Southwest? Never again!

[JFS]

We just flew SW and will probably never fly w/ them again. We felt like cattle being herded into chutes A, B, C,....No seating assignments equals free-for-all when boarding finally takes place. Why can't they assign a seat when they assign a boarding pass. We had to stand in the "chutes" for 1 hour+ in order to assure seats together. They also do not seem to have enough seating at the gates to accomodate all passengers waiting for a flight.
Also, we arrived at MCO early because we were departing the cruise. We could not check our luggage and get boarding passes until 4 hours prior to flight so we had to keep our luggage w/ us until we could check in.
Since the plane arrived late at our gate, the plane was not cleaned up before boarding, gross!
For a few extra dollars we will fly w/ another carrier next time.
Our most negative flying experience ever.

[Lewisc]

If you can find an airline that has offers assigned seating and has the price and schedule you want go for it.

If you have an "A" boarding pass there really isn't any reason to wait in line to get seats together.

SW attributes their "open seating" policy as motivating PAX to get to the gate early. This enables them to turn around their planes quicker than other airlines (sometimes less than 30 minutes) and allows them in some cases to run an extra flight using the equipment. One of the reasons they are profitable. SW gets PAX to line up before the plane is even at the gate. PAX with assigned seats frequently get to the gate 10-15 minutes before departure. You can't board the plane that fast.

Many airlines won't check luggage more than 4 hours before your flight.

[hercamore]

I would love to try SW. I just paid $620 for two NW tickets.

herc.

[disneymom3]

herc,
I am with you! Oh for the chance.........

[Pinnie]

SWA is providing some competition for NWA which has one of it's hub's here. Unfortunately it hasn't lowered NWAs fares by too much. I guess NWA has to pay for that $$$$ terminal at DTW somehow!

I hope you get SWA in MN soon!

pinnie

[disneymom3]

Well, we do have Suncountry and Frontier flies to a few locations from here. Helps me out to go to LA, but not too much going to MCO. The good thing is that the last two times I flew NWA the employees did seem to care a bit more than they did for awhile there. DH used to fly on business a lot and was always on NWA. They were pretty bad for awhile there in the late 90s.

[Pluto2003]

person who will go out of their way to stay off SW. The planes are filthy and you should see them at the end of the day. ::yes::

[treehugger]

Hmmm, I've never noticed flithy conditions on any of the SW flights I've been on. I usually consider an airline good based on their on-time and safety records and SW is consistantly one of the best. My DH just flew Delta for business to Altanta GA, coach and it was $700 r/t!. His comment was that he enjoyed flying SW so much more, even with the boarding procedures. And considering I'm paying $99 r/t to MCO, we've could've done 4 trips together to Disney for his solo trip to Atlanta.

[maraakl]

Originally posted by treehugger
Hmmm, I've never noticed flithy conditions on any of the SW flights I've been on. I usually consider an airline good based on their on-time and safety records and SW is consistantly one of the best. My DH just flew Delta for business to Altanta GA, coach and it was $700 r/t!. His comment was that he enjoyed flying SW so much more, even with the boarding procedures. And considering I'm paying $99 r/t to MCO, we've could've done 4 trips together to Disney for his solo trip to Atlanta.

I have never seen a dirty plane with SWA, definitely from Delta and AA. SWA is fun, Delta is small and cramped. I guess it would be a thing about different strokes for different folks.

[frstimer128]

I just booked flights with Spirit for $39 one way! I just paid $190 total for me and my DD!

[Esmerelda]

I guess I'm extremely confused by this post. I'm not sure how long of course the original poster JFS has been with the boards but Southwest has been discussed on here many many times and is a hot topic due to their super rates. It's no secret how their boarding is done. It also states right on their website (obviously JFS has access to the web since he/she posted here) what their rules are on boarding and how their planes are boarded. I copied the following right from the SW website and it covers every complaint that the original poster seem to have. Did he/she NOT read the rules? I guess I just don't understand how they could have not known about the rules when they are here in black and white? I have flown with SW numerous times but I know the rules and it sure beats paying triple for a ticket.

Checkin Procedure
Customers may check in for their flight and receive their boarding pass and Rapid Rewards credit online at southwest.com (for eligible reservations only), at the Skycap Podium (in select locations), Ticket Counter, Departure Gate, or RAPID CHECK-IN Kiosk (where available).

