Southwest Fans... are you reconsidering

[Cheburashka]

There needs to be another category for, "Already finished with Southwest." I used to fly them and am already so done with them. I had repeated customer service issues with them, never found the hype about their superior customer service to be true. I also hated the lack of assigned seating, the way passengers would try to save seats, etc. I didn't like the lack of entertainment options onboard. And the pricing was usually the same as or even more than economy on legacy airlines.

Their big advantage once imo was no change fees, but the legacies dropped those during Covid. That really leveled the playing field. I think a lot of people who used to fly SWA exclusively are going to try legacies now, and see that SWA isn't as superior as they thought.

I understand people still flying it where SWA is the only nonstop option from their airport. But people with other options who are still loyal after this, make me wonder.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I wish I could say I was done with SW since we had issues with them the last two times we flew with them but they are one of the only airlines that fly direct from PVD to MCO. I also am sitting on a boatload of SW points that I don't want to go to waste. Anyone from the PVD area have an opinion on flying JetBlue from here to MCO?

 

[georgina]

I have a lot of SW points and credits so I will continue to fly them. DCA - MCO is pretty convenient for us. DH just flew SW to Grand Cayman & back in Dec with no issues. I still find SW is usually the least expensive to Orlando. My next trip is late Feb/early March. I rarely fly holiday weekends. I LIKE the boarding process! I have always loved the free checked bags and flexible change policies, and getting points back when fares drop, but it seems some airlines are catching up to that perk. Once I use up my points I may give JetBlue a try. Flew AA on supersaver point fare in August. It was OK. I have flown Delta 3 times in my life - 2 had horrible overnight delays, so I am not a Delta fan.

On Delta, if you "gate check" your bag (where they put a luggage tag on it, I'm not talking the pink/temporary tags), you get it at baggage claim.

Same for Alaska. My DS flies them home from Seattle for the holidays as they have the only SEA-DCA non-stop.

DD flies here non-stop from SFO to IAD on United. I make sure both kids book non-stops especially in winter.

 

[RogueX]

No. Years ago I got the "oh it's the weather that's keeping us grounded" excuse and after a little pushing they said it was in Orlando. I pushed back though and let it known that a rumor of ongoing union issues was something I was aware of. The agent handed me vouchers towards future travel.

 

[sam_gordon]

There needs to be another category for, "Already finished with Southwest."

I thought about it, but it doesn't really help. I was curious if the problems Southwest has had this year (with this past week being the worst) has changed anyone's mind. If you already didn't fly Southwest (or rarely), then your mind didn't change.

 

[KPeterso]

There needs to be another category for, "Already finished with Southwest." I used to fly them and am already so done with them. I had repeated customer service issues with them, never found the hype about their superior customer service to be true. I also hated the lack of assigned seating, the way passengers would try to save seats, etc. I didn't like the lack of entertainment options onboard. And the pricing was usually the same as or even more than economy on legacy airlines.

Their big advantage once imo was no change fees, but the legacies dropped those during Covid. That really leveled the playing field. I think a lot of people who used to fly SWA exclusively are going to try legacies now, and see that SWA isn't as superior as they thought.

I understand people still flying it where SWA is the only nonstop option from their airport. But people with other options who are still loyal after this, make me wonder.

This is me too - "Already finished with Southwest". I have flown them several times over the years and am definitely not a fan. I will choose pretty much any other option. And quite honestly, I do not find the prices that good from my local airports to Orlando (the legacy airlines are definitely better prices for me and can be nonstop). I hate the open seating and want to know what seat I will have before I board. I travel a lot with my elderly Mom and a wheelchair for her, so we board first and have a choice on seats, but it is still not for me. I get free bags with my credit cards for Delta and United, so that perk on SW is nothing to me.

 

[georgina]

I guess who you are flying with can make a difference. 90% of my SW flights now are just me so seating is never an issue. When we lived in Pittsburgh and DD was in college in California, SW was used a lot from Ontario airport to PIT.

I have never seen an airline credit card that gave free bags and had no annual fee. So, not really free. You are still paying for it. DH had a Citi AA card for a year, but it didn't give free bags to the Caribbean, which as a diver is where he goes the most, so we cancelled it.

 

[sam_gordon]

I have never seen an airline credit card that gave free bags and had no annual fee. So, not really free. You are still paying for it.

True. BUT, it comes down to how often you fly. If I fly once a year (RT), a $95 annual fee is about what I'd pay in luggage. If I fly twice a year, I'm saving money. Then there are other perks. My card paid for my pre-check. I get "points" that I can put toward travel expenses. And I'm sure there are others.

And often your first year with the card is free.

 

[mickeyfino]

I wish I could say I was done with SW since we had issues with them the last two times we flew with them but they are one of the only airlines that fly direct from PVD to MCO. I also am sitting on a boatload of SW points that I don't want to go to waste. Anyone from the PVD area have an opinion on flying JetBlue from here or MCO?

Also interested in this! We could also fly out of BOS, but prefer PVD. We were supposed to be at Disney 12/24-1/2. Our 12/24 PVD-MCO 5am flight was cancelled just as we arrived at PVD. Rebooked to 12/28 only for that to be cancelled too, sigh. So we ended up cancelling the entire trip and are disappointed we aren't spending the holidays at Disney this year. JB only has 1-2 nonstop flights daily, which isn't great but if they are reliable, I wouldn't hesitate to give them a try.

 

[georgina]

Yeah, we don't fly enough domestically to make the airline CC worthwhile except for the first year sign-up bonus. Our infrequent European trips have a free checked bag included. We have more CC with GE benefits than we need at this point. I find hotel cards more beneficial than airline ones.

