Southwest Airlines
Seeing that San Antonio was one of the original three cities served by Southwest Airlines, it wouldn't be right leaving them without their own page on this site. We've been flying Southwest Airlines for as long as I can remember and every experience has been positive. Also called SWA, or just "Southwest", this airline provides not only air passenger travel service but also and more importantly, Southwest provides quality "people service".
San Antonio and Southwest
Southwest Airlines as long been a fixture in the Alamo city. The "Luv" airline began with three planes and served the Texas cities of San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston. Southwest has grown into one of the nations most successful airlines and they still operate only one type of aircraft, a Boeing 737. The San Antonio airport is served by many airlines but the most prolific of all the carriers is Southwest as their presence here is long established. Their gates take up the entire north wing of Terminal 1 and the Southwest aircraft paint scheme is not hard to miss. One of their planes is even painted to resemble Shamu and is designated "Shamu 1" in honor of Sea World San Antonio. The airline company enjoys a fine reputation throughout Texas and is indisputably the carrier of choice in San Antonio.
Southwest Airlines Experiences
Our experiences with Southwest have always been excellent. If we've been late for a connecting flight, the plane bound for our next destination was held at the gate. We've never missed a connection in our travels with Southwest Airlines. All of the SWA employees we've dealt with in San Antonio and beyond have been friendly and helpful. Southwest takes pride in it's workforce and understandably so. When my wife was pregnant (quite visibly), the gate agent offered pre-boarding and the flight attendants were wonderfully hospitable as soon as we set foot on the plane. Southwest does a fantastic job of differentiating themselves from the competition by having fun with their passengers and showing that they truly enjoy their jobs. I've been on a flight where the flight attendant led "Happy Birthday" over the intercom while the rest of the passengers joined in singing for one of the passengers on his birthday. Experiences with Southwest Airlines are always enjoyable for most all air travelers.
One experience that comes to mind occurred when I was on a flight to Lubbock from Dallas and the Texas Tech basketball team was going back after a game in Austin and as I remember, the team was having a great year. We all loaded on the plane and seemed to be ready to go when Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines CEO at the time, got on the plane for the ride to Lubbock with the Tech basketball team. When we reached cruising altitude and the pilot let us out of our seats, Mr. Kelleher talked to each member of the team and congratulated them and wished them good luck. He also visited with the other passengers and thanked them for choosing Southwest. He spent time with the crew and thanked them for their hard work and stayed on the plane after we got off. No members of the media were on the plane or at the gate so it wasn't a public relations opportunity, it was just the head of the company expressing some goodwill and appreciation for a Texas basketball team, his customers, and his employees. Southwest Airlines is uncommonly exceptional in not only the airline industry, but in the wider scope of the service and travel sectors as well.