Fees don't fly here!

The airline industry is in turmoil. Oil prices have obviously had a big effect, but the airline industry has been in turmoil for a long time. On a recent Southwest Airlines flight from San Antonio to Dallas, it was reinforced to me why Southwest is the only profitable airline left in the industry.

As we ended our flight the pilot came on the intercom to thank us for our business. Paraphrasing, he said "Thanks for choosing Southwest today and helping make us the only profitable airline left in the industry. We realize that you're the reason that is possible." Amazingly, the passengers began to applause. Wow! Now that's loyalty. (And that's why they are a profitable airline.)

Southwest believes in taking care of their internal customers— their employees— and in turn, their employees take care of their external customers. While the other airlines are feeing us to death, Southwest has a much different philosophy. I have included their most recent ad in USA today to illustrate my point.