Blog Team

bowen
Author Since 2006

Bill Owen

So let’s cut right to the chase. I’m a fat, 54-year old white guy. I dance badly but cook wonderfully. I’m not losing my hair—it’s just moving slowly from my head down to my ears, shoulders and back. The bags under my eyes are almost too big to qualify as carryons. My spider veins look like a roadmap of Croatia. And I’m happier and more contented than I have ever been in my life. At work, I’m responsible for making sure that the Network Planning Department is prepared with tools, data, and processes to enable them to write and publish any kind of schedules that the Company, or the industry, dictate. And, of course, there's this gig, where I get to write about my Company and my life. Honestly, I get paid to do what I LUV to do! I know all the secrets of what’s coming in the future, and I know where all the “bodies are buried” from the past. How cool is that? At home, I’m the father of an amazing, 27-year-old policeman (you guys know him--I’ve often written about The Officer), who has a wonderful wife and now there is my granddaughter VIVIAN! I'm also the stepfather to two adorable stepdaughters who love to push buttons (most often, mine!), and the partner of a wonderful man whose long-term consumption of my cooking has recently led him to be placed on Lipitor. *sigh* I’m part of a wonderfully historic church, have a brother, one remaining 91-year-old precious aunt, dozens of wonderful cousins, and a gaggle of friends I’ve known for over 40 years. You may call it an extended, reality version of “Modern Family.” I call it "heaven." Either way, it’s my life….and I’m happy to give the blogosphere the inside view!

Fun Facts

Languages

English, Airline, Texan, Parent, and Food. I hope to eventually learn Grandparent.

Hobbies

Working, travel, cooking, writing, working, cleaning, parenting, living, and working.

Family

Son, The Officer, and his wife, the DIL, and the newest addition--MY GRANDBABY CRICKET!! Partner, Kent. Stepdaughters, the Princess of Darkness and the Space Cadet.

Pets

Two spoiled dogs, both rescue: Abby, a 7 year old 5-lb Chihuahua/Rat Terrier mix. Thinks she’s a T-Rex. And Marley, a 7-year-old 160-lb yellow lab. Thinks he’s a lap dog.

High School

Irving High School, Irving, Texas (Class of 1976)

College

Freshman/Sophomore years at Texas Tech. Graduated from University of Texas at Arlington.

Favorite Sports Teams

You’re kidding, right?

Favorite Travel Destinations

London, Paris, Hawaii (all islands), New Orleans, and Clearwater, Florida

Your Favorite Southwest Story

So many. Too many. Dozens of Ronald McDonald House dinners. Meeting amazing SWA Family members. But several stories really stand out, most shared here. One, the story of how my SWA Family just did what they do—but enabled an anonymous Customer to have a chance to say goodbye to her dying mother. See the story of Connection Lady here. And two, the absolute comment-flaming I got from the blogosphere about our “days-of-inventory” and mysterious schedule opening procedures, and how we changed corporate policy because of feedback received on “Nuts!” Read the evisceration here, and the results here. Of course—the opportunity to do my sweet Mother’s obit here on “Nuts.” And…the infamous squirrel story here.

Recent Activity:

Recent Activity Posts

November, December, and the Holidays—Now Available for Sale

May 07 2013
We’re now accepting bookings all the way to January 5, 2014, which (of course) includes Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, and New Year’s.  This schedule time period is always THE HARDEST SCHEDULE of each year to prepare and publish because of the extreme traffic fluctuations driven by holiday travel.  Couple that with the fact that each of those three holiday periods behave... read more

Flashback Fridays: At Long Last … LLOVE

Mar 15 2013
About a year ago in a Flashback Friday post, Brian mentioned an entertainment center inside Love Field that existed in the mid-1970s called LLOVE, but he was unable to find a lot of information out about it and even less in the way of pictures.  He and I had chatted about my high-school memories of LLOVE, and we were always going to jointly do a LLOVE post but never got around to it.... read more

NO TRICKS, JUST TREATS! SCHEDULE NOW OPEN THROUGH NOVEMBER 1, 2013!

Mar 04 2013
Leaves are barely beginning to bud here in Dallas, but in Network Planning our thoughts are on Columbus Day, college football, and Libran birthdays.Today we opened the Southwest and AirTran schedules out for sale through November 1, giving us 242 days of bookable inventory.  No full city conversions this time, but we continue the gradual conversion of AirTran’s San Juan service by... read more

CODESHARE JUST GOT A LOT BIGGER!

Feb 25 2013
This weekend, Southwest and AirTran took a giant leap forward toward fully connecting our two route networks!  Effective for travel beginning Sunday, March 10th, Southwest and AirTran are now selling shared itineraries between the following 39 cities: Albany Atlanta Austin Baltimore/Washington Boston Buffalo... read more

Grand Rapids Joins SWA Network: August/September 2013 Schedule Open!

