Southwest Airlines Community

A Good video from southwest on excessive fees that I think is great... On YouTube... or the link below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ccinu-bY3s I hope that everyone enjoys it as much as I did. John ... View more

This video is awsome... But I agree with the Previous comment, it is not a 700 being built.... According to the FAA, it should be a -700. FAA Records states for a/c N918WN: Serial Number 29843 Model 737-7H4 Also note in video at time stamp 67:344 above bag bay shows as being 948. Anyway you look at it Southwest... JOB WELL DONE! ... View more

When I saw the picture, it was an "AWW" sight... Great job. Beautiful aircraft. ... View more

This is great... That is the way all companies should operate... If more companies operated like this, more people would call their job a carrier, and not calling their carrier a job... Way to go SWA, another milestone in showing how the world should do it.. Keep up the good work, and congrats to the "Peanut Bunny"... I am not sure I would have the guts myself to walk around my work place dressed up that way! My hat is off to you. ... View more

Working in the industry, I know exactly what you are talking about. A common term that I used to have to work with was ETOPS, Ref wikipdeia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETOPS for more info. If that is not enough info into ETOPS, for those with time and desire for knowledge, go to http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/07-39.pdf . This document from the FAA basically covers many more details concerning over water flight. After looking at the last document, many of you should see that over water flight is not as simple as it may look. 1.) Aircraft I would guess already have the required avionics, but would probably require more safety equipment on board. 2.) Flight crews would require more and different training, as would maintenance crews. 3.) Would need maintenance base over in Hawaii (as flying items on MEL are severly reduced for overflight travel.) This would also mean more cost for storage and maintenance of parts. An example may be the Auto Pilot. Flying over land, MEL on the Auto Pilot for example, flying over land, it would not be required, however, over water it is a NO-GO. Therefore, they would need ALL the parts available on site to repair this problem. This could be MILLIONS of dollars worth of parts alone. 4.) Company must preform proving runs to prove to the FAA that they can do this safely and this takes time. 5.) They must open a base at the desired station(s), train the personell, supply the ground equipment, and more. I am sure that I left alot of details out, but doing this would be no easy task... I for one would love to see SWA undertake this, but it would be a very expensive and time consuming task. I am sure that some day, SWA will have routes over there, but not in the close foreseeable future. I hope that I have not confuesed anyone with this, but I hope it outlines alot of whys to SWA's decision. ... View more

I am failing to see a real problem here. SWA gets nailed once for maintenance problems and gets rail roaded for doing for what every other airline has done... Self Disclosures... ALL Airlines have this to happen. I mean reall. These inspections are NOT that big of a deal, American just had some similiar issues.. and out of the news, United just anounced that it is redoing some inspections... Very little news. Quanta's (classified as the safest airline in the world, SWA is number 2 in the world, #1 in the US) just self disclosed that 55 airplanes had passenger Oxygen system serviced wiht Nitrogen... Nitrogen is deadly. You breath 100% Nitrogen at 30-50,000 feet and you are DEAD.. But NO NEWS. Why is SWA being singled out for their first offense, which is really not a safety issue here. I think that if we look deep enough that there is a political issue going on here. Maybe SWA stepped on a politicians toes some how... LOL, I would like to step on some of their toes actually. Every airline has this kind of problem... Why not pick on them. SWA self disclosed all of the above and now is being rail roaded because of it. I support SWA in what ever they do here, because I know that they will do the right thing to keep the Flying Public safe! We are all only human and we make mistakes.... I hope CNN is near some of these critizers here whey they make a mistake! ... View more

It is good to see that you have such a great employee here, and of course want to make her feel welcom, but I also must point out there are alot of outstanding employees at SWA. In the past 3 months, I have delt with many of them, and ALL of them have been above the level of standards that I would expect... But of course SWA as a whole is more than I expected as well. Congrats to all the employees of your company. ... View more

I for some reason do not understand why everyone is bashing SWA here... No matter what happens, it is a lose lose situation... Look at American, Grounded 200 flights which grew to over 300. Hmm.. Seems as this was in concerns to an AD inspection over site... Why are they not being slammed, or Quantas Air who had passenger O2 service with Nitrogen, which is a deadly mistake. 55 Airplanes were serviced... I mean like really, where is eveyone going here. Is it just that SWA is held more accountable than the rest, or is this somehow a statement for the outside designed to damage SWA. This thing is way out of hand. SWA Admittedly made a mistake and is working to fix it. Most other airlines have had much worse than that! ... View more

