A Luv Story

Until the early 1980s, airlines would only hire women—young, trim, attractive women—to be “stewardesses.” Southwest Airlines—the LUV airline—went a step further.

After some market research, the newly launched airline—at that time flying only in Texas between Dallas (Love Field), San Antonio, and Houston— found that their main customers were businessmen.  To make flying more fun for the guys, they sexualized their human resources—ahem, stewardesses. 

The young women dressed in hot pants and served “LUV bites” during the flights. Borrowing from Woody Allen’s 1973 movie, Sleeper—a weird take on the year 2073— the company installed the nation’s first ticket kiosks based on Allen’s orgasmatron (this was a self-service sexual pleasure machine in which individuals entered, experienced solitary pleasure, and emerged in a state of total bliss).

Customers loved the approach. Flight attendants didn’t complain. New routes were added quickly. The jets were painted with hearts. The airline launched a “Love Is in the Air” campaign. With each new heart beat, the LUV airline grew as a low-cost carrier that offered teasingly sexualized service plus a real feeling of warmth and happiness.

Then Gregory Wilson and a group of men sued the airline, claiming that its employment practices discriminated on the basis of sex. The airline countered with a strong Title VII defense—gender is a “bona fide occupational qualification.” That’s right—the only person who can be a stewardess is a woman, under 30, slender, … well, you get it.

The court rejected the defense; Southwest lost the case; and its hot pants uniform came crashing down.

But Southwest didn’t overact. They redefined love when they hired men, and renamed the position flight attendant. They took a more mature approach to romance—one that emphasized light-heartedness, warmth, humor, and good-natured kidding with passengers.

It’s one of the only lawsuits I’ve seen an employer lose where the firm used the loss to redefine a good idea and make it much better.

The love in my life pointed out another LUV story today. Click on the link for a current story of how Southwest keeps on LUVin.’ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/office-romance-love-is-still-in-the-air/

(I took this photo in January at the recently renovated Love Field Airport in Dallas. Click to enlarge.)