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

Seriously. This *really* is what we do, and who we are.

Feb 04 2010
Some of you may have seen our tv ads recently talking about our Southwest's involvement in our communites. And I don't mean just the communities we serve--I mean all of the communities that Southwest Employees live in.  Unlike other airlines, Southwest has Employees that reside in every single city we serve, and at the same time we live in a lot of communities that Southwest doesn't even serve (... read more

MORE SWA GROWTH IN DENVER!

Jan 21 2010
(in the Key of F flat to the tune of "Rawhide" please:) Growin', growin', growin', Southwest keeps on growin', Gary is a-crowin', DENVERRRRRRRR..... Yep, buckaroos, Southwest is adding flights again to Denver!  Effective June 13th, we're using two aircraft to add a second nonstop between Denver and Ft. Lauderdale, a second Denver-Ontario, and a second Denver-Boise (or, as they say... read more

SUMMER, 2010: EVERYONE CAN PARTY!

Dec 16 2009
NEWS FLASH:  This morning, Summer, 2010 becomes bookable!  Seats are available for booking from today all the way out until August 13, giving us 241 days of bookable inventory, which I'm pretty sure is a new record (for Southwest, anyway). Those of you that have been longtime readers of this blog will remember the absolute thrashing I got a couple of years back about not being out for sale... read more

The Change

Nov 30 2009
It's always fascinated me how many different cycles life's relationships have, and how constant many of them are from culture to culture.  One of those "whapped" me right in the face last month. When we have children, the parent/child relationship is established naturally.  I suppose the urge, the need, to love and care for our babies is somewhere in our DNA.  We sustain our babies... read more

Putting the "Thanks" in Thanksgiving

Nov 24 2009
Exactly a week before Thanksgiving, about half of the Schedule Planning Department assembled on a fine November morning to volunteer at a house being built by Habitat for Humanity.  The reason only half of our group was there because the other half of Schedule Planning had been at the same house a week earlier for similar work;  the earlier group framed and raised the house, while my group sided... read more

MORE GROWTH in 2010--DENVER SCORES AGAIN!

Oct 22 2009
See.....didn't I tell you to keep watching for more surprises here on "Nuts About Southwest"? Today we're announcing more growth for our burgeoning Denver franchise, so I guess you could say that this is a (ahem) "Denver Post."  Starting on March 14th, we'll add new nonstop service in five markets: Denver-Hartford, Denver-Boise, Denver-Ontario, Denver-Detroit, and Denver-... read more

NEWS FLASH--NEW SERVICE COMING NEXT MAY!!!

Oct 21 2009
It's Media Day at Southwest's Galactic Headquarters here in Dallas, and we have a LOT of news to share.  2010's first new city....expansion at a long-time Southwest destination....once again Southwest is getting creative to respond to demand for our service! The biggest news of the day is that Southwest intends to begin service at the brand-new International Airport being built near Panama City... read more

MARCH SCHEDULE NOW BOOKABLE.....SO GO SOMEWHERE!

Oct 13 2009
Today we started accepting bookings from March 14 through May 7, 2010.  Party on, Spring Break!  Hippity-hop, Easter!  Hello, Passover!  Time to plan a trip and book something.  LET'S GO SOMEWHERE! We're adding over a hundred weekday flights to our network.   Some airports will see noticeable increases--Chicago gets 21 more daily flights, Baltimore gets 18, Orlando and Tampa each get 9 more... read more

BLESS YOU!

Sep 14 2009
The oddest thing happened to me recently.  I was walking through the frozen foods aisle at WalMart, and a fellow shopper just ahead of me let out a big, loud sneeze.  I said "Bless you!" and he looked up; we made brief eye contact.  He got this sheepish look on his face like I had just accused him of shoplifting; our carts passed; and I didn't think anything of it.  A few minutes later... read more

NOW ACCEPTING BOOKINGS THROUGH MARCH 12, 2010!

Sep 01 2009
This morning Southwest began accepting reservations for the January 9 - March 12, 2010 date range.  First---we're beginning new nonstop flights between St. Louis and two of our very newest destinations.  Southwest will add service on January 10th in the Boston-St. Louis and Minneapolis/St. Paul-St. Louis markets, both with two daily roundtrips each.  Not only are these markets very strong... read more