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EXCLUSIVE: The Southwest Experience
11/12/09 - 09:23 PM
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It was just three weeks ago that Southwest Airlines announced they would be coming to the new Northwest Florida Beaches Airport when it opens in May of 2010.  News 13 wanted to know how this airline does business and we found probably isn’t what you’re used to.

We found that many people in the Panhandle had never flown Southwest.  Like many of you, we’ve heard rumors of singing flight attendants and cattle calls, and we wanted to see what it was really like.

News 13 took a flight from New Orleans to Houston to see how Southwest is different.

Less the five minutes into the flight, it becomes apparent.  Just before take off, the flight attendant said, “Ladies and gentlemen double check your seatbelts, this Boeing is going.”

Moments later, one flight attendant says people weren’t cheerful enough when they came in.  To get everyone in a better mood, he said, “Look at your neighbor and repeat after me.  I look better than you!”  Everyone burst into laughter.

“The crews are really great they’re friendly, they’re supportive, they’re helpful, informative and a lot of time you get a show,” said Southwest passenger Steven Giordano.

In the middle of the flight one of the flight attendants burst into song.  His choice… “I Believe I Can Fly” by R. Kelly.

Southwest boasts some of the lowest fares in the country. They say the key is using only one type of plane, a Boeing 737 jet.  It’s much bigger than the planes we’re used to coming into the current Panama City airport.  Right now all other carriers use regional planes.

“Southwest is an efficiency machine.  When we land we take about 25 minutes to turn our planes so that means to unload all the bags, unload all the customers, clean it, get people back on it and get it back up in the air,” said Southwest spokesperson Christi Day.

They also have no assigned seats or first class.  Some passengers refer to the boarding process as a “cattle call” because people seem to battle it out for the front seats.  Passengers have mixed reactions to it.

“At times it gets tiring.  Every now and then you wish you were on a large carrier with an assigned seat,” said passenger Michael Sokolow.

But most passengers say the boarding process doesn’t bother them, as long as they get cheap fares.

“Short distances… Do you really need a first class seat?  I think that’s more status than anything else,” said Giordano.

“It is the only airline I fly and the only airline I will fly.  Even though sometimes I’m going to a city that is not serviced I’ll go to the nearest where southwest goes,” said Jan Armantrout, a frequent Southwest traveler.

Southwest will be making eight trips a day to four destinations out of Panama City.  They aren’t announcing the destinations until December.

They say they will bring in thirty to thirty five jobs to the area.