Please ease my SW anxiety!

[goofy4tink]

Just odd that no other airline (that I'm aware of) has jumped on this bandwagon. I don't personally care as I have many other options but I do find it interesting from a business persepctive. More power to them if they've figured out a way to keep costs down. People seem to be very loyal to them so they must know something.

Those that are accustomed to flying SW are used to the seating system...and it works for them. It is when you get those who normally fly other airlines, but see great fares with SW so buy SW flights, then get all concerned about the 'seating' process, that you see any kind of issue. They worry about being seated with their children, or being seated with other family members. They want the system to 'work' for them but don't want to pay higher fares. And that's not right.
There is no way the other airlines are going to take a chance on losing business by changing to SW's way of seating. It does allow for quicker turnaround of the plane though. I seldom see SW flights leaving after the designated departure time...and usually they leave a bit early.

I love SW.....I fly either SW or JB....depends on my needs at the time. In August, we are flying to WDW on SW...dh is flying home on SW since that's where the car will be, but dd and I are flying home on JB, a few days later.

 

[cg1200]

They want the system to 'work' for them but don't want to pay higher fares. And that's not right.

Slight disagreement. In my very limited experience SW is not any cheaper than Airtran or jetBlue both of which offer reserved seats. It would be entirely different if SW was substantively cheaper than JB or Airtran but that just isn't the case (at least not comparing Hartford to HPN to MCO). In fact, when I price my routes SW tends to be higher though not by much.

I just was baffled by the whole open seating deal. I never understood why SW is the only airline that operates this way. It adds an element of risk I'd just as soon avoid when traveling with my family.

 

[ksloane]

Slight disagreement. In my very limited experience SW is not any cheaper than Airtran or jetBlue both of which offer reserved seats. It would be entirely different if SW was substantively cheaper than JB or Airtran but that just isn't the case (at least not comparing Hartford to HPN to MCO). In fact, when I price my routes SW tends to be higher though not by much.

Maybe it depends on where you fly out of...I tend to fly out of Houston and Dallas and SW is almost always cheaper by at least 20 or 30 per ticket each way and then don't charge for luggage and we always take 2 bags each so that makes them a HUGE savings for us.

 

[goofy4tink]

Slight disagreement. In my very limited experience SW is not any cheaper than Airtran or jetBlue both of which offer reserved seats. It would be entirely different if SW was substantively cheaper than JB or Airtran but that just isn't the case (at least not comparing Hartford to HPN to MCO). In fact, when I price my routes SW tends to be higher though not by much.

I just was baffled by the whole open seating deal. I never understood why SW is the only airline that operates this way. It adds an element of risk I'd just as soon avoid when traveling with my family.

I just booked our flights out of TF Green for this summer. Their fares were much less than JB's fares for the same time frame. But, coming back, it is cheaper for my dd and I to fly home on JB rather than SW. It all depends on the airport and the day of the week.
JB was probably $25 more expensive going down...which would have been an addtl $75 for us, as well as more expensive parking at Logan, and the fact that we only get one free checked bag.
But, coming home, on a Thursday, JB was about $35 cheaper for my dd and I.
Not a ton of money, but I would rather have it in my pocket than in the airline's!
I have no problem with SW seating. In fact, I actually did EBCI for us going down to MCO. I hate having to worry about checking in....this way they can do it for us.

 

[TheWog]

I just booked our flights out of TF Green for this summer. Their fares were much less than JB's fares for the same time frame. But, coming back, it is cheaper for my dd and I to fly home on JB rather than SW. It all depends on the airport and the day of the week.
JB was probably $25 more expensive going down...which would have been an addtl $75 for us, as well as more expensive parking at Logan, and the fact that we only get one free checked bag.
But, coming home, on a Thursday, JB was about $35 cheaper for my dd and I.
Not a ton of money, but I would rather have it in my pocket than in the airline's!
I have no problem with SW seating. In fact, I actually did EBCI for us going down to MCO. I hate having to worry about checking in....this way they can do it for us.

What are you going to do about your luggage coming back?

