Southwest Airline Question

[welovedisneyx4]

We are looking into flying to Orlando in November. We will be probably flying out of Greensboro or Raleigh/Durham b/c we can save about $200.00 per ticket. (And they wonder why people don't use our hometown airport?) Anyway, I am not that familar w/ SW, but would it be worth our time to wait and see what happens w/ the rates when SW puts their fares out? Right now we are looking at $191.00/person from RDU.

I am not a big fan of SW, I have worries about no assigned seats and things like that. It would be myself, DH, DD9 and DS5 and I really want us all to sit together. It would be DS's 1st flight and DD's 2nd, so I know both DH and I would want to be w/ them, at least in the row behind or beside them. However if the price was right, I would be willing to try them out.

Anyone have any advice on this? I would really appreciate it!!

 

[inkkognito]

I used to be paranoid about the seat thing, but I had no choice when ATA bailed out of Chicago. Now, I just make sure to check in online at midnight and then stake out a good spot in the A line when I get to the airport (it sounds like more of a pain than it really is). If you do that, seats together will be no problem. In our market, SW is the cheapest by fare...if that's true for you, go for it! You may want to download Ding and see if any specials come up. We use Ding all the time and get some real steals.
Barb

 

[MEK]

Definately download Ding. You can get some real cheap flights on SW. You can print your boarding pass from home after midnight (12:01am) on the day you leave. That way you will end up in Group A. Returning flight is more of a problem, unless you have a way to print out your boarding passes that morning. My last trip, we got C assignments, but were easily able to sit 2 and 2. Everytime I have flown SW the boarding is very organized. People just take a seat and sit down. It's nice to have assigned seats, but I actually think the SW system boards faster because no one is looking for a specific seat.

SW also has given me the impression of being very organized. Some of their crew members are very funny. They san us something really funny the last time we landed in Orlando. Wish I could remember what.

I am also a big believer that if you search everyday in advance of your trip, you will find cheap airfare. Search all sites, inluding the airlines own site. Kayak.com is a good starting point to see what's out there. Then search Hotwire, 1800cheapseats,ect. Really good deals have a short window of time, so never skip a day. This persistence has helped me score $160 RT from Philadelphia to Denver and $122 RT to Orlando on my upcoming trip. I search 2 - 3 X a day until I find what I want. SW is not on any other search engines. When it was, several years ago I found $150 RT Baltimore to Salt Lake City (Non-stop).

____________________________________________________

Max is my favorite cat.

 

[welovedisneyx4]

Thanks guys!

I just tried to download DING at work, but my computer won't let me. Says I need administrator rights (which my boss has and I don't think she wants to pass to me! LOL!). I could do it at home, but we are not on the computer there very much, so it won't be much help. I wish I could get it on at work, I sit in front of that stupid computer 8 hours a day. I might get DH to try it at his work.

MEK, I will try out those other sites. I have seen Hotwire, but not the others.

Thanks again!

 

[JustineMarie]

Does anyone have an idea on when Southwest will be releasing November dates? We are waiting for November, too. Our trip is from Nov 27 - Dec 2 and the prices are outrageous right now. I found one flight for 69$ out of Philly but I wasn't too thrilled with the time.

 

[stacy6552]

Watch a few episodes of Airline on A&E. All your concerns are totally valid and I would avoid flying with them if you can. Its worth extra money to have a smoothe trip.

 

[welovedisneyx4]

I watch Airline and that is where my concerns come from!! I think I will check out the fares though, I am an optimistic person!

 

[Gooofy-Blade]

However, if other airlines would let the A&E cameras follow them, you would see as much, if not more, nonsense, etc. Don't let it bias you either way. I'll commend SWA for being open on the show............and probably getting a lot of $$$ as well!

 

[stnet]

We fly southwest all the time. We LOVE IT. The only times we flew other airlines we were never able to sit next to each other, even on our honeymoon, even with assigned seating. If you get there early you should have no problem getting a seat together, you could also ask about baording ealy since you have a kiddo who has never flown before. The last time we flew they were allowing parents with small children on first. The staff is always very helpful and extremely friendly.

 

[inkkognito]

Do NOT base your decision on Airline! Our home airport is Midway, and I have seen them film it many times. The situations are greatly exaggerated for the camera. I've seen a lot more craziness on ATA that I ever have on SW.
Barb

 

[SB in KY]

The never fail, last ditch way to guarentee that you sit by your child on a flight...if all else fails (you know, all the legitimate stuff like printing out boarding passes from home etc)...is just to park the little one next to some hassled looking guy in a business suit, then explain loudly to junior that when he knows he is going to be sick he should just ask the nice man next to him to hold the little white bag for him...then explain to the guy that junior ALWAYS throws up a LOT when he flies and you will be a mere 12 rows back if he needs anything....trust me, the guy would sooner throw himself onto the tarmac than sit by your child....he will move so fast you won't know where he went.

