![]() Instead, it breeds loyalty, which drives profits. “You just don’t see that in other airlines - there it’s all about policy and ‘sorry, we can’t do that.’”Īt first glance, it might seem cutting customers big breaks for their own errors isn’t good for business. “They can bend the rules when they need to,” says Lauren Tow, a Dallas attorney who says she’s flown the airline more than 1,200 times. Reservation agents can, as they did for Mariah Muhlbradt of Boulder, Colorado, even waive large differences in base fare if you, say, booked a ticket on the wrong date for your best friend’s wedding, and only realize it the day before, when all the available flights are $500 more expensive. The benefits of happy, empowered employees extend beyond just free drinks. rSnapshotPhotos/Īn airline that doesn't jack you around for making basic changes That means lower maintenance costs with better purchasing power for parts and fewer planes to train staff on. Southwest also effectively has only one kind of plane - the Boeing 737. That’s about double what American does down the road at its hub at DFW. For example, their gates at Dallas Love Field Airport see 10 to 12 flights per day. Southwest owns all its planes and uses them efficiently. Southwest keeps the cash registers rolling with business practices that other airlines don’t embrace. But that crisis is long gone, and Southwest is still making money, reporting a handsome $1.9 billion in net income for the fourth quarter of 2017 alone. That is, it prepaid for obscene amounts of jet fuel at a low price, so it wasn’t nearly as crippled when oil prices spiked. The popular answer during the fuel crisis of the late 2000s was that Southwest had hedged its fuel. Damn, says every business school textbook written over the past 25 years. ![]() Ain’t nobody telling a Texan how much he can pack.ĭespite not charging all those fees, since 1990, Southwest is the only major airline not to declare bankruptcy or go out of business. When she realized the day before said conference she’d bought a ticket from Phoenix to LA instead of the other way around, she rebooked at the last minute at no extra cost.Īlso, your first two pieces of checked luggage are free. So if you, like Los Angeles travel agent Lisa Niver, found that you’d booked a ticket in the wrong direction for a professional conference, you can change it without coughing up a $200 fee. Whether that’s freedom to own enough rifles to outfit the Canadian biathlon team or freedom to change your flight whenever you cot-damn feel like it, Southwest embraces the Texas ideal of doing what you want when you want. But for every passenger who complains, a dozen sing Southwest’s praises.Īnother thing Texans love: freedom. Does Southwest’s quirks irk some people? Sure. They let flight attendants go off-script. That “we-do-it-our-way” attitude has persevered. ![]() The best I’ve ever heard someone talk about an airline is that Delta had a pretty decent turkey wrap and Spirit “wasn’t that bad.” But mention Southwest around the right people and you’ll be subjected to superlatives usually reserved for ESPN discussing the SEC. Really, guys? Y’all are getting excited like the dealer just showed up to an after-party. “I only fly Southwest now,” he interrupted. Just called them, and that was it.”Ī man next to them couldn’t help but join in the chorus. “You know my daughter-in-law wanted to stay an extra few days over Thanksgiving and she changed her flights, didn’t cost her anything. “You know, I just see a seat, and if I want it, I sit down.” “I love the open seating,” I hear one say to the other. But as I’m waiting at gate B6 at the Fort Lauderdale airport, there’s an unusually positive vibe. Usually a couple of yentas on a 6am flight aren’t exactly extolling the virtues of anything, much less an airline. The two old ladies in the boarding lounge have bizarrely nice things to say.
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