Southwest from Pittsburgh

[goodferry]

I am looking at airfare for our late September/early October trip and Southwest now only has one non stop flight a day from PIT to MCO and one from MCO to PIT, they used to have multiple trips per day. AirTran has multiple non stop flights, but are more expensive and charge for luggage. Is this an effect of the merge of the two airlines and is it possible Airtran will stop charging for luggage in the near future?

 

[DebbieB]

I am looking at airfare for our late September/early October trip and Southwest now only has one non stop flight a day from PIT to MCO and one from MCO to PIT, they used to have multiple trips per day. AirTran has multiple non stop flights, but are more expensive and charge for luggage. Is this an effect of the merge of the two airlines and is it possible Airtran will stop charging for luggage in the near future?

Southwest has said when the merger is complete they will follow Southwest rules. Right now they are still operating as separate airlines and I don't think it's predicted to change by this fall.

It must depend on the day of the week, I'm looking at Oct 20 to 27 and there are 2 Southwest non-stops each way. The prices are about the same with both airlines, around $310.

 

[keishashadow]

we travel this time to MCO often. pretty sure SWA used to offer at least three NS on weekends that time period, certainly not happy about: the crack of dawn flight out and the earlier return times than in the past back to the 'burg. At least AT still has a later one offered, but last i checked the arrival was the next day! A bit too late for DH is he has to be at work that day lol.

I booked the week the fares were released and snagged $222 pp decent compared to the current $310 pp RT.

 

[DebbieB]

Southwest moved into Atlanta last month, replacing some of Air Tran's flights there. So they had to move Southwest planes there and move AirTran planes elsewhere. That's my guess why there are less SW at PIT and more AT.

 

[Joss&Brendan'sMommy]

Anyone ever fly Spirit from Latrobe to Orlando? Just heard of this possibility and I know there are some weird baggage rules, but was just curious about if anyone has experiences out there.

TIA!

 

[goodferry]

We live in Ligonier and are flying down on Spirit in a week and a half, I will post a report because I know several people have asked. The one potential problem I can see is if they have a mechanical issue there is just the one flight per day and they seem to be running pretty full, so it may take you a few days to get there in that case. Spirit is not known for their customer service

 

[ollyg]

We live in Ligonier and are flying down on Spirit in a week and a half, I will post a report because I know several people have asked. The one potential problem I can see is if they have a mechanical issue there is just the one flight per day and they seem to be running pretty full, so it may take you a few days to get there in that case. Spirit is not known for their customer service

I look forward to your report. I have heard both good and bad, I am too chicken to book with them, even though is it so much closer--about 15 miles from home.

 

[goodferry]

Us too, although I have honestly heard mostly bad (but not about this particular route out of Latrobe, more about the Fort Lauderdale route) This trip will just be DH and I so we thought we would give it a try, the free parking is very attractive in addition to it being so so close

 

[crazy_for_the_dis]

My daughter and her boyfriend flew them this morning to Myrtle Beach. I was impressed. Free parking I agree is a bonus, and you can't beat their prices (and they run 24 off or 35 off, tons of specials). There is no line for security, so you don't have to necessarily waste 2 hours there, one hour would be fine.

One word of advice would be to pay for your seats. On the flight this morning, it was completely full, but they had six inoperable seats. They would looking for volunteers, but if they did not get any, 6 people were getting bumped (they were getting a free flight in return I think). I asked if my daughter could get bumped, and was told no since we booked well in advance. But the gate agent said the way to always make sure you get a seat and not get bumped would be to pay for one in advance (I had also paid the cheapest category, $10, when I booked so they were safe).

I don't mind paying for luggage and carry ons, it seemed to cut down on the usual flight full of roll-aways. One thing I thought was confusing was adding luggage. The website says at booking or 24 hours. I took that to mean 24 hours before the flight, but it means 24 hours after booking. I added it when they checked in on-line, for $33 (they shared a suitcase, and only needed it one way, someone else drove it down for them since they were meeting with other family members). It was a difference of $5, and my misunderstanding, I thought it was going to be $28. So my advice there is buy your luggage when you book the ticket.

Also, make sure if you try them to check in on-line and print out your boarding passes at home. Starting next week they will be charging $5 for each one if you print it out at the airport. Despite all the nickle and diming Spirit does, it was still hundreds cheaper than other flights we looked at. Southwest and Jet Blue are still my favs, but all in all, their experience this morning was a good one. I much prefer the quaint feel of Latrobe to PIT. Plus the restaurant and bar looked good (unfortunately not open in the morning though).

 

[crazy_for_the_dis]

Also, remember Spirit's "overweight" bag charges start at 40 lb. I saw numerous people taking heavy things out of their checked bags to avoid the extra $25 fee.

 

[Joss&Brendan'sMommy]

Happy to hear the good report about Myrtle Beach. Will be eager to hear about the Orlando flight too. Looking to possibly book something later in the year. We would deal with the baggage fees to avoid the hectic display at PIT.

 

[mzspaz]

I booked SW from Pgh for our November trip and I booked it the day that the schedule opened up. There were the 3 direct flights that I am used to seeing....one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening, for both flights.

Just checked again and there are still 3 non-stop flights showing for both flights (although I did notice that the prices went up).

Perhaps the direct flights on the day that you are flying are full and they have been removed from the view?

 

[punn]

We live in Ligonier and are flying down on Spirit in a week and a half, I will post a report because I know several people have asked. The one potential problem I can see is if they have a mechanical issue there is just the one flight per day and they seem to be running pretty full, so it may take you a few days to get there in that case. Spirit is not known for their customer service

Please let us know how things go flying out of Latrobe. We (family of 8 plus lap child) booked them for our Sept trip. I went into the airport to book and they gave me $25 off each way (of price that was online) and i didn't have to pay for the guarenteed seats. So our cost was $135.00 a person round trip with the guarenteed seats. No charge for parking and we live 5 min away are total benefits. I've know many people who have flown sw out of Latrobe to Myrtle and have had no problems so i'm hoping the same for their orlando flights.

 

[goodferry]

I booked SW from Pgh for our November trip and I booked it the day that the schedule opened up. There were the 3 direct flights that I am used to seeing....one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening, for both flights.

Just checked again and there are still 3 non-stop flights showing for both flights (although I did notice that the prices went up).

Perhaps the direct flights on the day that you are flying are full and they have been removed from the view?

No, we are flying down on September 27th, there is one direct flight and it is the early morning one, very strange. I checked with Southwest thinking they might just be full too, but no, just the one non stop flight. I checked every day, there are two direct flights on Saturdays, but every other day of the week is just one.

 

[goodferry]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45387385#post45387385

Here is a link to my review of our Spirit experience out of Latrobe

 

[Mary T in PA]

I see the change in routes too as there are no early morning flights for the dates I am looking at this fall and early winter on AT- the earliest nonstop flight is now around noon.

So we are gonna book a one way down to MCO on SW, ugh.. and then the return flight on AT as we will prefer direct nonstop flights.

I am not fond of SW, so lets hope this experience is better than our last.

I keep hoping that another airline would come into da 'burgh and offer nonstop service to MCO.