This keeps going down here.. As a Mechanic with 10+ years 737 experience, As state above, all airplanes have cracks. Maintenance departments work very vigoursly to find and fix these as soon as they are found. To answer the above statement on 3 incidences with SWA, The issue here is Maintenance, those were not maint issues and off topic in my opinion. I worked for another airline, A/C made VERY VERY ROUGH Landing (a 737, not SWA). Bounced about 4 times down the runway. Pilot Wrote in the Logbook: "A/C Autoland Very Rough". Working Line Avionics, I got to look at the problem. The solution was a couple lose nuts in the cockpit. My signoff as it appeared "This A/C NOT Autoland Capible!". This was an incident that caused some issues in the company (atleast CNN did not see it), The Loose Nuts had some VERY hard questions to answer. But this WAS NOT A MAINTENANCE ISSUE. Reseaching SWA, which I have done exentisvly (and I am not an SWA Employee), there are NO OTHER maint issues with SWA. Why does everyone keep throwing (virtual) rocks here. They admitted fault, worked to fix the problem, and working to make sure it does not happen again. Once flying on an SWA Airline, I noticed a MINOR Hydraulic leak, as a Licensed A&P Mechanic. I notified the Flight Crew. I know where the problem was, even though I do not know the exact problem. But what I do know, is that a properly and effieciently trained mechanic responded to the problem, and the plane made its next flight with little or no delay. I salute SWA for thier efficiency and professionalism in maintaining their a/c to such a high level. I also remember on my first flight on SWA noting that how nice the Interior looked. Almost Brand New, I asked the crew if it was just out of heavy... He said no, but it was getting ready to go back in to maintenance. I thought, WOW, these planes are really maintained to an exceptional high level of maintenance. If they do this good on the Interior where it does not count, what do they do on the outside where it does. I only wish the Airline that I worked for had this level of competience and nice looking cabins! As a closing note to all of you complaining about how bad this is... The next time that you make a Mistake.. I hope that CNN is there to support you and stretch your story so far out of propotion that all the rest of us can enjoy your pains that you are suffering... That is all that is going on right now. CNN Got an article, throwing it out of propotion, making profits on it at SWA's Loss... Nothing more, nothing less. ... View more

Here we go again... Lack of not understanding of how things work. Not saying that you will fly the airline again... LOL, Then you should never fly again. All of this is minor compared other "High Cost Carriers". This has happened MANY MANY times in the past... But I think this is a first for SWA, for for most, there is not one person who could tell you how many they have. I work for a company that has had 13 self disclosures this year. I do not understand the press jumping all of this. It is a NON-News Item. I feel really that this is more politcal that the FAA is trying to prove itself to Congress and who ever then next President will be. SWA self disclosed all of this, and got back into compliance as quickly as they could. They contacted both the FAA and Boeing. Boeing is the manurfacture of the airplane. They are the experts on it. This is a totally NON-ISSUE as all airlines have this type of BS. The difference here is that the Media got wind of it and wanted to make some money off of it. Good News does not sell.. Bad news does... The real victim here is SWA, the Real Victor is the News Media. As a General rule, what I see on CNN (Communist News Network), I pretty much dismiss... Just remember.. Every time that you go to their wesite to see an update on this article... They make money... How... Advertisements. If you watch a CNN Video, you see a comercial, if you see text. You see paid ads... It is all about the news networks making money, on a blown out of propotion issue, that should have never been in the news. ... View more

Interesting observation on ALL AD's which are available for public inspection on http://www.faa.gov. Boeing 737's 45 since 1968 which is 1.1 per year Airbus 319's 67 since 1980 which is 3.5 per year MD-80's 53 Since 1980 which is 2.8 per year There are more 737's flying than any other Airline Class airplane in the world with over with one take off or landing every day 24 hours a day once every 15 seconds. According to boeing in 2006 over 6000 737's and that is about 2 years ago. Southwest still has orders for these. in 2007 according to boeing: "Dec. 31: The company ends 2007 with 1,413 net commercial airplane orders, setting a Boeing record for total orders in a single year and marking an unprecedented third consecutive year of more than 1,000 orders. :" Also according to Boeing: "On Feb. 13, 2006, Boeing delivered the 5,000th 737 to come off the production line. The airplane was delivered to Southwest Airlines. Guinness World Records acknowledged the 737 as the most-produced large commercial jet airplane in aviation history. " Hmm... that is almost 6500 planes out there, and only getting 1.1 AD's per year average since 1968... Boeing is doing something right. One thing Boeing does do is make a great reliable airplane that is easy to maintain. What more can you say about it. To those complaining about this, well... I guess we all have the right to complain... But please get your facts straight... They are out there, you just have to search them... If someone would like to file a complaint, please see FAA form "ID-10-T", for those not familiar with how to fill out this for, please go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ID-Ten-T_Error and there is a full explanation. ... View more

