Is there a more appropriate place to blog than at 35,000 feet? Something about having my head in the clouds has inspired me. I'm on my third connection and third different plane from Dallas Love Field to Pittsburgh (damn Wright Amendment!).
As I changed from plane to plane I couldn't help but think about a recent USA Today article that defined Southwest Airlines as " the giant discounter popular with leisure travelers." For 21 years I've heard us categorized as a leisure airline and that dumbfounds me (although most things dumbfound me). We fly 29 times a day between Dallas and Houston...22 times between Oakland and Los Angeles...and we have five or more daily flights between more than a hundred city pairs. Grandma certainly doesn't need that kind of frequency to visit the grandchildren and surfer dudes usually don't want to travel and return the same day. But for some reason we continue to be classified as a leisure carrier. I think it's a conspiracy... propaganda put out by our competitors or simply assumptions made by reporters because our fares are so inexpensive that families can actually afford to fly.
I've even heard it said that you don't see business travelers on Southwest. Huh? What exactly does a business traveler look like? Business suits and a briefcase? Hardly. If you stand in a gate area and start observing closely, you begin to figure out who is traveling on business by what they carry rather than how they dress. A Blackberry tends to be a dead giveaway, a laptop might indicate a business traveler if they are working on a spreadsheet as opposed to playing computer games (although business people do play computer games). Today I'm traveling on business in a Polo shirt and blue jeans…with my Blackberry strapped to my belt.
My point is that Southwest Airlines has never been given the credit it deserves for carrying millions of business travelers each year. With the industry's best business web site (in my humble opinion anyway), SWABIZ, it's time to get a little recognition.
Comments
Funny. I've always seen Southwest as a business travelers bread and butter.
Maybe because I read Nuts! in college.
Southwest Airlines is the PIONEER of true low-fares.
Its only the others who attempt to be a "Me-Too" product!
Southwest is an ORIGINAL and can't be duplicated!
Richard - Tell us a little about the "missing link" in Southwest's route map. There is absolutely no question Southwest can compete priofitably in the New York market. Southwest has done very well in Philadelphia. When is New York coming on board? (Please don't mention Islip / Long Island, its NOT New York City)
I didn't know Southwest Airlines was ever regarded as a leisure airline, I think of Southwest Airlines as the no-nonsense business-person's shuttle. Not traveling between BOS and MIA? Southwest's got you covered if you're travelling between cities that are important to you (the business traveler) but not high enough volume for the "others." Southwest Airlines' business model most closely aligns with the needs of the domestic business travelers.
In response to the comments about your policy of having passengers buy two seats, I think it's fine to enforce if the passenger actually can't fit in one seat. But your current policy, as it stands, is that the flight crew can "eyeball" a person before they even get on the plane and decide whether or not they fit ... and people who fit just fine are being told that they can't. THAT is discrimination. That is, it's okay to have a policy. But you have to have an ACTUAL policy that is enforced consistently and reasonably, not just choose people based on how they look.
In referance to the 2 people who commented about larger passengers, I agree with the policy. I am 5'10" and 350, so I am not a stick either. I have walked in the plane... and got off the plane when there were only middle seats left. If the plane was full and I had someone squished between me and someone else or the wall... I got off.
Did it inconvience me.... a little. But I respect other peoples space... and unless I have to be somewhere... i.e. meeting, family emergency... I will take the next one.
I try to leave a day early anyway for my business trips, so I am not rushed. Most of the time the agents appreciate it and will "take care of me" on the next flight.
Its your choice, fly who you want, when you want... no one is forcing you to fly on Southwest. I avoid another Dallas based carrier like the plague, for a couple reasons, thats my choice.
Have a great day, and everyone be safe.
Chris
Wow, IÃ
I completely disagree with the last comment...........I too was a business traveller for years and at least 3 times a month flew on
SW, but as a full size woman who travels with a full size man, it got too scary to wonder when someone would jump out a
pull you off a plane and humiliate you. We even had free tickets that have expired, out of fear of being pulledoff the flight.
I once flew with someone who had been travelling for days, on at least 5 sw flights and the 6th flight they pulled her off and
made her pay for an extra seat. She wasn't too big on the other 5 but this one she must have had too many peanuts. If you can get the seatbelt on than you should be allowed to fly without question.
Wow Richard, judging by the comments, it looks like we aren't REALLY thought of as just a leisure carrier. I like Laura's spin on it - that we're fun, so people associate that with leisure. Before that lucky day that I was hired here, I was a Southwest business Customer. My company was located in Cityplace so Love Field and the low fares were better for us. We even traveled on Southwest when the corporation directed us to use another carrier exclusively. WE thought of Southwest as a great airline for business travel.
As has been alluded to, I think some of the "leisure airline" perception has to do with the airports that Southwest doesn't serve. Those "expensive, congested" airports tend to be in business centers -- MIA, SFO, JFk/LGA, ATL, DCA, etc., and are not served by Southwest. (DEN and PHL were in the same boat until recently).
Southwest also lacks some of the "perks" that some business travelers want -- first class, reserved seats, express security lines for very frequent travelers, lounges, etc.
On the other hand, Southwest does offer a lot that business travelers do want, and I see plenty of business travelers when I fly on Southwest.
this is the biggest waste of time swa could be doing in a time of high fuel costs, and when you are supposed to be cutting negative spending
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