Southwest Airlines Adopt-A-Pilot Turns 10!

  Hundreds to Celebrate 10th Anniversary of National Educational Mentorship
                                   Program

     WHO:      Load up your backpacks and grab a juice box ... it's time to
               celebrate the 10th anniversary of the nationwide award-winning
               Southwest Airlines Adopt-A-Pilot educational mentorship
               program. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly and President Colleen Barrett

               will lead the event, joined by former NASA Astronaut turned
               Southwest Captain Robert "Hoot" Gibson for this mega "school
               assembly" style event.

     WHAT:     Hundreds of Employees and VIPs will "play hooky" and come over
               to Southwest's Hangar D for the "class reunion" party featuring

               a live band, special guests, and a surprise plane unveiling.
               The outdoor event will include a reunion between "adopted"
               Pilot Captain Jesus Melian and former student, Chun Mei Yu, who

               is now grown and pursuing a nursing degree at University of
               Connecticut and a special plaque presentation to the students
               who designed the 10th Anniversary commemorative tie now proudly

               worn by this year's class of "Adopted" Pilots.

               Celebrating its 10th Anniversary year, the Southwest Airlines'
               annual Adopt-A-Pilot program is a four-week long mentorship
               program where Southwest Pilots volunteer their time in adoptive

               classrooms and correspond while on the "road." Each class
               charts its "adopted" Pilot's course on a United States map and
               completes lessons covering science, math, geography, language
               arts, public speaking and more ... all relating back to the
               Pilot's monthly flying schedule. The program is reaching more
               than 30,000 students nationwide this semester and has involved
               more than 140,000 since 1997.

     WHEN:     Thursday, April 26
               2:00 - 2:45 p.m.

     WHERE:    Southwest Airlines Headquarters, on the tarmac outside Hangar D
               2702 Love Field Drive
               Media parking available

     VISUALS:  Special festive unveiling of plane decal commemorating the
               Adopt-A-Pilot program.
               Comments from Gary Kelly, Colleen Barrett, and "Hoot" Gibson.
               Interviews with "adopted" Pilots who have volunteered for 10
               years.
               Interviews with students and their teachers.
               Yellow school bus and Southwest Boeing 737-700 nose-to-nose.

     MORE:     For more info, visit http://www.southwest.com/adoptapilot and
               http://www.adoptapilot.blogs.com.

      Please Call:                    Customers Please Call:
      Linda Hochster                  (800) I FLY SWA or
      214-792-4645 work               en Espanol (800) VAMONOS
      214-578-1071 cell

SOURCE Southwest Airlines

Released April 24, 2007