Southwest airlines

[sunlver]

Have any of you flown on Southwest? What is your take on them, good or bad?
I just bought tickets on Southwest for our summer vacation. I only choose them for price because they do not charge for baggage. They were cheaper(only by $25 or so )from the other major airlines.

The only concern I have is that they dont give assigned seats. We are a family of 5,and in a perfect world, we would all sort of like to be seated together

I have read their boarding policies on their website.

Is this really a hassle the boarding procedure, or do you find it runs smoothly and families do generally sit together. My youngest will be 6 at this time, and as long as we are sitting together the rest of the family can fend for themselves

In reality, we have been on other planes where 2of us sat together and 3 sat somewhere else, so it wouldnt be the worse thing in the world

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

I usually travel alone, so the boarding thing is a non-issue for me. Southwest is my airline of choice and I've never had a bad experience with them.

 

[DisneyloverinRI]

You can pay an extra fee and board first then no problem you will be together
If you have very small children you can also board first. Most people will move so a family can sit together.
No worries. Love Southwest flying with them in July !

 

[mla1977]

I fly them all the time. Make sure you check in exactly 24 hours before your flight or pay the $10 per ticket charge to have them check you in. If your are in group A or high B you should have no problem sitting together.

 

[Micca]

We always fly SW if it's an option. The boarding thing is no big deal--you can check in on-line 24 hours before your flight. If you can be on-line exactly at the 24 hour mark, you'll get in the "A" group. The "A" group will fill up fast, but even the "B" group still has many seating possibilities. Worst case scenario, I've seen passengers who had already boarded agree to move to accomodate a family(can't count on that though).

I highly recommend giving SW a try. They have a loyal following amont air travelers.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Haven't had a problem with SW, although I don't fly with them often.

The only real issue was the group of 25 men who were headed to my destination for golf. They were all well into their late 40s and 50s with some clearly older.

You'd have thought they were 15 year olds on their first time away from Mom! What a noisy, pesky bunch they were.

At any rate, do pay the $10 extra. That's more than worth it and you are almost always (note the almost ) checked in for the A group.

 

[fairyprincess1]

We have flown SW a few times with our family of three... Family boarding is allowed if your child is younger than 5. DS was 5 & we were not permitted an early boarding pass, but we were told to check with the gate agent. We did & he permitted us to board after the A group, but before the B group. But I think I would prepare for your group to be split up - prepare for the worst & hope for the best I always say!! Enjoy your trip...

 

[Poohbear123]

I usually travel alone, so the boarding thing is a non-issue for me. Southwest is my airline of choice and I've never had a bad experience with them.

Me neither, they are AWESOME!

 

[cepmom]

You can pay an extra fee and board first then no problem you will be together
If you have very small children you can also board first. Most people will move so a family can sit together.
No worries. Love Southwest flying with them in July !

families with small children now board after A group, before B group.

We fly Southwest exclusively now...I love them. I've never done the early brid check in thing..I'm too cheap! I make sure I check in exactly on the 24 hour mark the day before we fly out and have my Mom check us in for our flight home. We almost always get a A boarding pass; once 4 out of the 5 of us got A and one got a B, but it wasn't a problem, The A's boarded and saved the B person a seat. No big deal.

One time I saw a guy board with a C pass and he had a little girl with him (she was about 2) He was one of the last to board and couldn't find 2 seats together. (He could have done the family boarding, but Iguess he didn't know about it) The flight attendant asked others to move their seats so they could sit together so if by some chance you can't get seats together with your little one, the flight attendants will help you out.

I love that you can check 2 bags per person with no fees and I have very rarely had any problems with delays, one the schedule is out, it doesn't change etc. Love Southwest!

 

[of the seas]

It is our airline of choice, also! But I don't think I would pay for early bird. $10 extra a ticket adds up for us. We just check in online and never had a problem.

 

[Christine]

The only real problem you will have is if you get in the C boarding group or you show up very late to the airport.

If you get the B boarding group, the five of you will probably not get one full row across. Three will probably get together and then two will be together. I usually fly with my 2 kids and my parents (5 of us). We are also boarding group A with my son and I entering before group A due to his peanut allergy. Most times we get the full row across but sometimes my parents and other child will be a row behind us.

 

[HillPete]

We've flown with them twice and each time we divided up one parent/one child so each child could have a window seat. DS6 and I sat in front of DH/DS7 both times and it was perfect. The last flight was nearly empty (we flew during the Super Bowl on purpose) and we had the whole row so the munchkins could have stretched out to nap if they wanted to.

SW is very accomodating for families. We like them and will try them again for out next trip.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I like Southwest. I'm not crazy about the seating though as when I can see people's numbers in front of me a lot of them are supposed to be behind me but it's usually not a big deal as I still get a window seat as I'm not one of the last one's sat. They're customer service is good and sometimes their take-off/landing announcements are cute/funny.

