Just back from my third trip to TPA this year, all three trips on Southwest, whom I value more each time I fly. To deal with the "cattle call" boarding, I am willing to pay a little more and hover over the computer 23 hrs. 59 min. before the flight for on-line check-in. But otherwise, everyone's cheerful; the nuts and pretzels and soft drinks are free; checked baggage is free; and the equipment is a roomy 737 with comfortable seats, not a tricycle with wings and medieval-torture seats. Here's toast to the far-sighted execs who bought the oil futures and to the consumer-minded planners who know exactly how all the nickel/dime/$150 fees are going to strike passengers.

Quote on board: "Is this bag of pretzels going to cost me $50 bucks?" "Nope, it's all part of the service -- have you seen our ads?"

I have no doubt their fares will be going up like everyone else's, but I appreciate the attitude to begin with. And yes, I've been hearing about the whistle-blowers warning that the planes are going to drop out of the sky. But IMO, the differential re: odds on those planes vs. any others isn't high enough to warrant a different choice.

And I know there are highly ungruntled prior PAX who have sworn never to fly them again. But my experiences in last year on other airlines has gotten worse and worse, while SW experience remains acceptable, which in the current situation is A+.

Just sayin' ...

I agree. I'm glad they were able to make a profit last quarter...i hope it means my favorite airline will stay around longer.

What did you think of their new boarding procedure?

Southwest is already the largest domestic carrier. But it doesn't fly to many medium and smaller cities, and it doesn't fly to some of the biggest markets in the country - like NYC, Atlantla. Or most of the SE and upper midwest. They have cut back on all transcon or near transcon.

[And I don't have to mention about international.]

And they have no intention to serve those markets. So, it's not a be-all end-all solution for domestic US air travel.

If they fit your travel, they're great. But others need to fly from an airport close to them, or need to fly New York - Los Angeles, or New York - Chicago.

Well aware of the route limitations -- and as someone stuck with a second- or third-string airport (RDU), I'm even more aware of not having a choice of airlines and destinations. It just happens that SW goes to a couple of the places I go, so within that narrow range, I'm lucky.

But I'm stuck with AA or Delta to Boston (unless I'm willing to deal with a two-stop trip to Providence), and I wonder if we'll EVER get a non-stop to the West Coast. We were going to get one nonstop to LAX, but I think that got 86'd.

Also crossing my fingers they don't cut that one nonstop to London.

(clarify: the nonstops to LA and London aren't on SW).

What do I think of the new boarding procedure?

It's certainly preferable to the first-come first-served formula, which was miserable for so many reasons (having to check in hours early, standing in line for hours, being out of luck for your connecting flight unless you had a couple of hours connection time).

But you do pay for it in time and money: i.e., you have to have access to computer and printer exactly 24 hrs. ahead of departure (and I think that's also true for your 2nd of a 2-leg itinerary, haven't tried it yet); and if you want to nail down boarding priority, you pay a premium for "business" class.

Particularly when the flight I'm boarding is a continuation from elsewhere, it's worth it to me, even though I qualify for a "disability" pre-boarding pass -- the disability is not visible, I look (blush!) quite a bit younger and healthier than I am (sigh!) and in a pinch even though I have documentation, harried agents don't always believe me.

Coupled with the fact that I can purchase a ticket at "business" level at the last minute and it's still cheaper, usually, than last-minute coach anywhere else, AND that the ticket is fully refundable, I think it's a good system. For me.

Southwest's CASM (cost per available seat mile) is $0.0969 in 1Q2008, the most recent quarter. Other airlines are higher.

RDU-LAX is 2,238mi. Even if Southwest is flying this route, they need to charge $450 r/t to break even at 100% full. WN's typical load factor is about 75%, a few points lower than the legacies. At that LF, they need to charge close to $650 average.

For the other airlines with first class, but higher cost, they can only fly these routes if there are lots of business travelers flying FC or paying full fare. RDU-LAX just can't support that.

