Shaun R. Haber

Spinwatch: Southwest (Finally) Apologizes To Mini-Skirted Customer: This is yet one more reason why I love Southwest Airlines. They admit to their mistakes and are “somehow” able to spin them into good PR opps.

My favorite personal Southwest experience earlier this year:

I was on a flight from San Diego to Oakland on Februrary 14. Halfway thru the flight, one of the flight attendants announces on the P.A. that Valentine’s Day is the Southwest’s favorite holiday and they have a special treat for us. Soon afterwards, another attendant starts walking down the aisle carrying a basket of chocolate hearts, handing one out for each customer.

A simple gesture, but a big one… especially considering they were (probably) doing that on every flight that day.

Favorite 2nd experience last year:

Our plane was late arriving to the gate, so to speed up the boarding time the attendants put a race clock by the gate ticking down from 14min. Our goal was to completely board the plane, stow away our luggage in under 14min. If we succeeded, one person picked at random wins a $50 voucher. We succeeded. Somebody one (it wasn’t me). Quite amusing.

Other moments include attendants singing Proud Mary when taking off from LAX, replace “rolling down the river” with “rolling down the runway”, and also landing in San Diego with the attendant pretending to be a jockey slowing down her horse. I think the more kids on a flight, the goofier the attendants get, but in a very respectable manner… if that makes sense.

Now if only they had satellite TV with a flight-tracker channel like Jet Blue. Oh, and WiFi.