training them to be friendly and positive even in difficult situations Without having any insight into how Southwest runs things I'd venture to guess that thei

training them to be friendly and positive even in difficult situations Without having any insight into how Southwest runs things I'd venture to guess that their gate agents and cabin crew have a lot more discretion than their peers at, for example, United. That kind of leeway makes the job much, much easier. United essentially handcuffed their staff leaving few options for dealing with an overbooked flight but to escalate to police involvement. That's what happened with Dr. Dao in any case. Not long after that shit show, I booked a transcon on American. Turns out it was overbooked, and they were desperate to get people off the plane. The gate agents basically asked how much money it would take to get people to volunteer to take another flight. They got their volunteers, everyone went home happy because American empowered their staff to resolve problems.