Do you fly Southwest Airlines?
 

It looks like the best fare (from Dallas to Orlando) during spring break is going to be with Southwest. I've never flown with them before but it seems like I've heard negative things??
Is there a difference flying with Southwest - do they not assign seats or something like that?
Thanks for the help!

Southwest does not assign seats. You board in "groups" (A/B/C) depending on when you check in for the flight.

SO, 24 hours prior to your flight, check in at southwest.com. You'll likely get an "A" boarding pass and then you just choose a seat when you board. Easy easy easy!

SW has a superb safety record, good customer service and a decent on-time percentage.

Yes, and maybe 15 times. Bus of the skies and works for me, as Dan says so well.

Yes, some people do hate WN (Southwest) - but it is very popular w/ many many more. Great service for what they provide. Great on-time performance.

Thanks. That helps!

I have never flown "Southworst" and never will.

If an airline can't manage to assign a seat, I can't manage to give them my money.

I find that many people who love Southwest simply don't have alternatives -- it's often their only "low cost" option. If so, that's perfectly understandable.

I fly Southwest all the time. I print my boarding pass as soon as I can the day before. I'm usually an "A". The seat assignment is no big deal to me. The only thing that ticks me off, and it really has nothing to do with Southwest is, I usually end up having to check my bag because of the "liquid" issue. So, that will entail more time in line to check my bag. I'm really going to try to see what I can get into small bottles and see if it's possible to get everything I need into the quart size bag. I use the self-check so that helps speed things up.

I fly SW whenever I can- not just because they usually offer the best fare but also because if I have to cancel- which I have done several times recently- there is no penalty- you just have to use credit within a year.
Their customer service people are super also in my opinion-

I'll be flying on Monday, and have another reservation with SW in April. Most likely, the flights will be on time. Most likely, they will be sold out.

They take the passengers in according to the letter on the boarding pass, there are only 3: A, B, C. Last time I flew, I printed my pass from home 20 hours before the flight and got group B, so try to check-in exactly 24 hours prior to be in group A. If you are not pre-boarding, that is.

Other then not-assinged seats, I don't think it's any different from any other airline.

Ditto what Sunburn says---the cancellation option is nice. We often fly SW even when we DO have other options.

Gekko--I'm curious if you have ever flown within Scandinavia? I've taken SAS flights within Norway where seats were not assigned---lots of crowding and pushing. The SW ABC group method works pretty well, actually.

I would strongly disagree with the assumption that people fly Southwest only when there's no alternative. I often choose Southwest because of schedule, price, etc., just as I would American, Continental, Northworst, etc. The point is that Southwest is an airline like all others. Seat assignment is the only difference and it's really not a big deal. (I've been assigned enough middle seats on the "legacy carriers" to appreciate SW, in fact!)

The seat assignment thing isn't a big deal to me either. I actually sometimes like picking my own seat once I have boarded. The people with kids pre-board and so when I get on, I generally have a choice to sit far away from them - LOL.

For short trips, Southwest is often my low-cost alternative. Online check-in gets me the "A" seating group 100% of the time, so that's a non-issue.

However, for long trips I usually rule them out. They're either not the cheapest alternative or the least convenient as far as number of interim stops/equipment changes and arrival times, or both.

My situation is a bit special in that I have another major low-cost carrier (JetBlue) flying out of the airport that's only five minutes from my house, as well as mainline carriers with low-cost flights to more continental US destinations (US Air through PHX, Delta through SLC, Alaska through SEA). Southwest has to be the lowest-cost of all carriers for me to consider the slog up to LAX or down to SNA.

I'm thrilled some folks love Southwest ... to each her/his own.

I basically refuse to fly an airline that doesn't have personal TV's ... living in NYC, I have that luxury.

Southwest is an airline that actually cares about its customers. But some people don't like them because they are different than the majors for several reasons: they do not assign seats, they do not have routing agreements with other carriers (e.g. if your flight is canceled, SW won't put you on a different airline's flight), and they don't allow same-stay standby. Say if you arrive late at the airport, miss your scheduled flight, and want to take the next one. Southwest will charge you an upgrade price, whereas most other airlines won't charge you anything.

On the other hand, Southwest has NO change fees like the majors have. Say you book your ticket today for an April trip. Then next week you realize you need to change the dates. Southwest lets you change it to a different day at the same fare for NO charge, as long as the fares are the same. Or if your fare goes down after you book it, you can change your flight and get credit for the difference!

Here's an example of how Southwest cares about its customers: over the holidays, weather in Portland (wind storm) caused the cancelation of an entire flight, leaving the passengers stranded at the airport to fend for themselves. Airlines have no obligation to do anything for passengers when weather problems ("act of God") occur, but Southwest put everyone up at a hotel anyway.

Meanwhile, when American Airlines messed up a rerouting for me and got me stuck in Phoenix overnight over the holidays, they refused to pay for a hotel - I had to either sleep on the floor for 16 hours or get a hotel. But hey, at least I had an assigned seat, so they are oh-so-much better than Southwest, right?

Oh, and Southwest has no first class cabin, either - everyone on Southwest has the same (or no) class. :-)

I live in Dallas (as does the OP I assume) which has almost airline in the world servicing it, including being a hub for a major, albeit atrocious, airline (American). Thus, the implication that only people with no other options fly SWA is absurd.

While SWA is limited in some respects by where they can get you and how many stops it takes to get you there, as a dallas resident I can tell you that it is vastly superior to American in the following respects (I am a frequent flyer on AA against my will for all longer haul trips):

1) almost always on-time (to the minute)
2) always fly into the easiest airport in a city to get in/out of
3) customer service is superior to major national carriers
4) cancellation policy is either full refund or application towards future ticket on the airline (no processing fees, no additional charges)
5) 1-800 number gets you to a person within a matter of seconds usually
6) very easy to obtain free flights (although they have limited usage recently)

Problem with the airline is that the flights are full and you can get stuck in a middle seat (don't have the AA luxury where you often get an open seat next to you). The "cargo-load" getting on is rather annoying as well.

Since you live in Dallas, I can tell you that flying out of Love versus DFW will save you an hour (convenience, security). That hour is unfortunately added back in by connecting in some other (hopefully only one) city.

I always try to fly Southwest, primarily because their customer service is so good. It is also easy to accumulate and use free tickets. I don't know what the big deal about the seating is. I've only been in the B group a couple times, and never had a bad seat.

It really all goes back to customer service. I have never had any major problems (lost luggage, cancelled flights for anything other than weather, etc.) The employees are always happy and helpful. I have never experienced another airline with such reliable customer service.

SW has great customer service, great flight attendants, comfortable seats (imagine that !!), and a pretty darn good on-time record. What's not to like ? The ABC seating is not any real problem. 24 hrs prior to the flight just print out your boarding pass, very very simple. Overall it is their customer service attitude that stands out above all others.

The lack of seat assignment isn't a problem on non-stops, but IMHO it's a big big problem if you have to connect (which you often do on SW). Unless you have something like a 2 hr. layover, you're going to end up at the back of the line for the seats on the second leg.