Does it really get better than Southwest?

[DanenRox]

From the start I'll admit I'm a SWA fan for 3 reasons: 1) we always get great rates 2) our flights have never cancelled or rescheduled and 3) SWA flies from our local airport. Admittedly, the great rates require frequent site checks and a willingness to hold ticketless travel. I know others prefer other airlines and boast better deals, but here's my question...do people really get better rates on other airlines? While our January travel started off at $109* each way, it's down now to $79* each way and or course, it may drop again. Not to mention the potential for a ding... I don't see how everyone doesn't love SWA?

*before taxes and fees

 

[kaytieeldr]

Okay.

JetBlue has great rates.

I've only ever had one flight cancelled on a legacy airline (AA, a number of years ago) - and JetBlue, has only changed one departure time, by only five minutes... and didn't cancel any seat assignments.

JetBlue flies out of my most convenient airport. It can cost me anywhere from $3.50 to $22 to get to and from the airport; if I chose Southwest, I'd have to pay for gas and, more important, parking. My next two trips are nine and eleven days long, respectively. That'd cost at the VERY least $90 for the week.

All airlines have - and push - ticketless travel; paper tickets generally cost about $20 extra.

And while JetBlue doesn't have Dings!, if the fare drops they DO issue credit to be used on future travel... AND JetBlue releases more than two-three months' of fares at a time

 

[inaminute]

I just completed a trip flying Delta for $125 per person RT--that's with all taxes and fees included. AND we had assigned seating--Row 13. Trust me, it doesn't get ANY better than that!

 

[Tara]

All airlines have - and push - ticketless travel; paper tickets generally cost about $20 extra.

I'm guessing that the OP meant that they will allow you to save credit when you find a fare that is lower than you originally paid..but I could be way off. I'm not a huge SWA fan, but I do like the fact that they don't heavily penalize you if your plans change.

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

Southwest flies direct from Buffalo to Orlando 3 times a day. Good times, too.

Although I have heard pretty good things about Jetblue, we would have to change planes at JFK to get from here to MCO. Blech.

Also, I will never forget last Feb....we flew home on Delta and walked by the JetBlue gates at BUF...it was almost midnight...and there were people everywhere. Mad ones. That was during the Valentine's week snafu they had, though, so not the norm.

 

[klmall]

Cheapest of course for us, is using our FF miles from Delta but even that comes with strings!

Nowadays SW wins $$$ even when we can't get a DING or their lowest rates. We used to find good deals on other airlines but no more! And these other airlines change our times, seats and offer fewer non-stops. One of the bigger ones would have us fly from Baltimore to Atlanta (1 hr layover, switch planes) and then fly to Orlando. Another would take us from Baltimore to St. Louis or Dallas then Orlando. SW is a quick 2 hour non-stop with no flight cancellations or time changes, no penalties for most ticket changes and after a few trips I have even convinced die-hard, "I must have an assigned seat" DH to switch loyalty!

We do have 3 airports within the same distance to choose from (but can't park ever at one of them - Reagan Natl.) so parking is about the same at either of the other two. Both airports are decent; BWI has a beautiful newer SW terminal with 10 departures to Orlando daily and for us SW is becoming an even better deal!

 

[DonnaL]

Another SW fan here........we have a regional airport with a brand new, gorgeous terminal practically in our backyard (actually, it's about 2 miles)...however, only a few .....unnamed legacy carriers fly in and out and both IMO don't have great reputations for customer service or prices at all. So, we choose to make the 2 hr drive to PHL ......Ugh......hate the airport.....very depressing with all that tan/gray concrete EVERYWHERE.....but, we love SW and it's the closest airport SW flies into. Even with the 2 hr drive, we still get to MCO faster at much less cost than if we flew from our local airport.....go figure!! And......we love the non-assigned seating......we get to choose our own seats and sit where WE want to as we're boarding and scoping out the seating.....not where we picked six months ago and the airline has gone and changed three times already....in addition to a few time changes since we booked also.

 

[azgal81]

I love southwest as well especially the way they board with open seating. It doesn't get much better!

 

[PattnFmly]

We only live about 6 miles from our closest airport. It would take us at least 1.5 hours to get to an airport with SW, and then we would also have to pay for gas and to park. Transportation is never an issue for us as we can always find a friend to take/pick up from the airport since, at worst, it only takes 15 minutes to get there! We have flown different carriers, as we go with the best option for that particular trip but I can't see where there would be any benefit for us to utilize SW. The price vs. parking/gas/time makes it just too inconvenient for us.

 

[goofy4tink]

I usually fly either JetBlue or SW. I have been finding that JB is giving me decent fares, compared with SW. If it's the same price, or just a bit more, I'll always go with JB. I like choosing my seat when I book. I have had JB cancel a flight, and that was while my dh was enroute to the airport, but they moved heaven and earth to get him and dd on a flight that was currently boarding!!! They usually don't change flight times by very much. And, Logan is quicker than TF Green for me. I'm just east of Worcester, and TF Green is one hour door to terminal, and Logan is about 45 mins, even with traffic. Parking is a joke at Logan though...much cheaper and easier at Green.
And, I love those TVs on JB.
In Jan, I'm flying into MCO on JB but flying home, from Ft. Lauderdale, on SW, with a connection in Tampa. Why? It would have cost me about $194 pp, for a flight on JB, at 11:30 vs $100ish at the same time, on SW.
Both airlines have their strong points...just depends on time of flights and the cost as to which one I choose.

 

[ducklite]

It really depends on the market you are in. DH and I can fly from EWR or PHL up north, and TPA or MCO down south on our regular routes so the options are pretty broad. We stick pretty much with US and SW, DH tried Jet Blue this summer and was less than impressed by them--they had major delays when every other carrier was running on time or less than 15 minutes delayed. He didn't arrive at MCO until after 1:00 am on a flight that was supposed to arrive before 10:00 pm, and there wasn't even an apology extended. We understand that weather causes issues, but when everyone else is running basically on time, you've got to wonder how Jet Blue had such a breakdown in their system.

I tend to stick to US even if the tickets are slightly higher, as I have elite status with them, so am usually upgraded to first class for free. DH flies SW and US pretty evenly, but he's got a lot more flexibility with his travel plans, so he looks for who has the better deal between those two.

We seldom pay more than $200 r/t for a ticket, and have gotten tickets for as low as $89 r/t.

We no longer fly CO since I had an incident on a plane where a cusomer of size took 30% of my seat, couldn't put the armrest down and fit in their seat, and CO refused to do anything about it. They told me basically "too bad, that's the way it is." (We're using all our remaining CO FF miles on a trip next February just to get rid of them. We booked first class seats so we won't encounter that problem. That's one place that SW absolutely excels, and I have to give them props for it!)