Southwest Airlines

The article was reported in the National Geographic Traveler Magazine in the December 2012/January 2013 issue. Christopher writes about two separate airlines and the potential of what could make or break a person. He used different points to breakdown what airline companies are doing to the economy. He published the article to make people become more conscious thinkers and look at the entire package/company when it comes the cost of booking with an airline. Let’s look at how the customer service, expenses and hospitality play a factor when choosing an airline. The Good versus the Evil in the air.

The human resources practices have created shareholder value by means of low turnover, high productivity and excellent job satisfaction level. Southwest has designed cross function work coordination whereby once the airline reaches a destination, every member of the flight and ground crew does everything necessary to get the next flight out on time. Remarkably the airline achieved a turnaround rate of 70% of their flights had an average fifteen minutes ground time in 1991. This lessens labour costs, significant productivity advantage in terms of equipment utilization, avoidance of long delays and makes flying with Southwest attractive to the travelers.

Southwest for many customers have been known for being one of the best companies in the country. Its organizational structure was based on gaining respect in the industry and also being known for having great customer service and fewer flight delays than any of its competitors. Southwest did this while remaining competitive and also being profitable (Nisen, 2016). Herb Keller played a great role in the development of culture for Southwest. Herb placed great concerns on culture and also the customer experience, this philosophy was in place from other CEO’s as well. Many companies want to know the reason that Southwest is so successful. Kelly stated that “ it's not a job that you do for six months and then you just say, "Well, that's behind

Southwest Airlines is a unique airline that has a history dating back over 45 years. To say that Southwest Airlines is unique, one must only look at how the airline came to life. In 1967 Herb Kelleher was hired by Rollin King to close down a defunct charter flying company in Texas. After the work was complete the two men supposedly met for drinks at a bar in San Antonio. At the bar, King drew a triangle on a cocktail napkin with Dallas, San Antonio and Houston at the three points and said “I have an idea for another airline; one that connects just the main metro areas of Texas.” (Roam, 2008)

In 1967, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher founded Southwest Airlines to link the cities of Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio (Parnell, 2014). However, Southwest didn’t schedule its first flight until 1971. In 1989, Southwest revenue passed $1 billion and were the first airline to have a homepage on the internet to sell their tickets (Parnell, 2014). According to Parnell, Southwest saves more money selling tickets online than they do sell them through an agent (2014). In addition, Southwest is the largest airline to carry the most passengers and their Rapid Rewards program is considered the favorite among others in the industry (Parnell, 2015). It’s also the reason why they’ve been profitable “38 consecutive years” (Parnell, 2014). In 2001 when

The company’s success is founded on two primary goals: providing exemplary customer service and helping its employees do so by giving them the same respect and accommodations. As the aviation transportation landscape has slowly changed, so has Southwest. Whereas they initially focused on “no frills” flying by eliminating frivolous amenities, they have slowly transitioned into a more competitive airline by adopting programs aimed to tailor customer experience. The Southwest of 2014 is different from the Southwest Airlines of the past, but their strategic plans have remained focused on customer service and employee retention.

Overall, Southwest Airlines performance has remained very stable and favorable over the years. In the third quarter of 2013, Southwest earned (net income) $259 million and expects these figures to be even high for fourth quarter, as the airline is anticipating a huge influx of holiday travelers [5]. While maintaining such a high level of profitability, Southwest was also ranked 2nd in customer satisfaction for 2013 by the ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index), shadowing only rival low-cost carrier JetBlue. Now you may ask, “how does an airline remain at such a high level of profitability all while maintaining such a high level of customer service in the post-deregulation era airline industry?” There’s only one reason why Southwest has been able to make it out consistently on (or near) the

The Southwest Airlines Company is a major airline in the United States. Whose headquarters is based in Dallas Texas. The airline is one of the world 's largest low-cost carriers. The company was established in1967 by Herb Kelleher and renamed to its current name in 1971.

Investors saw favorable returns from airlines in 2014. The airline industry’s average return on invested capital (ROIC) reached 5.4% in 2014, which is up from 3.7% in 2012, and 4.4% from 2013. All of the growth in the airline industry has occurred in spite of a decade of terrorist fears, a 1.8 billion annually fare hikes from 2002 through 2011, and the implementation of many risk management travel screening measures. As the years have passed after the 9/11 attacks, the fear of traveling and rise of fares has ceased due to the security measures and great customer service the airline industry as a whole provides travelers.

Southwest has a no-frills approach to services, which saved time to unload and load flights. For example, Southwest turnaround time was about 15 minutes when compared to industry average of 45 minutes (Inkpen, 2013).

Southwest got high performance from USA airlines services. When flight was delayed, Southwest Airlines will inform their customer directly by appropriate ways. Moreover, Southwest Airlines will give promo code discount or free one-way tickets when any flight was cancelled. Therefore, customers feel happy and satisfied even when they face the problem because they have another thing to compensate such as give cards, cash back, VIP cards, and so on. Moreover, Southwest Airlines will offer more options that make each customer more convenient. When customers reserve the tickets and then they have a late flight. Southwest Airlines provides the option that customers can fly early if another flight is available. "Customers will hear an announcement in the gate area and will be able to purchase an available [early] boarding position via credit card from a customer service

A motivational profile can provide insights into whether a company is doing the right thing or requires improvements. Although nearly every company proclaims its goal is to deliver exceptional service, research confirms that the service quality of many corporations is below consumer expectations. Southwest Airlines has created a competitive advantage through valuing employees’ needs as a strategy that motivates them to provide better customer service (Hallowell, 1996). According to Czaplewski, Ferguson, and Milliman (2001), Southwest Airlines was one of only two companies to place in both the top-10 most admired organizations and best places to work. Even though there are specific steps

Product Positioning: Southwest portrays itself as the only low-fare, short-haul, high frequency, point-to-point airline in America which is fun to fly. Southwest Airline focuses mainly on families and casual business travelers who look for reliable, fast and convenient travel in an economical price. The Company doesn’t provide any first class, doesn’t serve any food, no assigned seats and doesn’t transfer baggage to other airlines. But in return the company emphasizes on ultra-low fair, customer service, no cancellation or rescheduling fee, quick turnaround for planes, on-time arrival and frequent non-stop flights, often from less congested airports not served by other airlines. A southwest plane can reach a terminal and leave within 25 min whereas the industry average is 60 min. On top of that Southwest has a product differentiation strategy of “bags fly free”, to allow two free

Southwest Airlines has responded well to the control mechanisms in place at the airline. The corporate culture at the airline breeds new leaders. The people of Southwest Airlines are

Southwest was slow in catching up with the other airlines in the amount of time customers would have to queue up in the gate area while waiting for boarding passes. In 2003, the company made efforts to improve in those areas where this weakness was found.