Southwest Airlines 2005 Annual Report Download - page 6

Freedom to Fly
Our Employees take immense pride in knowing they give
millions of Americans the Freedom to Fly. We are a low-fare
airline by philosophy and have ALWAYS provided low fares
to our Customers. When we enter a new market, our competition
usually lowers their fares to match ours. The difference is
that our fares stay low—whenever and wherever we fly. In
addition to our low Customer-friendly fares, we offer lots of
convenient flights to meet the demands of both our business
and leisure Customers. Unlike many of our competitors, we
do not charge a rebooking or exchange fee for Customers
who change their itineraries, nor have we ever required a
Saturday-night stay. We have an expanding network and,
with the addition of Denver in January 2006, we now
provide service to 62 airports with more than 3,000 daily
flights. Through our codeshare with ATA Airlines, Inc., we
also currently offer or have announced connecting ser vice
through Chicago, Phoenix, Las Vegas,
Houston, and Oakland to destinations such
as Honolulu, Ma u i , N ew Yo r k’s L aG u a rd i a
Air p o rt , a n d Washington, D.C.’s Reagan
Maryland One, unveiled June 14, 2005, is the sixth custom
Boeing 737 in the Southwest Flagship fleet. Emblazoned
with the historic crests of the Crossland and Calvert families,
this high-flying 737-700 proudly waves as a tribute to the
great state of Maryland, Southwest’s fourth busiest station
in departures (BWI).
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. ANN UAL REPORT 2005
National Airport. Our frequent flights and
expansive route system offer our Customers
convenience and reliability with lots of options to get
where they want to go, when they want to get there.
Our frequent flights and simple, low-fare
structure are easily accessible through our helpful
Reservations Agents and through our web site,
southwest.com. In today’s world of online
shopping, consumers desire a buying experience
that is efficient and reliable. In addition to offering
the online capability to book hotels, cars, and
cruises, Customers can now print their boarding
passes up to 24 hours in advance of their
scheduled flight time, right from the convenience
of their own computer. Furthermore, we’ve taken
convenience a step further with the recent
introduction of wireless checkin capability,
allowing our Customers access to the travel
information they need while on the road and
away from their computer. With Internet and
wireless checkin capabilities, in addition to the
RAPID CHECK-IN self-service kiosks available in
every airport across our system, more than 50 percent
of our passengers choose to conveniently check
in using our easy self-service tools.
Shopping for the best online deals can take a
lot of unnecessary time. Southwest has always
made it easy for travelers, with the Southwest
Shortcut calendar for low fares, the weekly Click
’n’ Save e-mail specials, and full disclosure of all
fares and availability. Almost 70 percent of our
passenger revenues are now booked through
southwest.com. And, with the introduction of
our DING! Program in 2005, we now have the
ability to deliver low fares directly to our
Customers’ desktops. DING! alerts approximately
two million DING! users to the hottest deals
available at southwest.com. Booking online is
convenient and simple for our Customers, and it
is less expensive for Southwest.
For our business Customers, we offer a
booking tool called SWABIZ that offers the
conveniences of online booking and checkin
for the Corporate Traveler. More importantly,
SWABIZ provides travel reporting functionality
“We are thrilled to honor Maryland with this
beautiful aircraft; it is truly a testament to the
great relationship we have developed with our
Baltimore/Washington Customers and a tribute to
our Employees....” –President Colleen Barrett
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