Under Kelleher’s leadership, Southwest became best-in-class on the attributes that mattered most to its customers precisely because it chose to be worst-in-class on the ones that mattered least. The airports Southwest operated out of were in inconvenient locations (for example, its Washington, DC, hub was in Baltimore), but that meant lower costs for the airline, savings it could pass on to price-sensitive customers who were more than willing to give up convenience in return for cheaper tickets. Southwest denied passengers any meaningful onboard comforts (including an assigned seat!), which
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