To all of those saying "I will Never Fly On Fly On SWA again" Well.. Then you will never fly on any airline, because they all have this kind of problem, of course all cars have similiar problems... Actually worse. Cars are much less safer... All I have to say to you people traveling across the country... "HAVE A NICE WALK!" Of course all of this goes back to Gun Control Analogy... If they get rid of all the hand guns because people use them to shoot people... Would it make you feel better to see them pushing people off of tall buildings?... For those 2 young to understand... That statement comes directly from "Archie Bunker" in "All In the Family" while having a talk with Meat Head. If you do not understand it. I am not going to explain it. ... View more

LOL - I wish only news organizations would report on what they really know.. But of course, if they did that...We would never have any news... It would be the quite times... Watching CNN would be nothing but a REPORTER sitting at his chair, saying nothing, reading nothing, doing nothing but staring into a camera. They are reporting on stuff they know nothing about. Ask CNN for what they know about 14CFR - Part 121... If you were to ask the reporter that reported this story... it would be the following quote: "Doh!!!!!!!" See my post under Southwest Airlines ' CEO Appears on CNN. ... View more

The CNN Article is blow way out of propotion... ALL Airlines have had that kind or worse problems... CNN has made it sound much worse than it really is. Of course that is there JOB! SWA has a good and active maintenance plan, and they continue to expand their maintenance programs as needed. The planes that flew with out the inspection(s)... A crack or 2 was found... This does not necessarily mean the aircraft is unsafe.. Sure it needs to be fixed before further flight... But it does not mean that it is DOOMED. CNN Should stick to what they do best... I would tell them what that is... But I do not think anyone knows what that should be. The Boeing 737 (which SWA Exclusively utilzies), is 1 the most popular airplane flying in the world. There is 1 takeoff or landinging averaging around the world, 24 hours a day every 15 seconds... That is alot of Airplanes. It is a stable plane that has been out since the 60's and has been receiving improvements ever since. It is solid built, takes a liking and keeps on ticking. IF SWA AIRPLANES WERE UNSAFE, THE FAA WOULD IMMEDIATELY PULL THERE FLIGHT CERTIFICIATE AND ALL THEIR PLANES WOUND BE GROUNDED IMMEDIATELY NO MATTER WHERE THEY ARE AT. Under CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) part 121, Air Carrier Certification, the airline has to present a plan of operations. In the case of the maintenance department, in many complanies is termed the GMM (General Maintenance Manual). Before the 1st plane can fly, the FAA Must approve this document. It instructs the Maintenance department on how to maintain the a/c that they are working on for standard practices and more. If they change this manual, it must be approved by the FAA. It is very hard for an Airline to get away with anything. In the case of SWA, all of the findings were what is known as "Self Disclosures" (Oops.. We screwed up). The FAA did not find this, the company did and then reported this. How about looking at other airlines. USAir, Delta, United... Geez.. All of them have this kind of problems, and it is NOT a big deal. It happens every day. The only difference is... CNN is using scare tactics. Maybe they should look for some real problems... Maybe they should take there cameras under cover into a maintenance facility and see how things are done. They do not want to do this, because is what they will find is By The Book work and no news. They would rather throw a "Self Disclosure" Way out of propotion and show it as BAD news.. Because BAD NEWS SELLS! and that is what makes them money... Just for the record.. I am not a SWA Employee... But I do work as a mechanic for another major airline to remain nameless. I would also further like to say that I envy to work for SWA because they are doing what is right to make it all work. They have not show 33 to 36 years of profit by doing shotty maintenance and throwing 10+ Mil to the government in fines... Come to think of it.. How many times has this happened here... Not sure.. I think this is the first major fine they have ever gotten... How many other airlines can say that! Enough said... ... View more

I have seen that stuff as well for far too long. I am glad that I have not seen it in quite some time. If that were true... I would be dead a very long time ago... As with you, I choose not to forward this information. My proof that this is a hoax is that I am indeed typing this reply!!! I like to forward a lot of joke emails... But only to friends who want to see them. There is too much junk on the Internet to just forward what people don't want, and supporting SPAM is not something that we should be doing. ... View more