Customers may check luggage and receive boarding passes at the Skycap Counter (in select locations) or Ticket Counter up to four hours prior to scheduled departure. To determine the best time to check in for your flight, please refer to the Airport Arrival chart. The Departure Gate opens for checkin and boading pass distribution one hour prior to departure.
At 20 minutes prior to scheduled departure you can get a boarding pass only at the Departure Gate.
Customers checking in less than 10 minutes before scheduled departure may lose their confirmed reservation and will not be eligible for denied boarding compensation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boarding Procedure
Each Customer will be issued a boarding pass grouped by A, B, or C (in that order) based on when the Customer checked in online at southwest.com, at the Skycap Podium, Ticket Counter, Departure Gate, or RAPID CHECK-IN Kiosk (where available).
Prior to general boarding, Customers with disabilities, unaccompanied children, and families with children under five years of age will preboard. Customers holding boarding pass "A" will begin general boarding, followed by Customers with boarding pass "B," and then "C." Because Southwest Airlines maintains an open-seating policy, Customers may sit in any open or unclaimed seat. Customers who choose a seat in an emergency exit row must meet all requirements set forth by the Federal Aviation Administration and Southwest Airlines.

Esmerelda
:teeth:

[treehugger]

Oops, forgot to say that we are flying SW in September, gotta love those $99 r/t fares!

[Pinnie]

Esmerelda,

GREAT post!!!

pinnie

[Lewisc]

The website gives "the facts" BUT sometimes the SW gate attendants are generous with pre-boarding. It sometimes seems that on flights to/from MCO between famlies and senior citizens more than half the plane pre-boards. In that case a B and sometimes even an A boarding pass isn't enough to get seats together.

[sweet maxine]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with Southwest.

My mother has flown Southwest to Orlando for two trips, and only has had good experiences with them. I think the price is really the clincher for her though.

She flew American into Mississippi last week, and as soon as she got off the plane, she asked me never to book that airline again. She only wants to fly Southwest. I don't know specifically what she didn't like about American, but I know that I won't be looking at any other airline for her.

[CarolA]

Every airline has its fans and detractors.

Just look at it this way.... if they won't fly an airline that just reduces the number of people trying to buy your cheap tickets!

[Pinnie]

Originally posted by CarolA
Every airline has its fans and detractors.

Just look at it this way.... if they won't fly an airline that just reduces the number of people trying to buy your cheap tickets!

Amen Carol!!!

And if they won't fly with their kids, that is one less child that will be banging the seat behind me! ;)

pinnie

[nuthut]

In the hundreds of trips taken in the air, I have never found any southwest ticket to be cheaper than the others. What's the big deal on Sourthwest? Delta, Continental and Northwest are always less. Is this true just for Michigan?

[sgtdisney]

Originally posted by nuthut
In the hundreds of trips taken in the air, I have never found any southwest ticket to be cheaper than the others. What's the big deal on Sourthwest? Delta, Continental and Northwest are always less. Is this true just for Michigan?

You are not alone. I have found this to be true for me as well when I have been shopping for airline tickets here in Chicago. Many times ATA and even American and United have been priced competively if not cheaper and all of them offer assigned seating which I prefer. I have shopped SWAs fares a number of times but have never used them. Maybe SWA is more competitive on the East Coast?

[SnackyStacky]

Originally posted by nuthut
In the hundreds of trips taken in the air, I have never found any southwest ticket to be cheaper than the others. What's the big deal on Sourthwest? Delta, Continental and Northwest are always less. Is this true just for Michigan?

I don't know about elsewhere, but Southwest is usually about the same as other discount carriers out of Buffalo, but usually cheaper than the other airlines.

$115 r/t to Orlando on Southwest!!!!! I paid about $182 r/t on JetBlue.

[CAP Aircrew]

I have never flown Southwest so I can't comment on their service or the overall "Southwest Experience". I do travel a fair amount and have always checked Southwest's fares against those of American, Delta and United. Many times, I've found Southwest's fares to be higher and only on some occasions have I found it to be lower. When it has been lower, it has never been that far off to make me switch to Southwest. It's the "cattle call" stories that really turn me off from flying Southwest and it always seems that Southwest's check-in lines are much longer than others. Their "infomercial" on A&E is enough to keep me away however they must be doing something right because they certainly have a large following. Either that or they have been duping the travelling public for a very long time!

[donmil723]

Of course, I'm from central Missouri but the only 2 airlines that we have with non-stop flights to Orlando is SWA from either Kansas City or St. Louis or AA from St. Louis. SWA fares are always cheaper than AA!

