travel

Sarcastic SOUTHWEST Culture

Southwest Airplane - Icon of a brilliant sarcastic culture As a family, we fly Southwest exclusively. I'm sure my kids will be confused the first time they have to board a regular airline. I can hear their questions:

"What you mean I have to sit in this assigned seat?"

Well, this airline feels like they must maintain greater control, and in doing so it greatly slows down the boarding process. Like a lot of things in life, the more you try to control it the less you actually do.

"Why is there no room for my carry-on bags?"

Because this airline charges $25 to check a bag, so it incents passengers to bring their bags on the plane, but they don't have enough room for everyone to bring their bag on the plane, so they slow the departure even more by having to check the bags of the last few people on the plane.

In addition to the great service, we enjoy the people who work for Southwest. They are fun. Flying to New Hampshire for a family vacation, we had a layover in Chicago and had to change planes. As we were exiting our first plane, I overheard our pilot being greeted by the pilot of the next crew. "You're late," he said with a giant smirk.

Our pilot looks at his wrist in an exaggerated manner and replies, "You better check your watch because I'm actually 10 minutes early."

And then here's the part that hit me. The first pilot says, "I'm Terry," and the two shake hands like men who have admired each other's work for years and are finally meeting for the first time. They were two pilots who didn't even know each other, and their greeting started in a sarcastic exchange. That speaks volumes for the Southwest culture, and why I LUV Southwest.