After 21 years as a Southwest Pilot, Captain Jim Curtis took his final flight from Las Vegas to Oakland. But this wasn’t just any “fini” flight.
Sitting beside him in the right seat was his daughter, First Officer Julia Curtis, who recently joined Southwest through the Destination 225° Program. Inspired by her dad’s career, Julia followed in his footsteps to earn her own wings, making this final flight together a moment this family will never forget.
While their time sharing the Southwest flight deck may be over, their legacy of service, inspiration, and Southwest Heart is just getting started.
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Segment 1 (00:00 - 04:00)
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard Southwest flight 2958 to Mesa Oakland. Our captain today, Jim Curtis, right here. He's celebrating his 65th birthday. So, in airline industry, the 65th birthday marks mandatory retirement for pilots. I'm really honored to be his first officer today because Captain Curtis has been a mentor for me my entire life. In fact, he inspired me to be a pilot. On top of becoming a pilot, he also helped teach me how to walk, how to talk, how to ride a bike, how to throw a baseball, how to drive a car, and probably most importantly, he taught me how to carry myself with humility, kindness, and integrity both in and out of work. Because Captain Curtis is also my dad. My first memory of wanting to be a pilot was being a little girl and going to Travis Air Force Base with my dad, and I thought it was the coolest experience in the world and that planted the seed, and ever since then I wanted to fly. I'm Julie Curtis. I'm a first officer for Southwest. Growing up with my dad as a pilot was the best. He loved his career, loved flying, and that's why I wanted to follow in his footsteps. I did a discovery flight. I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else after that flight. After I graduated, I moved to Arizona for the Destination 225 program. My dream was always to fly at Southwest just because I saw first hand how amazing the airline was, grew up with it, it felt like family. So, when the 225 program was created and we found out about it, I applied right away, and when I got accepted, it was a no-brainer that I was going to pursue it. — The last time. — Log book. — It's a void. — Landing gear pins. — Three aboard. — Fire bottle. — Jim Curtis. I'm a captain at Southwest Airlines, and today is my finny flight. So, I retire today, — and this will be the last time that I get to fly a 737 Southwest. So, legacy to me means the people who came before me and what they were like. It's about the people who came before us who are teaching the people who are coming up now the Southwest way. — I'm the 200,000th employee of the airline, which for the airline that's a huge milestone. I look at my dad's number compared to my number and I'm like, "Wow, you're old and this [laughter and music] company has grown a lot to the point where we're over 200,000 employees now. It's a really special number. — If she's here as a 200,000 employee number, they'll remember from that. So, and it carries on a legacy for me, too. — Flying with my dad, I've seen a lot of the legacy that he's going to leave behind because he's taught me things that Southwest used to do and still does. Like, we want to make people feel special and I see my dad knowing everyone's first name, everyone knows his first name because he recognizes everyone. — Um and that's what he's leaving behind and I've now gotten to see him do that on the job and that's what I want to end up doing and that be my legacy as well. — She's been working at Southwest now for approximately 4 months. She has a full-time job and she is still on my phone plan. — Who thinks she should be off of my phone plan? Please help me. Travel is not fun, but we can make it a whole lot better for people and we can have a good time doing it. — Everything he does, he gives his best effort, whether that be his job, a coach, a father, a husband. He's always 100% there with us and I think seeing him do that with always the positive attitude that he comes with has always inspired me. — How do you not get choked up? It's been a long career. — [snorts] — It's been a good one. And I know what this job has done for me and I think he'll do the same for her. —
