Episode 13: Used Doesn’t Mean Useless

Passengers stopped flying. Cleaning protocols needed to be overhauled. Keeping an airline running through a global pandemic is no easy task, but Southwest Airlines pulled it off, and without involuntary furloughs, layoffs, or pay reductions. In this episode, Southwest Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly and Managing Director Communications & Outreach Laurie Barnett discuss how they respectively tackled the greatest threat to their airline in the company’s 50 year history.For more stories on Southwest Airlines’ 50 years of flying and a look behind the scenes, check out latimes.com/isthisseatopen

Window, aisle, or middle? Since Southwest Airlines first took to the skies, seating has been customer's choice. The reasons behind the open seating have as much to do with the airline’s unique culture as they do with an optimized boarding process. In this episode, Managing Director Customer Experience Tony Roach explains the policy that sets Southwest apart from the rest.For more stories on Southwest Airlines’ 50 years of flying and a look behind the scenes, check out latimes.com/isthisseatopen

Lou Freeman can lay claim to a lot of firsts. He was in the first group of students to integrate his high school in Dallas. He was the first African American undergraduate to train at his air force base in Texas, He was the first Black pilot at Southwest Airlines, and he was the first Black chief pilot of any major U.S. airline. So, when Rosa Parks passed away and was to be flown to Montgomery, Alabama, for a final farewell, Lou Freeman got the call. In this episode, we’ll hear the story of the last flight of Rosa Parks, as told by the flight’s pilot, Retired Southwest Chief Pilot Lou Freeman.For more stories on Southwest Airlines’ 50 years of flying and a look behind the scenes, check out latimes.com/isthisseatopen

One day, Gary Kelly and his team had a billion-dollar idea. Literally. In the 90s, Gary implemented a cost-saving measure to protect against fluctuations in jet fuel prices, and it paid off. In this episode, we’ll hear from the Southwest Airlines Chairman and Chief Executive Officer himself about how he and a small team of analysts pioneered a program that would have one of the biggest financial impacts in the history of the airline.For more stories on Southwest Airlines’ 50 years of flying and a look behind the scenes, check out latimes.com/isthisseatopen

Bill Baracani didn’t grow up with much, but he never had to worry if there would be food on the table. Through his volunteer work, Southwest Airlines Ramp Agent Bill discovered how fortunate he really was, and was inspired to save and dedicate almost all his time off to charity work. In this episode, we’ll hear about Bill Baracani’s passion for volunteer work, and how Southwest’s Tickets for Time program provides one free round trip ticket, up to six per year, for every 40 hours a Southwest employee spends volunteering at qualifying nonprofit organizations and schools.For more stories on Southwest Airlines’ 50 years of flying and a look behind the scenes, check out latimes.com/isthisseatopen

The news was hard to hear. Nicole Parris’ infant daughter had survived a high-risk double lung transplant, but she would need to return to a hospital in St. Louis every 6 months for the rest of her life. For Nicole and her family in Florida, this would be nearly impossible if not for Southwest Airlines Medical Transportation Grant Program. In this episode, we’ll hear how the program that was created to provide much-needed assistance to medical patients and their family members forever impacted recipient Nicole Parris. For more stories on Southwest Airlines’ 50 years of flying and a look behind the scenes, check out latimes.com/isthisseatopen

Alan Hugley was at work the morning of 9/11. He’s a Flight Dispatcher for Southwest Airlines, and while the country was grappling with the events of that day, The Federal Aviation Administration ordered an immediate grounding of all planes nationwide. This was an order that Alan had to execute. In this episode we hear Alan Hugley’s story of 9/11, and what the day meant for him working at Southwest.For more stories on Southwest Airlines’ 50 years of flying and a look behind the scenes, check out latimes.com/isthisseatopen

Pop quiz: what do you do with a pile of discarded seat leather that could stretch 43 acres? Throw it in a landfill? Not if you’re Southwest. In this episode, Laura Nieto, the Director of Community Outreach at Southwest Airlines, tells us how a small idea in 2014 led to a huge repurposing project that crossed an ocean and gave “new life” to people and products.For more stories on Southwest Airlines’ 50 years of flying and a look behind the scenes, check out latimes.com/isthisseatopen

Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to witness the inflight marriage of two customers. For Southwest Airlines, being “The Love Airline” is more than a nickname, as customers from coast to coast have met, fallen in love, and even gotten married on Southwest flights. In this episode, Derek K. Hubbard, a Manager for the airline’s Public Relations Team who has played cupid for more than a few love-struck couples, shares his advice for romantic gestures at 35,000 feet. Congratulations!For more stories on Southwest Airlines’ 50 years of flying and a look behind the scenes, check out latimes.com/isthisseatopen

It’s not every day that a flight attendant can make more money by retiring, but such is the life of some of Southwest Airlines’ early employees thanks to the company’s ProfitSharing Plan. Bucking the trends of the airline industry, Southwest decided to share its profits with the employees who helped earn them beginning in 1973. Ron Ricks, the Vice Chairman of the Board and retired Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer of Southwest Airlines, tells us how the entire Southwest family is stronger through their shared investment in the airline’s success. For more stories on Southwest Airlines’ 50 years of flying and a look behind the scenes, check out latimes.com/isthisseatopen