Southwest, United or someone else

[p17blo]

Help! Firstly let me prefix the rest of this post by stating i'm British yes, queue all the Austin Powers jokes!

Anyway, I know less than I should do about the finer points of US national air travel. I need to travel from Texas to the Orlando area. Yep I know Texas is a big place too! But I have SOME flexibility about where I travel from.

At the moment I have a (refundable) hotel reservation in San Antonio (Stone Oak) for the night before I need to travel. The limits of my checking have revealed two main carriers of choice if I want to fly directly (and I would prefer to).

Southwest Offer flights from San Antonio or Houston Hobby to Orlando or Tampa, whereas United offer flights from Houston International to Tampa or Orlando.

I would prefer to fly into Orlando and I can switch my reservation to put me nearer to Houston (and International is nearer to where I will be rather than trekking over to Hobby).

What I am struggling with is comparable fares. United appear to charge for baggage (is this right?) whereas Southwest include this (Quite the opposite to ways in which UK budget and national airlines work). I will have baggage with me so need to consider this. I'm not that bothered about onboard drinks/food etc as it's only a short flight.

I've also seen some of the horrors endured by Southwest passengers on TV (Airline?) but I don't know how much of that is just for entertainment.

So can someone help and give me some advice. Are there any other carriers I should try? Any other airports I should check?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[bumbershoot]

Yes, United charges for bags.

I've never experienced a bad situation on Southwest. In fact, when I've flown other airlines, they tend to have more of a mash-up at boarding than SW does...with United, my husband has "status", so when we travel with him, we get to board among the first groups. But everyone else gathers around the gate and you have to force your way through, to board with your proper group. With SW, when I've flown them, the gate agents are on the PA system telling people to "SIT DOWN" until their boarding groups are called.

 

[dbarker]

We usually fly Southwest (out of Austin). I have never flown Delta.

Southwest allows 2 checked bags up to 50 pounds per person; and 1 carry on bag and 1 personal item per person....Free.

We have never had any problems w/ Southwest. Their customer service is very good.

 

[msheriffm]

Southwest is great! i would have expected more bad publicity about United than Southwest. I am not sure how comfortable you are flying but sometimes United uses small jets rather than airplanes on shorter flights. If that is important to you, check into it. If you are flying in the summer, I have found the flights in the south turbulent due to the humidity. Also fights earlier in the day tend to have less delays due to thunderstorms. I am not an expert but just sharing some of my personal experiences. My family and I are traveling on Southwest this summer to WDW.

 

[momH2the4th]

If flying Southwest, I would stick to flying out of San Antonio and direct to Orlando. The Houston Hobby airport is under some renovations and not the easiest to get in and out of right now. It's also not in the nicest part of town.

I feel that Southwest is a great airline and have found it more organized to travel with than United is at the moment. United is in lots of growing pains with the Continental merger and at both airports we flew out of during spring break (IAH-Houston / Phoenix) there was a lot of confusion with the boarding. Maybe they have fixed some of their problems, but I've heard from several friends about their disappointments with United. Hope this helps with your decision.

 

[p17blo]

Thanks for all of your help. It's November so I think we should be out of the main stormy season and I am really thinking of taking the direct flight from San Antonio to Orlando with Southwest - Just need to wait a couple more days until those flights become available.

 

[Siouxstone]

Since you have flexibility, try Southwest out of Austin. We're between Austin, San Antonio and Houston, so I check prices from all three before we book. (It's a drive either way.) Austin usually comes out cheaper and the airport itself is a dream. Easy in, easy out. We always end up with an hour and a half to wait at the gates because we forget how smooth the airport runs and it's pretty small. (Okay, not tiny but for years ATL was our home airport and before that DFW so everything else seems small. It's the size of a concourse for either of those airports.)

I've never, ever had a bad experience with Southwest. Free checked baggage really cuts down on the battle for overhead space that is now so epic in other airlines. The biggest thing I always do for Southwest is check-in as close to that 24 hour mark as possible so that we don't have to worry about splitting up for seats. However, if I ever got separated and had to sit alone, no big deal. It just means I would get to relax and read on the flight instead of passing out things to keep everyone entertained. (Yes, secretly I hope for this. It never happens.)

Good Luck!

 

[rwdavis2]

I agree, take Sowuthwest. I've flown both over the last few years and with the free checked bags Southwest is a bit more civlilized. Boarding an United plane can be total chaos with too many people trying to fit bags in the overheads to avoid paying the fee.

Just make sure you check in for your Southwest flight right at the 24 hour mark so you can get a better choice of seats. Or you could pay $10 for Early Boarding Check In where the airline automatically checks you in at 36 hours and you can either get your boarding pass at the 24 hour mark or at the airport. It's all spelled out on their web site.

 

[p17blo]

I checked Austin (as well as I could as I am just over the 6 month mark) and the direct flight times seem too late on in the day. The prices weren't noticeably different either.

I am staying pretty close to San Antonio airport (11 miles) so this would definitely be nearer.

I'm feeling much better about Southwest given your experiences - Thank you

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Southwest should be fine for you. If you fly very often however, it would be more beneficial for you to fly United; as a UK citizen, you can fly them or other Star Alliance carriers in Europe (unlike Southwest), so earning frequent flyer miles on UA would benefit you more than FF miles earned on Southwest. If you rarely fly, this won't need to be a consideration.