Southwest stop with no change of planes

[connorlevismom]

Can anyone tell me how long you are normally on the ground and if they keep the air going on the plane? I have this horrible picture of sitting on the plane for an hour with no air circulating at all.

 

[HelenParr]

They will let will you move around and such after they take a head count. But air may be off.

 

[arthuruscg]

It will depend on if the flight crew changes and a lot of other things. I have had 30min waits with only a few people getting on/off and other times about 2 hrs from the doors open to shut.

Your flight attendant and itinerary should tell you of the expected wait time.

 

[rlduvall]

Can anyone tell me how long you are normally on the ground and if they keep the air going on the plane? I have this horrible picture of sitting on the plane for an hour with no air circulating at all.

I've done this several times with SW. SW can turn a plane around quicker than any other airline I know. It seems it was about 30 minutes total, maybe 45 minutes, and I don't remember the plane getting stuffy so they must have left the air circulating.

A couple of years ago, I actually did 2 'no change' stops coming home. I was in the exit row and, as you know, the FA has to give the spiel about what you are required to do in the exit row, etc., etc., and then they ask each passenger if they understand and wait for the response. Since this was my third time to hear the spiel when she asked me if I understood, I said "Si" and the other passengers looked at me funny. FA laughed and said this is her third time to hear it, she's part of the family now.

 

[vacationclub]

Can anyone tell me how long you are normally on the ground and if they keep the air going on the plane? I have this horrible picture of sitting on the plane for an hour with no air circulating at all.

You should be able to determine this by looking up the published departure time of the 2nd leg of your trip. (it might even say on your reservation) SW usually schedules them pretty tight, some are published as tight as 40 minutes of layover, but the arriving flight (yours) usually lands before the time they publish so layovers are usually longer than they might appear on paper.

I've been on a SW trip with no plane change, and just barely had time after the head count to get to my bag above in the bin, get something out of it, put it back, and then new people started to get on board.

Of course the advantage to this for you is that you get the best seats as you can move anywhere you want once they count you. (or even before if it's a short and quick move). You'll have even better seat options than the new flyers who paid business class. It's not really fair, but that's SW.

FYI, other airlines can also turn planes around quickly if they need to, but SW's schedule demands that they do it all the time to squeeze out higher profits from more flights per day. So, it's routine for them to do it fast.

 

[connorlevismom]

This makes me feel so much better. We never do flights with stops so I was not sure how this would work. But I just cannot beat the price so we are going to go for it.

 

[jayhawk74]

Can anyone tell me how long you are normally on the ground and if they keep the air going on the plane? I have this horrible picture of sitting on the plane for an hour with no air circulating at all.

SWA normally keeps the planes on the ground 25-40 minutes. When on the ground SWA will normally have a hose connected to the aircraft that will provide air to the aircraft. If that is not working the pilots will turn on the aircraft's APU and that will provide air to the cabin. In any case there will be air circulating when the aircraft is at the gate.

 

[mjplantz]

I've been on a SW trip with no plane change, and just barely had time after the head count to get to my bag above in the bin, get something out of it, put it back, and then new people started to get on board.

Of course the advantage to this for you is that you get the best seats as you can move anywhere you want once they count you. (or even before if it's a short and quick move). You'll have even better seat options than the new flyers who paid business class. It's not really fair, but that's SW.

FYI, other airlines can also turn planes around quickly if they need to, but SW's schedule demands that they do it all the time to squeeze out higher profits from more flights per day. So, it's routine for them to do it fast.

This is most likely the typical scenario, get them off and get the new passengers on asap. SW Crew receive 'bonuses' depending upon on how quickly they can turn the plane around.