The Southwest Experience

I'm hardly the first, and probably won't be the last, person to blog about my experience with Southwest Airlines. The thing is, I'm continually amazed at how they deliver on their brand promise and provide the utmost customer satisfaction.

For me, I was catching a flight from Little Rock to St. Louis, and the plane was a little late in arriving. It's not a long flight, and it was in the early evening so I wasn't worried about getting in a little late if it happened. Though I'm sure there were some people that wanted to get home. Anyway, when the plane got in, the crew got to work. Passengers disembarked while the others lined up. The crew had everyone ready go, and not 15 minutes after it landed, the door to the plane closed. I have never been on a plane that taxied so fast down the runway. When we landed, a plane that was 20 minutes late to Little Rock landed right on schedule.

The thing that I really like and I really respect as a marketer is the way not only all of the employees buy in, but how the customers buy in. That plane only gets off the ground if passengers get on and off the plane quickly. The passengers have to line up, move quickly, and help out. But they do it because they know if they do their part, Southwest will continue to do theirs.

Southwest is one of those companies that just gets it. The TSA on the other hand is a different discussion for a different time...