Southwest Airlines is consistently ranked among the top companies in its field and flies the third most passengers of any carrier in North America.
Why the popularity? For one thing, they've been known as a no-frills, low-cost airline with a freedom-loving spirit—accentuated in ads like “You are now free to move around the country.”
They may soon become even better known as the airline that loves its customers—thanks to their updated heart logo (featured on the belly of its repainted airline fleet). They’ve got it going on with the love thing—their home base is Dallas Love Field and their stock exchange ticker symbol is “LUV.” The rejuvenation of their heart logo and love motif may combine into their best branding job yet. (“Without a heart, it’s just a machine.”)
But most people I know like Southwest because of the wacky playfulness of the employees. This is a company with a rock & roll vibe, displaying the R&R team success qualities I rave about. Their workforce is joyful, creative, spontaneous, rebellious, unpredictable, and little crazy (except for the pilots, we hope). Flight attendants have even been known to pop out of overhead bins. As they like to say, "Take the competition seriously but not yourself.”
In a post five years ago we featured a video in which a flight attendant delivered the standard safety announcement in rap form. A few months ago that same announcement was given a different spin. If you don’t have time to watch the video below, here are some highlights:
As you know this is a no-smoking, no-whining, no-complaining flight…If we do make you that nervous in the next hour and a half you’re more than welcome to step outside…Just do what we say and no body gets hurt…To activate the flow of oxygen simply insert 75 cents for the first minute…Seriously if there’s anything at all we can do to make your flight more enjoyable please tell us—just as soon as we land in Salt Lake City.
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