I think that the new policy as good... No matter where I travel, I always only carry one bag, never more than than about 15 lbs. Has everything that I need and then some, plus I carry my Laptop. My bag is the same exact size as a crew member bag and fits perfect in the over head. I personally do not understand how some people pack so heavily. I am actually a Mechanic at another airline, but have help the Baggage (smashers as we call them) Handlers move the Luggage, and what some people pack is beyond understanding. Another thing that I do not understand is carrying the LARGEST, and HEAVIST baby carriage that sometimes barely seems to fit in the cargo door. Geez. If you are going to travel, go get the smaller one. These big ones are NOT made for airplanes. Everyone one can travel light, and carry everything that you need. Most hotels have complimentary lotions, shampoo, conditioner, soap... TSA limits and gets very picky about wanting to see these tubes and bottles. Best advice. LEAVE THEM AT HOME.... YOU DO NOT NEED THEM. For what time you are out of town... Usually 2 weeks at a time, you can buy your special stuff in smaller qty's once you get there, or just tough it out. A few days will not hurt without your special flavor. I know there are some ladies out there fussing at me as they read this... But pack light. Try it.. It does not hurt... As a matter of fact, when you get off an airplane after being on it for 4 to 6 or maybe more hours.. You will appreaciate a light load when picking up your back at Baggage claim. ... View more

Kids say alot of funny things... But then there are alot of Tear Jerkers. Once a year working with my church, I do Santa Pictures with little kids. I remember one kid in particular... Really rips my guts to think about it. On Santas Lap the conversation goes: Santa: What do you want for Christmas? Boy: I want my mommy back? Santa: Where is your mommy at? Boy: She died a couple weeks ago and I miss her! I forget exactly what Santa said, but he was very well trained in such situations... All, I can remember, after that child. I had to take a break. Most of the time you hear of Cars, bikes, roller skates, this year was Ntendo DS's... Sometimes you hear for a kid asking for clothes, but not too often. One that hurts is one actually asked for food. We got his information, and that was one wish that did come true. Kids need alot of love and there are alot of people out there willing go give it. I remember a video shoot that I went to. This little girl (precious young girl) was forced to grow up way too soon. I pray for this girl quite frequently. I did a video segment for a program and interviewing her. The topic was and I hope you are setting down for this "My Boyfriend Is: Sleeping With My Daughter". This one really hurt me. This little girl saw that her mom was happy with her new boy friend, and the boy friend made sure that the little girl knew it. When mom was not home, he would take sexaual advantages of her, and she was willing to take it to make sure her mom was happy. The mom found out one day when a girl came to the door and said "I know that you are not having S?X with your boy friend. He is having it with me and your daugher. I just thought that you should know." From there, things went crazy, and I am glad to say that the now X-Boy Friend is serving time in Prison, which in my opinion is much better than he deserves. I by definition have problems getting along with children. Many times I have a short period of understanding... But it is cute watching them. As a mechanic on another airline (hopefully soon to be with SWA), A young girl was watching me as I was applying ground power (APU QUIT, for those not nowing the terms, Auxilary Power Unit)... He's charging the airplane!, and I guess she was pretty close to being right. I have learned not to under estimate kids... Because as soon as you do... One of them will get you good. I apologize if I pulled some tears... How about someone else with a HAPPY one. ... View more

Very Very Nice... Job well done. I hope you all find it, it would be such a loss. Making me feel old, I cannot remember having those as a child, but I remember other such put together items as "Lincon Logs", "RingA-Majigs" (Doh, had to look at the can, still sitting here" for the spelling), and many other items... But missed the Lego Era. ... View more

For more information on this, I found this on http://www.row44.com. It is written in MS Word, but wordpad should read it as well. http://www.row44.com/uploads/01-23_Inflight_Connectivity.doc ... View more

This is GREAT News... Congrats to SWA for keeping not only up to date, but ahead of everyone else on so many things. The Upper Minds at SWA definetly continue to think "Out Side The Box". Keep up the great work... And power at the seats would be another great mod for the AirCraft... I would also like to cast in a vote for that one. ... View more

Great Story... Just a note to the Youngest one here... Sounds like you need to work on keeping this Tradition alive... For a carrier like this, well.. You have to start at a young age. ... View more

Hmm... LOL... 🙂 I think it would get sealed in the Trash Bag, and into the Outdoor Trash Container... I do not think that I would want this little you know what laying in my freezer... Dead or Alive... Or just toss it out back.. Call animal control, and they will come and pick him up just like he died of natural causes.... Let him thaw before calling Animal control though... They may wonder how he died and 32 deg colder than your Refridgerator. 🙂 Good luck to you on this one. ... View more

