They even tell jokes* to passengers.
No-frills efficiency, cheap seats and a few laughs thrown in. That has always been the hallmark of Southwest Airlines, whose flight attendants still entertain passengers by telling jokes on board.
But lately, the grins have begun to fade.
A whole crop of low-fare airlines - from JetBlue to Ted, which was started last month by United - are offering cheap tickets as well as frills like trendy cocktails that are very un-Southwest.
All that is forcing Southwest to rethink. It is considering moves that might have been blasphemous at the company just a few years ago: adding frills like in-flight entertainment systems and expanding its fleet beyond its trusty Boeing 737 jets.
Is this a first move? Or is the LCC-model cracking?
In the few past years the LCC was thinking low fares - even if that meant no assigned seats and no meals on board.
Or is it this: LCC need the keen sense of what customers will pay for?
IOW: Give them what they want to pay for? And is that affability and jokes?
*With some airlines, telling they wil arrive on time, is a joke already!
