like arm-wrestling other CEO's etc... does that include danger money? :o)) Raphael *upgraded to 256 colours ... View more

Hi Edna, thank you so much for researching this! It does make me wish I'd invested in SWA stock back then (if only I'd been born!) :o) I presume that with the dividends paid yearly as well the value you could have got out of the stocks purchased in 1977 would be considerably higher... especially if you had then re-invested in SWA shares! :o)) ... View more

Hi Ray! I wish all airline pilots were like you! on so many other airlines, I've seen the "mushroom policy" applied (keep them in the dark and feed them... well, smelly stuff!). I guess the flighdeck closed door policy has contributed to isolating crews to what's happening round back! So many pilots also seem to be unhappy with their jobs at quite a few carriers other than Southwest - if they don't like it, why don't they move on somewhere else? Over the last 2 days, I have actually experienced the two extremes. Flying to the middle east saturday evening, the captain briefed us on our flight, the routing (flying over Iran instead of Irak!), and that we could expect moderate turbulences 2 hours into the flight. Turns out he was right, and when he flicked on the fasten seatbelts sign, nobody was worried, which was good for those people scared with flying! His flight time of 6 hrs 5 mins was also bang on (I admit I actually chronometered to check how accurate his estimate was!). Whilst out here, I was having dinner in the hotel restaurant, and I was sat next to a group of 6 american pilots, who are sitting aircrew selection panels for a middle eastern carrier. Of course, they talked (loudly) of their respective airlines back in the US, and alas none of it was flattering... To be fair, I was ashamed for them, after all projecting such a negative image reflects badly on a personal and professional basis... I was also extremely dissappointed at the way they referred to their cabin crew (one pilot, who apparently flies Embraer 145's for a major american feeder, was moaning about his one flight attendant on board, with the pool of FA's being too old for his liking). Not something I've ever seen from SWA! It does however serve to confirm my opinion of the great service Southwest provides, both in the cabin as well as on the flightdeck! ... and hopefully, that will never change! ;o) ... View more

Hi Edna, thanks so much for looking into it... again sooo Southwest! it was definitely not mandatory :o) Raphael ... View more

Hi, maybe questions for Brian, as I'm sure he'll know! :o) what was the original share price back in 1977? how many passengers did Southwest carry back in 1977 compared to today? the Southwest story is still being written, and we will follow it with excitement :o)) Raphael ... View more

Hey happy birthday Leah! :o) and best wishes for the coming year, may it include some good news from Southwest! :o)) Raphael ... View more

Well, we always knew Southwest was addictive (once you taste it you can't let go), but it now turns out to be contagious as well! :o)) Congratulations to your husband! (and to you for having passed on the passion!) :o)) Raphael ... View more

Gosh! Colleen, you took my breath away for a second there... Thank you for all those years of dedicated service to Southwest, and really I admire both Herb and you for taking what must have surely been quite a difficult decision! It is kind of difficult to find the right words, but yet again, through your faith in the Southwest family and your willingness and trust in being led by others, you are setting an example for all of us... ... and as you say, it is nor a good bye or farewell! :o)) Raphael ... View more

Joe, correct, although Nitrogen is primarily there to prevent excessive expansion from heat (when braking) rather than a pressure delta between ground & inflight. :o) Raphael ... View more

Hi Brian! in the "trains that have to be done in a lifetime" category, I think the new line in Tibet has got to be on the list... http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2006-07-20-china-tibet-train_x.htm now that is something! :o) ... View more

ah, that is all you can be really certain of... Death 'n Taxes! (not necessarily in that order!) past, present or future, they'll find you! and if you dispose of the first one, there's an endless army behind :o) ... View more

Brian, we are now all dying from curiosity... you should post a pic of your new office! :o) (with maybe a "spot the candy corn" competition) :o)) ... View more

Congratulations! Although I have to say that I'm not entirely surprised! If you're despatching your aircraft on time day after day, committing yourself to troubleshooting problems there and then to keep your customers flying, you are exercising the correct skills! And Southwest has mechanics who care and are passionate about what they do! A good job well done, and some public recognition well earned :o) ... View more

Gosh, a year already? Time flies when you're having fun! :o) BTW, congratulations to all the blog team, one of the really positive things about Nuts about Southwest is that you have great quality posts, refreshed almost every day! It is a momentum that is not easy to keep, but the Southwest boys 'n girls have kept it going! :o) ... View more

What a way to meet somebody! sometimes, fate works in wonderful ways :o) Southwest people are really lucky to work for such a caring employer, and I am sure that they are aware of it as well! And anybody who only has bad stories to tell... maybe it's time to move on and find your Southwest... it sometimes takes courage, but it is well worth it in the end! I am extremely fortunate to work for a good company too, and we have plenty of good/funny/positive stories to tell too! :o)) ... View more

whoaaaah hold your horses there :o) Give the guys/gals a chance... this has juuuust been announced, and will require a little while to get going... and as Bill said, the dates should be available very soon on Southwest.com :o) ... View more

