Announcing New Service in New Orleans has always been exciting, but announcing new service from NEW ORLEANS to DENVER was really exciting. Denver is one of the fastest growing cities in our system, and the new route provides a link between two fantastic destinations. You have the bourbon to the beer, the hot to the cold, the jazz to the rock n’ roll, and the Mississippi River Delta to the towering Rockies.

The new nonstop service started on August 4, and I had the distinct pleasure of celebrating the Inaugural Flight with our Denver bound Customers. We played gate games for Denver prizes--Who would have known that U2’s Performance at Red Rocks was named one of Rolling Stone's list of the “50 Moments that changed Rock and Roll”? Well one of our New Orleans Customers did!

The highlight of the celebration was a visiting bear that handed out Little Debbie Snow Puffs to all our passengers as they boarded the aircraft.  If some of you are thinking, “Wow, a trained bear that hands out goodies to people” you would be wrong.  I was the “cute bear” or at least that is what the label on the costume read. Why a bear, you might ask? Well, in comparison to all the other wildlife in Colorado such as the lynx, mountain lion, or western rattlesnake, the bear was the easiest and cutest costume to find.  Sweating underneath my bear head, I was able to witness the imaginations of children come to life (only one child was scared), and the twinkle in our Customers' eyes who had no idea what to think but laughed anyway.

The fact is that we definitely have FUN at Southwest Airlines! As the airplane pushed back from the gate, and our Denver Customers headed west I removed my bear head, smiled and thought, "At what other Company could I possibly wear this in front of our Customers?” Only at Southwest Airlines! So let the good times roll New Orleans… all the way to Denver and back again.