I've flown to Orlando a few times through them and one of things that irritated me the first time was that we stopped in Jacksonville, which nothing was said of it on the original reservation and it's supposed to be a direct flight. People that were continuing on to Orlando stayed on the plane while people going to Jacksonville got off and more people headed to Orlando were let on. It added about an hour to the trip (I then realized why the flight was almost 3 hours which tipped me off that it was going to happen on another flight when I booked with them to Orlando but at least I was prepared for it) and it was super hot on the plane (they turn off the A/C but you can open the air vents [not that that helps much]) and they weren't allowed to give out drinks, I get nauseous at take-offs so it was another one I wasn't expecting, and you have to turn off your electronics like you would normal landings/take-offs, but the flight attendants were friendly. It happened on the way back too and on another Orlando flight I booked with them. Which is better than a layover for sure, but like I said I wasn't expecting to stop somewhere (we found out when the plane was taxing to the runway for take off and the attendant was making announcements and said "Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to be making a brief stop in Jacksonville today...). I do like Southwest though and that they don't charge for luggage. I live in Yorktown, VA BTW .

Oh, and I wouldn't be too worried about not being able to be seated together. Most of the time I'm in the mid B's and even when I get on the last half of the plane is practically still empty. Most people want to be closest to the front of the plane (and on the exit rows).

 

[John VN]

Airline of choice also. Many flights between Fl. and El Paso. One time DW called from El Paso while sitting in plane waiting for passenger who was delayed. Finally got underway 20 minutes late but arrived 10 minutes early. Must have been one heck of a tail wind.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

You can pay extra ($10 per leg) and they will check you in. Otherwise you check in about 24 hours ahead.

I fly in and out of Orlando and they do put us between A & B if I didn't get A boarding b/c I have kiddos under 4.

I just checked in for tomorrow--about 2 minutes later than 24 hours early, and we got B10-B13 for boarding positions. It is very easy to get seats together even at that stage. Just do the 24 hour checkin.

Love them.

But for the time being since I am pregnant and flying solo with the three kiddos--I go for non-stop so that I don't have to worry about connections.

We sit 2 and 2 one row behind the other.

 

[sunlver]

Thanks for everybodys replies

We are flying Norfolk VA to Ft Lauderdale, to go on a cruise out of Miami. In the past we have flown Delta or USAIR.I just couldnt justify the prices, which were higher then SW, plus the baggage fee. I don't mind trying new things in this sort of circumstance.

Even though we booked our cruise last summer, buying plane tickets makes it seem more real

 

[Rosetta89]

families with small children now board after A group, before B group.

We fly Southwest exclusively now...I love them. I've never done the early brid check in thing..I'm too cheap! I make sure I check in exactly on the 24 hour mark the day before we fly out and have my Mom check us in for our flight home. We almost always get a A boarding pass; once 4 out of the 5 of us got A and one got a B, but it wasn't a problem, The A's boarded and saved the B person a seat. No big deal.

I really like SW....I checked in 24hours ahead of time no early bird $10. I got in the beginning of group B. and for the way home at the 24 hour mark i went down to the disney hotel's front desk about 5min before and waited for exactly 24hours and they checked be in and gave us our boarding passes. we were at the end of A. All went well and free luggage is awesome
Magical Wishes

 

[hereyago]

Have any of you flown on Southwest? What is your take on them, good or bad?
I just bought tickets on Southwest for our summer vacation. I only choose them for price because they do not charge for baggage. They were cheaper(only by $25 or so )from the other major airlines.

The only concern I have is that they dont give assigned seats. We are a family of 5,and in a perfect world, we would all sort of like to be seated together

I have read their boarding policies on their website.

Is this really a hassle the boarding procedure, or do you find it runs smoothly and families do generally sit together. My youngest will be 6 at this time, and as long as we are sitting together the rest of the family can fend for themselves

In reality, we have been on other planes where 2of us sat together and 3 sat somewhere else, so it wouldnt be the worse thing in the world

Hi to you and NeverlandClub23, I live in Newport News,VA.! DD11 and I fly Southwest unless we go to Hawaii. I wish they left out of Newport News/Williamsburg airport, I live like 10 minutes away from that one, but we have to go to Norfolk instead. We like Southwest, haven't encountered any trouble-knock on wood. Enjoy your trip OP!

 

[DebbieB]

One time I saw a guy board with a C pass and he had a little girl with him (she was about 2) He was one of the last to board and couldn't find 2 seats together. (He could have done the family boarding, but Iguess he didn't know about it) The flight attendant asked others to move their seats so they could sit together so if by some chance you can't get seats together with your little one, the flight attendants will help you out.

He may have been on a connection. If you are connecting and don't get to your new gate until after boarding has started, you could be left with few seat choices even if you have an A pass.

 

[mlittig]

I love Southwest not only for their non-stop flights but especially for their great service They also allow you to modify your reservations to take advantage of lower fares without a fee and you will get a credit for the difference to use at a later date We have had singing pilots and preforming attendants so that makes the flight a lot more fun We always seem to land on time even if we depart a bit late