Pacific Southwest Airlines - Corporate Culture

Corporate Culture

At the time, PSA was known for its sense of humor. Founder Ken Friedkin wore Hawaiian shirts and encouraged his pilots and stewardesses to joke around with passengers. Its slogan was "The World's Friendliest Airline", and its recognizable trademark was a smile painted on the nose of each plane and an accompanying ad campaign declaring "Catch Our Smile." Because of the major San Diego flight schedule and because of the discount fares, military personnel nicknamed PSA the "Poor Sailor's Airline." After PSA was bought by USAir, ex-PSA mechanics would occasionally paint smiles on USAir planes as a joke.

During the 1960s, PSA was also known for the brightly-colored flight attendant uniforms that included miniskirts. In the early 1970s, the fashion changed to hotpants. One PSA flight attendant, Marilyn Tritt, wrote a book about her tenure at the company titled, Long Legs and Short Nights (ISBN 0-9649577-0-1).

Management diversified in the early seventies into a broadcasting venture called 'PSA Broadcasting". Stations were purchased in Sacramento (96.9 KPSC later KEZC), San Jose (106.5 KEZD later KEZR), Los Angeles (107.5 KPSA later KLVE), and San Diego (102.9 KEZL now KLQV). All ran easy listening formats (hence EZ call letter combinations). The idea was to keep some of the airline's ad dollars within the broadcasting company as well as collect some co-op(cooperative advertising) from businesses doing business with the airline. These stations were sold to various interests in the late seventies.

Throughout PSA's lifetime as an airline, the flight attendants, with their humor, over-the-top passenger service, and sense of duty, helped create a loyal passenger following. One flight attendant, Sandy Daniels, with the help of a frequent flyer, started the "Precious Stewardess Association". Frequent fliers would bring tasty treats to the crew, particularly on morning flights. In turn, PSA started the "Precious Passenger Association", with certificates and free drinks given to friendly and helpful passengers.

Ken Friedkin's son Tom was a PSA pilot in 1962 when the elder Friedkin died abruptly of a stroke. He was 47 years old. A year later, Tom Friedkin's mother died, making him the largest shareholder of PSA. Tom had a seat on the Board of Directors, but continued working as a full-time pilot for the airline.

Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher studied PSA extensively and used many of the airline's ideas to form the corporate culture at Southwest, and even on early flights used the same "Long Legs And Short Nights" theme for stewardesses on board typical Southwest Airlines flights.

PSA actually helped train the first class of mechanics for Southwest Airlines and lent the fledgling carrier flight manuals and other needed items.