Southwest Airlines Analysis

Customer Value Insights

Southwest Airlines has managed to keep a profit year after year while keeping customers happy. According to Southwest airlines official website, they have a track record of 42 consecutive years of profitability and they have been on Fortune magazine’s list of the most admired companies in the world (Gary Kelly chairman, president and CEO Southwest Airlines). How does Southwest maintain such a stellar service? Most airlines provide the same services and products. A southwest airline differentiates itself from others by providing those services and products at a lower cost and with more professionalism, courtesy, and humor.

Southwest’s customer-centric approach starts with its staff. The airline is always looking for

Southwest airlines is now the nation’s largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded according to the most recent data available from the U.S transportation. The carrier offers flights to some of the world’s most popular destinations. They also operate the largest fleet of Boeing aircraft in the world to serve 93 destinations in 40 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and five near international countries which are Aruba, Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Mexico (Swamedia, 2015). Another key point to Southwest’s successful operation is that they only employ one type of aircraft, the Boeing 737. By resisting the customary practice of employing numerous types of aircrafts, the carriers can save on operational costs such as training technicians and focus on other customer-driven needs (Slate,

Their success is the reflection of hard work, good customer service, low cost and dedicated people who value business ethics and provide great services. Their secret is to get the basics done right. They lead a smooth operation with one fleet, which results in less technical failure and allows them to meet customers ‘expectations by consistently delivering the following: providing everyone personalized attention, delivering quality and comfort and meeting customers’ expectations, thereby adding value to the flight experience. As the passengers often put it: Not only are the airfares reasonable, but it is FUN to fly Southwest airlines. Indeed, when you make the customer’s experience pleasant and fun, you cannot go wrong.

Recommendations

Indeed, SWA is a great company to work for, fly with and partner with. However, we recommend that they expand their point of sales. We realize that tickets are mostly available on their official website and we would recommend that they have tickets available on different websites such as kayak.com, onetravel.com, cheaptickets.com, priceline.com, and others. Furthermore, we would recommend that in addition to baggage companies, taxi companies should also be available to the cruise lines passengers from the airport to the ports of cruises