And look at WN again, longest routes are I think MHT-LAS and BWI-SAN. Even they can't support typical transcon between their main strongholds like PVD/MHT/BWI/PHL to one of the LA airports.

Interesting rkkwan, but note, I said it isn't SW flying the RDU-LAX route -- someone else.

... and it's canceled anyway.

I understand. I was just using WN's CASM as an example. I think most other airlines are in the 12-14 cents region, though the higher FC fares can "subsidize" those flying in the back.

I think Southwest's new boarding procedure is a great improvement over the old one. I like the fact that I don't have to camp out for a half hour at the gate anymore just to get to the front of the "A" group. If I'm A23, I can show up just as they are boarding and get on then. I've used the new boarding procedure a few times and found that now that it's not new any longer, the passengers are mostly used to it.

I find (as I often travel solo) that getting a good seat on Southwest isn't that hard even if I'm not in the A group. When I'm in the A group I often have a good shot at an aisle row exit seat.

I too am grateful for Southwest, and I am valuing their frequent flyer program (and the Chase SW credit card I got last year) even more. Since free flights on Southwest are so flexible (completely changeable) and plentiful the free flight I'll get about 1X a year will be even more valuable, as no doubt Southwest will be raising their fares too. (Jet fuel futures purchased can't last forever.)

I may become a convert, but a question for those familiar with Southwest:

How/when can you check in, on-line, for your on-going flight after a connection in, say, Nashville? Do you get both boarding passes for both legs of your trip when you check in on line, or only the first one? Do you then have to wait until 24 hrs. before that second flight to do on-line check-in?

You can check-in up to 24 hours before the first flight on your itinerary, no matter how many connections it makes. Suppose your are flying from Seattle to Baltimore via Chicago. You leave Seattle at 8AM Pacific time and connect to a flight leaving Chicago at 2PM local time. You check in 24 hours before the 8AM flight and get boarding passes for both flights.

Andrew is correct. When you pull up your itinerary to check in, it will list all of your flights. You have the option of checking in for just first flight or all of them. Very easy.

If you check in online, print your boarding pass(es) and have only carry on luggage~no checked bags~you can go directly through security and to your gate, no need to go to the ticket counter. Again this is ONLY if you are NOT checking bags.

Thanks, people. So does that mean that I get my group and position number for the second flight BEFORE the people who are just signing in for that one flight?

HKP: <i>does that mean that I get my group and position number for the second flight BEFORE the people who are just signing in for that one flight?</i>

Yes. It's one of the quirks of Southwest's 24-hour system - which was changed maybe a year ago; used to be you could only check-in online after midnight the day of your flights, so this advantage did not exist. But having to stay up til 12:01 to check in was a pain, especially if you have a flight at 6am.

Note that Southwest holds back about the first 20 A group passes anyway, for people who buy the &quot;business select&quot; tickets (or whatever) or are some sort of business class travelers. If you are just an occasional traveler you can check in 23:59 before your flight and still get only A20, even if you are first-in-timezone to checkin. Still, even when I've been A20 or A25-ish with people in front of me, I've had first dibs on an aisle exit-row seat more than once in the last year, on numerous flights.

Verrry interesting. I tend to purchase the Business Select if the price differential isn't huge b/c I have a narrow range of seats I can take without a problem. So presumably, if I check in on line at 8:01 am the day before, for an 8 am flight to Nashville that will connect me to a 11:30 flight Nashville to Oakland, I'll get a priority boarding pass for the Nashville-Oakland flight before the 11:31 release time for online check-in for that flight.

(Know I'm repeating myself, but have learned over time to clarify-verify -- will check with Southwest as well.)

At first that didn't seem fair, but then I thought that those continuing on the same plane always get priority over newly boarding passengers, so it's sort of the same thing. And NOT to do that would penalize long-distance travelers caught in delays at connecting airports.

Note to Southwest fans: apparently Southwest will be having some good specials through DING! on Wednesday for their 37th anniversary. I have no idea what kind of specials they will be, but if you don't have DING! installed on your computer now you might want to get it in case there are some great sales on Wednesday.