Having been Southwest's 17th most frequent flyer in 2006/07 I know first hand Southwest's culture and onboard hospitality, but as my travel needs changed I haven't flown them a third of what I use to and forgot how their crews sometimes go that extra mile. Today I flew them back from our yearly Sales Convention and once again was reminded of why this company is so successful and I thought it worth mentioning.
Before we took off the FA's announced that the flight had a special guest on board and that after take off they'd let us know who it is....being the cynic I am I really could give a damn. So after take off the FA gets on the PA and said before they announce the special guest that they'd like everyone to close their window shades, so everyone does. Then they ask if every could push their Flight Attendant call button so the light turns on, again everyone follows direction. They proceed to announce that the special guest is just a regular passenger who's celebrating his 95th birthday and ask that at the count of three everyone yell "Happy Birthday" and to “blow out the candles” everyone shut off their FA call button. So on the count of 3 everyone wishes "Edward" a happy birthday and certainly not in sequence everyone shuts off their call buttons which did look like candles being blown out.
I think most people on the plane were impressed with the FA's efforts to make a regular passenger feel special and everyone walked away with a good feeling from that. Customer service comes in all forms and in today's market it’s so important to standout and be relevant to your customers and today's display really shows why Southwest is so successful.
Really a great job by Southwest today.