What I like best about SWA though is that I can rebook my flights if I need to change dates or times without penalty or, if the fare goes down, they will give me credit for a future flight or a refund.

Unfortunately, without much competition, the non-stop flights are usually higher. I just bought RT from Kansas City to MCO for $201 per person for December. I envy all those people getting RT from the East at $115 each.

Besides that, I have found that SWA flight attendents are some of the friendliest and their flights are very seldom late. I don't mind how they board--in fact, I kinda like being able to choose my seat on the plane.

Donna

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

I love Southwest. I've always been a brand-loyal person... provide a great product, with great service, at a good value, and I'll stay loyal, so long as those three things stay intact. Sure, every once in awhile there will be a glitch, but that's to be expected with anything in life. But so far, Southwest has always been great for me. Flight attendants have always been funny, nice, and always check up to see how I'm doing. $49 each way for a non-stop flight from MCO to MHT. My flight costs less than parking for a week. Flights have always been ontime, if not early. In fact, one flight arrived so early, my family wasn't even at the airport yet to pick me up! LOL

[Esmerelda]

Sorry but I have to chuckle...I have seen more time wasted by folks on planes trying to get to their "assigned" seat when finally the attendant just says pick whatever is empty! With SW there is never any time wasted...whatever you plop your derriere down in...that's your seat for the ride! The time wasted when planes have to be rebooked...or they get delayed and you end up on a different plane...the seat assignment is the most time consuming! Think about it folks...it just saves a tremendous amount of time. I will also add that in all my SW flights over the years...I have never seen any family get upset because they weren't sitting together...or at least across the aisle...most folks are very accomodating in that respect. I have always been able to sit w/near my boys on the planes with no problems. I have also never been on a 'dirty' SW plane...they are always picked up as best as possible (I don't expect to do the white glove test).

I am also in the east coast area and the cheapest I could find next to SW was Delta and Airtran for $169 RT (of course, I would rather cut off my R arm than fly with Delta ever again)...we managed to get SW for $118 RT costing us just at $548 with taxes and all. WHAT a deal that is these days....

no more assigned seats for this ole broad,
Esmerelda ;)

[CarolA]

Southwest is not always the lowest price airfare.

However, if SW comes to your town chances are the prices on the routes they fly dropped on ALL the airlines. So if Delta was charing $400 for flights to Orlando before SW they might only be charging $200 now to keep the business away from SW.

NWA is famous for this and has been sued for predatory pricing by some discount airline over this. (I don't recall what happened!)

[LisaZoe]

You're right, CarolA. I noticed that the RT fares from Portland OR to MCO were about $100 - $150 less on most airlines after SWA lowered their fares in early July. This means my DD and I are flying United for $456 (including tax and fees) when I was previously seeing fares around $350. SWA is offering one-way for $99. With fees and taxes it's $466 total so I'm actually saving $10 flying United.

BTW - I doubt I'll fly SWA since I'm "pooh-sized" and don't want to pay double for my seat or worry about some "skinny" SWA gate personnel making an assesment of my ability to fit in their seats. I do appreciate, though, how they've helped lower airfares in general. Now I just wish we could get direct flights :)

[cboudre1]

We fly Southwest because they are the only direct flight to MCO. I also found that I did not always get seats together when we flew US Air. We have always had seats together on SW because we arrive early.

[Mouseteacher]

We have used SWA on our last 2 trips to MCO from MHT. I was able to get their spring sale of $49 each way for our July trip. $345 including taxes and fees for 3 of us was a wonderful fare! Jetblue out of Logan - their fares didn't go down until much later in the spring.

We printed our BP online and received As...thanks to GailHayden and her SWA knowledge and the DIS --- I wasn't paying attention to the SW website so probably would have missed that you can now do this. Sorry about Gail's banning --- didn't know that it happened.

I, too, have never had a dirty plane. We had B Boarding Passes coming home and had no problem sitting together (although I must admit DH, DS and me sat on the floor of the B line to wait for boarding). Coming home, the pre-boarding was quite large. A family with extended family in tow pre-boarded b/c one of their party was in a wheel chair. There were 4 adults, 4 kids and, probably the grandmother, in the wheelchair. They all preboarded.

We took off on time and landed on time on all our trips. You can't beat their pricing. However, if jetblue had a sale at the same time/close in $ as SWA, I would give them a try.

