Southwest Airlines Planning

Southwest Airlines Planning

Southwest Airlines began in 1971 with a vision to offer something different in a troubled airline industry. Ineffectiveness led to high costs, which led to high fares which only a fraction of the population could afford. By planning effectively, Southwest Airlines has become the largest domestic carrier in the United States, a desired place of employment and for customer service is a favorite of the traveling public.

Legal Issue

Southwest Airlines has been in a legal battle for many years trying to repeal the Wright Amendment, which affects Dallas Love Field Airport, which is Southwest Airlines home. The Wright Amendment is an old federal law that restricts operations at Dallas Love Field in Texas and created to protect the Dallas Fort Worth airport from competition and to keep it from failing. The amendment restricted travel from Love Field for commercial flights greater than 56 seats to points beyond the four states surrounding Texas, which included Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. The restrictions cause a predicament for Southwest as they depend on smaller, quicker and more efficient airports to keep delays at a minimum and flying from Dallas Fort Worth airport would mean delays and higher costs for passengers. A compromise allowed Southwest (2005) to continue operating from Love Field while other carriers had already relocated their operations to Dallas Fort Worth. Southwest continues its fight to free Love Field, as they believe that Dallas Fort Worth is now one of the busiest and most successful airports in the United States and no longer needs protection, and that the amendment does not allow passengers to pick their choice of airports.

Ethical

Customer and employee experience is very important to Southwest. Southwest operates under principles that honor the customer experience with the airline and that customers are always right. Southwest uses one goal to make every business decision: the airline’s singular focus on providing what it calls “positively outrageous customer service” (Beck, 2006, p. 1E). Southwest treats customer service as the customer is always right, but also expects employees to stick up for each other if that employee is in the right and suffering abuse by an angry passenger. Southwest has reaped tremendous awards for allowing customers and employees greater control over the customer service process. Empowered employees understand that there is a policy in place, which specifies if an employee makes a mistake that he or she will not suffer discipline provided the mistake is in the interest of a customer. Southwest has also put aside money saving ideas such as an automated phone system and computerized responses to letters to keep their responses to customers personal.

Social

Southwest donates to the community in many ways. One way is by recycling on its planes. Southwest maintains two trash bins at the back of each of its planes: one for aluminum and one for waste. Southwest does not use paper recycling as paper would be time consuming to sort and only finger food served during flight eliminates the use of plastic utensils. Southwest also has an Adopt-A-Pilot program that unites students with pilots to explore math and science. The students are able to track and interact with the pilot on his journeys and complete aviation