Southwest Ground Crew Show Passengers LUV, Thank Them For Flying
Southwest Ground Crew Show Passengers LUV, Thank Them For Flying
Southwest Airlines prides itself on its customer service and the “LUV” it shows passengers. In fact, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly recently pointed to the airline’s love of customers as one of the critical aspects required to get passengers back on board. Well, a ground crew in Fort Lauderdale showed some of that love to passengers on Sunday.
Airlines ground crew shows a little love for passengers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport https://t.co/EriaRq6CYU pic.twitter.com/uaTEkfiSBW
— South Florida Sun Sentinel (@SunSentinel) April 27, 2020
The Sun-Sentinel reports the ground crew held signs up thanking the passengers for flying. As the plane approached the runway, the crew held up signs thanking the passengers and showing their appreciation to all those on board.
The picture, which was taken by James Lott on board the aircraft shows the crew with signs. One of the signs says, “We love you” with a heart. Another sign says, “Thanks, Fort Lauderdale, for flying with Southwest.”
This is a pretty nice gesture, and it definitely shows the human face of the coronavirus impacts to the travel industry. The ground crew is showing appreciation for what little business the company has. Earlier this week, Southwest announced its first loss since 2011. CEO Gary Kelly also recently said that the airline’s capacity is virtually zero. Just as with many airlines, Southwest is struggling with a lack of passengers taking to the skies.
Of course, in many areas around the country, people are only allowed to travel for essential reasons. For that reason, many flights have few passengers, with one even flying one single passenger. Airlines are required to fly many of their routes as a condition for accepting federal stimulus money. In addition, the airlines who accepted stimulus funds are required to keep employees on their payroll through September 30, 2020.
Bottom Line
This is an amazing gesture for the ground crew. And it’s nice to see the ground crew taking the time to thank the passengers. But it’s also a reminder of the toll this pandemic has on the travel industry. It’s not going to be easy to recover, that’s for sure. But if people like this ground crew have anything to say about it, they’ll be making the most of the situation.
P.S. We did not misspell “love” in the title. Visit Southwest Airline’s website for information about the meaning of “LUV.”
