Southwest Airways CEO Bob Jordan tends to not put on fits when flying so he can provide the flight crew a hand.
In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Occasions, he revealed his personal flying habits, talked about Southwest’s latest resolution to finish long-standing insurance policies, and shared recommendation he received from legendary cofounder Herb Kelleher.
Jordan stated he prefers the window seat, however sits within the aisle when flying for enterprise so he can stand up, speak to the flight attendants, and transfer concerning the cabin.
“I serve snacks. I pick up trash. Then I go sit in the cockpit and talk to our pilots,” he informed the Occasions. “I don’t want to be crawling over people, so I tend to sit on the aisle so I can get out and do stuff.”
The truth is, he seldom wears a go well with when flying and normally wears a vest or polo shirt as a result of he needs to work with the crew. Fits are sometimes reserved for visits to Washington, D.C., and conferences with lawmakers or different officers.
Jordan even steered his useful habits prolong to the bottom crew.
“I want to go downstairs and unload bags. It’s super hard to unload bags and get in the belly of the aircraft with a suit on,” he stated.
The CEO additionally mentioned reactions to Southwest’s resolution final yr to finish its well-known open-seating coverage and start charging for premium seating in addition to its pivot earlier this yr to sharply cut back its “bags fly free” coverage.
“I know we have some that are not happy—and we have many, many, many that are happy,” Jordan stated. “You have to keep talking because sometimes people don’t understand what you’re doing. What I find is that once folks know where we’re headed, they’re very excited. I think you just have to play through this period of change because change is hard.”
He acknowledged that Southwest has to play “a bit of catch-up” with different airways by transitioning to the brand new insurance policies in a matter of months and never years.
However he denied the modifications had been pushed by activist shareholder Elliott Funding Administration, which sought a shakeup on the airline. The airline revamped its board final yr however saved Jordan as CEO.
Jordan was additionally reminded that he began at Southwest in 1988, when Kelleher was the CEO, and stated they met on his first day.
When requested what Kelleher, who handed away in 2019, would consider the massive modifications occurring at Southwest at the moment, he answered with some recommendation he received from the airline’s cofounder.
“One of the No. 1 Herb quotes was, ‘If you don’t change, you die,’” Jordan recalled. “Herb didn’t build the airline to be about open seating and plastic boarding cards. That was an outgrowth of wanting to be efficient. Herb built the airline around being different from a service perspective.”
