Southwest Route Bidding

For some reason, I’m addicted to finding out about and reading about airlines and they way they work. I’m not really sure why, although I think the addiction started when I first started travelling frequently for business. I certainly don’t harbour any ambitions to start or run an airline! Anyway, I’m now subscribed to the Southwest Airlines Blog.

Yesterday, there was a post about how the flight attendants actually have some say in which routes they fly each month:

On the same day each month, a schedule of trips for the following month is posted on our crew website. We bid on the trips we would like to fly and are awarded our choice based on seniority – meaning date of hire, not date of birth! We might have the same trip each week or they may be different each week. Each month is like Christmas – we pick the “gift” we want and then anxiously wait to see what’s inside the package we receive! If we are disappointed, we have the option of trading our trips IF a trade is available. If it isn’t, we can put our trips on a give away list where someone else can choose to fly our trip. We can then look for another trip to pick up or stay home. How cool is that?!

I’d say that’s very cool! Everyone will have different preferences and priorities for what routes they want to take, with some preferring overnight stays all over the country and with some preferring to fly the same route. Allowing staff in any business a degree of freedom in exactly how, when and where they work can be a powerful magnet for attracting staff, so it’s interesting to see how companies in other sectors play the “flexi-working” card.

Tags: staffing, southwest