Happy Birthday Southwest Airlines!

Happy 50th birthday, Southwest Airlines!

Fifty years ago today, on June 18, 1971, Southwest Airlines' first flight took off from Dallas.

Southwest started as a drawing on a napkin with three destinations in Texas: Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Since 1971, Southwest has grown to become the low fare, great service leader in 118 destinations in 42 states* and 10 countries -- the largest airline in the United States. Whether you wanna get away, you’re an early bird or you need some business select or anytime for your SWABiz, your bags always fly free and you’ll never pay a change fee on Southwest.

At AmTrav, we’re proud to have played a small part in Southwest’s success as the launch partner for Southwest’s New Distribution Capability sales technology, giving our clients access to the full selection of Southwest Airlines fares, access to EarlyBird Check-In, and the ability to save money with their Southwest unused tickets.

Happy birthday Southwest! We raise a glass of Wild Turkey with you, here’s to the next 50!

*Only states without LUV service are Alaska, Delaware, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.