As regular readers know, I fly a lot. Over the last few years I have increased my travel on Southwest Airlines. This has occurred because with all the mergers I rarely get upgraded on the “legacy” airlines, and with fewer planes flying most flights are full, as Southwest’s have been historically.
Many who fly Southwest note that their flight attendants often (sometimes) do fun things with their PA announcements. Some are heard often such as “Thank you for flying with us. Nobody loves your money more than Southwest.” Or, upon arrival at the gate “Wait for it, wait for it, Ok get out.” Or one of my favorites: “Did anybody lose their wallet? Ok, now that we have your attention, listen to these announcements.”
What fascinates me about Southwest is that in an industry where employees seem to hate their employer (have you seen the stickers on some American Airlines pilots cases that say “Don’t fly American Airlines”?); Southwest employees seem to really like the airline.
This was brought home again today when we landed in Tulsa and the lead flight attendant broke into song that was a parody of God Bless the USA. Her short song, which she sang well, was God Bless SWA and was a tribute to the airline. Of course she was applauded. I can’t imagine this happening on any other US airline for two reasons: It’s against FAA regulations (not) and the employees don’t love their airline.
Would your people be inclined to sing about your company in this way? It is provably true that the better you treat your people, they better they will treat your customers. How well would you like your customers treated?
Mitch
