Dear, Southwest Airlines

[egardner]

I am one of your biggest fans.  I know there are plenty of people who would vie for that title, but I’m most certainly a contender.

We go way back.  My brother and I flew to Oakland on Southwest when I was seven and continued to earn our wings (which I wore proudly on every flight) every year thereafter.  Those were the days when my mom could come to the gate, placing us directly into the care of your caring staff until we were released to my dad at the end of our flight.

From that very first flight, I was hooked.  As a kid, I enjoyed the friendly flight attendants, honey-roasted peanuts, and unlimited soda.  Plus, the plastic wings were cool. Now, 18 years of flying later, I still enjoy the peanuts (though, I wish they were honey-roasted more often…), friendly staff, and great selection of diet soda. My take home treat now is Spirit Magazine instead of plastic wings.  Not only is your inflight magazine the best reading among airlines, it’s content is better than most other magazines that aren’t winging their way across the country, 30,000 feet above ground.  In fact, it’s one of my life’s goals to get an article published in Spirit! Since my husband and I don’t fly every month, we have created a new condition for future house guests: family and friends can stay at our place in exchange for that month’s Spirit Magazine.  The bonus – food will be included if the crossword puzzle is still blank.  So far, we have November and December covered.  I do wish you offered Spirit subscriptions.  I know most of the content is online, but there’s something fulfilling about flipping through the glossy pages instead of clicking a computer screen.

As if stellar in-flight reading and a superior taste in snacks (gotta love those 100 calorie packs) wasn’t enough, Southwest has service that is second to none.  Not only does Southwest have helpful, caring staff members, but they also seem to attract flight attendants who could be on Comedy Central.  I have picked up so many good one-liners from in-flight announcements and safety instructions. How about this gem:

Seat belts are to be worn like our Captain wears Speedos, tight and low on the hips.

or

Thank you for flying Southwest.  Nobody loves you, or your money, more than we do.

They make turbulence seem like a ride at Disneyland and screaming children seem like the next big thing in music (okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration…) But, really, any company that changes the entire content of their website to reflect Talk Like A Pirate Day deserves major kudos. So, kudos and keep those multi-colored planes flying.  Next time, I want Shamu.

LUV,

Emily

(This LUV Letter was taken from Emily's blog.  You can find the original post here).