Southwest settled a trademark fight with an arm-wrestling match between CEOs
In March 1992 an aviation company told Southwest that its new slogan, Just Plane Smart, infringed a trademark. Instead of suing, the two chief executives arm-wrestled for it at a Dallas wrestling arena, with losers paying $5,000 to charity per round. Southwest lost, and was promptly allowed to keep using the phrase anyway.
The bout, billed as Malice in Dallas, pitted Southwest co-founder Herb Kelleher against Kurt Herwald of Stevens Aviation, which had been using Plane Smart. A mock training video showed Kelleher being helped through a sit-up with a cigarette and a glass of Wild Turkey waiting for him. Herwald won the rights and immediately granted them back, so both firms ended up sharing the line, and both got a burst of publicity.
That playful streak runs through the airline's history. Kelleher and Rollin King founded it on March 9, 1967 as Air Southwest Co., and it began flying in 1971 purely within Texas, linking Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Interstate service followed in 1979. Rather than funnel travellers through big hubs, it flies point to point, using only Boeing 737s and turning planes around quickly at the gate. EasyJet, Ryanair, AirAsia and IndiGo are among the many carriers that copied the formula.
Its cabin customs are distinctive too. For decades passengers picked any open seat after boarding in lettered groups, a method a 2012 episode of MythBusters found faster on average than the usual approach, though assigned seats replaced it in January 2026. Crews are known for joking announcements, and drinks are free on a handful of holidays, including Halloween and the company's June 18 anniversary. The original frequent-flyer scheme, launched in 1987, counted trips instead of miles: 16 one-way flights within 24 months earned a free round trip.
The airline has a harder edge as well. In the early 1990s it lobbied lawmakers and filed lawsuits against a proposed high-speed railway linking its three founding Texas cities, and many observers blamed that campaign when the project was cancelled in 1994. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, it had never furloughed a single employee.
Source: Southwest Airlines
