No in-flight meals, no assigned seats, and 47 years of profit?

In 1967, airfares in the United States were set by the government.
With prices the same, airlines competed on meals and seats, and flying was not an everyday way to travel.
But those fares applied only to flights that crossed state lines.
Fly only within one state, and the price was yours to set.

That March, lawyer Herb Kelleher founded an airline connecting only Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio in Texas.
By flying only within the state, it lowered fares, flew often, and ran on time.
There were no meal carts and no seat numbers from the start.
It flew a single aircraft type, the Boeing 737, and boarded passengers in the order they arrived. It charged no cancellation fees either.

What it lacked was formality, not people.
Employees First, Customers Second.
Employees came first, and customers came next.

In those 47 years, it never laid anyone off.
Not the oil shocks, not 9/11, not the financial crisis could break that record.
As prices fell, flying finally became part of everyday life.
Most of today's standards for low-cost airlines began here.

In February 2025, Southwest laid people off for the first time in its history.
In January 2026, its seats got numbers too.