Southwest Headquarters Tour

KKatiMichel about 3 hours ago 9 commentsRead Article on katherinemichel.github.io

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After years of flying Southwest, I recently had the opportunity to tour the headquarters in Dallas. I particularly enjoyed seeing the full-motion 737 simulators, Network Operations Center, and TechOps maintenance hangar up close.

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Discussion (9 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

legitster•about 1 hour ago

I adore behind-the-scenes tours. I get there's a lot of work that goes into making it happen, but when you drop into a place where people work, you'll learn so much about real life problems that never make it to the Internet.

The greatest tour I ever had was at the Smokejumper base in remote WA. At any time when they're open, you're allowed to drop in for a tour and whoever is there that day is obliged to give you one. Even in the height of fire season.

We got to see them pack parachutes, repair gear, coordinate parcel drops - everything. Our guide was a 3 year jumper veteran on summer break from his masters degree in linguistics. It was incredible.

Any org that's proud of what they do should aspire to have public tours.

KatiMichel•35 minutes ago

I love that. I want to take more tours like this. One thing I found very interesting about it was to be immersed in a company culture. It's kind of like being a fish in water. You might not notice your own culture around you, but going into one that is very distinctive, you can observe it.

throwaway041207•about 2 hours ago

Very cool post. I don't fly much anymore, by choice. But I'm always impressed at the scale and complexity that it takes to operate an airline like Southwest. I appreciate you sharing. Sorry you didn't get to see the actual NOC!

KatiMichel•about 2 hours ago

It was a bit disappointing, but going into the tour, I had no idea what I would see, so it wasn't something I had any expectation about. Altogether though, I felt like I saw some very amazing stuff up close.

hexagonsun•about 1 hour ago

oh hey kati! we met at pycon in portland years ago, awesome to see you on the HN frontpage!

KatiMichel•about 1 hour ago

Oh awesome! If you see me again, let's catch up!

flerchin•about 2 hours ago

SWA does some seriously complex stuff. Neat tour!

Jordan-117•about 2 hours ago

Being a "superfan" of a corporation is already kind of questionable, but especially so when its leadership has been steadily dismantling so many great customer-friendly things that distinguished them from the competition. I'm glad at least something like this has survived long enough for you to have a neat experience.

appreciatorBus•40 minutes ago

You could’ve just said, “I’m glad you enjoyed it!” or said nothing at all rather than lecturing her on your politics.