Seriously....if it was me I would always fly SW...yes it can be a boarding circus, but if you have A or B passes you won't have any trouble sitting at least 2 and 2. Just keep your sense of humor...the SW boarding process can be entertaining in its own way...but they come a lot closer to getting us where we want to go on time than anyone else flying these days (and getting your luggage there at the same time)....so if you can save some $$ to enjoy on vacation I would definately go for it....just remember, no matter who you fly these days there can be issues.

The more relaxed and confident you are the easier it will be for your children. If you don't get in a tiz over a delay or less than optimal seats they won't either. In the long run they will be much better travellers.

BTW....just got home from a trip to AK and the Canadian Rockies...flew Air Canada (which was actually very nice), but we had had our tickets for months with assigned seats....and of the 3 flight segments we flew on AC not 1 of the seat assignments was valid!! So just because you choose an airline that assigns seats it does NOT mean you will actually wind up in the seats you think you are assigned to.

 

[weeyore33]

WE have taken our 2 ds to disney 6 times in the last 3 years nad we ALWAYS ALWAYS fly SWA we have never had a problem sitting with each other, weather we have printed our boarding passes or not, and we always end up with a great price we have never paid more than 160- pvd to mco- non stop every time, we have always had a blast with the flight attendants, our last attendant, Michael was the best!!!! he made me never want to fly anyone else! Do not worry about it. you could find flaws with any company- any! have a great time!

 

[Gary M]

I have found that WDW resorts or other hotels will print SWA boarding passes for you. The preboarding and regular boarding can be entertaining from IND to MCO, I can't speak for other airports. On my 3 or so IND to MCO flights the preboarding line has been longer than A,B and C lines all together. With the kids and their sometimes large entourages and the white haired people with golf tans jocking for position, it can be fun to watch. It seems like I'm the only white-haired person not in preboarding.

We have been lucky that ATA, NWA, SWA and Air Tran all offer n/s flights from IND to MCO at about the same fare.

 

[DonnaL]

I would not let the TV show dictate which airline you use......we've been using SW since they came to PHL last May and as far as I'm concerned they've got the best employees in the airline business. I've dealt with some pretty bad customer service on other airlines at a much higher cost!!!! I love the fact we can get a non stop flight and be at MCO in about two hours
....even though we must drive two hours to get to PHL.....it's not a bad drive.
So. I know I'm waiting until the SW schedule for December comes out to book....hopefully it will be at a reasonable cost and SOON. Also, as far as
seating goes as long as you do online checkin you should have absolutely
NO problem getting seats together since you'll have A boarding passes if you check in shortly after midnight on day of travel. And for your return, simply go to the front desk at your hotel right after midnight and ask them to print your boarding passes. Usually at that time the lobby areas of hotels aren't that busy and it takes about 30 seconds to do.

 

[DonnaL]

I also agree with SB in KY about getting there on time and WITH your luggage. Before we started flying SW we had several nightmares on previous trips with no luggage, flight delays, and an incident where the airline broke our grandson's very expensive jogging stroller which we had gate checked. We ended up at Disney having to rent strollers since it was broken beyond repair.
They did reimburse us for a replacement, however, it took several months to
get the reimbursement and that was after several emails and phone calls.

 

[welovedisneyx4]

Thanks for all the advice and support. I am sure the TV does "enhance" the situations a bit. If SW can give us a better price, I am more than willing to try them. And getting to Orlando w/ all our luggage will be a big plus!

I wish we didn't have to drive to RDU, but the savings is at least 400.00-800.00 difference!! There is no way to justify not driving w/ that kind of money. The last time we flew to MCO was in 1994 and we got tickets for $132.00/person out of Roanoke. I don't really ever expect to see that again!!

SB in KY, I like your suggestion!! Hopefully we won't have to put that to use!! Our kids are pretty good kids and I think they would be extra good w/ flying and going to Disney, but w/ a few extra cookies or the right words, they could turn into holy terrors!! I could always put them together by someone and encourage a sibbling fight between them. Whoever was there would be begging to change seats!!!

I guess now I will be joining in the wait for SW fares to come out. I did put DING on the computer at home, I will just have to check it more.