Mommy and Me and Southwest Makes Three

Posted May 21, 2009 by Nicki Krawczyk

For those of you who object to children on airplanes, this is a not a post for you. Rather, this is news for those of you who, like Southwest Airlines, are decidedly and unabashedly pro-children. Indeed, so pro-children, you don’t even refer to them as children. No, you call them peanuts.

With the launch of their new ”My Peanut and I Fly Southwest” campaign and the hiring of their new “Mommy Blogger” Jessica Turner, Southwest is going pretty far to the pro-children side. Which, um, by the way, is pretty smart considering no other airlines are.

For the sake of full disclosure, I’ll go on the record as being not anti-children. Indeed, I would say that I don’t really have a problem with them. I understand that people find it annoying to be seated next to or near to crying children, but since I figure we all used to be that size and probably were once sitting next to a stranger and crying, what goes around comes around. Eh.

Anyway, while many airlines are tiptoeing around this issue of children-as-a-flying-annoyance, Southwest is setting themselves apart by lauding travel with children. Now, I ask you: If you were a parent who had to travel with a small child, would you rather fly on an airline that tolerates your little pride and joy or one that tries to make it more pleasant to travel with him? Yup, me too.

On the other hand, though, I’m not really a big fan of the term “Mommy Blogger.” I know that it’s become a relatively common term, but I just don’t feel that writing about raising children should relegate you to a cute and cuddly moniker. Scientists who study the rearing of progeny aren’t “Mommy Anthropologists.” To me, it harkens back to the days of calling female journalists “Gal Reporters”.

This Jessica Turner, though, was a good choice for the, ahem, aforementioned position. Check out her “How Not to Go Nuts While Flying With a Peanut” post and video and you get an engaging voice with helpful information for new parents. As to how much information and tips you can possibly find to offer about air travel with children…well, that’s her problem and not mine.

And especially not my problem since I don’t have kids. Though that makes me wonder if Southwest isn’t missing out on an even nich-ier niche: “I’m my own peanut and I find traveling alone more than hard enough”. I say, best of luck to you Parents and Travelers of the World, best of luck. (Photo: www.blogsouthwest.com/content/download-mommy-patches)

Categories: Southwest Airlines News