To "Shari Perez - Sr." - Great info in the "Interviewing Tips 101", Really great info. Would like to see more of this type of info. Quite honestly, in the first section under "Don't Panic"... Well, when you are looking at Life Changing events for yourself in an enviroment to where you may be moving away from you home to many states away, and some where that you want to spend the rest of your carrier working days... Those are hard decision, and sometimes "panic!" and "Anxiety" are hard items to control in an interview, and I think that any decent person applying for a carrier (not just a job) is going to have a certain amount of neviousness about that. After all, the person conducting the Interview in many cases has alot of our lives in there hands. Please post more advice. It is well received and appreciated. It is good to see management posting that sort of information to those of us who are interested in spending a good portion of our lives with SouthWest Airlines. I know that I am active seeking your company,and I must say that I feel that I am a very qualified person (sorry tooting my own horn), and I do not mind saying that I am also quite nervous about it, even though I am very confident that it is the correct decision to make... I only hope that SouthWest feels the same about me when I complete the Interview and Testing processes. ... View more

Oops... Forgot one... RePo - and no, it does not me Repossed by the creditor... - Reposition - Normally used when there are alot of cancellations and another plane, sometimes a spare is moved in a NON-Revnue enviroment to pick up another flight that has been canceled, or if that A/C is broken out somewhere, once it is fixed, it may be Repo'd to pick up its next flights that have not been canceled. ... View more

Looking back to working with a precious airline, and making sentences with them things could sound complicated. A good one that we would use in Line Avionics that the Foremans never caught on to (and I hope one does not read this)... Well is: IFE - Already covered as "Inflight Entertainment" PSU - Thing some may have mentioned "Passenger Service Unit" This is the device that you control the reading lights, call button, O2 Mask if you need it :) VTP - Video Tape Player. Now for the sentence to the foreman. Encoded: "We are going to test the IFE system with the VTP and the PSU's on aircraft (tail number)" Decoded: "We are going to watch a movie on Airplane (tail number)" Alot of people in the airline world do not really get to see the Mechanics having fun. Most of the time when people see us on the plane, we are working and all business... Little do you know what happens when there is free time 🙂 and I am not going to expose any "Maintenance" Secrets here... 🙂 ... View more

Not news from Denver, but see SWA on the front cover of Airways Feb 2008 Mag. Topic of Low Cost Airlines... http://www.airwaysmag.com/ Way to go South West Airlines ... View more

For my previous comment on the 707, there should have been 2 images as follows: http://woot.lavaa.net/707/707-1.jpg http://woot.lavaa.net/707/707-2.jpg ... View more

The 707 is defintely an aircraft to be honored. It is a plane that shows that Boeings heart is in the right place. A rare known fact about the 707 is that on June 28, 1965, Pan Am Flight 843 bound from San Francisco to Hawaii carring 143 Passengers while climbing out had a problem. The pilots announcement "Folks, we have a little minor problem, (short pause) well maybe it's not so minor." I am not going to go into the entire story. It can be found in a book titled "The Jet Age" ISBN Number 0-8094-3362-1 if you would like the full details. At 700' and climbing out, the starboard (Right) wing burst into flames. "All at once there was a big explosion and fire, and then the engine fell off". The captian considered ditching in the Pacific, but decided to head towards Travis Airforce Base 50 miles away. After a 19 minute flight, the captain brought the plane in for perfect landing. A news conference was held the day after the incident. The captain "Captain Charles Kimes" modestly remarked that he had done "nothing outstanding. Boeing Engineers felt otherwise "We run just about every kind of test imaginable" said one technician, "but you neer imagine a plane in this kind of situation remain flyable. That cockpit was full of real pros." With that said, my hat goes off to not only the 707 fleet that is leading us all (especially Southwest Airlines) into the next generation, but to the entire Boeing fleet that the 707 has spawned. For those who would like to see a couple scanned images, clipboard these links into your web browser, or if southwest desires, to make these permant links... Feel free Southwest. woot.lavaa.net/707/707-2.jpg ... View more

AOG - Aircraft on Ground - Used when shipping parts to a broken airplane. This term used very frequently in the Maintenance departments. ACARS - Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System - This is a method that the flight crews can talk to the ground station digitally. Many times used to send aircraft times, Weather Info, Aircraft Statistics such as Engine Parameters (for trend monitoring) and other misc info between the aircraft and the ground. ... View more

MEL - Minimum Equipment List (Crews don't like this one) IFE - In Flight Entertainment System AOA - Airport Operations Area ATA - Air Transport Assoc or Actual Time of Arrival. ... View more