Is this thing on? Where do I start this? Do I tell you about me? I love college football, Joey Ramone, dumb jokes and …… Write something huh? Writing makes me sweat. I'm confined. I can't breathe. Give me a room full of people and I can talk all day. All day. About anything. Writing means I have to follow some sort of order and structure. I hate that. However, the lack of structure is why I love my job. There's a lot of different areas that I play in at Southwest Airlines. I work in our Interactive Marketing department and have responsibilities with our online marketing and distribution as well as anything random that comes along . I like that. Randomness. You see, I've been at Southwest Airlines for over 14 years now. When you've been at a place that long, I think you get to know so many people and so much of the company's history that it allows you to be involved in a lot of random things. Like this blog. As we like to say "I know a couple of guys", and they asked if I might give this a shot. So here we go.
Somewhere along the line, Southwest was crazy enough to let me commute from Phoenix to Dallas. So while my position is based in Dallas, my house, my husband (Tom) and Elsie the Wonder Dog are all in Phoenix.
I usually spend 2-3 days a week in Dallas and then fly back to Phoenix. So I'm a commuter. I do a lot of sleeping on the plane, but I have been known to talk to folks along the way. I love talking (see above paragraph) and there are some pretty interesting people out there. So far, I've encountered a 34-year-old grandmother, a 10-year-old girl who flies between parents in Albuquerque and Phoenix, and an old Wisconsin college friend who ended up buying a house in our neighborhood (talk about random). I've been a sounding board for a father working out his response to his 12-year-old daughter who wanted to wear thong underwear, was so touched to have an 80-year-old woman share her experiences about her life, children and her deceased husband, talked with two young boys about Xbox (I think), and watched two linebacker-sized guys help the flight attendants decorate the plane with streamers and balloons in flight for the pilot that was retiring.
So now you probably understand how online advertising, distribution and blogs all fit my job here at Southwest Airlines. It might also give some insight into my life. It's all random. If you're on a flight somewhere between Dallas and Phoenix, look for me. I'd love to hear your story, especially if it's random.
Comments
Sounds tiring and, at the same time, interesting. I, too, travel a lot for work. However, I normally tune people out to concentrate on work. You must learn a lot from these "talking" experiences with other passengers. Good for the soul AND, in your case (I dare presume) also good for your work.
Great to see Southwest embracing the power of the Blog!
I'm glad to see the personal nature of "Blogs" appears to be recognized and respected in the posts thus far and I look forward to it continuing.
It's nice to see Southwest continuing with Herb's spirit!
Well Done Jill.
-John Carmichael
Jill, I'm so glad that you get to share your randomness and humor with the rest of the world now. I really did feel like I was listening to you tell us a story, which in my opinion, is a great characteristic of a writer. I think in your next write-up you need to make sure to include an official "Jill Joke." Great post!
PHX OPS AGENT HERE
I BOARD JILL ALOT ON THOSE EARLY FLTS.
SHE IS ALWAY FUN TO BE AROUND, WILLING TO HELP
AND LISTEN TO A DUMB JOKE.
SEE YA JILL
KYLE
I must say that I was quite excited to hear that Southwest had a blog. I thought finally, I can tell them how much I LOVE them!!! How their service has been through the good and bad with me, as I fly to visit family and friends, go on long due vacations, and support others during a rough time. GRACIAS!!!!!! For being concerned, sensitive to people's financial situations, and their need to travel! I prefer SWA over ALL other airlines. I have only been an avid customer of SWA since 2004, yet I have had an absolutely rewarding experience with them. ( I have recently earned my first round trip credit courtesy of Rapid Rewards!)
No but really, thank you for all that you do...and all that you enable others to do.
Cynthia E. Guzman
Student
Las Cruces, New Mexico
So a horse walks into a bar and one of the patrons asks "why the long face"? To which the horse replies - "I've been trying to get Southwest to buy an amazingly comprehensive integrated customer communication package from WhatCounts that includes: Email, RSS, bloging and mobile messaging for an incredibly reasonable price (PEANUTS), yet they keep developing the individual pieces themselves". The patron (somewhat perplexed that a horse has such a solution) asks "can it be purchsed as an appliance and installed at the client location"? "Yes" says the horse. To which the patron asks "And it's not more expensive than developing the solution internally"? "Nay" the horse replied.
Hi Jill,
Question for you - Everyone knows southwest now flies from Denver, which is great. But when will you start routing some of those flights through Kansas City? A couple of nonstops a day would remove that great barrier (the state of Kansas) between me and the mountains!
- dave
Ah, Southwest, how do I love thee, let me count the ways...
You started nonstop service between the city (in Arizona) I live in to a city close to the left coast of central California... but unfortunately priced it about $15 out of my reach each way.
Your customer service is some of the best I've ever dealt with... but when I have a quick question about something, I don't want to have to pick up the phone and dial a long string of numbers, navigate an automated menu, and then ask a 5 second question and get a 10 second answer. (I'd rather drop an email, quite honestly; if an answer is complex, or is unclear, a reply email could ask the customer to call customer care.)
(No complaint here!) Your gate agents are absolutely wonderful. The new computerized system you have in place sounds interesting (I hear the "boop" of the barcode being read, and then sometimes a "ding" if it needs a paper ticket attached). I've never had a piece of luggage go to Las Vegas when I was going to Phoenix or Tucson.
Your desk agents, too, are superb. My boyfriend has extreme anxiety; when he went to visit some friends in New Jersey (something which was able to happen because I volunteered to be bumped off of a seat in Spokane and got a $200 travel voucher), we went through Tulsa. I went home from there after 2 weeks, he went onward to NJ after one week. Anyway, there was some confusion about the state of the ticket since it was a Southwest ticket on an ATA codeshare route that had been discontinued -- but your desk agents got it all worked out, and made sure that if he had any problems that the SWA agents where he did end up flying to (I can't remember where, but it was either New York or New Jersey) could call her and understand -- and I had enough money left over to make sure he could get where he needed to through the northeastern train system.
I
Why not issue seats when reservations are made. The A B C lines are not to everyones favorite system. Standing on line I hear every one complain about the lines.
I'm interested how you get from Phoenix to Dallas. The Wright Amendment prevents Southwest from flying between the two cities, so you must at least be connecting somewhere...something normal Southwest customers would have to buy tickets for each segment separately for. I know Southwest is doing all they can to repeal the Wright Amendment, but I am interested how you get around it, or *gasp* if you take another airline.
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