Yes, It Really is That Simple
The contrast between the scene at the Southwest gathering and the American Airlines shareholders’ meeting, held just an hour earlier down the road in Dallas, is striking. While attendees of the AA meeting had to cross a picket line of angry members of the flight attendants’ and pilots’ unions (customers soured on the airline’s recent announcement of a $15 charge for checked baggage presumably hadn’t had time to organize yet), Southwest’s pilots not only joined other shareholders in giving the departing chairman a rousing standing ovation, they took out a full-page ad in USA Today celebrating Kelleher. It was, as Nocera puts it, "the love fest to end all love fests."
Filed under Leadership
