But for extreme weather issues, I’ve never even had a Southwest flight be 5 minutes late. They are generous with snacks and beverages. Their staff is overwhelmingly friendly across the country. Their change / cancellation policies are the best in the industry (NO fees!!!!!) Their fares I have found to be really good as well. I don’t think it is any mystery or accident that Southwest has over time been the only profitable airline, that their employees actually like working for them, and that they continue to be one of the most successful airlines in the country. It’s just too bad the other airlines won’t take a few notes ….

I love southwest for flying between the major cities in california. There are about 10 flights each way between each city, so that means that when I am done with a project in Orange County I have about five choices for flights that I can hop on for getting back to Norcal. If I want to hang around for a bit and have a drink, I can, or if I finish early, I can fly stand by on an earlier flight and 9 out of 10 times there is a seat. Also, they fly between the smaller regional airports. Last week I had to be in los angeles for the day. It was much easier to fly to burbank where I could disembark and be in a cab within 10 minutes rather than LAX, where it would have taken far longer than 10 minutes to hop off a plane and get a taxi.

Thank you. That was a great post, and a very helpful link.

-N

“The Community” is a term used to refer to the Seduction Community (aka the Pick-up Artist Community).

Nietzcshe,

Most mechanical guys never get out of using scripts b/c they’ve trained and conditioned their minds to rely on them. As such, they lose their ability to be spontaneous and improvise.

By “Naturals”, I refer to both guys who learned it on their own… and those who learned it through the Community. The difference between the natural camp and the more technical camps is that naturals focus on developing their self-esteem, confidence and belief system FIRST. They focus on making you feel attractive and acting out based on your desires and instinct. You are to tap into your masculine core and learn to vibe and create a moment with women.

David and I would definitely frown on you using palm reading and scripted openers. You can re-use certain openers over and over again.. that still doesn’t make it a script. You are using a script when you are saying things with a specific response in mind. Even if you get good at knowing all the responses a woman can give you, you’ll never be able to be prepared for ALL contingencies.

Scripted routines takes away your ability to truly listen and be in the moment.

Attraction is not about what you do… it’s about who you are. So unless palm reading… or any other gimmicks you use are your hobbies and your areas of interest, you shouldn’t use them.

Anything you do should be a reflection of your identity.

For centuries, men have been able to attract women without these gimmicks, why would you want to start now? The scripted routines and the gimmicks are only a PLUS to your game if you want to spice it up. They are sometimes fun to use b/c they are what they are… they are “games”… and games are fun!

While on your journey for social growth, you don’t want to replace or hide your natural attractive core with “illusions of coolness”.

When I tell you to learn to be a natural, I don’t imply that you just go in with nothing in mind with no structure. Even naturals have some form of structure… or direction they take with their interaction. A natural understand the way emotions work. He understand that his sheer presence can have a huge impact or influence on the people around him… so his game is a reflection of his ability to create feelings and emotions in the person he’s interacting with based on what he decides to project about himself.

A mechanical guy only understand techniques and step-by-step instructions.

Overall, learning scripted game in itself is not a bad thing but from my experience, it creates more negatives than positives just by the simple fact that you are looking to learn to say the right thing instead of focusing on creating a certain vibe/energy. When going down that path, most guys get in the downward spiral that they need to learn more content/material which is a lot less important than HOW you convey yourself (thru storytelling and body language… etc)

Personally, you practicing delivery is way more important than you practicing scripts. Learn how to convey everything well and you’ll develop attractiveness.

You want to express everything confidently.

As far as the dark side goes, there is too much to say … but just to give you a glimpse, you can read this: http://zentransformation.blogspot.com/2008/05/short-public-service-announcement.html

Your response here shows that Southwest is a class operation. You do your thing very very well. I must admit I flew you once when I won a prize to Seaworld and was okay with it (even though that boarding process still gives me panic attacks) and my 4 year old at the time loved the flight attendants. I have been an Elite flyer for years with Northwest and it is hard to do away with the perks (as David intimately knows) of being an Elite. Now that the mother of all bad airlines is buying Northwest I am seriously thinking about retiring from the game, it’s just not as fun as it used to be.

Thanks again for replying here!

Thanks for the great post!!

