Gallows humor pops up in the worst situations. But when something happens, and nobody dies, it’s a lot easier to laugh.
So in that spirit, a starter list of Southwest Airlines jokes:
Starting with new Southwest Slogans: “An airline that’s all it’s cracked to be.”
“Want to get away? Just don’t sit TOO close to the window?”
“You are now free to be ejected around the country.”
“Southwest airlines — Upgrades to a convertible at no extra charge.”
From my friend Augie Ruiz — So much for that relatively common Southwest pilot’s joke, “You are now free to move around the airplane, just please stay on the inside.”
Wonder if “freedom from fees” also means “freedom from maintenance?”
Finally, a use for all those peanuts. Passengers can smash them up and use them to plug holes in the plane.
“You know the real hard core frequent fliers on that “pop-top” Southwest flights. They’re the ones whose first question when they finally made it to their destination was “Do we get an extra Rapid Rewards segment for that extra stop?”
And wonder how long someone (SNL?) will take to come up with this “Want to get away” skit? The Captain’s announcement, “For passengers seated on the right-hand side of the plane, there’s a great view out that upper window of Yosemite. Oops, there IS no upper window?”
And after American Airlines horrible week with passengers fainting over Ohio, decompression over the Atlantic and a tail scrape in Dallas, all resulting in overnight delays; Southwest’s ability to deliver the entire flight, including substituting the aircraft, only four hours late qualifies as an on-time arrival.
How could you tell real frequent fliers on that “pop-top” flight? They were the ones who asked, after Southwest put them on another plane to their original destination, if they would get an extra “Rapid Rewards” segment credit because of the stop.
Of course the repairs are a serious business. Southwest is obviously taking this issue very seriously. That doesn’t mean we can’t laugh about it.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
