As we get updates on the situation in Houston, we will post them in the News section on the front page. Southwest will begin limited service to/from Houston Hobby between 9:10 am and 6:25 pm (Central Time) on Tuesday and Wednesday. Volunteers from other stations will be helping man the station so the local Employees who suffered damage can tend to their homes.
Hurricane Ike
All week long, groups here at Headquarters and out in the field have been preparing for the arrival of Ike. Steve’s Red Belly Radio post at the bottom of the home page outlines two of those groups’ efforts, but that really is the “tip of the iceberg” because almost every department is affected. Some of the special heroes of this preparation are those Employees who volunteered to go to Houston to “hurricanize” the facilities and keep the operation running to allow as many local Employees as possible to prepare their houses and put their personal hurricane plans into action. As many of you know, we have a sizeable airport operation at Houston Hobby, but we also have a major Maintenance Base, Pilot and Flight Attendant Bases, and a Reservations Center.
Needless to say, our thoughts go out to everyone in the storm’s path. We have tried to prepare for the worst, but as the weekend progresses, we will be praying for the best!
Comments
What happens with all the planes that were scheduled to go to Houston when the airport is closed? Do they just sit in Dallas?
Also I keep seeing ads on Yahoo for Southwest Airlines but Southwest does not serve Minneapolis where I live. I'm not sure why you would place ads in a city where the nearest airport is a 7 hour drive (Chicago's Midway.) I wish you would come here though.
Dear anonymous,
Some of the aircraft will sit here, but others will be dispersed around our system (primarily at our Maintenance Bases) so they will be ready to resume service as soon as that is possible. Others will continue flying. On some flights that have a stop in Houston, the aircraft will just skip the Houston stop.
We buy both local and and national advertising. For example, on the NFL telecasts, you will see Southwest ads in Montana, Georgia, Minnesota, and Wisconsin for example, even though we don't fly to those states...yet. (Here in Texas, we see K-Mart ads on national television even though K-Mart pulled out of the area completely.) The Yahoo ads are national in scope too. Then, of course, we do local ads in cities we do serve, and they usually are city specific.
Joe,
I accidentally deleted your comment. If you will resubmitt, I will post it
Brian
Brian,
It is great to hear about how fellow employees selflessly come to the aid of fellow employees who are based in areas of danger. It shows how y'all are more of a community and a family as opposed to just an airline. Best wishes and hopes go out to all the crew members affected by this. Keep the blue side up y'all!
Joseph R. Meyers
Dallas, Texas
I cannot believe SW airlines slapped me with a "change" fee for rerouting my kids to San antoinio b/c the Houston Hobby flight was cancelled due to IKE. These kids work and go to school in Houston and had to be back, they DO have class and work on Monday. I understand that the airport needed and should have been closed. But, wouldn't it have been better to just re-route us on some empty seats? Was the "Fee" really necessary? Next time I'll check w/ continental and just let you refund me my money. Very disappointed in Southwest for sticking it to us during a very stressful time. Shame on you all.
I just wanted to say Kudos to SWA! We were on a bisness trip -stressing in Cali afraid we would be stranded without our families and small children and the staff was kind enough to change our flights not once but twice because of Ike not being about to make up its mind. We made it HOME Thursday night without a problem!
Thanks so much! I love flying with ya'll! I really enjoy the awesome attendents so willing to entertain and assist others! God Bless.
Brian,
I tried to find an email adress for you on the site, but could'nt find one. I wanted you to take a look at the site I run, www.cruisingwilbert.com. It is a fun travel website run by me, a clever college grad who loves to travel the world. The website is dedicated to a doll named wilbert that travels somewhere new in the world each week and photos are taken of him. Please check out the site and tell me what you think. Perhaps you could dedicate a blog to it? Let me know! Thanks!!
Keith
Does Southwest inted on re-entering the Hawaii market. I had expected to book a trip to Hawaii in Decmeber using my points. When your partner airline went ouit of business I canceled my trip.
I enjoy traveling SWA when ever I can and have always found the entire staff helpful and fun to work with.
GPM,
Bill Owen addressed service to Hawaii in an earlier post: http://www.blogsouthwest.com/blog/why-no-southwest-to-hawaii
I have a flight reservation for Friday 9/19 from Tulsa to Houston. This is a pleasure trip to visit my grandson. However, since Ike, the kids are without power therefore my trip is likely to be cancelled. Can I reschedule my reservation at a later date without loosing my money?
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