5 ms·

Southwest Headquarters Tour

322 points by KatiMichel 5mo ago

After years of flying Southwest, I recently had the opportunity to tour the headquarters in Dallas. I particularly enjoyed seeing the full-motion 737 simulators, Network Operations Center, and TechOps maintenance hangar up close.

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throwaway041207 5mo ago
Very cool post. I don't fly much anymore, by choice. But I'm always impressed at the scale and complexity that it takes to operate an airline like Southwest. I appreciate you sharing. Sorry you didn't get to see the actual NOC!
- KatiMichel 5mo ago
  It was a bit disappointing, but going into the tour, I had no idea what I would see, so it wasn't something I had any expectation about. Altogether though, I felt like I saw some very amazing stuff up close.
flerchin 5mo ago
SWA does some seriously complex stuff. Neat tour!
deleted 5mo ago
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Jordan-117 5mo ago
Being a "superfan" of a corporation is already kind of questionable, but especially so when its leadership has been steadily dismantling so many great customer-friendly things that distinguished them from the competition. I'm glad at least something like this has survived long enough for you to have a neat experience.
- appreciatorBus 5mo ago
  You could’ve just said, “I’m glad you enjoyed it!” or said nothing at all rather than lecturing her on your politics.
  - borski 5mo ago
    This is the internet; we don’t do “reasonable” here, apparently :p
  - Jordan-117 5mo ago
    Nothing against her, I just think it's not advisable to put a lot of emotional investment in a company that's already shown it's willing to throw away what made people loyal to it to begin with. I've seen a lot of other deeply committed superfans of Southwest feeling upset and angry and even betrayed at various unpopular and customer-hostile moves they've made in the last few years, so it was kind of surprising to see people still buying into their image. Maybe the changes just haven't hit something they care about (yet), but it's always risky to treat a company like they're family/friends/etc. (even if individual employees are great people).
- bigstrat2003 5mo ago
  I was certainly surprised to learn that Southwest even still has fans, given how they went out of their way to undermine any reason one would want to do business with them.
legitster 5mo ago
I adore behind-the-scenes tours. I get there's a lot of work that goes into making it happen, but when you drop into a place where people work, you'll learn so much about real life problems that never make it to the Internet. The greatest tour I ever had was at the Smokejumper base in remote WA. At any time when they're open, you're allowed to drop in for a tour and whoever is there that day is obliged to give you one. Even in the height of fire season. We got to see them pack parachutes, repair gear, coordinate parcel drops - everything. Our guide was a 3 year jumper veteran on summer break from his masters degree in linguistics. It was incredible. Any org that's proud of what they do should aspire to have public tours.
- KatiMichel 5mo ago
  I love that. I want to take more tours like this. One thing I found very interesting about it was to be immersed in a company culture. It's kind of like being a fish in water. You might not notice your own culture around you, but going into one that is very distinctive, you can observe it.
- spike021 5mo ago
  On a visit to Hiroshima, Japan, I went to the Mazda HQ for a factory tour. They took the group on a shuttle bus through their massive city-like complex and then we got to walk through one of the assembly-line buildings. Real fascinating experience.
- schoen 5mo ago
  I highly recommend the tour of the Itaipu Binacional hydroelectric dam in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil (well, it's also in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, but the tour starts from the Brazilian side). https://turismoitaipu.com.br/en/ https://turismoitaipu.com.br/en/ Get the "special tour" which takes you inside the dam. An absolutely incredible spot and incredible achievement. They will take you into a room with a turbine shaft that's mechanically transmitting 700 MW of power.
  - KatiMichel 5mo ago
    Sounds incredible. I am going to bookmark this to do if I take a trip to Brazil.
hexagonsun 5mo ago
oh hey kati! we met at pycon in portland years ago, awesome to see you on the HN frontpage!
- KatiMichel 5mo ago
  Oh awesome! If you see me again, let's catch up!
reactordev 5mo ago
Cool, I was on a contract last year for their cybersecurity division and implemented observability and AI for their cloud environments. They have a few different cafeterias at the HQ in the different buildings and the SWA store but I never got to see the sim and pilot training areas.
- KatiMichel 5mo ago