 

[RogueX]

Also interested in this! We could also fly out of BOS, but prefer PVD. We were supposed to be at Disney 12/24-1/2. Our 12/24 PVD-MCO 5am flight was cancelled just as we arrived at PVD. Rebooked to 12/28 only for that to be cancelled too, sigh. So we ended up cancelling the entire trip and are disappointed we aren't spending the holidays at Disney this year. JB only has 1-2 nonstop flights daily, which isn't great but if they are reliable, I wouldn't hesitate to give them a try.

My boss lives in an area where it's more convenient for him to fly out of PVD but he could fly out of BOS if the flight schedule for where he's going is better from BOS.

On December 18th when my flight on Jetblue into BOS was delayed several times, I almost asked to be put on standby for PVD since my husband could pick me up there. Ultimately I waited it out and got home to BOS a lot later. I had him looking into the cause of the delay (perks of being married to someone in aviation) and turns out it was a mechanical issue on our plane that was coming in from PR.

 

[sam_gordon]

JB only has 1-2 nonstop flights daily, which isn't great but if they are reliable, I wouldn't hesitate to give them a try.

No airline is going to be 100% when it comes to reliability, but all the criticism about the ULCC (not as many flights, if there's a delay/cancellation, you could be stranded for days) makes SW sound like the same.

 

[aokeefe]

I wish I could say I was done with SW since we had issues with them the last two times we flew with them but they are one of the only airlines that fly direct from PVD to MCO. I also am sitting on a boatload of SW points that I don't want to go to waste. Anyone from the PVD area have an opinion on flying JetBlue from here or MCO

I live equal distance from Logan and TF Green. If I'm flying JetBlue I tend to choose Logan only because there several flights that day where as TF Green only has 1. We are flying PVD-MCO on Jet Blue on April as it was significantly cheaper. I had JetBlue booked out of PVD to MCO booked both last July and November and both flights changed significantly so I just switched them to Boston. I always choose PVD for Southwest bc it's direct.

 

[pinkxray]

We have tons of SW points and credits so I will probably try them again in the future. Once those points are gone I will probably switch around. We only have a few options from BDL direct to MCO. Jet Blue changed all of our flights the last two trips we took along with Southwest. I think Frontier and Spirit also fly direct but haven’t tried them.

After seeing all the SW chaos I am kind of thinking of skipping using them in May since it will only be two of us. Not too bad to pay for flights. I will definitely be doing carry on.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Southwest is our only option (aside from Spirit and sometimes Frontier) that offer nonstop service to all Florida cities from our home airport, so we’ll continue to fly them. I’ll start looking at other airlines though, if we’re heading to the midwest or west coast. Additionally, SW is still more convenient for families traveling with little ones. Sure, I could go Frontier to MCO but then I’d have to pay to sit next to my 5 year old, and for my carry on bags (we haven’t checked in years even though SW doesn’t charge).

 

[Magical2017]

We had a flight credit so are keeping our SW flights for MLK weekend. We always purchase trip insurance but I am wondering if there will be a ripple effect continuing for that long or not. We have never had issues with SW before but right now they are a hot mess. It would be great if they offered really cheap flights for a short period of time as a "sorry, our bad. " Especially if those cheap flights were to places we actually want to visit but I doubt that will happen.

 

[MillauFr]

Not sure why but Southwest never got much traction in Seattle. They tried to make a big push here 10 years ago but it fizzled. You can even get a non stop flight to Southern California on Southwest. Delta and Alaska are dominate here and no one else makes an attempt to compete.

 

[Wiltony]

I know there are many here who use SW. Have the multiple problems that SW has had this year changed your thinking? Yes, I get all airlines have problems, but it seems like SW has had major issues a couple times this year that other airlines have not had.

We are soooo locked in with SW. Credit card, companion pass, A-list, etc. Guess I'm riding this out. Flew to Disney from Denver on the 20th, and back on the 27th with 8 people, 14 checked bags, and no hiccups despite this disaster. Got lucky I guess, and I am grateful for it!

Why? If I had an AirTag in my bag, I still wouldn't know what city it's in.

I have an Android phone.

We are an android family, but the airtag infrastructure is hard to beat, so I bought an iphone for the specific purpose of tracking my 12 airtags. I don't use it for anything else, and it's really, really useful. There are no android trackers (i.e. Tile) with a ubiquity sufficient to be useful outside of the house, but just about every single apple device that walks past my airtags will report their locations back to me, and that is incredibly valuable for keeping track of my luggage and keys!

On Delta, if you "gate check" your bag (where they put a luggage tag on it, I'm not talking the pink/temporary tags), you get it at baggage claim.

Same on Southwest. I've gate checked a few carry-ons and then picked them up at baggage claim at my destination.

 

[Magical2017]

We are soooo locked in with SW. Credit card, companion pass, A-list, etc. Guess I'm riding this out. Flew to Disney from Denver on the 20th, and back on the 27th with 8 people, 14 checked bags, and no hiccups despite this disaster. Got lucky I guess, and I am grateful for it!

Yes, the companion pass would keep me loyal. Having someone fly free with me would go a long way, especially since they fly to so many destinations I love.

 

[SkyGuy]

We won’t abandon SW quite yet. I have loads of points and credits to use, not to mention it’s the only airline with direct flights to the places we travel the most from the two closest airports from our home. We’ve been flying SW for years (and AirTran before) and never had an issue (knock on wood) that wasn’t handled quickly and appropriately. I really hope they can work this out and improve their infrastructure. I feel like I should take a bunch of trips and whittle away at my points in case I need to make a switch, though.