SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
A Case Study
Prepared By: Tony Patterson
Prepared for: OL 421
October 26, 2007
INTRODUCTION
In 1971, Southwest Airlines was formed by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher in an effort to start an airline company with low fares that gets their passengers to their destination in a timely manner and that is fun to fly on. Southwest was started in Texas as a commuter airline between Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. Today, it is one of the largest airlines in the country. It took on many marketing strategies in the beginning to try enter the market and gain some market visibility including having flight hostesses dress in colorful hot pants and white knee-high boots, giving passengers free alcoholic beverages on flights, devising plans to lower turnaround time, and cutting fares.
As Southwest Airlines became more popular, it began to expand by offering flights to more cities across the country. While expanding the business, it continued to focus on customer satisfaction. In May of 1988, Southwest became the first airline to win the Triple Crown in a month. The Triple Crown is awarded to the airline with best on-time record, best baggage handling, and fewest customer complaints. Since then, Southwest has won the Triple Crown more than thirty times, including winning the annual award five times. Southwest established a frequent flyer program that takes number of trips into consideration as opposed to the number of miles, and has also launched other programs such as senior discounts, Fun Fares, Fun Packs and ticketless travel. Today, Southwest Airlines flies to 62 cities across the country and serves more than 80 million passengers a year.
Southwest Airl ...