  That sounds awesome. They actually told us during the tour that many employees never see the areas we went to. It was pretty exclusive. As for different break areas, I loved that they had so much memorabilia around. I feel like I saw so many different scenes in there. I think I would have gotten lost in there if I hadn't had a tour guide!
  - reactordev 5mo ago
    the worst was when I had to come to Dallas and go to HQ where we were at on the 4th floor of the main building, someone booked a meeting room in one of the other buildings and we had to walk across the walkway to it. I logged 3 mile walk to and back from just that meeting. I'm envious of your full tour. You got a chance of a lifetime to see everything up close where most of us just get a glimpse if we are lucky.
jtchang 5mo ago
Fantastic write up. It's mind blowing how much complexity there is to keep flights going day in and day out. My guess is all airline NOCs operate 24/7 as flights happen around the clock. Also planes typically don't have much downtime as that loses money so everything has to be a continuous operation. Cool looking at the pictures of the dashboards. It's nutty to think how much has to be tracked when doing airplane maintenance.
- reactordev 5mo ago
  there's a lull from 1am - 5am as pilots are sleeping and airports are dormant. It kicks back up again at 5am for the early bird flights. Aircraft parked at the gates will be powered down for the night only to be brought back to life a few hours later. Southwest isn't a major international airline so you won't find them flying 24/7 like Delta or Lufthansa.
- miki123211 5mo ago
  Not necessarily; some airports are closed at night to keep nearby residents happy. If you're operating a hub-and-spoke airline out of such an airport, there's not much activity going on at night. There's still some; your longhaul flights are still there, so the NOC is likely still open, but there's far less activity than you'd have during the day.
ctippett 5mo ago
I was given a similar tour of Qantas's headquarters, including a walkthrough of their engine workshop and the chance to roam freely inside one of their A380s that was parked up for maintenance. I took heaps of photos, I suppose if this stuff is interesting to others I really should think about sharing them.
- linhns 5mo ago
  That would be welcomed!
- KatiMichel 5mo ago
  I would love to see it!
- ctippett 5mo ago
  Sharing these raw and unedited while the topic is still relevant: https://share.icloud.com/photos/006C8RDrTbAiQFIr3T2xJdekQ https://share.icloud.com/photos/006C8RDrTbAiQFIr3T2xJdekQ
  - rediguanayum 5mo ago
    Thank you! The Quantas Ops photos are awesome!
  - KatiMichel 5mo ago
    Thank you for sharing!
- ctippett 5mo ago
  Found some old photos from "Cathay City" aka Cathay Pacific's headquarters in Hong Kong. https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c2fhRSXwnIe7SrgOgSG0-wPw https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c2fhRSXwnIe7SrgOgSG0-wPw
tandydandy 5mo ago
Routing packets? Easy! Routing $100 million equipment with 200 souls on board? A bit more nerve racking. Airline operations is one of the most fun and complex problems on the planet. Thanks for sharing!
- kortilla 5mo ago
  They interestingly invested very little into it and it imploded on them spectacularly.
Luc 5mo ago
There appears to be a rope-like device on the emergency equipment training board (8th picture), with some bicone shapes. Anyone know what that is? Perhaps an escape rope for the pilots? EDIT: Yup, here it is in action: https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/7389569 https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/7389569
- deleted 5mo ago
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- chinathrow 5mo ago
  Yes, that looks like an escape rope for pilots. https://www.aviation-gadgets.com/photo/virgin-australia-boeing-777-vh-vpd-emergency-escape-rope/ https://www.aviation-gadgets.com/photo/virgin-australia-boei...
  - KatiMichel 5mo ago
    I am glad you found that. Someone asked our guide, and I missed the explanation!
borski 5mo ago
I’ve toured the Lucid Motors factory a few times, and man, it’s incredible. Sometimes we forget that the things we use every single day take massive amounts of space, people, and technology to build. We software people are spoiled with our keyboards and Red Bull :p
ivraatiems 5mo ago
A few years ago, I got a tour of Starbucks headquarters from a friend. One thing I didn't expect: it's literally filled with rooms where people just taste coffee, all day, every day, to make sure it's what it's supposed to be. It's crazy how even something which feels mediocre so much of the time - fast-food coffee, a budget airline - requires an enormous amount of human effort to pull off reliably. (And yes, you can dislike Southwest as a corporation and still think things like flight attendant training and plane simulators are cool. Come on folks.)
