Southwest is not always cheaper

[katallo]

Jet Blue does look comfortable. I love these boards because I was so focused on SW out of BWI that I didn't explore the other options. I'm not quite sure what is going on SW rates (at least from BWI to MCO) but we're not going to pay double for a little convenience. I think we look to SW first because of the ease of the new terminal at BWI. Oh well...

 

[sissy_ib]

Southwest is usually the most expensive out of my airport. I think many people see things like free baggage and think that adds a lot more value than it really is.

 

[Jasperann]

Southwest is Double out of DTW for us. I just priced the tickets for March and for six of us it was over 2000.00 Round Trip. That is crazy since Delta is just over 1000.00. So even with luggage it is cheaper. With the three little ones we don't need as much luggage.

 

[TamaraQT]

I guess it all depends on your airport, but I find SW is usually cheaper than US Air and others out of Phoenix and offers better times and non-stop flights to Orlando.

I agree that it depends on the airport. Or at least that is what I think also. We fly out of PHL to MCO and I really don't know of any other airline that is cheaper than SW to for Non-Stop to MCO. No baggage fees and no change/cancellation fees make it worth their charges either way as far as I am concerned.

Even if Southwest were more, I would still pay it based on principle. American charges us $60 each way per person for 2 bags. For a 10-day vacation, that is $180 each way and a total of $360 on bags. I would much rather pay Southwest more for the ticket than pay America, Air Tran, Delta or any of those other airlines for bags. It is never $360 more for all of us - so it is still a win!

Also, Southwest has awesome customer service and will change your schedule if needed for no fees - can't say that about the other guys.

I agree also about the customer service and no fees for changes. No one ever wants to plan to make changes to their plans. However, its good peace of mind to know that if you had to change your plans, you will not pay outrageous fees to do it. This happened to me once. Back in 2009, I bought our tickets to MCO in Febuary for travel in July. Well an unfortunate event caused us to have to change our plans to the last week of August. Our original airfare was $59 each way. When I went to change our seats, they were $79 each way. So there was a ticket increase of $20 per person which came to $80 total. But I couldnt complain. I was just happy that I was able to change and only charged $20 for each ticket!! Some people pay over $100 per ticket to change their flights!!!

This, along with no charge for bags, is worth the extra money to me. We just went thru a situation where we got fantastic airfare from Delta. We booked it because it was initially 'cheaper' than Southwest.

We had a situation arise where we had to change our departure date. The cost per ticket to do that was $150 per person. That was more than we paid for the original airfare.

For us, it wasn't cheaper in the long run.

And this is one reason why I stick with SW. The charge for a change of departure date is only the difference between the current price and the price you paid. And it always seems to be reasonable. If we had to pay $150 per person that year, we would not have been able to fly. And that year, my total cost for 5 of us round trip was $696!!! $59 each way plus taxes came to a GRAND total of $696. I dont think we will EVER see those low fares EVER AGAIN!!

We try to fly southwest whenever we can. Mainly, because of the no change/cancellation fee. We typically get $69 each way tickets and if/when flights go down, we can switch to the same flight with the better fare and get money back for another flight. Just did that for our February trip with just dh and I and we are up $60 from our original tickets. Plus, the baggage is a huge plus for us. We travel with 5 altogether, and starting in June we add an infant to the family. Baggage is a big must have for us as well as being able to change our flight or cancel if we need to. I guess it also really depends on where you live by southwest. We just moved from NH and flights out of Manchester and Boston to Orlando where mostly cheap. Now, in Pittsburgh, they are cheap here too.

At the PHL airport, SW is pretty popular. I love their service and the cost does seem lower to me. I think location does play a major part. But until I find something cheaper that gives the same conveniences, SW will be my airline of choice.

 

[clkelley]

We stick with Southwest cause right now they are the ONLY carrier that allows me to fly nonstop on a Friday night after work and has a nonstop late Sunday evening to get me home at a price I'm remotely willing to pay and I drive to nashville to do so.

We did finally get Airtran here, but the daily nonstop to Orlando is around NOON. That is about useless for leisure travelers in my opinion.