MIA CARMEL

Southwest Airlines employees are not expected to check their personalities at the door. They are given freedom to have fun with customers and this often takes the form of communicating important information in a humorous way. In-flight announcements and safety information are frequently presented in song.

It's not unusual for flight attendants to belt out a tune at a moments notice. One example is a variation of the Oscar Mayer advertising jingle: "My airline has a first name - it's S-O-U-T-H; my airline has a second name - it's W-E-S-T. Oh I love to fly it every day, and if you ask my why I'll say, 'cause Southwest Airlines has a way of bringing sunshine to your day!"

On one particular flight, passengers experienced a somewhat rough landing. The flight attendant came on the PA and apologized for the hard touch down. "I checked with the captain and he said it wasn't his fault. I checked with the copilot and it wasn't his fault, so we are going to determine that is was the asphalt."

Airline customers, by the very nature of the business, often have reason to be disgruntled: weather delays, security requirements, disruptive children, their own hectic schedules, or perhaps challenging circumstances that precipitated their travel. Any time masses of customers become upset because of long delays, gate environments can become quite volatile. But at Southwest, gate agents are trained to bring out their humor tricks and are generally successful in "finding the kid" in their passengers.

Running silly contests like "Who has the biggest hole in your sock?" agents often have passengers take off their shoes to look. Or they might play, "Who has the most keys on their chain?" "Who has the most lipstick in their purse?" or "Who has the ugliest driver's license photo?"

People love to be entertained, and if their "innermost kids" can be found in stressful times, challenges can actually become fun and satisfying adventures.