- KatiMichel 5mo ago
  I would love to tour a coffee company (or a chocolate company). Two of my favorite things. :)
  - vtbassmatt 5mo ago
    If you ever find yourself in Raleigh, Videri Chocolate offers tours! https://viderichocolatefactory.com/ https://viderichocolatefactory.com/
    - KatiMichel 5mo ago
      I actually was in Durham for DjangoCon US a couple of times. One year I was on the fence about making a quick trip to Raleigh before my flight and that factory was one on my list. It was a very rainy day, and I was pretty tired. I decided not to go. Hopefully, I will make it back sometime. Maybe for All Things Open, which is on my bucket list.
  - chihuahua 5mo ago
    There's a place in Hamburg called "Chocoversum" that offers a good tour, explaining and demonstrating the whole chocolate making process.
  - 205guy 5mo ago
    The island of Kaua'i in Hawaii has both tours of a chocolate farm (Lydgate Farms) and a coffee plantation (Kaua'i Coffee) with a visitor center. Just gotta find a conference out there, then hop on a Southwest flight.
xyzelement 5mo ago
// We later learned that sadly only 6% of Southwest pilots are women, I am not sure that's a "sadly". I used to fly a lot and talk to flight crews. Aviation is a ton of crazy schedules and nights away from home (I assume this is well known) From a family perspective it's bad enough if dads missing from the house for days at a time, much more catastrophic if mom's not around like that. (A child's relationship with mom vs. dad is very different. Kids need their mom in a very different way that we can't just paper over)
- ani_k47 5mo ago
  forgive me if I am wrong, but this comment sounds like we are trying to build a narrative. I might be wrong. No offense.
  - xyzelement 5mo ago
    Not sure the point. I was citing the article and sharing my reaction. What are you doing with the royal we?
    - inquirerGeneral 5mo ago
      [dead]
  - neonstatic 5mo ago
    The "sadly" comment in the article is also a narrative. No offense.
    - LastTrain 5mo ago
      It isn't a narrative, it is simply a point of view. Are we happy there aren't more women pilots? That would be your POV.
      - neonstatic 5mo ago
        The narrative is "it is important that genders are equally represented in all professions". The "sadly" indicates that - it assumes that equality of representation is good and expected, so the fact that it was found to not be the case is "sad". > Are we happy there aren't more women pilots? I'm sorry, what? Who's we? You and... ? > That would be your POV If you want to know my POV all you have to do is ask.
pants2 5mo ago
TIL that pilots can't have a full beard because oxygen masks can't make a seal. Guess that's where the pilot moustache stereotype comes from.
- gnabgib 5mo ago
  Good mask fit came up a lot during Covid. Moustaches can interfere too (depending on size, and mask shape)
- mfkp 5mo ago
  This actually isn't the case anymore, plenty of non-US airlines allow beards and the new masks still provide perfect oxygen flow. It's more of a "professional image" thing in the US.
matthewhull 5mo ago
I don't know if if it's still there, but there used to be a really huge display of memorabilia and photos in their pilot training center along their first floor hallway that went on forever with photos spanning their history: from crewmembers dressed up in toga at company parties to NASA astronauts that became pilots, some of it really throwing back to their old school wild west culture. Highly recommend reading Hard Landing by Thomas Petzinger for a little more background on SWA rough and tumble startup story with Herb K.
- corywright 5mo ago
  I read Hard Landing a few months ago and really enjoyed it. I was interesting to see how everyone in the industry admired Herb and SW during those years.
Stratoscope 5mo ago
When I was a very young kid in Eugene, Oregon, we always kept a supply of Chet's Tamales in the freezer. They always had one black olive hidden somewhere in the middle. It wasn't just a tamale, it was a treasure hunt! In first grade, we took a field trip to Chet's factory. It was so interesting to see how they made tamales in quantity–and they sent us each home with a free tamale. Another Oregon treat is Tillamook cheese. My family went on one of their tours. They still offer tours today, but you are in a glassed-in area on the second floor overlooking the line. Back then, we got to walk right up to the vats of cheese curd. They trusted us (and instructed us!) to not poke our fingers in. Much more recently, a friend who works at La Terra Fina in Union City, California took me on a private tour of their manufacturing plant. You may have seen LTF's quiches and dips at stores like Safeway and Costco, and private label versions at other stores. I think they were making the Artichoke-Jalapeño dip that day. What struck me was the contrast between