Southwest: Same as it Ever Was

When is an airline not just an airline? When it consistently puts a lust for profit squarely behind customer service, fair pricing and a human touch. Enter Southwest Airlines, since 1971 a leader in customer satisfaction surveys and a business success story all at the same time. What's wrong with this picture? Nada, as we say in California. Nothing at all.

My most recent foray with the fine folks at SWA came after needing to change my departure to Tucson on rival US Air, then being told there'd be a $150 fee to do so, and an additional $700 bucks on top of that -- because the old fare had expired. "$850 dollars, one way to Arizona?" I bellowed to the reservations agent, "I could fly to Cairo for that price!" "Sorry, sir," she answered icily, "that's our policy."

Not only was I able to book immediate roundtrip passage on Southwest at a fraction of the price, there were no add-on fees for luggage, another good reason to choose them over their rapacious rivals. Their website also has a handy feature called the Low Fare Calendar tool, which shows the lowest price available for each day using a monthly calendar view. That saves you having to bounce from Travelocity to Expedia to Orbitz, etc.

All that and free peanuts and pretzels, wisecracking flight attendants and a sterling safety record. SWA has five hundred aircraft in their inventory (one of the youngest fleets in the industry) and flies over 100 million happy passengers annually. I am one of them. May they prosper.