Southwest Airlines as Community

As I mentioned in my last post, I fly Southwest Airlines when I can. I have spoken to many who have come through the hotel who despise the airline. They hate the cattle call to board, the less than ample legroom, the humorous flight attendants and the absence of the frills. Despite its popularity, some still just don’t fly SWA.

Maybe what I like best is the community feel. Next time you fly, whether or not it is Southwest, look at those in line. You will see business suits standing next to mesh tank tops. You will see Manolo Blahnik next to Keds and Prada luggage beside grocery bags. Low fares mean anyone can travel for business and family reunions. Because there is no first class, everyone is equal. Only the exit row gets a little more legroom. Sure, boarding group A gets the best choice of seats and overhead bin space, but everyone has the same seat and gets there at the same time.

Likewise, the notion of sharing is mandatory at Southwest. I learned on flying home Sunday that each overhead bin is for ten people to share. Now, there is no way ten rolling bags or ten garment suitcases or even ten laptops could fit into just one overhead bin. Of course, the ratios work out so that not everyone on board has two carryon bags, so everything somehow fits. But by encouraging a sprit of sacrifice, as every passenger and flight attendant try to cram whatever bag will fit into any vacant space, everyone’s stuff, their baggage, goes with them. At Southwest, your baggage is welcome.

As Lynnette and I have thought about names for a church, I kind of like the name Southwest. To me, it represents equality and inclusion. (So maybe we don’t actually call the church Southwest....) I would love for our church to see everyone as equal, to be a gathering place for the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the straight and the gay, the proud and the humble, and the American and the immigrant. It is a place where baggage is welcome (not where it is gossiped about under the guise of a prayer request). It is a place full of baggage handlers – a place where people come and unload their ‘baggage’: hopes, fears, challenges, addictions, abuses, dreams, scars and identities. And the church will be there to make sure it all fits, every last equal piece of baggage, so that we can all travel to that place called love, the table of Christ’s communion, where all are welcome.