Recent Southwest Experiences

[mousestruck]

Southwest used to be our airline of choice, but then they stopped flying from EWR to MCO and reduced their non-stop flights out of PHL. So we’ve been flying JetBlue and United. I’m currently shopping airfare for our summer trip and fares are awful… and surely will continue to rise.

I’m thinking about booking SWA out of PHL. However, I’ve heard about SWA canceling a lot of flights these days. Has anyone experienced this lately?

 

[coasternut22]

Southwest is an overall great airline and I will always fly with them. But yes, they are known to move flights around. For our trip the first week of April, our return home flight was moved to a time that did not work for us. Their policy, and it’s an easy process, is that you can rebook a flight within a day or two at a different time than the one they chose for you. This allowed us to select a flight that was much more expensive than we paid for. Worked out well for us. I’ve had this happen in my last two trips, so it is somewhat common. I’ve seen other horror stories that other flights were not available so the passengers were stuck having to cancel plans for morning or evening activities. You also have to understand that airline travel in general has been a big headache over the past two years, so all travelers have to be prepared for flexibility. I wouldn’t put this on just Southwest.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

What are your actual dates? My advice will be different if your looking Wednesday to Wednesday mid June vs Friday to Sunday of 4tj of July weekend.


This summer is gonna be busy. My estimation it might be the busiest travel summer we've seen in a decade. My early thoughts....if you have SW points book something now. Then hope better flights become available either cash or via SW (and then get a rebate on points).

 

[mousestruck]

Southwest is an overall great airline and I will always fly with them. But yes, they are known to move flights around. For our trip the first week of April, our return home flight was moved to a time that did not work for us. Their policy, and it’s an easy process, is that you can rebook a flight within a day or two at a different time than the one they chose for you. This allowed us to select a flight that was much more expensive than we paid for. Worked out well for us. I’ve had this happen in my last two trips, so it is somewhat common. I’ve seen other horror stories that other flights were not available so the passengers were stuck having to cancel plans for morning or evening activities. You also have to understand that airline travel in general has been a big headache over the past two years, so all travelers have to be prepared for flexibility. I wouldn’t put this on just Southwest.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I do realize that air travel is tough overall right now. We’ve had pretty good luck with JetBlue and United but haven’t flown SWA in a while, so just wanted to get a pulse on what to expect.

 

[mousestruck]

What are your actual dates? My advice will be different if your looking Wednesday to Wednesday mid June vs Friday to Sunday of 4tj of July weekend.


This summer is gonna be busy. My estimation it might be the busiest travel summer we've seen in a decade. My early thoughts....if you have SW points book something now. Then hope better flights become available either cash or via SW (and then get a rebate on points).

Our dates are 6/25 - 7/4. Unfortunately we don’t have flexibility because we’re there for a dance event and have to be back at work on the 5th. (Well, we could fly home on 7/3 but we’d rather not!) SWA has best fares and non stop flights going there (when I account for extra fees), but no direct flights for the return trip. In fact, we may fly back to a different airport. Fares are currently double what we’d usually pay.

 

[disny_luvr]

I really like the flexibility with Southwest. We are booked on points to fly them this summer to/from Baltimore - Denver and I check prices daily and they keep going up. I’d book soon if possible. Since we booked on points, I cannot remember what the dollar value was, but our return flight is now up to $647. That’s crazy! We always prefer to fly Southwest out of Baltimore vs. Philadelphia because Baltimore is a hub for Southwest and they tend to offer more nonstop flights from Baltimore, plus they are always a little cheaper over Philadelphia. If your flight would get canceled, there are usually more alternate flights to choose from out of Baltimore, too. Friends were supposed to fly Southwest from Philadelphia a few weeks ago. Their flight got canceled and the next one they could get on was the next evening. They drove to Baltimore and got on a flight later that same day.

 

[DavidA]

75 days out got an email from SW. Of flight change. I used a ton of points to get an early inbound to mco. I like to be on property 11 am to get the most of my travel day. They moved me from a 5:30am non-stop to a 2:30 pm departure w/layover arriving at MCO at 9:15 pm wiping out 13 hours of my planned day. Got right on the phone 55 minute wait.. while in the process of loosing my mind and being on hold went on website and made change to a more acceptable flight but still not my choice. A week later same deal on my flight home. And again, this is way in advance of my travel dates.

 

[AussieFan8]

My co-worker was scheduled for a flight out yesterday. She got notification the day before that the flight was canceled, and the next available flight for her to book was Monday (three days later). I love Southwest but I hope their reliability improves soon. I would be devastated if this happened with our upcoming Disney trip.

 

[EACarlson]

Fares are currently double what we’d usually pay.

So is fuel. JetA is now 97% higher than it was one year ago. I'm expecting all prices to go way up in the next month or two. I've got a trip booked for December to CA that I might speculatively book flights on a legacy instead of waiting to see what SW will have.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

Is LGA convenient to where you live and are you planning on renting a car? If so, I see LGA to Tampa for $179 there and between $129-$139 home (all nonstops). The drive from TPA to WDW is not too bad...maybe an extra hour compared to MCO. Hertz has a pre-paid car for roughly $350.

