Blog Team
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.
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Recent Activity Posts
Eat a Georgia Peach. Suntan on a Beach. Double-Diamond Reach. Time to Make Spring Break Plans!
By: Bill Owen 
Sep 05 2011
Holiday? What Holiday!
Today, Labor Day, Southwest opened our Spring Break 2012 flight schedule
for sale, adding availability from March 10th through April 9th,
2012. Front-and-center in our schedule
for next spring is the addition of two new nonstop markets from Atlanta—service
to Las Vegas as well as Phoenix! We’ve
timed our flights in these markets to... read more
Tales of Summer Vacation
By: Bill Owen
Aug 08 2011
When I was a kid growing up here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area (when the
population was 1/3 of what it is today), Summer was my absolute favorite
season. No school. Playing every day with my friends (most of
whom I still see regularly) from when we woke up until when we had to be
home. Swimming in the public pool. It was every schoolkid’s dream! And there are other special, very sensory... read more
SCHEDULES EXTENDED TO MARCH 9, 2012
By: Bill Owen
Jul 25 2011
We extended our schedule this morning to March 9th of next year, giving us 228 days of bookable inventory. And there are some changes, but I’m sure you guys expected that! This is actually two pieces of schedule work in one—the January 8-February 11 schedule is completely different from the February 12-March 9 one—making reporting about this new schedule just a tad complex! We’... read more
New Milwaukee Service This September... and the Future Cometh!
By: Bill Owen
Jun 13 2011
So here we go! The first joint schedule move by
Southwest Airlines and our subsidiary, AirTran Airways—but most definitely, not
the last. And we begin with Milwaukee!!!Effective September 6th, Southwest will add two
daily flights between Milwaukee and St. Louis. We’ll also add one
Southwest Milwaukee-Denver nonstop to complement AirTran’s existing flight in
that market, bringing... read more
Holiday Travel Alert: Now Accepting Bookings Through January 6, 2012!
By: Bill Owen
May 24 2011
Airline Weddings... How Royal!
By: Bill Owen
Apr 28 2011
As all of the Employees of Southwest Airlines and the Crew
Members of AirTran Airways get ready to celebrate next week the “marriage” of
our Companies on Monday, another wedding is on my mind. Tomorrow, a member of the extended family of
Airline Employees is saying “I Do.”
In London.
At Westminster Abbey.
To a Prince, the heir-apparent to the British throne.
AND I LUV
IT!
I’m talking... read more
Flashback Fridays: Newark Memories
By: Bill Owen
Apr 08 2011
Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend the launch of Southwest’s service at
Newark Liberty International Airport. Inaugural service festivities are
always a lot of fun, with tons of excitement, celebration, and SWA Spirit, and
this one was no different! To get up to Newark for the fun, I was
one of over 100 Southwest Employees who rode aboard the “ferry flight,” a
non-... read more
THE STORY OF THE "GARAGE-O-MIZER"
By: Bill Owen
Aug 07 2006
If you were to ask me how we write the Southwest Airlines flight schedule, my answer would be much different today than it was just a few years ago. When I joined Southwest in 1990, we had just over 100 airplanes, a little over 1,000 flights a day, and about eight to nine weeks to analyze and re-write our airlines schedule by hand;which we did five times a year.
Fast forward to 1999. By that... read more
NEW INVENTORY FOR SALE: OCTOBER 1 THROUGH NOVEMBER 4, 2011, NOW OPEN!
By: Bill Owen
Mar 14 2011
Good morning, everyone!
(And for those of you on Spring Break this week…enjoy, you’ve earned it!)
Today we extended our open-for-sale date all the way out to the "just before we
finally get back the hour we lost yesterday morning" when we “fall back” on
November 6th!
Overall, our October Base
Schedule represents only a slight increase in flights—just 44 more weekday
flights... read more
NEW SCHEDULE ALERT!
By: Bill Owen
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
Latest LUV Mail
From: Cynthia Moynihan
Tampa,Florida
An Act of Kindness
May 20 2013
Going to an airport and getting on a plane and traveling to
unfamiliar territory takes on a whole new meaning when one...