the first part of the production line and the rest. They start with huge blocks of cream cheese, industrial size cans of artichokes and jalapeños, and dump them into a giant mixer by hand. Once a batch is mixed and gets a taste test, the rest of the line is high speed and highly automated. Plastic tubs come through and get the dip squirted into them, the plastic seal and top goes on, and then a labeling machine attaches each label. Pro tip: If you like their dips, try them warm. My friend had not actually done this, so I asked Claude for a recipe: --- One time a friend served some La Terra Fina dip warm at a party. I'd only had it cold before, and it was a revelation. I forgot to ask for his recipe, but I believe he warmed it in the oven for a while and then under the broiler for a bit to lightly brown the top. What would be a good temperature and time for the first step, assuming a typical shallow casserole pan? --- La Terra Fina dips warm up beautifully — the cream cheese base gets silky and the flavors meld in a way cold just can't match. For a shallow casserole dish, I'd suggest: Oven step: 325°F for about 20–25 minutes. Low and slow is the move here — you want it heated through without the dairy breaking or getting grainy. A shallow dish speeds things up compared to a deep one, so check at 20 minutes. You're looking for it to be bubbling gently around the edges. Broiler step: 2–4 minutes on high, watching closely. The top should get lightly golden with a few darker spots — that slight caramelization on the cheese and any onion bits is where the magic happens. Don't walk away during this part. A few notes: • Pull it from the fridge 15–20 minutes before baking if you can, so it's not stone cold going in • The spinach artichoke and artichoke jalapeño varieties both do particularly well warm • Serving with something sturdy (crostini, pita chips, thick tortilla chips) beats thin crackers when it's hot and scoopable The broiler browning is really what elevates it — that textural contrast between the creamy interior and the slightly crispy top is what probably made it feel like a revelation.
rgovostes 5mo ago
There was a charming reality TV show in the 2000s called "Airline"[0] in which a camera crew followed around Southwest ground operations, cabin crew, and passengers. There was a British series that aired around the same time about Heathrow, unsurprisingly called "Airport". [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_%28American_TV_series%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_%28American_TV_series%...
- miki123211 5mo ago
  There was also a British series called Airline (about EasyJet I think). Aired in the late 90s and early 2000s; the episode I remember most vividly is the 9/11 one. It's on Youtube, which is how I discovered it. Britain has plenty of these; there was one about Virgin, there's one about Scotland's national airline (on iPlayer, $4/mo Windscribe subscription required if you live outside the UK), "Heathrow, Britain's Busiest Airport" is another longstanding one about Heathrow. A Youtube channel called Our Stories is a good place to find such content.
thegnrgnry 5mo ago
[flagged]
altacc 5mo ago
The surprise for me here is the social media command center. I know businesses have staff dedicated to social media but hadn't expected a company to have them at a scale & operational level that necessitates a command center setup, with desks facing screens on the walls.
oe 5mo ago
I find it fascinating how with flight attendants there’s such a gap between what your everyday work is and what you need to know. Like every flight is just normal, but then once a career you might find yourself in a plane that’s now upside down on the tarmac and need to evacuate it in one minute. And they manage to do that.
- KatiMichel 5mo ago
  I had the same thought. I had no idea before the tour the extent to which they have to master the emergency skills, despite probably never needing to use it. On the other hand, passengers don't have to practice, but I sometimes hear it be said that you shouldn't assume a flight attendant will be there to help you in the event of an emergency!
timdiggerm 5mo ago
> Ask them about the chickens hanging from the bottom. Maybe you should tell me about the chickens, since I am unlikely to ever get to ask anyone at Southwest HQ.
- KatiMichel 5mo ago
  A worker was superstitious and wanted to hang rubber chickens from the bottom of the full-motion simulators. IIRC, one was hung beneath a simulator, then removed, and the simulator stopped working. So, the management caved and allowed rubber chickens to be hung beneath all of them. That worker had a simulator dedicated to him and they put two rubber chickens under that one.
CGMthrowaway 5mo ago
Rare photo of a crash axe (half cropped out) on the wall next to the other safety equipment. A lot of people don't realize there are weapons inside the cabin