 

[TheWog]

SW used to be much, much cheaper out of MHT than other airlines - either BOS or MHT. I haven't seen it lately at all.

 

[clanmcculloch]

SW used to be much, much cheaper out of MHT than other airlines - either BOS or MHT. I haven't seen it lately at all.

These days SW out of MHT seems to be on par with JB and AT out of BOS as far as price goes so it really does seem to come down to airline and airport preference for those of us in the area. Based on everything I've read about AT lately I think I'll avoid them but if I ever do find a JB nonstop at times that are similar to SW for lower than SW then I'll definitely give them a try. For now, I love being 15 minutes from my airport (MHT), I love being at the smaller airport and the parking at MHT and I'm very happy with SW.

 

[TheWog]

These days SW out of MHT seems to be on par with JB and AT out of BOS as far as price goes so it really does seem to come down to airline and airport preference for those of us in the area. Based on everything I've read about AT lately I think I'll avoid them but if I ever do find a JB nonstop at times that are similar to SW for lower than SW then I'll definitely give them a try. For now, I love being 15 minutes from my airport (MHT), I love being at the smaller airport and the parking at MHT and I'm very happy with SW.

I know what you are saying. We, too, are 15 mins from MHT. Was easier (and cheaper) to have family just drop us at the curb in MHT and then be there to pick us up. DW loves JB and has converted me as well. We now use a service to bring us into Logan. If SW was substantially cheaper for similar nonstop flight I might consider it, but for now we go with JB, plus we have some freebies coming up we need to use from the TrueBlue program. SW has been consistently more expensive for the dates we have looked at in recent memory.

 

[jmartinez1895]

I have flown Delta and SW and I will only fly SW from now on. They are so much nicer. They seem like they care about you having a nice trip. I have never had a problem getting our seat on the plane.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I know what you are saying. We, too, are 15 mins from MHT. Was easier (and cheaper) to have family just drop us at the curb in MHT and then be there to pick us up. DW loves JB and has converted me as well. We now use a service to bring us into Logan. If SW was substantially cheaper for similar nonstop flight I might consider it, but for now we go with JB, plus we have some freebies coming up we need to use from the TrueBlue program. SW has been consistently more expensive for the dates we have looked at in recent memory.

Which service do you use to Logan? Are you happy with it? Do you have to wait long at the airport for pickup upon return? I'd love to find a reasonably priced service to Logan. Of course I haven't actually spent much time researching it so that's the only reason I don't have on now. I always prefer finding services based on recommendations of others who have actually used the service.

Where do you live? We're in Derry. I figure we must be close if we're both around 15 minutes from MHT.

 

[TheWog]

Which service do you use to Logan? Are you happy with it? Do you have to wait long at the airport for pickup upon return? I'd love to find a reasonably priced service to Logan. Of course I haven't actually spent much time researching it so that's the only reason I don't have on now. I always prefer finding services based on recommendations of others who have actually used the service.

Where do you live? We're in Derry. I figure we must be close if we're both around 15 minutes from MHT.

We live in Nashua and use Border Limo (out of Hudson so Derry should be no problem for him). We have used him since 2003 (formerly Chelmsford Limo) and have had great service each time with one exception - driver was sleeping while waiting for us in 2003 coming back from Jamaica late night arrival - he should have been waiting for us with the sign - but I gave him another shot and they have been great. Sign up for his monthly email newsletter and sometimes there is a $10 off r/t trip service. They monitor the flights and time it so they are waiting each time when we come out of the doors. They drove us down in a crazy snowstorm for February 08 trip with no problem at all. I will use him again. We have used town cars and vans and they have all been well maintained and clean. Driver's are great as well. Highly recommend and will be using them again when we go in February (and if we find something sooner).

 

[clanmcculloch]

Thank you!! I've bookedmarked their website in case we decide to fly out of Logan.

