Southwest off the runway in Spokane..

[nimtz]

SWA is the most reliable airline in the industry. Period. If I can jumpseat on them I will, b/c I know I will get there.

That being said I was on the Taxiway the morning in SFO in early Jan when the wind was blowing 160 @ 45 g 60 with 20 to 25 kt loss reported on the runways.... SWA was the only 121 carrier taking off. 4 of them went, nobody else would go. One of them gave a pirep of "light to moderate below 3000, worse than that above" Given that info the next SWA crew decided it was OK to launch.

Either the 73's as they are outfitted by SWA are "super" planes that can handle adverse wx better, and the rest of us are all pu$$ies who won't takeoff in such conditions, or there is a culture problem.

Don't get me wrong SWA has many attributes I admire and if they have ever offered me a job I would have not looked back(never bought a type), I would have gone in a heartbeat..... but there has got to be some type of culture issue where people are a little too comfortable with adverse conditions..

I completely agree with all sentiments here. As a qualifier I firmly believe SWA guys can fly the bejesus out of a 737. I don't question how well most guys over there handle the iron. That being said, I've been mind boggled many times at some of the conditions I've seen SWA willingly operate in. I flew into SFO around that time and the fact SWA was the only one going doesn't surprise me one iota.

Never forget time I watched one guy launch with windshear warnings all quadrants in BUF with 65 knot wind gusts. Then of course two SWA guys tried to land only to predictably have all the bells come on at 500 ft. Had to wonder why the heck try in those conditions? If the culture caused those decisions, I would want no part of it.