Southwest Airlines

Two years ago, Gary Kelly drew a competitive line in the sand when he decided not to charge passengers for their bags. The 55-year-old chief executive of Southwest Airlines Co. didn't want employees to face customer wrath for an issue that would have gone against the essence of Southwest. "We had our niche for a long time," Kelly said in his headquarters office at Love Field in Dallas. "We were the low-cost carrier, the low-fare carrier. Nobody paid much attention to us. Well, that ain't the case anymore."

"You only turn 40 once," Southwest Airlines says on its online sale page. Really? I feel as though Southwest has been ballyhooing birthday promotions forever -- not that I'm complaining. The airline Tuesday launched an autumn airfare sale with one-way fares of $40, $80 and $120 depending on how far you fly. But think fast because the offer is good only until Thursday. And be patient -- Southwest's website may be slow to upload. The deal: The Celebrating 40 Years With $40 Fares One-Way sale works this way: $40 for short flights (up to 450 miles)

The otherwise efficient operations at Southwest Airlines were thrown into chaos Christmas Eve by the tiniest of gremlins--a virus. Airline officials said an outbreak of the flu grounded flight attendants in four states this week, forcing the cancellation of 50 flights Wednesday and 100 flights Tuesday, leaving thousands of travelers temporarily stranded in airports from Los Angeles to Baltimore. Two flights were canceled in Orange County.

Two years ago, Gary Kelly drew a competitive line in the sand when he decided not to charge passengers for their bags. The 55-year-old chief executive of Southwest Airlines Co. didn't want employees to face customer wrath for an issue that would have gone against the essence of Southwest. "We had our niche for a long time," Kelly said in his headquarters office at Love Field in Dallas. "We were the low-cost carrier, the low-fare carrier. Nobody paid much attention to us. Well, that ain't the case anymore."

An effort by Southwest Airlines to celebrate reaching 3 million Facebook friends turned into a public-relations mess when several thousand passengers who tried to buy discounted flights Friday ended up with multiple bookings and multiple credit-card charges because of a computer glitch. To celebrate the Facebook milestone, Southwest offered as much as 50% off on flights, with several restrictions. But the airline's online system malfunctioned because of an unusually high number of bookings from passengers hoping to take advantage of the deals Friday.

To the frustration of many travelers, the nation's 10 largest airlines have collected about $740 million in baggage fees in the third quarter of this year -- a 111% increase over the same period in 2008. With those kind of numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, it's hard to tell who is profiting most from the baggage fees -- the airlines that charge to check bags or Southwest Airlines, the lone large carrier that still doesn't make passengers pay to check their first two bags.

Southwest Airlines' long-awaited landing in Orange County inched closer Tuesday when the Board of Supervisors approved a lease agreement for ticket counter space at John Wayne Airport. Airport spokesman Pat Ware said the airline, whose reputation for no-frills service and cut-rate fares have made it one of the most traveled in the nation, will lease 130 square feet for its counters in Terminal B of the airport. Departure gates will be located in both Terminal A and B.

No-frills carrier Southwest Airlines Co. on Friday reported a sharp drop in first-quarter profit, saying its bottom line was hurt by cutthroat fare wars and the company's aggressive expansion. The Dallas-based carrier's net income plunged to $11.8 million, or 8 cents a share, in the quarter ended March 31 from $41.8 million, or 28 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Operating revenue rose to $621.0 million from $619.4 million.

A bomb threat found in a seat pocket on a Southwest Airlines jet prompted a landing and evacuation on an isolated stretch of runway in Houston, but bomb-sniffing dogs found no sign of explosives, authorities said. A passenger alerted crew members to the note. It was unclear whether the bomb threat was written on that flight or had been left during a previous flight, investigators said.