I am an airline snob.

I am platinum on American and will always fly them unless they don’t go to a certain place or another airline has more options and it is a short jump.

Being platinum means I

Board first and never ever get shut out in overhead space.

Get double miles for each flight.

Always sit in the exit row when by chance i am not upgraded.

Priority check in lines if i need to check luggage which i never ever do.

Priority security lines so can fly right through security.

Plus as you know many more benefits……I really do not like the cattle and sheep herding feeling that i get when i fly southwest.

But you are right it makes money and the flight attendents are much nicer than american.

But i can do without the smiling face asking me if i want drinks or peanuts….i prefer that all flight attendents leave me alone when i am flying.

I like to read…sleep….meditate and i bring my own supplies with me so i always politely tell them that they can skip me and attend to the other passengers….

I am a very easy person to fly with and i do not ever put my suitcase sideways…wheel first.!!

The people who put it sideways are the same people who drive like they are the only ones on the road in the left lane going 55!!

Thanks and as far as i am concerned age means nothing except all the great wisdom it brings!!!

You make some interesting suggestions for our operation…

We actually love your idea for speed-dating, and we sponsored several speed-dating events this past Valentine’s Day. Love is a popular theme at Southwest, and you wouldn’t believe how many letters we receive a year from Customers who have met and fallen in love onboard our aircraft (which they often attribute to our open-seating policy).
While we won’t be changing our planes to look like busses anytime soon, the Onion actually ran a funny story not long ago that had a mock-photo of just that (http://www.theonion.com/content/news/southwest_airlines_now_taking), which was pretty funny, since we actually have a Southwest shuttle bus at our headquarters in Dallas that looks just like the one they created.
As for landing in the middle of the city, well…we try to whenever we can! Southwest has a long history of operating in secondary airports that are often less congested and closer to city centers. Of course, that’s not always an option, but if you’ve ever flown into Dallas Love Field, Burbank, Chicago Midway, or Houston Hobby, you know what I mean.

But, to the question you posed, “Why would anybody actually want to fly Southwest?” Well, Southwest carriers more Customers than any airline in the United States, so we must be doing something right. I think some of our loyal customers would say:

-Consistently low fares
-The best ontime record in the industry
-The best Customer Service record in the industry
-No hidden or added fees (Southwest has never charged a change fee and has always allowed Customers to reapply unused funds to future travel)
-Open-seating (although we know there is a segment of the traveling public that doesn’t care for our unique open-seating policy, our loyal Customers actually prefer it and were very vocal about it when we proposed making a change to assigned seating on our blog about a year and a half-ago, see: http://www.blogsouthwest.com/blog/a-message-from-our-ceo-open-season-on-assigned-seating ).
-You always get a human being on the line when you call us.
-If you write to us, you get a personalized and researched response.
-Unlike almost all other major carriers, Southwest has never had Employee layoffs in its 37 year history.
-Unlike almost all other major carriers, Southwest has never filed for bankruptcy and remains profitable, which tells our Customers that we are a stable company that can be relied on for consistent service.

Indeed our aircrafts spend less time on the ground than those of other airlines. It’s part of our low-fare/low-cost model of operational efficiency. However, I must take issue with your claim that you sat next to a man that paid $265 for a six-stop flight to Long Island! While all airlines’ aircraft fly routes that make numerous stops throughout the day, Southwest will never sell an itinerary that includes more than two stops, and for exactly the reasons you suggest – it would be ridiculous, unpleasant, and not worth a fare difference of $34. Check our schedule out online for evidence (http://www.southwest.com/cgi-bin/showItinerary). Even one of our longest flights from Los Angeles to Long Island, will, at most, make two stops with one change of planes. It’s also worth noting that the vast majority of flights we sell are nonstop.

While you may find a lower fare at times on another airline, statistically Southwest is the nation’s leading low fare carrier, offering more consistently low fares than any other airline.

So, again, thanks for the kind words about our Flight Attendants. And if you happen to find yourself onboard one of our aircraft again in the future, I hope you are on a low-fare, nonstop flight to a small uncongested airport in the middle of town, and seated next to an attractive and charming young lady that smells like roses (wink)!

Until then…take care!

Paula Berg
Southwest Airlines