322 points by KatiMichel 5mo ago

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throwaway041207 5mo ago

Very cool post. I don't fly much anymore, by choice. But I'm always impressed at the scale and complexity that it takes to operate an airline like Southwest. I appreciate you sharing. Sorry you didn't get to see the actual NOC!

KatiMichel 5mo ago
It was a bit disappointing, but going into the tour, I had no idea what I would see, so it wasn't something I had any expectation about. Altogether though, I felt like I saw some very amazing stuff up close.

flerchin 5mo ago

SWA does some seriously complex stuff. Neat tour!

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Jordan-117 5mo ago

Being a "superfan" of a corporation is already kind of questionable, but especially so when its leadership has been steadily dismantling so many great customer-friendly things that distinguished them from the competition. I'm glad at least something like this has survived long enough for you to have a neat experience.

appreciatorBus 5mo ago
You could’ve just said, “I’m glad you enjoyed it!” or said nothing at all rather than lecturing her on your politics.
- borski 5mo ago
  This is the internet; we don’t do “reasonable” here, apparently :p
- Jordan-117 5mo ago
  Nothing against her, I just think it's not advisable to put a lot of emotional investment in a company that's already shown it's willing to throw away what made people loyal to it to begin with. I've seen a lot of other deeply committed superfans of Southwest feeling upset and angry and even betrayed at various unpopular and customer-hostile moves they've made in the last few years, so it was kind of surprising to see people still buying into their image. Maybe the changes just haven't hit something they care about (yet), but it's always risky to treat a company like they're family/friends/etc. (even if individual employees are great people).
bigstrat2003 5mo ago
I was certainly surprised to learn that Southwest even still has fans, given how they went out of their way to undermine any reason one would want to do business with them.

legitster 5mo ago

I adore behind-the-scenes tours. I get there's a lot of work that goes into making it happen, but when you drop into a place where people work, you'll learn so much about real life problems that never make it to the Internet. The greatest tour I ever had was at the Smokejumper base in remote WA. At any time when they're open, you're allowed to drop in for a tour and whoever is there that day is obliged to give you one. Even in the height of fire season. We got to see them pack parachutes, repair gear, coordinate parcel drops - everything. Our guide was a 3 year jumper veteran on summer break from his masters degree in linguistics. It was incredible. Any org that's proud of what they do should aspire to have public tours.

KatiMichel 5mo ago
I love that. I want to take more tours like this. One thing I found very interesting about it was to be immersed in a company culture. It's kind of like being a fish in water. You might not notice your own culture around you, but going into one that is very distinctive, you can observe it.
spike021 5mo ago
On a visit to Hiroshima, Japan, I went to the Mazda HQ for a factory tour. They took the group on a shuttle bus through their massive city-like complex and then we got to walk through one of the assembly-line buildings. Real fascinating experience.
schoen 5mo ago
I highly recommend the tour of the Itaipu Binacional hydroelectric dam in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil (well, it's also in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, but the tour starts from the Brazilian side). https://turismoitaipu.com.br/en/ https://turismoitaipu.com.br/en/ Get the "special tour" which takes you inside the dam. An absolutely incredible spot and incredible achievement. They will take you into a room with a turbine shaft that's mechanically transmitting 700 MW of power.
- KatiMichel 5mo ago
  Sounds incredible. I am going to bookmark this to do if I take a trip to Brazil.

hexagonsun 5mo ago

oh hey kati! we met at pycon in portland years ago, awesome to see you on the HN frontpage!

KatiMichel 5mo ago
Oh awesome! If you see me again, let's catch up!

reactordev 5mo ago

Cool, I was on a contract last year for their cybersecurity division and implemented observability and AI for their cloud environments. They have a few different cafeterias at the HQ in the different buildings and the SWA store but I never got to see the sim and pilot training areas.

