Set Love Free

September 28, 2005 By David Burn 5 Comments

According to Church of the Customer, Southwest Airlines is lobbying customers and staff to help abolish the Wright Amendment with its Set Love Free campaign.

In 1979, Congress passed a federal law making it illegal to fly from Love Field in Dallas to points beyond the states surrounding Texas. It was meant to protect Dallas’ other airport, Dallas-Ft. Worth International, but has primarily been a lollipop for D/FW and American Airlines.
This summer, Southwest asked gate agents to dream up creative ideas to engage customers about the grassroots effort. Employees responded like fired-up high school spirit cheerleaders, creating homemade signs that showcase the company’s Kelleherian humor.

Filed Under: Brand Evangelism

About David Burn

I wrote my first ad for a local political candidate when I was 17 (she went on to win her race, and I felt the power of persuasive copy for the first time). Today, I live near Portland, Oregon and spend my days building brands for companies that matter.

http://notbillable.blogspot.com Irene Done

It took ‘em a while but DFW Airport has countered with their own TV spots, urging Southwest to fly out of DFW. They’re unremarkable spots and I doubt that they change any hearts or minds. People here aren’t stupid. They know that such a move would mean higher operating costs (thus higher ticket costs) and slower turnaround times for Southwest. There is only one group of consumers who want an unchanged Wright Amendment and they’re almost all politicians with economic ties to DFW Airport. I’m not making that up.
John

People seem to want to make this about airlines, but to me it’s really about airports. Lots of cities (NYC, Chicago, DC) have a smaller, more heavily restricted airport. Repealing the Wright Amendment seems simply about money. I’m more concerned with the quality of the community, which I think is protected by keeping Wright in place.
John Hunsaker

I could care less about airlines, airports, etc.
Here’s what I don’t get: the U.S. aviation industry was supposedly deregulated in 1978. Why in heck do Dallas and Fort Worth, alone, still have this crazy law? I can’t find anyone who supports it who isn’t somehow in the back pocket of American Airlines, either directly or indirectly.
According to the studies I’ve seen, this stupid law costs North Texas hundreds of millions of dollars each year… we could do a lot of “community building” by investing that in Fort Worth and Dallas instead of simply handing it over to the American Airlines monopoly.
SP

Looks like unsophisticated free-marketism has become the favorite argument for those against the Wright Amendment.
Unfortunately, airports, like dams, nuclear projects and stadiums tend to be public-private ventures. They are too expensive to be entirely private. So, governments step in by providing capital, land and tax holidays. DFW is no exception. To apply free-market arguments to an airport is absurd. In an entirely free market, we wouldn’t have enough airports.
The Wright Amendment was put in place to help support a large DFW that would help the metroplex grow into a key hub. That rationale hasn’t gone away.
Carlos Cole

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