Through September 30, Southwest is offering 4 Rapid Rewards credits for new members signing up via a La Quinta hotels promotion.
The founer of La Quinta was an original Southwest board member. Reading Lamar Muse’s autobiography years ago, I seem to recall that the chain got its name because the founder went looking for the cheapest furnishings available. Those had a Southwest motif, thus the need for a Spanish name. Just don’t look it up in the Urban Dictionary.
(Hat tip to Frugal Travel Guy.)
Not only was Lamar Muse a former Southwest board member, but he also started Muse Air, a small Houston-based airline that mostly linked Texas with California and Florida.
Muse Air tried to offer Southwest-style fares with legacy-style amenities on longer segments, but struggled financially. Muse sold it to a company that renamed it TranStar Airlines, and that company sold TranStar to Southwest, which operated it for about two years before shutting it down in the mid-80s.
Muse Air struggled financially