Have you flown southwest? Questions...

[disneydreamerinny]

I took the plunge and booked southwest air for our April trip. It's a direct flight from Albany to Orlando. They were by far the cheapest airline. We usually book Jet Blue, but they were almost double the price this year for some reason.
Anyway, how does the seating work? I have looked on their website and it gives some info but not much.
I am thinking if I check in online 24 hours prior I have a better chance of getting the seats I want??
Do they have t.v.'s or movies or any entertainment?
How do I know what aircraft it will be?
So many questions.

 

[brianm27]

We fly BUF-MCO on Southwest at least twice a year.

The seating is open. When you check in you are assigned a Boarding Group and number. A goes first, then family boarding, then B and C.

You can pay to be automatically checked in prior to the 24 hour mark. We don't. We are always able to check in right at 24 hours before so not an issue for us.

The planes are all Boeing 737 with 137 passengers (except for a few 737-500 with less seats). 3 seats on each side of the aisle.

You will get free drinks and a light snack (granola bar, chips, etc). 4 planes are testing wi-fi, about 1% of the fleet. They just announced yesterday that they will be upgrading the entire fleet to pay as you go wi-fi at 15-20 planes per month.

Used to live in Albany, about 5 minutes from the airport. We love Southwest. hope you have a good trip.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

There are no TV screens in SWA like on Jet Blue, but you can bring a portable DVD Player, MP3 player, laptop, etc. for entertainment.

 

[countrygrl4]

Their partner airline which is Frontier has tvs in the headrests. That was new but yes SWA is open seating which I love. I hate being put in certain seats bc I need a window seat. But Frontier has arranged seating which stinks.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You could pay the $10 pp for Early Bird Check In but judging by the ages of your kids, I think they should be ok even if you could only get 2 seats together at a time. Since all planes are 3x3 somene would have to be across the aisle or in front/behind the rest. We are also a family of 4 so dh and I each take a child and sit in the row right behind each other. This makes it easy for us to pass things back and forth and each kid gets window.


Boarding group & numbers are assigned in same order that people check in. The later you check in, the later you board.

We are paying for EBCI for our return flight so we don't have to worry about checking in at a certain time while on vacation.

 

[disneydreamerinny]

Thanks everyone. A little knowledge goes a long way. I will be much more prepared now.

 

[pamjb]

Here is a link to SW Boarding/Checkin Procedure

http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/checkin.html

There is also a link to their Boarding School

http://www.southwest.com/help/boardingschool/index.html

The Early Bird Check in is $10 per ticket. Southwest will check you in at the 36 hour mark before your flight. I haven't ever used it for my flight to Orlando, since I am always by a computer. I have always gotten in the high A's (A -40 ish) since Early Bird went into effect. Still plenty of seats together.

 

[WDWjen]

First the good:
~cheapest flight by $50
~quieter, less crowded airport (Islip LI, rather than JFK)
~great onboard staff (friendly, helpful)
~family boarding
~checked in right at 24hr mark and got A34 - got 10th row of plane and all 5 seats together
~no baggage fees - we checked 5 bags but could have brought 10!!

The Bad:
~Lost one piece of luggage (handle was ripped off and tags fells off too) and didnt get it back for 24 hrs. Never got a phone call, email or apology.
~Checked in about 5 mins after the 24 hr mark and we got B48 boarding passes. If it were not for family boarding *between the A & B* we would never have gotten seats together. My son is 4, almost 5 so next trip we would have to pay the EBCI if we wanted to ensure sitting together
~Boarding system is like a cattle call. People are obsessed with getting into best seat possible and it leads them to sometimes act like animals! I overheard people saying "I dont care if someone saves a seat, I'll move their stuff and take whatever seat I want". Seat assignments would take that out of the equation.
~No TV's at each seat. (fine for me b/c I love to read, but my kids missed Jet Blue)

For me, I loved saving the $50 each... thats $250 we spent at WDW!!

 

[dburg30]

ALL airplanes are cattle calls IMO. Just sometimes you have an assigned 'stall' to goto (assigned seats), where SW is more 'free range' (no assigned seats)...

One thing SW tends to do with no assigned seats, people are there on time and ready to board. Not too many people messing around since they have assigned seats and feel like boarding at the latest time (sometimes to the point of being paged).

 

[Paticake]

We love SW and their boarding has gotten way better since they assigned the letter and number system. I can usually always get A's. We flew with 8 of us in June and six of us in November and although some got B's for our return had no problem sitting together. The staff is great, usually very funny. We usually bring a portable DVD player or a lap top with kids. My niece and nephew brought their nintendo DS's to keep them occupied. That said for our May trip we spent the extra $10/pp for early check in both ways to see how it works. We were just going to do the return because our flight is at 12:30 pm and I don't want to have to be somewhere to check in.

 

[Brer Shay]

FYI -

If you're concerned about the 24 hour check-in for your return flight, know that you can complete it from the front desk at your hotel concierge/travel desk, OR from Guest services within any of the parks. Just go to the desk about 15 min or so before your 24 hour mark.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

FYI -

If you're concerned about the 24 hour check-in for your return flight, know that you can complete it from the front desk at your hotel concierge/travel desk, OR from Guest services within any of the parks. Just go to the desk about 15 min or so before your 24 hour mark.

Also from any web-enabled cell phone. We've done it while watching the preshow at Muppets 3D. So easy.

 

[kaytieeldr]

~Lost one piece of luggage (handle was ripped off and tags fells off too) and didnt get it back for 24 hrs. Never got a phone call, email or apology.

Respectfully, airlines misdirect over three million pieces of luggage a year domestically. They'd have to hire an entire additional staff to contact customers to apologize.

Did Southwest at least deliver the luggage to you once it was located? Or did they make you come to the airport to pick it up? And did you file a claim for the damage?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Boarding system is like a cattle call.

Really? Even after Southwest instituted the numbered poles and required passengers in the current boarding category to line up in order in groups of five?

 

[Paticake]

I think that the new boarding is less hectic . You don't have to line up or jockey for a spot. It is no problem at all.

 

[strmtroopr96]

I took the plunge and booked southwest air for our April trip. It's a direct flight from Albany to Orlando. They were by far the cheapest airline. We usually book Jet Blue, but they were almost double the price this year for some reason.
Anyway, how does the seating work? I have looked on their website and it gives some info but not much.
I am thinking if I check in online 24 hours prior I have a better chance of getting the seats I want??
Do they have t.v.'s or movies or any entertainment?
How do I know what aircraft it will be?
So many questions.

We fly Southwest out of Albany almost every year to WDW. We never have any problems and especially like ALB because it is a smaller airport. We always take the first flight out in the morning and then coming home, take the latest flight back so there is usually not many other people going through security or in the airport.

Parking at ALB is easy and most times we just use the economy lot off to the side of the airport. We live about 1 1/2 hrs west of ALB and always find it very easy to get too.

Last year, we flew out of Syracuse (we are about an hour east of SYR) again for the first time in years because US Air was was a better deal at the time than Southwest but we are looking at using Southwest and ALB again this coming trip. Gotta love getting singing flight attendants!!!