Southwest Airlines comes out of the closet...

[Aerophile]

I hope its okay to post outside links here.  Anyway, here it is...

www.southwest.com/gaytravel

[a1]

You are serious right?!!!! Thats something i haven't seen before.

[Aerophile]

You are serious right?!!!! Thats something i haven't seen before.

... as a heart attack.  :-/ From what I've heard, other airlines are catching on.  Leave it to LUV though.

[Jakemaster]

I just don't understand the point and frankly if I was homosexual I would be insulted.  It's like they are saying gays need special treatment or extra help for travelling.  The whole thing is stupid

[expat]

I bet that the City Fathers and Mayor's of the cities on the Gay Destination list are just soooooooooooooooooo proud to be included.

It makes me think that this is a RyanAir air type stunt from some clever marketing people. Wait for the backlash and see all that free publicity role in.

Matt

[dcunning30]

It's just a business decision.

[beaky]

Not surprised. The travel and hospitality biz in general have been offering "separate but equal" service to that crowd for years... it's not insulting to them, I guess, because if a same-sex couple spend a fortune to go somewhere and want to hold hands on the beach without a posse running them out of town, they'd prefer to know beforehand that the locale is "gay-friendly".

And it's a sound business decision: despite the recent trend in gays starting families, most don't have kids, so that means more disposable income.

It's also not so exclusive as you might think: for example, a few years ago I found a really nice little hotel in Miami where I could stay with my dog for a couple of nights... my search was for a dog-friendly place, but it also turned out it was a gay-friendly place (as in on official gay-friendly listings).
But it didn't seem particularly "gay" to me, although I guess some of the other guests may have been of that persuasion.

I didn't care either way- the place was nice, not too expensive, the proprietress (and her dog) were very friendly and helpful...it was excellent.  Unlike the chain hotel at our first stop, which claimed online to be dog-friendly, did not reply either way to my online query about the dog, yet gave me a bunch of static when I arrived with dog in tow.  >:(

[bok269]

Delta has something simialar.

[Jakemaster]

Not surprised. The travel and hospitality biz in general have been offering "separate but equal" service to that crowd for years... it's not insulting to them, I guess, because if a same-sex couple spend a fortune to go somewhere and want to hold hands on the beach without a posse running them out of town, they'd prefer to know beforehand that the locale is "gay-friendly".

And it's a sound business decision: despite the recent trend in gays starting families, most don't have kids, so that means more disposable income.

It's also not so exclusive as you might think: for example, a few years ago I found a really nice little hotel in Miami where I could stay with my dog for a couple of nights... my search was for a dog-friendly place, but it also turned out it was a gay-friendly place (as in on official gay-friendly listings).
But it didn't seem particularly "gay" to me, although I guess some of the other guests may have been of that persuasion.

I didn't care either way- the place was nice, not too expensive, the proprietress (and her dog) were very friendly and helpful...it was excellent.  Unlike the chain hotel at our first stop, which claimed online to be dog-friendly, did not reply either way to my online query about the dog, yet gave me a bunch of static when I arrived with dog in tow.  >:(

That's a better perspective.  Just glancing at the site it seemed kinda dumbed down like it was made for children almost, but maybe a glance wasn't enough

[an-225]

Hmmm...now I am insulted. If you look around, there is a section labelled "Kids Korner". When will the patronising END?

[Chris_F]

[quote]
I didn't care either way- the place was nice, not too expensive, the proprietress (and her dog) were very friendly and helpful...it was excellent.

[Tweek]

No flights to Alabama?

[fighter25]

No flights to Alabama?

LMAO

[beaky]

No flights to Alabama?

I'm pretty sure "gay" still means "carefree" in Alabama...

[Aerophile]

No flights to Alabama?

I'm pretty sure "gay" still means "carefree" in Alabama...

I guess not, but I was just recently informed that I'm co-piloting in a King Air to Alabama a week from today.  I've never been to Alabama before.  Just how "carefree" is it?