Archive

Archive for September 2009

Southwest doubles frequent flier credits, taking advantage of increased air traffic and new destinations

Sep 29 2009
Last week Southwest Airlines brought out its big guns to keep load factors healthy and keep air traffic growing. They announced double credits for all flights between now and October 31. While other airlines have been involved in significant cutbacks to service, Southwest has been deploying its fleet and fine-tuning its schedule keeping their overall number of flights relatively constant. to... read more

Southwest Airlines Launches Fare Sale

Sep 29 2009
Fares are falling! Fares are falling! Fares are falling super low on southwest.com.  Southwest is offering Customers fares starting as low as $59 one-way to select destinations. Fares must be purchased by Oct. 15, 2009, and are available for travel every day except Fridays and Sundays from Oct. 13, 2009, through Feb. 11, 2010. To get these special fares online, visit www.southwest.com. Examples... read more

Q & A With Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly

Sep 29 2009
With business travel plummeting, consumers demanding deep discounts and oil prices fluctuating wildly, the airline industry is facing one of its worst downturns ever. So when Southwest Airlines (LUV:  9.79*, +0.01, +0.10%) became one of the few carriers to eke out a profit in the second quarter, you'd think it was time for CEO Gary Kelly to celebrate by tapping that beer vending machine sitting... read more

BLOG: Come Fly With Me

Sep 28 2009
She Says: Quit Kicking My Seat: The Oblivious Traveler I love to travel. I hate the part of traveling that requires one to get from point A to point B. Not because I don’t enjoy a quick plane ride every once in a while, but because I hate 90% of the other people that I’m required to travel with. I blame it on the unconsciousness amongst us that can be characterized in the following categories... read more

“Extreme Customer Service”: The Most Effective Social Media Strategy

Sep 28 2009
I recently went on a business trip where I encountered “extreme customer service” every step of the way.  I was so delighted that I rhapsodized about my experience via Twitter and Facebook during and after my trip.  I’m hardly alone in using social media as a way to instantly communicate my pleasure (and sometimes displeasure) to a circle of friends and followers. Given the freewheeling frontier... read more

On Twitter, Only Some Airlines Soar

Sep 28 2009
Attention, passengers: This is your airline Twittering. Yeah, like everybody else. But in the cramped, bandwidth-starved confines of airport concourses and airplanes, Twitter -- available not just on Web-connected cellphones (http://m.twitter.com) but even on those that handle only text messaging -- can help airlines and passengers talk to each other. As a result, some airlines can't seem to... read more

Cranky Flier Talks to Southwest CEO Gary Kelly About New Airplanes, International Flying, More

Sep 25 2009
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly was one of the featured speakers on the airline CEO panel at NBTA earlier this month. After his talk, he took a few minutes to sit down with me, Johnny Jet, and Dan Webb (from Things in the Sky) to answer any questions we might have. I’m not sure how, but this draft fell through the cracks and didn’t get published. I still think it’s relevant and interesting, so, here... read more

Southwest Airlines Makes Newsweek's 2009 Green Rankings

Sep 22 2009
The inaugural NEWSWEEK Green Rankings recognizes those efforts. For more than a year, the magazine worked with leading environmental researchers KLD Research & Analytics, Trucost, and CorporateRegister.com to rank the 500 largest U.S. companies based on their actual environmental performance, policies, and reputation. to learn more, visit: http://greenrankings.newsweek.com/companies/view/... read more

Southwest founder honored by air races

Sep 21 2009
Southwest Airlines' legendary co-founder Herb Kelleher has another pin on his already-crowded lapel: Man of the Year as awarded Thursday night by the Reno Air Race Association. "It's one of the greatest honors I have. I love planes. I love the people of Reno," Kelleher said in a phone interview from the Reno National Championship Air Races before heading to the ceremony at the Grand... read more

Southwest Shows How Offering Incentives can Increase Your ROI

Sep 18 2009
Southwest Airlines announced a new campaign today that offers a set of round-trip tickets as an incentive for subscribers, new or old, to open emails. In email marketing today one of the biggest struggles is getting people to actually open the email. Obviously, subscribers know there’s something of value from a company they’re already getting a newsletter from otherwise they wouldn’t have... read more