KatiMichel 5mo ago
That sounds awesome. They actually told us during the tour that many employees never see the areas we went to. It was pretty exclusive. As for different break areas, I loved that they had so much memorabilia around. I feel like I saw so many different scenes in there. I think I would have gotten lost in there if I hadn't had a tour guide!
- reactordev 5mo ago
  the worst was when I had to come to Dallas and go to HQ where we were at on the 4th floor of the main building, someone booked a meeting room in one of the other buildings and we had to walk across the walkway to it. I logged 3 mile walk to and back from just that meeting. I'm envious of your full tour. You got a chance of a lifetime to see everything up close where most of us just get a glimpse if we are lucky.

jtchang 5mo ago

Fantastic write up. It's mind blowing how much complexity there is to keep flights going day in and day out. My guess is all airline NOCs operate 24/7 as flights happen around the clock. Also planes typically don't have much downtime as that loses money so everything has to be a continuous operation. Cool looking at the pictures of the dashboards. It's nutty to think how much has to be tracked when doing airplane maintenance.

reactordev 5mo ago
there's a lull from 1am - 5am as pilots are sleeping and airports are dormant. It kicks back up again at 5am for the early bird flights. Aircraft parked at the gates will be powered down for the night only to be brought back to life a few hours later. Southwest isn't a major international airline so you won't find them flying 24/7 like Delta or Lufthansa.
miki123211 5mo ago
Not necessarily; some airports are closed at night to keep nearby residents happy. If you're operating a hub-and-spoke airline out of such an airport, there's not much activity going on at night. There's still some; your longhaul flights are still there, so the NOC is likely still open, but there's far less activity than you'd have during the day.

ctippett 5mo ago

I was given a similar tour of Qantas's headquarters, including a walkthrough of their engine workshop and the chance to roam freely inside one of their A380s that was parked up for maintenance. I took heaps of photos, I suppose if this stuff is interesting to others I really should think about sharing them.

linhns 5mo ago
That would be welcomed!
KatiMichel 5mo ago
I would love to see it!
ctippett 5mo ago
Sharing these raw and unedited while the topic is still relevant: https://share.icloud.com/photos/006C8RDrTbAiQFIr3T2xJdekQ https://share.icloud.com/photos/006C8RDrTbAiQFIr3T2xJdekQ
- rediguanayum 5mo ago
  Thank you! The Quantas Ops photos are awesome!
- KatiMichel 5mo ago
  Thank you for sharing!
ctippett 5mo ago
Found some old photos from "Cathay City" aka Cathay Pacific's headquarters in Hong Kong. https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c2fhRSXwnIe7SrgOgSG0-wPw https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c2fhRSXwnIe7SrgOgSG0-wPw

tandydandy 5mo ago

Routing packets? Easy! Routing $100 million equipment with 200 souls on board? A bit more nerve racking. Airline operations is one of the most fun and complex problems on the planet. Thanks for sharing!

kortilla 5mo ago
They interestingly invested very little into it and it imploded on them spectacularly.

Luc 5mo ago

There appears to be a rope-like device on the emergency equipment training board (8th picture), with some bicone shapes. Anyone know what that is? Perhaps an escape rope for the pilots? EDIT: Yup, here it is in action: https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/7389569 https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/7389569

deleted 5mo ago
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chinathrow 5mo ago
Yes, that looks like an escape rope for pilots. https://www.aviation-gadgets.com/photo/virgin-australia-boeing-777-vh-vpd-emergency-escape-rope/ https://www.aviation-gadgets.com/photo/virgin-australia-boei...
- KatiMichel 5mo ago
  I am glad you found that. Someone asked our guide, and I missed the explanation!

borski 5mo ago

I’ve toured the Lucid Motors factory a few times, and man, it’s incredible. Sometimes we forget that the things we use every single day take massive amounts of space, people, and technology to build. We software people are spoiled with our keyboards and Red Bull :p

ivraatiems 5mo ago

A few years ago, I got a tour of Starbucks headquarters from a friend. One thing I didn't expect: it's literally filled with rooms where people just taste coffee, all day, every day, to make sure it's what it's supposed to be. It's crazy how even something which feels mediocre so much of the time - fast-food coffee, a budget airline - requires an enormous amount of human effort to pull off reliably. (And yes, you can dislike Southwest as a corporation and still think things like flight attendant training and plane simulators are cool. Come on folks.)

