Comments on: Something Special About Southwest Airlines

What Makes It Such A Successful Business? It's A Nice Place To Work

[wattermelann]

I have flown southwest a few times and I have no complaints. I would rather fly southwest than any other airlines because they are usually cheaper than any other airlines-and I am cheap. birds of a feather flock together-customers who have a sense of humor tend to shop at planes who also have a sense of humor.

[megan328]

Yeah, well I don''t care how lovey-dovey the employees are with each other - My husband (who is a big guy) was treated very VERY rudely & embarrassed in public by the wonderful employees of SW and we will never use them to fly anywhere again, and nether will any or our children or their families or my sisters or brother or his family - there are ways to do things that do not involve degrading and embarassing people. Also, we are not the only ones who have been treated poorly by them.

[standlee5]

Gee what a concept. You''ve got NWA totally s.c.r.e.w.ing their employees and their planes are filthy trying to outsource flight crews to china with the CEO making millions in bonuses. What a contrast. The lowlife scavenger CEOs of the past 15 years should be hung up for public humiliation and condemnation.

[nothappyatall]

Jordan Doyle hung up on 34% of her callers. Lindsay Gillum, was accused of hanging up on 85 of callers. Amy Halupka, was accused of hanging up on about 50 policyholders over a 2-week period
The 3 along with 2 others were fired Doyle and Gillum subsequently sought unemployment benefits

Doyle testified that she routinely hung up on policyholders other Nationwide representatives transferred to her

"I didn''t think it was fair that they could keep transferring all of their work over to us," she testified. "So when I would see on the phone that it was a transfer from them, I would just hang up."
Gillum testified that she hung up on policyholders to boost her job-performance statistics

THEN SHE PULLS THIS BS:

Doyle testified that the practice of hanging up on policyholders was widespread but that Nationwide fired only the workers who were about to take some form of paid or unpaid leave

"There were other people who were doing the same things who are still working there and still hanging up on people. There were 5 of us that were fired. 3 were pregnant, about a month away from our due date. One of the girls that was fired was trying to get pregnant. And the 5th girl was taking short-term disability"
Doyle said she intends to appeal the decision, and she reiterated her claim that the practice of hanging up on policyholders was widespread

"90% of the people who work in that call center do that" she said
Administrative Law Judge Marlon Mormann awarded benefits to Gillum

[makita98]

A company that put workers first? I did not think that was possible. I would have loved to be able to play the video of the whole article again.
any chance CBS? I am happy for the lot of them.
Hope others are listening.

[nothappyatall]

Dam, I almost want to APPLY! but I have my own business.
I agree, one tyrant of a manager/supervisor/boss can make or break a company.
That and the mega-corporations stink, the ones like your credit card companies whose employees are nothing but extension numbers on the phone system, who never use a full name in any correspondence and who could care less.

The paper had an article about Nation-wide insurance, who recently fired several employees who routinely hung up on customers who called to file claims or needed help!
They claimed EVERYONE else in the office did the same and one said she didn''t know WHY she did it. One other said she resented the other office people forwarding calls to her for as she put it "to do THEIR work for them" so she just hung up on the customers;

Nationwide Mutual Insurance has fired five Iowa workers who routinely hung up on policyholders trying to file claims with the company.

According to state unemployment records, the fired employees all worked at Nationwide''s Des Moines office as claims service representatives, handling telephone calls from people who were trying to file claims after fires, traffic accidents or other events covered by insurance policies.

[stezzer]

"They all kiss and hug". Yuck! Who wants that on a Monday morning?

[caspecial]

No argument that Southwest''s policy of making their employees a number one priority is a good business decision. However, from a customer''s perspective I have flown hundreds of Southwest flights over the past ten years for business reasons and Southwest''s decision to make customers a lower priority is evident in their customer service. A couple of egregious examples: Southwest''s baggage department destroyed two expensive Hartmann suitcases (on two separate flights) and refused to accept responsiblity for the damage either time. One suitcase was replaced months later after I spent hours calling and writing to Southwest''s customer service department. Example #2: During flight boarding a flight attendant told passengers who were slowly boarding to "sit down and shut up so we can get this plane in the air". If that announcement was meant to be humorous, it failed in it''s intent. You should have interviewed more Southwest passengers if you intended to present an objective story on Southwest.

[ceruleanbill]

Good lord, you mean that sometimes the smart, energetic, dogged, determined, persistent, visionary, tenacious, goofy good guys *do* win?

[bellackick]

I have been flying with Southwest from Providence since the early 90s and it is fantastic! Always on time and a much easier airport to drive to for me than Logan Airport in Boston. You are used to bringing your food with you, a good book as their are no little tvs on the back of the seat, and usually you find a good hearted person to chat with next to you. They have a great group of people working for them and I love their sense of humor. Once on a flight to Miami, at the beginning of the flight attendant''s talk she asked-"Has anyone lost a wallet?" As everyone checked their belongings-she said-"Now that I have your attention...!" Just one example of the jollies they all have. It lightens you up and relaxes you on your trip. Every CEO should follow their example by taking care of their workers first, and then everyone will be happy!

[bellackick]

I have been flying with Southwest from Providence since the early 90s and it is fantastic! Always on time and a much easier airport to drive to for me than Logan Airport in Boston. You are used to bringing your food with you, a good book as their are no little tvs on the back of the seat, and usually you find a good hearted person to chat with next to you. They have a great group of people working for them and I love their sense of humor. Once on a flight to Miami, at the beginning of the flight attendant''s talk she asked-"Has anyone lost a wallet?" As everyone checked their belongings-she said-"Now that I have your attention...!" Just one example of the jollies they all have. It lightens you up and relaxes you on your trip. Every CEO should follow their example by taking care of their workers first, and then everyone will be happy!

[flyairhost]

Can someone send a video of this report to the CEO''s of American and United??? They make millions of dollars in bonuses while everyone else in the company has taken paycuts. Their "management skills" have demoralized everyone in their respective companies and it reflects in the services and customer service skills of the employees. They do what they have to do and that''s it. They don''t go any further of what they have to do. If you keep your employees happy, everyone else benefits, from customers to shareholders. Is UA or AA listening?????????

[no2v1]

Sunday Morning..
I thought the report about Southwest Airlines was really good.As a pilot (private),it does reflect the close family types in the aviation community.It reminded me of my company ( Sony ) and how we use to be like that as well.We too had a terrific manager,we couldn`t wait to get in to work..it was that good.BUT..as was mentioned on the report,management has to take care of it`s employees to progress but we were taken over by another manager from Terre Haute who literally is a tyrant.We`re on the verge of the possibility of shutting down,most of us have been terminated to be replaced by "temps".But you`e report about Southwest airlines saddened me a bit as it made me think of what we had at Sony in Pitman,NJ,and how literally "one bad apple can spoil the basket".

thankyou