Feb 04 2013
Today Southwest and AirTran extended our open-for-sale date from August 9 out to Friday, September 27, giving Customers 235 days of bookable inventory.  During this roughly seven-week date range, we’re continuing the integration of AirTran into the Southwest network, transitioning out of peak summer travel by making changes in some of our seasonal markets, and making permanent changes in... read more

Extra Service to the Big Easy for the Big Game!

Jan 22 2013
It’s the 49ers vs. the Ravens in the big game!  As soon as the games in Foxborough and Atlanta were over, both Southwest and AirTran got busy adding extra flights to accommodate the additional demand to the NFL Championship in New Orleans on February 3.We’ve added the following:Thursday, January 31: Atlanta-New Orleans:  One extra AirTran flight for a total of five nonstops that day... read more

EXTRA SEASONAL FLORIDA SERVICE IN 2013!

Dec 11 2012
Happy Holidays, everyone!  Today, Southwest is adding new seasonal nonstops in several Florida markets to make it easier to lose the wind chill and gain a tan line! Effective February 15 - April 13 of next year, we’re bringing back daily roundtrip nonstops between Orlando and Oklahoma City (which we haven’t flown since 2008!), and adding NEW nonstop service between Orlando and Little... read more

THE BIG BOWL GAME—Extra Sections Available!

Dec 04 2012
Southwest Airlines is making the right call for college sports fans planning to travel to Miami for the Bowl Game on Jan. 7, 2013.  Today we introduced additional flights to accommodate Customers traveling to South Florida, including service not normally offered between Birmingham (BHM) and Ft. Lauderdale (FLL), specifically for the big game.   Additional flights added to... read more

WICHITA JOINS THE SOUTHWEST NETWORK AND MORE SERVICE TO SAN JUAN AND CABO SAN LUCAS…START MAKING PLANS FOR NEXT SUMMER!

Nov 19 2012
Here we are, barely past the first freeze of the season in the Dallas area, and Southwest Airlines already has our mind on next summer!  Today we opened the Southwest and AirTran schedules for sale through August 9, 2013.  As usual there are lots of changes to talk about—we’ve really had our schedule optimizer working overtime to make travel more convenient than ever for Summer ’13! As... read more

FOUR... MORE... CITIES?

Oct 22 2012
Today, we opened our April/May 2013 Schedules, and effective April 14, we will convert AirTran Airways service at Charlotte, North Carolina; Flint, Mich..; Portland, Maine; and Rochester, New York, to Southwest service. We’ll also open sales out through May 31, 2013, giving us 221 days of bookable inventory. Lots of changes to discuss … so read on!At Charlotte, Southwest will transfer AirTran’s... read more

Recent Activity Luvs

8,050,936: Patently Cool!

Feb 27 2012
Here’s a riddle for you:  what do Zeppo Marx, Harry Connick Jr., Julie Newmar, Abraham Lincoln, Marlon Brando, Jamie Lee Curtis, me, and five other members of the Southwest Airlines Network Planning Department have in common? Answer:  we’ve all been named as inventors in a United States Patent! It’s true!  Six of us in SWA’s Network Planning Department were named in a U.S. Patent... read more

Extra Sections for the Big Game! [UPDATED!]

Jan 26 2012
WE HEARD YOU, NEW ENGLAND FANS!  SUPER EXTRA SECTIONS BETWEEN PROVIDENCE AND INDIANAPOLIS NOW AVAILABLE FOR SUPER GAME WEEKEND! After I blogged yesterday about our Super Extra Sections to/from Indianapolis, lots of you very rightly corrected our shocking lack of knowledge about the New England Patriots and which airport is closer to them.  And here’s our response!  Now... read more

SCHEDULE EXTENDED—NOW ACCEPTING BOOKINGS THROUGH SEPTEMBER 28, 2012!

Jan 22 2012
Today, we put out the Southwest and AirTran schedules for sale from August 12 through September 28, 2012.  And if you thought some of the previous schedule changes I’ve walked you guys through have been complex…stand by for a NEW standard of complexity!  Conversion, network harmonization, market changes, and a smaller schedule design that reflects the normal Customer demand changes... read more

NEW SCHEDULE ALERT!

Feb 08 2011
Southwest’s schedule is really “out there!” Today we’re putting our schedule out for sale from August 13th through September 30th which (obviously!) includes the Labor Day Holiday period. This schedule’s design reflects the annual, seasonal shift from what we expect to be a really busy spring and a WAY busy summer into a slightly more normal ‘bucolic’ fall. Compared to the summer ’11... read more

Navigating the Storm: A Captain's Blog

Feb 04 2011
This picture is of Dallas-Love Field, as seen from our deck at Headquarters on Friday morning, February 4, 2011.Our new Blog Team covers many areas of Southwest Airlines, including the areas hit hard by recent winter storms. We thought it would be interesting to share with you a Captain's Blog from the people who experienced it first-hand. Transmission from Capt. Joe Gautille, Feb. 1 at 1034... read more