Anyone here ever fly Southwest?

hillman

hillman

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We are flying out tonight, Southwest Airlines from the Manchester, NH airport (I refuse to fly out of Boston).

Has anyone else ever flown Southwest? I'm curious what your experiences are.

I have flown them twice before in the past and have had one singing flight attendent and a jokester of a pilot who kept asking over the intercom "Hey, anyone seen the instruction manual?" He thought that was funny but after the fourth time it got old...

I like the seats though, they support my fat ass much better than most other airlines. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable flight, though I can really do without flight attendant shenanigans... unless they have something to do with sandwiches.

I love sandwiches.

*oops can this be moved to Off Topic, sorry. Forgot which section I was in.
 
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They're fine. Get a boarding pass online as soon as you can (like now). That way, you'll be more likely to get in an early boarding group.
 
I have flown them quite a bit. I too have had singing attendents......jokes and whatnot over the intercom. I have no complaints. Do they still do the "ABC" seating deal? Check in on line 24 hrs before your flight and get an A seating, then get to airport early...You'll get on the plane and have your choice of seats...
 
Yes, I've been flying SW back and forth to Chicago lately (out of Providence). I can do without the stupid flight attendant jokes, etc.

But what I really, really like about SW is that when they pull the plane up to the gate, they get the jetway up to the plane and the front door opened fast.

So many times with majors I've been on a plane that had to wait for the ground crew to arrive before they could taxi in to the gate. Then you have to wait 10 minutes for them to get the jetway to the plane and the door open. It's a surprise that our plane just arrived? [slap]

The incompetence of the majors is just mystifying. How hard can that be? And turning planes fast saves money -- planes don't make any money sitting on the ground.
 
When you book your ticket, now they let you pay an extra $15 to get an early "A" boarding pass. For me, it's worth the extra money because I carry on (never check) my bags and that will guarantee me a spot in the overhead.
 
When you print the boarding pass on line (they open this up 24 hours before flight time), you'll see a tiny number on the pass which tells you what # you were in line. I generally get numbers in the high 20's, or higher, when I get my pass at exactly 24 hours before boarding.
 
I think SW has a fine business plan, but as a businessman I'll never fly them again.

One of the places I worked in Dallas had a trade with them so we had to fly SW. One time I had to go to San Francisco. I had the following itinerary:

Dallas Love to Lubbock
Lubbock to Albuquerque
Albuquerque to Phoenix (change planes)
Albuquerque to some stupid little airport near LA
stupid little airport to Oakland
$75 cab ride to San Francisco hotel

Left at 8 am Dallas time and arrived at 8 pm Dallas time

I was late getting to the gate to get my boarding pass
so I spent the entire flight wedged in the middle seat between
two other fat guys.[wink]


I'm not saying it was their fault as that blame goes to
my company.

Flying has become too inhumane as it is without being in an actual cattle call.
 
That must've been a while ago Dave. They've been adding routes so the number of >1 connection flights has gone way down. I got to Harlingen from Manchester with only one plane change a couple of weeks ago.
 
Southwest has been nothing but good to us.

back in... 02 or 03 my family, my cousins, and some of our family friends were getting ready to go to florida. the problem is, that morning we had a HUGE snowstorm and Bradley was shutting down. so now theres 11 of us, eager to go to FL, and our plane gets canceled. as were all getting ready to go home one of the Reps from Southwest comes up to us and discretely tells us to follow him.

we ended up on the last flight out of Bradley. 11 of us with 10 or 12 Southwest Stewardesses and Pilots. we didnt know where we were going, nor did we really care. southwest went out of their way to see that atleast SOMEONES vacation wasn't ruined.

we ended up flying to Chicago, then to Alabama, then to Florida. our 2 hours something plane trip was replaced with 12 hours on planes and airports. but we got there.
 
EddieCoyle said:
That must've been a while ago Dave. They've been adding routes so the number of >1 connection flights has gone way down. I got to Harlingen from Manchester with only one plane change a couple of weeks ago.
Click to expand...

Oh yes, this was the late 90's. Like I said, I was more pissed at my company than SW. I guess just associate them with bad working experiences.

