I have come to regard Southwest Airlines as my preferred carrier. This may not amaze you but it amazes me as I've had a history of them losing my luggage. My last trip, they didn't lose my suitcase…just damaged it to the point where I had to throw it out and buy another. So I oughta be shunning them, right?
Nope. Lately, every time I've had to figure out how to fly from here to there, my first stop has reflexively been the Southwest site. When I realized this, I stopped and asked me why. My answer to me? Every airline can and will make mistakes. When I've had them occur on American Airlines or Delta, I encountered a general indifference to making things right…and once on United, the people there were so totally uninterested (to the point of rudeness) that I will never voluntarily fly that airline again. But when things have gone awry for me on Southwest — when my luggage somehow heads for New Zealand…and I'm not going to New Zealand…and Southwest doesn't even fly to New Zealand…there's always some helpful Southwest employee eager to undo the damage. Plus, there's a simplicity to flying Southwest that I somehow like. It just feels so easy.
They have one kind of plane. It's real easy to get the lowest available fare. You just go to their site and pick from the three kinds. The website is simple and if you have their free iPhone app, it's a breeze to check flight status or change your reservation. Then you just go and get on the plane and they have a pretty decent on-time record. Okay, so they lose my luggage. If I excluded every airline that's done that, I'd have to travel by blimp. Mostly though, I'm impressed by their customer service. It gives me the same good feeling I get at Costco: These people want to be working here and they want to help me.
At a time when most of the airlines are racking up huge losses due to inept management, Southwest has managed to turn a profit for the last 37 years. I found this old article by my friend Joe Brancatelli that explains how they've done it. And I also found this new article by my friend Joe Brancatelli about Southwest's recent acquisition of AirTran and what it may mean. I hope it means more Southwest flights and no price increases.