Southwest Questions

[jenkh]

Hey Everyone!

I'm planning my second trip to Disney (very much in advance)

I still have over a year, but you can never start to early hehe

I just have a few quick questions for you southwest airline users.

This trip were driving to buffalo to get better rates. I've been looking at the SouthWest website and have seen fares under the internet special fare. With that there appears to be some direct flights for under 80 each way. (wow, what a savings compared to what I forked over for Air Canada)

Has anyone used this fare before? Is it reliable. I'm just concerned since there are so many different price options and I can't find that much of a difference in limitations. (Other then if you make any changes the whole reservation is cancelled so you may not be able to get the same flight... but i personally don't plan on making changes... I still have 6 months before the flight will even be bookable so my dates wil be set in stone then)

Also.. what are the planes like with southwest? Does anyone know the actual name of the plane they use? (Air Canada used the airbus 320) I'm a bit of a nervous flyer and I like to look into the seating charts and everything before I go just so I'm prepared for what I'm walking into. Also, for entertainment, does each seat have a TV screen or is it a screen every 3 or so rows.

Any information will be helpful. I have plenty of time to look into everything. (half the fun of a disney trip is the planning)

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Not sure what type of plane Southwest flys but they are all the same. There are 3 seats on each side of the aisle. It's all one class -- there's no first class or business class. There are no TV's anywhere.

As to the fare -- haven't really looked at the restrictions but have cancelled a non-refundable flight and have a credit to use within a year of the original booking so didn't lose the money and the credit is fine by me. I go by the cheapest fare regardless of restrictions because of the ability to get a credit if it's not a refundable fare.

There's no assigned seating on Southwest. You board in groups -- preboards, A, B and C. Once onboard pick any seat you want.

Hope this helps.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Southwest flies Boeing 737 models. Southwest seat maps are NOT available at www.seatguru.com.

 

[dsneygirl]

Southwest is low frills. No meal, no entertainment. So bring your own snack and a book. (The flight is only 2 hours from Buf)

 

[jenkh]

Awesome. Thanks for all your help. I'll bring my ipod and a word search and i'll be all set.

(Whohoo this means I'll be saving over 800 bucks)

 

[mc'smommy]

I personally love Southwest ! I love the seating assignments... First come gets an "A:" boarding pass and second come gets a "B" boarding pass and third come gets a "C" boarding pass...... Then row A gets first boarding and so on... I like the idea of no meal, they offer free soda on the flight and peanuts and sometimes cookies...

Also if you go to ebay and look under Southwest drink coupon books people are selling these for about $ 5.00 a book and you can get 3 Mixed drinks or 4 beers with these ocupons.. BUT do not pay more than $ 5.00 or $6.00 dollars for these books....

And be sure the expiry date is far in advance...

Don't worry about Southwest, they are the only profitable airline in business right now... You will enjoy them...

 

[mousy_in_canada]

not to steal this thread but I had a question of my own.
My DD turns 5 2 weeks before we go, do you think they will let us preboard in Buffalo or are they sticky on this?

 

[pearlieq]

I can't answer this for Buffalo, but in our experience in Chicago they're pretty sticky about this. They usually restrict it to babies/young toddlers and require that you get a pre-boarding coupon from the check-in desk.

I can see why they'd do this. Especially on an Orlando run, if they were letting all parties with a pre-school aged kid pre board 3/4 of the plane would be preboarding!!!

 

[cdnmickeylover]

They can be sticky on this one and often they will announce that only 1 parent can preboard with the child. This prevents all aunts/uncles/grandparents etc preboarding with one child.

If you get "A" boarding passes you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[mousy_in_canada]

Thanks for the input, I like that you can print your boarding passing 24 hours in advance now, that is much easier!