Originally Posted by
reamworks
How did Southwest become "WN"?
I looked at their history, and I couldn't find any name that they had, or airline that they acquired that could have the initials or abbreviation "WN". I tried to search here on FT, thinking it must have been covered before, but have been unable to find it. (It's a difficult search because there are a lot of matches for "Southwest" and "WN")
Our original two-letter code (late 1970s) was "OE", and the best I can recollect from others that have retired, "WN" was the only thing with a "W" in it that sounded remotely like "Southwest" or even "Western" since SW and other obvious choices were already taken.
Personally, I never heard the "We're Nuts" theory espoused -before- the Nuts! book came out, but scads of times after it came out. I kind of doubt the book and the WN had any connection between them.