 

[mousestruck]

I really like the flexibility with Southwest. We are booked on points to fly them this summer to/from Baltimore - Denver and I check prices daily and they keep going up. I’d book soon if possible. Since we booked on points, I cannot remember what the dollar value was, but our return flight is now up to $647. That’s crazy! We always prefer to fly Southwest out of Baltimore vs. Philadelphia because Baltimore is a hub for Southwest and they tend to offer more nonstop flights from Baltimore, plus they are always a little cheaper over Philadelphia. If your flight would get canceled, there are usually more alternate flights to choose from out of Baltimore, too. Friends were supposed to fly Southwest from Philadelphia a few weeks ago. Their flight got canceled and the next one they could get on was the next evening. They drove to Baltimore and got on a flight later that same day.

Baltimore is too far for us. This is the scenario I’m afraid of!

 

[mousestruck]

My co-worker was scheduled for a flight out yesterday. She got notification the day before that the flight was canceled, and the next available flight for her to book was Monday (three days later). I love Southwest but I hope their reliability improves soon. I would be devastated if this happened with our upcoming Disney trip.

Yikes! I don’t think I’m willing to book SWA until reliability improves.

 

[mousestruck]

Is LGA convenient to where you live and are you planning on renting a car? If so, I see LGA to Tampa for $179 there and between $129-$139 home (all nonstops). The drive from TPA to WDW is not too bad...maybe an extra hour compared to MCO. Hertz has a pre-paid car for roughly $350.
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Thank you so much for the suggestions! Unfortunately we are far from LGA and are not planning to rent a car, so this plan wouldn’t work well for us. I think we’ll just have to pay more for air this trip.

 

[kristenrice]

Our trip isn't until October and SWA is releasing their schedule at the end of March for our dates. I am so nervous already...it is just me and DD18 flying and I have enough SWA RR points to cover either (4) O/W tickets if we fly into TPA, or (3) O/W tickets if we fly into MCO, and then I'd pay OOP for the final O/ leg. That is simply based on the average cost of the flights they are offering now. The only issue is that the times into MCO are terrible. I hate the idea of being tied into SWA because even though the flights are fully-refundable and flexible and changeable if something happens on MY end, I am completely stuck if THEY change or cancel on me. It really does me no good if they cancel my flight at the last minute, leaving me to buy (2) last-minute, round-trip fares on Delta, American or United. Out of GRR, those fares will easily be over $1500 EACH at the last minute. (For tomorrow, Delta is currently $2108/pp, American is only $1006/pp but it is a 20-hour, overnight layover for the outbound leg, and United is $1620...and those are economy!) I don't really want to book a "backup", refundable flight on Delta or American, but I may go that route, just to ease my mind. It will involve tying up some cash for a while, but at least I can have the piece of mind knowing that I should have a flight and my trip won't be a no-go.

 

[PittPantherfan]

SW was our go to too out of PIT but this time couldn't get good times that worked for our plans and prices were higher than others when we booked in Jan. We went with American this time- even with checking a couple of bags, it was cheaper.

 

[FreeTime]

SW reliability and customer service has diminished greatly over the last year. I understand that all airlines have had challenges and flexibility is needed. However, I will be moving over to other airlines for all future trips for my family and my employees (110 of them) due to recent experiences.

This week due to a delay a passenger I had booked arrived to their home airport (Cleveland) 23 hours after the scheduled time. This was after an unexpected overnight stay that the airline would not cover even after I was on hold for 50 mins and was told the airport would handle that and they were “99.9% certain” it would be fully covered - it wasn’t. I would have been okay with paying but not when you tell me I with most certainty will not have to.

A month ago a flight was changed for another employee. The one they were rebooked on would have had them arrive to Orlando 16 hours after their original time. This was for a flight the next morning. They rebooked. Then, less than an hour later their original flight was reinstated. They were told since they made a change already they couldn’t get the original flight back without paying the new rate. It took much back and forth to get it back without a change.

The flight attendants are more likely to be unfriendly now than friendly, gate agents won’t give you the time of day, and make sure you have 1-2 hours available for a call and the callback if anything happens.

I know these comments don’t reply to your original question but I share them to say with Southwest now it is really buyer beware.

 

[BLLB]

Pretty devoted Southwest customer. Not loving my flight choices, lack of non-stops. But I ran in to several emergencies this past week of travel and they were handled so exceptionally well. And with kindness. I’m not sure I can complain. This was my experience. Not saying everyone has the same.

 

[maxiesmom]

Yikes! I don’t think I’m willing to book SWA until reliability improves.

That is how I am feeling too. Even last fall they were switching our flights around. Would have lost a whole park day. Instead we switched to Delta, and now have a credit with Southwest to use. Ugh.

 

[tjmw2727]

Booked with SWA in November and December, nonstop from Baltimore to Orlando no issues either way, last week Phil to Colorado Springs, no issues either way.

Booked Phil to Orlando in April and so far both flights have been changed once but only by an hour (earlier on outbound and later on return trip) and I am ok with that. If they change again I will ask about changing to Baltimore as its only 20 minutes further and they have more non stop options.

 

[Hollywood1939]

I recently moved so my nearest airport doesn’t have many nonstop SWA flights. I tried Delta recently and didn’t particularly enjoy it. Might end up trying AA or JetBlue next time around.