Bob Jordan says working with crew keeps him grounded
Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan prefers to fly in a vest, not a suit — and for good reason. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Jordan revealed that when he flies, he doesn’t just sit back and relax. He rolls up his sleeves, helps the crew serve snacks, picks up trash, and even chats with pilots in the cockpit.
“I serve snacks. I pick up trash. Then I go sit in the cockpit and talk to our pilots,” said Jordan. “I tend to sit on the aisle so I can get out and do stuff.”
For Jordan, practical clothing like a vest or polo makes more sense than a business suit, especially when he’s helping the ground crew unload luggage. “It’s super hard to unload bags and get in the belly of the aircraft with a suit on,” he added.
Responding to Southwest’s policy changes
Jordan also addressed Southwest’s recent controversial decisions to end its long-standing open-seating policy and scale back its “bags fly free” program. The changes, designed to introduce premium seating and catch up with industry norms, have sparked debate among loyal passengers.
“I know we have some that are not happy—and we have many, many, many that are happy,” Jordan said. “I think you just have to play through this period of change because change is hard.”
He emphasized that the transformation wasn’t driven by pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management. “We’re playing a bit of catch-up,” he admitted, but insisted that the company’s board shakeup last year had no bearing on his position as CEO.
Lessons from the past
Reflecting on his first day at the airline in 1988, Jordan recalled meeting Southwest cofounder Herb Kelleher, who passed away in 2019. He credited Kelleher’s outlook as a guiding principle during this transitional period.
“One of the No. 1 Herb quotes was, ‘If you don’t change, you die,’” Jordan said. He dismissed the notion that open seating or free bags defined the company’s legacy. “Herb built the airline around being different from a service perspective.”