Bill... Thank YOU for listening to the feedback, accepting it, and acting on it! Again, you show to all that Southwest spirit.. many businesses would have ignored such comments, and stayed short of accepting any kind of responsibility... Hopefully you didn't have too much of a hard time, as there were a LOT of comments made... ... and we do look forward to your next post 🐵 ... View more

Recognition can sometimes be late in coming... but never was it better deserved! Those brave men and women not only had to fight the ennemy, they also had to prove themselves to their peers, and their outstanding track record helped to fight prejudice. They embody a set of moral values that could put most of us to shame. We should also not forget that in the US army, at the start of WWII most "colored" personnel was not allowed to serve in frontline units, and as the war progressed, a large number elected to drop through the ranks (ie a sergeant volunteering as a basic infantryman) to be posted to combat units in need of replacements. ... View more

Kim... You forgot to include your partenr on the list, to lug all those additional suitacase around! LoL ... View more

Hi Carole! Wow! I'm sure the lady was most grateful for your help! It is too often overlooked that FA's have extensive training to prepare them for a number of emergency situations on board - they are not there just to dish out the peanuts! The more people fly, the higher the likelihood of in flight medical emergencies. I am always disappointed that some other airlines do not systematically carry a defribrillator, or do not have an easy link down to a medical center. Yes, a these services cost a lot of money (and a defibrillator is a fairly expensive piece of kit that hopefully you don't use every day), however Southwest yet again shows that you can be a low cost airline without going cheap. :o) ... View more

Leah/Micheline, I soooo agree. People who unfasten their seatbelts before the aircraft has stopped (once saw some people get caught out, there was a sudden jolt & some people got quite scared - turned out there was a misunderstanding as to which line the aircraft should stop on for the jetway, and the pilots stamped on the brakes so as not to overshoot). People who run for the aisle as soon as the aircraft has stopped (or hasn't stopped, cf above), and start emptying everybody's belongings from the overhead bins, when I'm at a window seat idly observing that the jetway still hasn't even begun to move into position. Those people generally are also in the process of switching their mobile phones on and talking loudly... :o( I DO however admire those brave F/A's and ground staff who have to show angel-like patience with these people, day in, day out... :o) ... View more

lighting matches in a 150? wow I'm impressed! lol whenever I'm night flying, I carry phosphorous sticks of the kind that don't generate any heat - you crack them and shak 'em and they glow bright green for 12 hours. (www.cyalume.com - my flying club buys a box of about 1000 for night flying every year) great for checking fuel levels as well when refueling. That didn't stop me from forgetting the aircraft log book on top of a fuel pump once, realised at destination, re-filed a flight plan and went back to get it before anybody noticed. Had the ATC boys perplexed... :o( ... View more

Hi Brian, This is one of the advantages of Head Up Dispalys (HUD's). They are wonderful tools for helping the pilots manage their workload, and in particular the transition from heads down (looking at the instruments) to heads up (looking outside). It also provides the pilots with spatial awareness, with cues on where they should expect to see the runway for example. Any Cat III approach (wether hand flown or performed with Autoland) requires a large amount of skill and training on behalf of fflight crew, they definitely earn their money to get us up and back down, safely, comfortably, and on time! Any flight is a collective team effort, and Southwest has got the best in it's industry! :o) ... View more

I'm constantly surprised at the fact that nobody else really has picked up on this core value at Southwest. Today's low cost airlines "copied" the Southwest "Model", but failed to notice that great customer service was the biggest differentiating factor - perhaps even more so than price! Humane, personal and fun travel is one of the things that has people coming back for more, as well as making for the best place to work it seems! :o) ... View more

Hi Jim, You have got it! :o) Alas, runways are rarely flat, and some are more like cross country courses than anything else! this is where the pilots' skills come into play. :o) There is an infamous one in Europe, which goes up a hill and back down again. The Instrument Landing System guides you right into the upslope, and when performing automatic landings (known as category III landings - with an automated flare at a set descent rate), you hit the bump in a rather sharp and uncomfortable way. Pilots prefer to finish the approach off manually whenever they have the visibility to do so! Ref runway headings, as Kim mentioned they are MAGNETIC headings. As the magnetic north does not correspond to true (geographic) north, there can sometimes be a deviation of up to 20 degrees or more in some parts of the american continent. Also, as the magnetic north "floats" with the earth's crust, it actually moves in relation to fixed points, and every dozen years or so, a runway will change numbers (for ex from 31L to 32L etc etc) and have to be re-painted! The really fun thing about aviation is that you always learn something new! :o) ... View more