Southwest Airlines Community

God bless every man and woman who is currently or has ever been a member of The United States Armed Forces. They go places they don't want to go, do things they don't want to do, all in order that I can enjoy the freedoms to go where I want to go, and do what I want to do. And for each man or woman serving, there are almost always parents, a spouse, and/or children who also sacrifice, foregoing companionship so their loved one can serve with honor. Think about the job description - you have to be willing to die to protect the freedoms of people you don't even know, because you believe in your country and the way of life it offers. Wow! If you've ever worn the uniform, please accept my thanks and appreciation for what you do. ... View more

When I first started flying on a regular basis, all of the pilots were older than me. After a while, as I flew more often, I noticed they were letting younger and younger pilots command an aircraft. Really, some of them were the same age as myself! Then it happened, they must have lowered the age limit yet again, because I noticed pilots even younger than myself walking through airports. Pretty scary, huh? Now - good grief - they are letting kids fly the planes. Maybe 30 years ago the mandatory retire at 60 years old was a good idea for pilots. Today, with the advances in medicine and overall better health habits, there is no valid reason to keep the retirement age at 60. A 65 year old today is probably mentally sharper than a 60 year old was just 30 years ago. It seems a shame to remove many years of experience from the cockpit based on an outdated rule - I want my pilots experienced. And, I like my pilot to be older than me. West Texas Blog Boy ... View more

LOL - that's one of the smallest damages my Amex card has ever seen. ... View more

Just what I need - another airline blog to keep track of. Between this one (my favorite), USA Today's "In The Sky" and FlyerTalk I think I'm covered - but I'll be checking out the Dallas Morning News' - maybe I'll become a regular there too. I never knew about the Airways Classics book you wrote. i followed the link and I now owe Amex another $10.10, but I can't wait to read it. As to the proposed livery of the Lockheed Electras that Air Southwest intended to operate, take the name off the plane, remove the gold sun from the tail, and it screams "Delta". ... View more

Paco Says: "I now write for the blog in the future for a job I donà ... View more

Spirit is one fantastic airline magazine, I always read it before the SkyMall catalog. But the Skymall catalog is beyond interesting, there really are some wild and wonderful things. But you ever notice how once you get home, that widget you just thought was the greatest thing on earth (while you were 30,000 feet up) has lost some of its appeal upon return to terra firma? I've still given SkyMall more than a few of my "impulse purchase" dollars over the years. ... View more

Congratulations Brian, I'm sure you now have a well deserved corner office. ... View more

The gold medal is even more impressive when you click the link and learn that PAMA = Professional Aviation Maintenance Association. I guess it's no surprise that Sothwest mechanics are the best in the industry, it follows right along with every SWA division or department being the best they can be - which makes them the de-facto best in the industry. Congratulations to a group the traveling public rarely, if ever, meets. ... View more

Wow - a whole year has gone by since my favorite blog started. Doesn't seem possible. Thanks to Brian and every member of the "internal" blog team for your work. And thanks to all the regular contributors, it's the loyal and fanatical regulars here that really make this community what it is. I think you should invite all the Nuts About Southwest fans to next year's party. April 26, 2008 is a Saturday, I'll bet more than a few would be willing to fly into Love Field that day. West Texas Blog Boy ... View more

HOLY ----! Those landings are unreal. I had to watch the video a few times, jaw dropping each time. And - it looks like they are landing at a slight angle to the runway, so a slight overshoot would put them on dirt instead of pavement. WOW! ... View more

Like the others, I too am enjoying this thread. I know I mentioned earlier that a good friend gave me a copy of "This Is Your Captain Speaking". At that time I had just glanced through the book. But now I've read the entire thing and must state again how fascinating this book is. The book cover and reviews make it appear that this book is for people who are scared of flying. Maybe the 'scared of flying' demographic was the original reason for starting the book, but the book has a lot to offer for those who love flying and think turbulence makes for a more interesting and fun flight. Great posts from Captain Ray. A great book from Captain Ray. I hope to get to meet him on a flight someday. West Texas Blog Boy. ... View more

Good to see you back Bill. I think the appropriate Latin phrase would be à ... View more

It took awhile to get registered (AOL's email doesn't play well with their registration process), but I was able to place my vote this morning. And I agree with USS Blog Boy - we CAN beat Google :-) WTBB ... View more

Captain Ray's posts are my favorites on this blog. Love the detailed explanations, the background information and the specific trivia that he throws in. For instance, I never even considered why ATC would prefer the pilot to face the sunrise or sunset - but it makes sense. Now a question Captain - at an airport that isn't too busy, and when the wind and sun are not factors, can you ask to take off in a particular direction? Think El Paso to San Diego. If you depart runway 8R, you start facing east, keep east until you can make the left turn to avoid Biggs field, continue turning left until you can cross the Franklin Mountains over the Anthony Gap - now you are finally heading west - towards San Diego. But if you could depart runway 26L (see, I did pay attention to the explanations a few weeks ago about runway numbers), you just need to make a little left hook to avoid the Franklins and you are pointed towards San Diego. I'm guessing this would save 15 miles and five minutes off the flight time. With fuel prices where they are, this choice of departure direction could amount to significant savings for any airline. I would certainly hope that if all is equal, ATC would let you choose your runway. I finally got a copy of Captain Ray's book, it is as fascinating as his blog posts. I recommend it highly for anybody who enjoys this blog. ... View more

