How Gay-Friendly is Southwest Airlines?:
According to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's workplace profile of Southwest Airlines, this popular airline has come a long way in recent years toward improving its track record on gay issues. It covers sexual orientation in its employee handbook, offers same-sex partner benefits to employees, does GLBT advertising and marketing, and requires diversity training on sexual orientation and gender identity. Also, in May 2007, Southwest unveiled a webpage specifically geared to gay and lesbian travelers. The airline also has linked with the San Francisco CVB to promote gay tourism.
Southwest's Gay-Friendliness Ranking with HRC:
According to HRC's 2008 Buying for Equality guide, Southwest Airlines scores an outstanding 90 out of a possible 100 on the Corporate Equality Index. This means its a "green" company, which HRC encourages consumers to "make every effort to support." It follows American Airlines (100), US Airways (100), and Alaska Airlines (95) in these rankings, and it leads United (88), Delta (85), Northwest Airlines (85), Continental (80), and JetBlue (80).
Major Southwest Airlines Destinations:
Among the highly popular GLBT destinations with numerous flights on Southwest are (note that some cities listed below don't have direct Southwest service but are within an easy drive of a city that does):Albuquerque/Santa Fe, Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Burbank/Los Angeles/Orange County, Chicago, Columbus (OH), Dallas, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Long Island/Fire Island (NY), Las Vegas, New Orleans, Oakland/San Francisco/San Jose, Ontario/Palm Springs, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Providence/Boston/Cape Cod, Sacramento, San Diego, Seattle, and Tampa/St. Pete.
Southwest Airlines at a Glance:
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines launched in 1971, first offering service just among the Texas cities of Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Today, the budget-minded airlines offers more than 3,200 flight daily to 64 cities in 32 states, including several highly popular destinations among GLBT travelers. Airports with the highest number of daily Southwest departures are Las Vegas (241), Chicago Midway (227), Phoenix (200), Baltimore/Washington (172), Houston (146), Oakland (144), Dallas (137), Los Angeles (122), Orlando (116, and San Diego (103).
In order to search Southwest fares, you need to log on directly to the airline's website, as you will not find Southwest fares by searching on most of the popular travel sites out there, such as Expedia, Orbitz, Kayak, and so on. To find the cheapest deals, I recommend downloading "DING", free software that hangs out on your desktop and receives special offers - some of them amazingly good - once or twice most days. You can't access these offers without downloading the Ding software (it's a fast installation and doesn't hog much memory).
There are pros and cons to flying Southwest, most of them well-known among regular travelers. For example, it's a low-frills airline with only one class (economy), and seating is unassigned - the earliest check-ins get to board first. However, in 2007 the airline changed its policy so that passengers board in the order that they checked in, assuring early check-ins the best seats. Also, you have to fly eight round-trips in a 24-month period to receive a free round-trip, which isn't easy for all but truly frequent Southwest customers.
On the plus side, Southwest offers among the lowest fares in the country. The airline also has amazingly flexible rules regarding flight cancelations and changes, and more often than not, you'll encounter friendly, cheerful, and even funny flight crew on Southwest planes (which are all Boeing 737s).
Even if you don't book your flight on Southwest, it's worth tracking when the airline is offering cheap flights to particular destinations (this changes constantly, as they're always adding new offers and discounting particular destinations). Often, when Southwest offers low fares to a city, other airlines that serve that same airport drop their fares temporarily as well.
Overall, this company that has made significant strides in gay-friendliness in recent years is a terrific resource for travelers looking to save money, or plan last-minute trips.
