“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”

 

For much of its existence, Southwest Airlines has been the antithesis of Winston Churchill’s quote above. Yet within the past year, and having come to the realization that status quo might no longer suffice, it seems like Southwest leadership has had some sense of urgency bestowed upon them from hedge funds and customers alike. It has put in an express lane in an attempt to finally vacate the beloved decades of the ’70s and ’80s to arrive at present-day services offered by our competitors. A pseudo-reincarnation as a full-service carrier, kind of.

 

Within this reinvention comes elimination of most, if not all, of the customer-facing “Southwest-isms” that made us stand out from others. Therein lay the tremendous challenges of unlearning what was for 50-plus years and what will shape the next 50.

As frontline leaders, we see firsthand what works and what does not. But not just anecdotally — with repetition every trip week in and week out.

 

"Fortunately, for the first time in my two decades at this Company, there are a few people in leadership roles who are operators versus managers."

 

We have new processes that are a result of the new commercial plans, whether it is the checking of carry-on bags in anticipation of the assigned seating rollout next year, or closing flights out early to protect on-time performance. There are ambiguities and a lack of clarity from leadership in certain areas.

 

Fortunately, for the first time in my two decades at this Company, there are a few people in leadership roles who are operators versus managers.

 

More importantly, with these leaders in position, we have seen a new paradigm of genuine collaboration with SWAPA, specifically centered around operational priorities, safety, training, and new commercial initiatives.

 

For instance, the checking of carry-on bags with mandatory directives being announced prior to every flight is a measure to mitigate the potential for exponential increase in the number of carry-ons once we started charging for bags. To most of us flying the line, the process seems counterintuitive and causes more delays. The data, both on the macro and micro level, proves otherwise. The only negative that we were able to relay to SWA leadership in the above case was that if they want these campaigns to succeed, clear communication with frontline employees — especially the Pilots — must be a top priority.

 

With each new commercial plan on the horizon comes the certainty of operational challenges — challenges that demand early and meaningful involvement from frontline employees. Encouragingly, the partnership between SWAPA and Southwest has been strong of late, and according to the data presented to us, these new measures are already showing positive results.

 

Whether or not the commercial plans will suffice in making Southwest the force it once was in the industry remains to be seen. I am, however, encouraged that at least from an operational perspective, we are moving in the right direction.