DUNKS J70 PMM J94 OBK IOW STJ J18 FTI J244 ZUN EAGUL1 "Anyone know what that is?" Detroit to Phoenix ... View more

Two boys were arguing when the teacher entered the room. The teacher asked, "Why are you arguing?" One boy answered, "We found a ten-dollar bill and decided to give it to whoever tells the biggest lie." "You should be ashamed of yourselves," said the teacher. "When I was your age, I didn't even know what a lie was." The boys gave the ten dollars to the teacher. ... View more

When a mother returned from the grocery store, her small son pulled out the box of animal crackers he had begged for, and then he spread the animal-shaped crackers all over the kitchen counter. "What are you doing?" his mom asked. "The box says you can't eat them if the seal is broken," the boy explained. "I'm looking for the seal." ... View more

Joe was known as a supreme tightwad, so when he died, everybody was stunned to hear that Joe's will provided $30,000 for an elaborate funeral. As the last guests departed the affair, his wife, Helen, turned to her oldest friend. "Well, I'm sure Joe would be pleased," she said. "You told me about the $30,000 in the will," replied her friend Jody, who lowered her voice and leaned in close. "But how much did this really cost?" "All of it," said Helen. "Thirty thousand dollars." "No!" Jody exclaimed. "I mean, it was a nice service, but $30,000?" "The funeral was $6,000," Helen answered. "The wake, food and drinks were another $1,000. The rest went for the memorial stone." Jody computed quickly. "$23,000 for a memorial stone? My goodness, how big is it?!" Helen held up her hand: "Three and a half carats." ... View more

Thanks for sharing Francisco - I certainly look forward to continued chapters of the USS Blog Boy Diaries. It must have been awesome watching the ship head out. Maybe, somehow, my wonderful wife and I can take a three day vacation to San Diego and watch the Nimitz steam back into port. West Texas Blog Boy ... View more

I think Marcus was the first to mention candy corn. Amazing what a cult CC has become here on this blog. For the record, I cannot stand the stuff. And I was expecting something - anything - here yesterday in honor of April Fools Day. I remember the heart candy on Valentine's Day, was prepared to see candy corn. ... View more

Great post Carole, one of the best in this blog. It really makes one think, and be glad for all the training and preparation - there's obviously a whole lot that goes on - in advance - that the flying public is never aware of. 200 in flight medical emergencies per day? That sounds like a huge number, but best I can tell, about 2 million people fly each day in the United States alone, ( http://www.bts.gov/xml/air_traffic/src/index.xml#TwelveMonthsSystem ) so I'll guess 6 million people fly each day worldwide. Just a WAG. So, between one in 10,000 and on in 30,000 passengers has a medical emergency. But still, when you think about what has to happen on all 200 daily flights with a medical emergency, it boggles the mind. I'm guessing severe emergencies would require a landing at the nearest airport. Almost all medical emergency flights would require priority landing, priority taxiing/gate assignment and/or being met by an ambulance. I especially found interesting and fascinating your comment, "They [MedLink] assume responsibility for the actions of a Flight Attendant or medical volunteer when they are acting under the direction of MedLink." Obviously legal considerations must be a factor in an in flight medical emergency - the terms and conditions of the contract between SWA and MedLink must be intriguing to say the least. Two interesting links when Googling "In Flight Medical Emergency": http://www.faa.gov/education_research/research/med_humanfacs/aeromedical/aircraftaccident/medicalemergency/index.cfm http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/321/7272/1336?ck=nck ... View more

"No wonder this spinny thing won't go round and round - look at all that candy corn in there." ... View more

Hi Martin! Welcome to this wild nutty blog. As you can see, opening a package of King Nuts can sometimes be a challenge. I remember when The Azar Nut Company packaged the peanuts for SWA. Edward Azar is a distant cousin of mine and I see his wife fairly often. Just for your information, their nuts had just as many challenges in the ripping-em opening department. Oh - don't listen to anybody above who says dry roasted peanuts are better than honey roasted peanuts. Now - according to http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/press/factsheet.html#Fun%20Facts , SWA served 93.8 million bags of peanuts last year. Then http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/press/factsheet.html#1999%20Financial%20Statistics states that SWA had 96.3 million passengers. That means 2.5 million people didn't get peanuts. I'll bet they wanted honey roasted and all that was available was dry roasted. West Texas Blog Boy ... View more

Disagree with Kim's postscript - Kim is an absolute and total nut. One of many qualities I admire in him. But I digress and need to respectfully disagree with Mary too. Yes, there is supposed to be a "tiny little tear on the right side of the package thatà ... View more

