Southwest the “different” Kind of Airline

The LUV Airline: Southwest the “Different” Kind of Airline

May 15, 2004

Southwest differentiated itself from other airlines in many ways and not assigning seats to the passengers was only one. Passengers are allowed to sit where they like as long as the passenger meets the FAA requirements otherwise they can sit elsewhere in the plane that is not already occupied. They were the first major airline to use an efficient no-seat-assignment boarding process to facilitate quick turnarounds (Southwest). This idea is one that is to save time and confusion about where the passenger is going to sit. Now they can choose when they get onto the plane. Southwest believes that if the customer gets to his destination at the lowest possible fare and has a good time going, he will be a repeat customer. Being new to the industry in 1971, Southwest had to be creative in order to be noticed.

Southwest used the word love as a promotional approach, which costs nothing. In the starting of the airline the owners did not have much money for advertising, but they had plenty of ideas that would get them recognition in the industry. The airline implemented a plan that would get them free press instead of an expensive advertising campaign that costs a fortune. They had ideas that would let them stand out regardless of their advertising budget. The airline used a heart as their logo. This was the start of an attitude that definitely differentiated them from the others. The airline has over one thousand married couples in their employment at that time. That alone would make them known as the love airline. The company expounded on the idea of the heart as a way to have love as a catch phrase. We love you. We love to fly. The airline went so far as to incorporate love into all aspects of the industry. Everything the company did was related to the heart symbol. For instance, the plane was a Love Jet, the food was called Love Bites (peanuts) and the drink was a Love Potion (soft drinks). The word love and the heart was chosen to help them get noticed and it paid off. They capitalized on this concept for about twenty years and they are still using that even today. LUV was even used as their ticker symbol when they went public on the New York Stock Exchange.

May 1988, Southwest airlines was the first airline to receive the Triple Crown award for outstanding service of Best On-time Record, Best Baggage Handling, and Fewest customer complaints. This showed what an impeccable reputation that the company earned in the industry. The airline has used this achievement award as a way to show the public that they are an outstanding airline and that they aim to please the customer in order to keep them coming back to fly with their airline. Advertising the Triple Crown is another way Southwest shows how much better it is than their competition. “Since then we’ve won it more than thirty times, as well as five annual Triple Crowns for 1992, 1993, 1994,1995, and 1996 (Southwest).” The award has been earned more by this company than any other in the industry. They even had a plane designed in the honor of the occasion, the Triple Crown after having 25 years of excellent service. To show