KatiMichel 5mo ago
I would love to tour a coffee company (or a chocolate company). Two of my favorite things. :)
- vtbassmatt 5mo ago
  If you ever find yourself in Raleigh, Videri Chocolate offers tours! https://viderichocolatefactory.com/ https://viderichocolatefactory.com/
  - KatiMichel 5mo ago
    I actually was in Durham for DjangoCon US a couple of times. One year I was on the fence about making a quick trip to Raleigh before my flight and that factory was one on my list. It was a very rainy day, and I was pretty tired. I decided not to go. Hopefully, I will make it back sometime. Maybe for All Things Open, which is on my bucket list.
- chihuahua 5mo ago
  There's a place in Hamburg called "Chocoversum" that offers a good tour, explaining and demonstrating the whole chocolate making process.
- 205guy 5mo ago
  The island of Kaua'i in Hawaii has both tours of a chocolate farm (Lydgate Farms) and a coffee plantation (Kaua'i Coffee) with a visitor center. Just gotta find a conference out there, then hop on a Southwest flight.

xyzelement 5mo ago

// We later learned that sadly only 6% of Southwest pilots are women, I am not sure that's a "sadly". I used to fly a lot and talk to flight crews. Aviation is a ton of crazy schedules and nights away from home (I assume this is well known) From a family perspective it's bad enough if dads missing from the house for days at a time, much more catastrophic if mom's not around like that. (A child's relationship with mom vs. dad is very different. Kids need their mom in a very different way that we can't just paper over)

ani_k47 5mo ago
forgive me if I am wrong, but this comment sounds like we are trying to build a narrative. I might be wrong. No offense.
- xyzelement 5mo ago
  Not sure the point. I was citing the article and sharing my reaction. What are you doing with the royal we?
  - inquirerGeneral 5mo ago
    [dead]
- neonstatic 5mo ago
  The "sadly" comment in the article is also a narrative. No offense.
  - LastTrain 5mo ago
    It isn't a narrative, it is simply a point of view. Are we happy there aren't more women pilots? That would be your POV.
    - neonstatic 5mo ago
      The narrative is "it is important that genders are equally represented in all professions". The "sadly" indicates that - it assumes that equality of representation is good and expected, so the fact that it was found to not be the case is "sad". > Are we happy there aren't more women pilots? I'm sorry, what? Who's we? You and... ? > That would be your POV If you want to know my POV all you have to do is ask.

pants2 5mo ago

TIL that pilots can't have a full beard because oxygen masks can't make a seal. Guess that's where the pilot moustache stereotype comes from.

gnabgib 5mo ago
Good mask fit came up a lot during Covid. Moustaches can interfere too (depending on size, and mask shape)
mfkp 5mo ago
This actually isn't the case anymore, plenty of non-US airlines allow beards and the new masks still provide perfect oxygen flow. It's more of a "professional image" thing in the US.

matthewhull 5mo ago

I don't know if if it's still there, but there used to be a really huge display of memorabilia and photos in their pilot training center along their first floor hallway that went on forever with photos spanning their history: from crewmembers dressed up in toga at company parties to NASA astronauts that became pilots, some of it really throwing back to their old school wild west culture. Highly recommend reading Hard Landing by Thomas Petzinger for a little more background on SWA rough and tumble startup story with Herb K.

corywright 5mo ago
I read Hard Landing a few months ago and really enjoyed it. I was interesting to see how everyone in the industry admired Herb and SW during those years.