One of the issues flying out of Dallas at the time was also that you could not take a direct flight outside of Texas. You had to fly to another town, in this case Lubbock to get a flight out of state. They made that deal when DFW opened to prevent competition from Love. Not sure if it is still in effect today though.
 
EddieCoyle said:
When you book your ticket, now they let you pay an extra $15 to get an early "A" boarding pass. For me, it's worth the extra money because I carry on (never check) my bags and that will guarantee me a spot in the overhead.
Click to expand...

And you get a free drink ticket. I did over 40 segments last year so I get an automatic A pass, as Eddie says, log in 24 hours, exactly, to get your boarding pass. I think SW is the best airline right now, no kidding
 
I forget if it was Southwest or the now-defunct Song, but I remember a flight attendent reminding us to take all our belongs... and anything that we left behind could be reclaimed after 24 hours off of eBay.

Hey, it cracked me up. But I have a sense of humor that's not merely twisted but actually sprained. [wink]
 
I think their humor is a tad rehersed....

"Welcome aboard Southwest Flight XXX to YYY. To operate your seatbelt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seatbelt, and if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised. In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, margarine cups will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one small child...pick your favorite."
 
They're pretty good, but bring $$ for snacks, drinks, etc.
The only real bitch I ever had was travelling with the kids years ago. we had boarded late, because of the open seating policy and the a**h***s who wouldn't move to a different seat, our family of 4 (at the time) were all over the plane. The flight attendants were of little help.

I'm also assuming you're not 'too pretty to fly' either [rofl]
http://www.gadling.com/2008/02/22/are-you-too-pretty-to-fly/
 
Southwest has always been the best for us. We flew American to our honeymoon two months ago and had forgotten how much better Southwest does things. LOTS of time waiting, lots of hassles, extra cost for everything, huge lines at checking, etc.

I will gladly pay more to fly Southwest.

Kudos to them for actually using humor, even if it's scripted. Takes balls to do that in this day and age with all the people who can't take a joke out there.
 
Reported years ago on Southwest after a hard landing...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, now that the captain has finished carving his name into the runway, please remain seated until we come to a complete stop at the gate."
 
SW is ok.

personally, when given the choice... go with Jet Blue.

more comfortable... own tv... free snacks... friendly service.
 
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I'm not a fan of Airbus aircraft, so I don't fly jetblue.

Airtran is my favorite. Cheap, no frills.

Best airline I've ever flown on was Singapore Airlines, though.
 
Southwest is OK. Do the check-in exactly at the 24 hour prior for best seating.

The banter is all rehearsed and 'approved' and if you get the same crew, you'll get the same performance almost verbatim. It's still better than the dull briefing you get everywhere else.

Oh yea, fly with a cute 2yo who the attendant at the gate is having fun with and you get on BEFORE the 'A' seating. (^_^)

If you are taking a pistol, get there early and be ready for anything. I've traveled 3 times with guns on Southwest and in all 6 times I've checked in, I've had six different procedures. One time I had to tell the rep what was required and how to deal with the orange firearm tag as she couldn't get a supervisor to join her.
 
vellnueve said:
I'm not a fan of Airbus aircraft, so I don't fly jetblue.

Airtran is my favorite. Cheap, no frills.

Best airline I've ever flown on was Singapore Airlines, though.
Click to expand...

Unless you don't want to get eaten by alligators, Airtran is on my ban list. I do agree about Singapore Airlines, I'm sure they don't just pick the pretty women to be the flight attendants
 
Southwest is no nonsense when it comes to getting you to your destination. They're no frills but very, very efficient. I wouldn't want to fly them for a long haul but I like them as a passenger. I don't like them so much when on the job, but that's only because of their boarding procedures.
 
vellnueve said:
Reported years ago on Southwest after a hard landing...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, now that the captain has finished carving his name into the runway, please remain seated until we come to a complete stop at the gate."
Click to expand...

On one flight where we bounced on landing:

"On behalf of the whole flight crew and Captain Kangaroo, we'd like to welcome you to.."
 

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