 

[cg1200]

I just booked our flights out of TF Green for this summer. Their fares were much less than JB's fares for the same time frame. But, coming back, it is cheaper for my dd and I to fly home on JB rather than SW. It all depends on the airport and the day of the week.
JB was probably $25 more expensive going down...which would have been an addtl $75 for us, as well as more expensive parking at Logan, and the fact that we only get one free checked bag.
But, coming home, on a Thursday, JB was about $35 cheaper for my dd and I.
Not a ton of money, but I would rather have it in my pocket than in the airline's!
I have no problem with SW seating. In fact, I actually did EBCI for us going down to MCO. I hate having to worry about checking in....this way they can do it for us.

I don't think Hartford generates enough traffic to get really good pricing from SW. I will definitely give them a look this time although my sense is Airtran and JB will have their flights for Nov posted long before SW. If I see a price I like from JB I will take it. If Airtan has great pricing I'd be tempted to wait for SW.

It looks like SW only has flights for part of Aug posted. At this rate they won't have Nov fares posted for several more months. I don't think I'd take a chance waiting for them if either airtran or JB has a decent rate prior to that.

So just out of curiosity I did a little test. I am going to a conference in Orlando in June. I priced SW from Hartford and JB and Airtran from White Plains. SW was $245, JB $189 (though they had a cheaper flight by $20 if I wanted to leave at 6:35am) and Airtran was a mere $168. This is pretty consistent with what I've seen in the past. So SW is more expensive and they don't offer reserved seats. Makes it a pretty easy decision for my needs.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

On trans-continental flights Southwest is never the cheapest. All depends on your origin and destination.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

For us, Jet Blue isn't an option unless I want to drive all the way to Newark. Way too far. That leaves us for non stops to MCO: SWA, Airtran, or USAirways. USAirways prices are close to SWA's but then add luggage fees and they're way high. Airtran is way too unreliable with their schedule flip flopping around like it does. That leaves ol reliable, SWA. We've been flying them since our little one could preboard and now he's almost 10. We've never been separated and I don't stress out about getting A passes. We know B passes still leave lots of choices and even high C's aren't bad either.
I don't mind that they don't allow bookings more than 6 mos in advance. I love how they rarely change their schedule once published and for me that's worth the wait.

Unless you've actually flown them and see for yourself how easy it is, don't knock them. I've had assigned seats on USAirways many times that they change the flight time by a few minutes, change the flight #, and we all get scattered about the plane. I had to keep calling and reseating us to make sure we'd be together, then keep rechecking online to see if they'd split us up again, which they did. That's stressful too so none here are perfect choices.
Some Disers get very stressed out if every teensy miniscule detail is not planned out for their entire trip and have a hard time being able to 'go with the flow'. For those people, I wouldn't recommend flying SWA.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Some Disers get very stressed out if every teensy miniscule detail is not planned out for their entire trip and have a hard time being able to 'go with the flow'. For those people, I wouldn't recommend flying SWA.

I'm one of those OCD type planners and I love SWA. Before EBCI, I was just one of those people online at T-24 (well actually I'd be ready about 15 minutes before that so I'd be sure to be ready). I always got an A boarding pass. Now with EBCI I just budget the $20pp ($10 each way) and this gives me the confidence that I'll still have an A boarding pass. I don't care which seats we have as long as we're together.

I'd have much more trouble with an airline like Airtran where I wouldn't have any confidence that my flight would still be the same from day to day. With SWA I can actually plan what'll happen. With AT I'm at the whim of the airline's changing schedules.

 

[cg1200]

Unless you've actually flown them and see for yourself how easy it is, don't knock them.

As I've said, they (Southwest) must know what they are doing. They have tons of loyal fans who love their service. I don't think I ever disparaged them in any way. It was just curiosity as to their business model and why other airlines haven't followed suit if it really did save them money.

I would totally be willing to give them a try if the circumstances were right.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

By the way, we have been there twice when SW asked for volunteers to take the next flight (both were on our way home) and they offered full free flight, overnight hotel and refund on original. another time they offered a free flight, we did not take it as they both involved a stop and we only fly non stop...
we only fly sw and we really like them

I hope this happens to us on our return flight! I broke down and booked a Saturday flight home when I really wanted to stay til Sunday. But the Saturday flight was $59 and the Sundays were 4x that. I'll take an extra day in the park if someone wants my seat!