A tough day for recall

This September eleventh is almost as difficult a day for airline execs as the first September 11 - five years ago. In a sense it's a harder day, because five years ago, events controlled what airlines did and said, and this time around it is airline guys and their spokescreatures who have control.

Most are electing the better part of valour and keeping mute. As one airline industry spokesman explained: "It is a no-win situation. If you do something to mark the anniversary you run the risk of looking ghoulish or opportunistic, especially if some one questions your taste. And but if you do nothing, then you're insensitive."

Most carriers are taking this position: this is a day to remember those who died and those who tried to save them.

A few parties though are speaking out, and skipping over such predictables as labour unions or political players offering screed in how much safer we are or how much more at risk we are, it's worth looking at what Southwest Airlines is doing. It is using its corporate blog, Nuts about Southwest, and features two posts on the subject and a series of five video clips of employees (including co-founder and board chairman Herb Kelleher) sharing personal experiences and remembrances from that day. http://www.blogsouthwest.com/ .