Stratoscope 5mo ago

When I was a very young kid in Eugene, Oregon, we always kept a supply of Chet's Tamales in the freezer. They always had one black olive hidden somewhere in the middle. It wasn't just a tamale, it was a treasure hunt! In first grade, we took a field trip to Chet's factory. It was so interesting to see how they made tamales in quantity–and they sent us each home with a free tamale. Another Oregon treat is Tillamook cheese. My family went on one of their tours. They still offer tours today, but you are in a glassed-in area on the second floor overlooking the line. Back then, we got to walk right up to the vats of cheese curd. They trusted us (and instructed us!) to not poke our fingers in. Much more recently, a friend who works at La Terra Fina in Union City, California took me on a private tour of their manufacturing plant. You may have seen LTF's quiches and dips at stores like Safeway and Costco, and private label versions at other stores. I think they were making the Artichoke-Jalapeño dip that day. What struck me was the contrast between the first part of the production line and the rest. They start with huge blocks of cream cheese, industrial size cans of artichokes and jalapeños, and dump them into a giant mixer by hand. Once a batch is mixed and gets a taste test, the rest of the line is high speed and highly automated. Plastic tubs come through and get the dip squirted into them, the plastic seal and top goes on, and then a labeling machine attaches each label. Pro tip: If you like their dips, try them warm. My friend had not actually done this, so I asked Claude for a recipe: --- One time a friend served some La Terra Fina dip warm at a party. I'd only had it cold before, and it was a revelation. I forgot to ask for his recipe, but I believe he warmed it in the oven for a while and then under the broiler for a bit to lightly brown the top. What would be a good temperature and time for the first step, assuming a typical shallow casserole pan? --- La Terra Fina dips warm up beautifully — the cream cheese base gets silky and the flavors meld in a way cold just can't match. For a shallow casserole dish, I'd suggest: Oven step: 325°F for about 20–25 minutes. Low and slow is the move here — you want it heated through without the dairy breaking or getting grainy. A shallow dish speeds things up compared to a deep one, so check at 20 minutes. You're looking for it to be bubbling gently around the edges. Broiler step: 2–4 minutes on high, watching closely. The top should get lightly golden with a few darker spots — that slight caramelization on the cheese and any onion bits is where the magic happens. Don't walk away during this part. A few notes: • Pull it from the fridge 15–20 minutes before baking if you can, so it's not stone cold going in • The spinach artichoke and artichoke jalapeño varieties both do particularly well warm • Serving with something sturdy (crostini, pita chips, thick tortilla chips) beats thin crackers when it's hot and scoopable The broiler browning is really what elevates it — that textural contrast between the creamy interior and the slightly crispy top is what probably made it feel like a revelation.

rgovostes 5mo ago

There was a charming reality TV show in the 2000s called "Airline"[0] in which a camera crew followed around Southwest ground operations, cabin crew, and passengers. There was a British series that aired around the same time about Heathrow, unsurprisingly called "Airport". [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_%28American_TV_series%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_%28American_TV_series%...

miki123211 5mo ago
There was also a British series called Airline (about EasyJet I think). Aired in the late 90s and early 2000s; the episode I remember most vividly is the 9/11 one. It's on Youtube, which is how I discovered it. Britain has plenty of these; there was one about Virgin, there's one about Scotland's national airline (on iPlayer, $4/mo Windscribe subscription required if you live outside the UK), "Heathrow, Britain's Busiest Airport" is another longstanding one about Heathrow. A Youtube channel called Our Stories is a good place to find such content.

thegnrgnry 5mo ago

[flagged]

altacc 5mo ago

The surprise for me here is the social media command center. I know businesses have staff dedicated to social media but hadn't expected a company to have them at a scale & operational level that necessitates a command center setup, with desks facing screens on the walls.

oe 5mo ago

I find it fascinating how with flight attendants there’s such a gap between what your everyday work is and what you need to know. Like every flight is just normal, but then once a career you might find yourself in a plane that’s now upside down on the tarmac and need to evacuate it in one minute. And they manage to do that.

KatiMichel 5mo ago
I had the same thought. I had no idea before the tour the extent to which they have to master the emergency skills, despite probably never needing to use it. On the other hand, passengers don't have to practice, but I sometimes hear it be said that you shouldn't assume a flight attendant will be there to help you in the event of an emergency!

timdiggerm 5mo ago

> Ask them about the chickens hanging from the bottom. Maybe you should tell me about the chickens, since I am unlikely to ever get to ask anyone at Southwest HQ.

KatiMichel 5mo ago
A worker was superstitious and wanted to hang rubber chickens from the bottom of the full-motion simulators. IIRC, one was hung beneath a simulator, then removed, and the simulator stopped working. So, the management caved and allowed rubber chickens to be hung beneath all of them. That worker had a simulator dedicated to him and they put two rubber chickens under that one.

CGMthrowaway 5mo ago

Rare photo of a crash axe (half cropped out) on the wall next to the other safety equipment. A lot of people don't realize there are weapons inside the cabin