[d4est]

Totally OT, but gail was banned??? From here?? What??

[Mouseteacher]

Originally posted by d4est
Totally OT, but gail was banned??? From here?? What??
I read that on the "resorts print boarding pass" thread this morning. I don't know why, it doesn't say.

[aprilgail2]

I won't fly SW due to the lack of assigned seating and for the same price or a few dollars more I can fly jet blue with big leather seats and tvs for each seat, sure makes the time go by!! They fly directly to MCO and also to Tampa direct.

[bexareaglecheryl]

When going to MCO from San Antonio we have flown Continental because of the competitive fares. Right now the fare on SWA to MCO for our Nov. trip is a whopping $480 per person. A couple of weeks ago when the Nov. and Dec. dates were released I thought there would be some options, but the $480 is the only one available. SWA just don't seem to be as price competitive out of some cities as others. When I read about folks getting $59 round trip to MCO I am so jealous. SWA would never offer that in San ANtonio, maybe from SAT to Houston or Dallas. For some reason we just don't get good fares, the major carriers seem to be more competitive in this market. Even when we flew to California to go to Disneyland for a quick Feb. trip, SWA couldn't come close to Continental's reasonable fares. I think they've been in our market for so long that it's the first choice for many people and they simply go to SWA first because of it's high presence.

[simzac]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by nuthut
In the hundreds of trips taken in the air, I have never found any southwest ticket to be cheaper than the others. What's the big deal on Sourthwest? Delta, Continental and Northwest are always less. Is this true just for Michigan? [/QUOTE

I must disagree with this statement. We fly out of Indianapolis and Southwest prices are always as good or much better than any of our other options. Below I show how I arrived at Southwest for the best choice for our upcoming Jan 1-5 trip.
Southwest $546.80 nonstop flight leaves Indy at 8:50am
Northwest 546.80 nonstop flight leaves Indy at 3:40pm(costs us 7 hours on our arrival day)
ATA 806.00 nonstop 686.00 1 stop going down
American 751.60 with 1 stop each way
US Air 901.60 with 1 stop each way
Delta 1044.00 with 1 stop each way
United 1163.60 with 1 stop each way
Continental 1239.60 with 1 stop each way
America West No flights for these days
These prices are for 4 people.
So as you can see, the only considerable option was Northwest, but losing 7 hours on the day we arrived made the choice easy.
Now I don't know how far in advance you can book your trips, or on which days of the week you travel, but Southwest is the cheapest fares I have found for travel to WDW. We have used them twice in the past year, no problems at all, we are earlybirds at everything we do, so getting to the airport early to get in the A line is no problem for us. Good luck on your future trips. :earsboy:

[simzac]

Originally posted by bexareaglecheryl
When going to MCO from San Antonio we have flown Continental because of the competitive fares. Right now the fare on SWA to MCO for our Nov. trip is a whopping $480 per person. A couple of weeks ago when the Nov. and Dec. dates were released I thought there would be some options, but the $480 is the only one available. SWA just don't seem to be as price competitive out of some cities as others. When I read about folks getting $59 round trip to MCO I am so jealous. SWA would never offer that in San ANtonio, maybe from SAT to Houston or Dallas. For some reason we just don't get good fares, the major carriers seem to be more competitive in this market. Even when we flew to California to go to Disneyland for a quick Feb. trip, SWA couldn't come close to Continental's reasonable fares. I think they've been in our market for so long that it's the first choice for many people and they simply go to SWA first because of it's high presence.

Not sure when you're going on your trip, but I just looked at Southwest for November and found fares for $287.20 per person(all taxes and fees included) with nonstop flights in both directions. This price was available for at least a third of the month. Only 2 days showed the price you quoted, which of course was the peak travel time. If that is the only time you can travel, then I feel your anguish. Good luck in the future.

[bray]

I am flying out of Houston and cannot find SW flights to be all that competitive. Since I am only about 20 minutes from the Intercontinental airport (IAH), it is my preference but SW has very limited flights out of IAH. The other option is to drive almost one hour across the city to Hobby Airport. When I looked at fares for Dec. 18-22, Continental out of IAH was the same price or even a bit cheaper than SW. I can't find out how people are getting these great $99 or lower one way fares on SW.

If anyone can help, please let me in on the secret. Since all of our family live at least 1000 miles away (in opposite directions), we need to save all we can on airfare for a family of 3.