Wow - what a cool story. I'm sure USS Blog Boy was more than just a little surprised to see Blog Boy himself and the other members of the SWA blog team when he got of the plane. And I echo the sentiments of others about our appreciation for your service. You and hundreds of thousands of others in the US Military go places you don't want to go, do things you don't want to do, just so we can live in the greatest country in the world. Thanks Francisco. Thanks all of you who proudly wear the uniform. ... View more

I'm glad you had a chuckle Colleen. If I had to wager a guess, the Employees of SWA keep your bobblehead is a safe, warm and dry location and treat it with respect. This sure is a fun blog, you never know what's going to happen next! ... View more

You know, if it wasn't for southwest.com, my wife and I might not have married. You see, she lived in Tulsa and I live in El Paso. (We met in the Phoenix airport.) Back in 1998 when we started dating, Southwest was offering two credits for each flight booked online. Well, to get from El Paso to Tulsa (or vice-versa) you had no choice but to change planes in Dallas. It was often actually cheaper to book a round trip from ELP to DAL, then another round trip from DAL to TUL. Of course, this also had the side benefit of doubling the already doubled RR credits. So, it was: ELP --> DAL - 2 RR Segments DAL --> TUL - 2 more RR Segments A wonderful weekend (or longer), then TUL --> DAL - Yet another 2 RR Segments DAL --> ELP - A final 2 more RR Segments. Wow! One round trip and there were eight credits in my account. Another round trip and we had a free round trip! And of course, back in those days the free round trip had no capacity controls, so it was often a matter of waking up one morning and deciding to head to Tulsa. Or Tulsa headed to El Paso. Then add in the fare sales (this was long before Ding), sometimes as low as $78 RT ELP to DAL and $38 RT DAL to TUL , and I was buying advance tickets for almost every weekend. I was in Love. (Still am!) Of course, with the eight credits per trip, it was not long until I received my first companion pass. With a pocket full of free trips and a companion pass, she could fly down here and we could fly anywhere (San Diego was a favorite) for nothing! Well, we've been married since late 2000, I might travel nine times a year now instead of three or four times a month. The companion pass is long gone, but our Love is still there. Southwest.com (and its attendant loopholes back then) gave us the chance to live 700 miles apart, yet see each other two or three times a month. Could our romance have lasted without SWA? Maybe. But Southwest Airlines and Southwest.com made sure we were able to remain close enough, to see each other often enough, to guarantee the romance lasted. A week from Monday (on March 26) marks the ninth anniversary of the day we met in Phoenix. That means a week from Tuesday marks the beginning of our tenth year together. All thanks to Southwest. ... View more

I was so excited while writing my last post, I didn't check the spelling (Firefox Version 2.0 and above has it built in, this might be my first ever typo one the SWA blog) I got to thinking about the El Paso and Atlanta runways not being flat, then I realized Francisco's runways. Not only are they not flat (they wobble like the bobble head dolls), but they don't even stay in the same place! Runway 26/8 at ELP hasn't moved even an inch since it was built. Francisco's moves around at about 30 knots per hour! http://www.nimitz.navy.mil/ - some killer photos in the photo gallery. Look at the fourth one on the "Ship Gallery" page, the photo with the giant flag laid out on the deck - WOW! ... View more

Blog Boy, this stuff fascinates me too. Especially arcane details like taxiway "Dixie" - so appropriate for the area. If you want another arcane detail, ATC and ground control used to refer to America West as "Cactus" - since between AAmerican and Southwest, Northwest, Midwest airlines, confusion could result. So insteead of saying, "America West flight 123, you are clear to land on Runway 26R" they would say, "Cactus 123, you are..." I just found your emails Brian, thanks for making me look. I have one email address used only for signing up for things and I don't visit often. THANKS! ... View more

@Blog Boy Brian - Eureka! The light bulb went off, R and L - and 8 and 26 - now make sense. In El Paso, there is no 22L or 4R since only one runway runs NE/SW. One more tiny clarification. When the flight departs from or lands on runway 8R, the plane is pointed east - correct? If the plane is facing west, it is landing on or departing from runway 26L. In my (simple) mind, runway 26L and 8R were just one runway. But even though it is only one stretch of concrete - one physical runway - it is actually two separate (by designation) runways. Ergo - it is impossible to depart pointing west on runway 8R, and impossible to depart pointing east from runway 26R. I wonder if I can drop a photo of El Paso's runways in here? Let's try: http://66.226.83.248/aptdiag/w240/01625.gif And using Raphael's link above, I looked at ATL and DFW. ATL has five parelel runways, but they are named 8L, 8R, 9L, 9R, and 10. DFW has a 17L, 17C and 17R, plus 8L, 8R, 9L and 9R. Atlanta's Hartsfield - http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0702/00026AD.PDF The secondary airport in Dallas - http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0702/06039AD.PDF El Paso's runway diagram - http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0702/00134AD.PDF (Interesting, the El Paso runways aren't flat. 8R/26L is 33 feet higher in elevation on the east side, and runway 4/22 is 32 feet higher on one end. The small runway is just three feet higher.) And thank you to all, it's pretty cool when perfect strangers take the time and effort to help other perfect strangers who just don't understand something. You might say, "Oh, that's just the SWA attitude", but it's a little more, and it is appreciated. ... View more