clarkboy

Is anyone else on sick of Southwest Airlines? The general seating policy is such a joke. I have not been able to sit next to my wife and child for our last two flights. I know, try to get there early but 1 1/2 hours is plenty early.

Is this normal or just the luck of the drawl with SWA?

Orcas

Can't you get your boarding pass on-line before you go to the airport? This would land you in first category seating.

Personally, I like SWA as the prices are good and it flies into Midway rather than O'hare. I like using their website where you can see the prices and plan your trip by price and time. I believe there is more legroom than on United planes, too, and the air doesn't smell as rank.

paula1470

I personally like SWA. I appreciate their on-time record and generally good customer service. I have never had a problem sitting by people I am traveling with if I arrive 1.5 hours early. Most of there flights are fairly short ones anyway, so is sitting together all that important? I would rather be on time than travel on an airlines where I have a seat assignment but am always late.

paula1470

meant to say their flights (not there) It's late!

jlm_mi

Not sitting together doesn't bother me, so it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it saves me money. Clearly, saving the money is less important than sitting together, so why would you continue to fly SWA? There are other options.

JohnNewOrleans

Why complain about SWA if you don't like them? Just don't fly them. We all have many choices on just about every route. I choose Southwest often as they provide the most nonstops from my home city, have friendly service and with my home-printed boarding pass I'm always in Group A to board. I also like USAirways and Continental and use them as well.

kcapuani

Are you always in the C boarding group (the last group to board), even when you check-in 1.5 hours early? Did you go all the way to the back of the place to find three seats together? Orcas is right - definitely print your boarding pass out online. You can do so up to 24 hours in advance. Also, if your child is 4 or younger, you can board first. Finally, it wouldn't help to ask the SW agent at check-in if you can get into the A or B boarsing group. Explain that your situation and I'm sure he/she will understand.

Dan

So Clarkboy, you registered with Fodors just to bitch at Southwest? I mean, come on. Fly someone else.

sfamylou

I've had to change tickets last-minute for my parents for a death in the family. American Airlines was a nightmare. Southwest was fantastic. I also like that you can print out a boarding pass at home before you leave for the airport. It feels clean, safe, friendly and exactly what it advertises in terms of service.

Gekko

I've never flown Southwest and I never will. If an airline can't assign a seat to me, I can't spend my money on a ticket. Sorry Southwest, no soup for you!

rb_travelerxATyahoo

I love Southwest. I don't care if I can't sit next to others in my group; we're all going to get to our destination at the same time, and we're going to see plenty (maybe too much!!) of each other during the rest of the trip anyway.

Reserved seats?? I have worked both programming in the hotel industry and as a desk clerk. Trying to accomodate seat (or specific room) requests is both a programming and an administrative nightmare that costs LOTS of dollars, consuming too many man-hours. Southwest has saved those expenses, passing the savings on to its customers. Thank you Southwest!!! (It's stock symbol isn't LUV for nothing)

tracys2cents

I got sick of Southwest because every time I flew them, I GOT sick. And I do mean EVERY time.

yeah yeah yeah coincidence blah blah blah. But haven't gotten a cold/flu since despite 7 or 8 flights on other carriers.

MzPossum

I love Southwest and wish they flew out of Baton Rouge!

Gekko

From what I hear from friends, all of whom only fly Southwest when it's their only option, SWA doesn't compare to JetBlue or Song (both of which manage to assign seats to passengers and provide personal TVs for every passenger).

Seems to me like people who rave about SWA don't have another choice -- so enjoy!

Curt

gekko your loss not ours

tracy maybe you are allergic to an airline that is run correctly, treats passengers as important people, and gets from A to B with minimal disruption and mostly on time

clarkboy, in all of my trips with SWA I have never experienced your problem.. hmmm maybe it is you that no one wants to sit with!

Gekko

Yeah, my "loss." Maybe someday you'll have other options, such as JetBlue or Song, and you won't be forced to compromise.

But I appreciate the coping mechanism! Keep smilin'!

Curt

Gekko I am always smiling. I do hope that we get Jet Blue service here someday as I would like to try the. Song, since they are part of Delta, I can probably do without.

highbay

I personally don't care for the lack of seat assignment with SWA and therefore only use them when we fly to NOLA. It's a direct flight from TPA with several time options.

Have flown them to Baltimore, and to Phoenix. You have to have seperate reservations to check in on line (can't check in on a reservation that has more than one person).

Checking in on-line from home is fine, I have a printer. It's on the return home that is the problem. Have a laptop, but not a portable printer.

I DO care about sitting next to the 400lb guy whose body is spilling onto my seat because I had to make a connection and get another boarding pass...Doesn't matter how early I was getting to the airport on the first leg on my flight.

Just glad there ARE other options.

JJ5

Gekko, there may be about 1.1 million Southside Chicagoans that disagree with you and we have PLENTY of other choices.

Thank you, SWA for giving me the chance to travel as much as I do. Here I come (just a couple of weeks) LA at the last "moment" thanks to you.

tracy, try Airborne and take it before you leave one time. This is endemic to all airlines and not just SWA. You have just probably been "lucky" on the non-SWA flights. I have "gotten" it three times in a row on another airline coming back from AZ. I take Airborne now and it doesn't happen.

And I also have taken a three-city stop ordeal to get somewhere I REALLY wanted to go, all SWA, so I do know the downsides. But it IS one of the few for us "plebians" to "be free to move around the country" now that ATA and National are gone. But then again we are used to riding on buses and don't think the bus analogy is always a bad one.

And I have had C boarding pass more than 5 times and always gotten a seat with my group. All you need to do is line up in the C boarding section not less than 10 to 15 minutes before boarding actually occurs.

And actually, United and American have both cancelled flights and had very late flights on my watch out of O'Hare, and so far with over 50 SWA flights under my belt, I have never been more than an hour later. In Chicago, with our weather, that is saying something.

OO

Hi highbay...that changed re having separate reservations. Both (several?) can now check in online despite being on the same reservation.

I luv SWA--generally on time, and I find I have more seat space than on American, my normal 2nd choice. By the way...we also had Jet Blue and Song to choose from at TPA gekko, but I used SWA.

Now, flying out of San Antonio I'm delighted to have SWA to get to Dallas very inexpensively. Were it Delta or American and no SWA servicing that route it'd be a minimum of $400 for a reservation made weeks in advance. I know...we lived in Savannah where flights to Atlanta were that much before ValuJet's arrival (Delta and American were our only choices in the early days there). LOL...ValueJet knocked the stuffing out of those fares! So...EVERYONE should luv SWA, if for no other reason than the fact that their presence allows you to go more cheaply on other carriers as well.