Sick of SWA
 

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

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)

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.

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

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 <i>and</i> provide personal TVs for every passenger).

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

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!

Yeah, my &quot;loss.&quot; 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'!

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.

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.

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 &quot;moment&quot; 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 &quot;lucky&quot; on the non-SWA flights. I have &quot;gotten&quot; 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 &quot;plebians&quot; to &quot;be free to move around the country&quot; 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.

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. :)

The one and only time I flew Southwest in 1999 I swore it would be my last time because I disliked the bording process so much.

I generally was happy with everything else.

I have not flown Southwest again and do not plan to unless they change the boarding process.

Thanks OO for the heads up on the on-line check in. Like I said, I still use them for NOLA. Have been doing the seperate reservations...that's a pain! :D

The big bummer about SWA for me is in Dallas, they fly out of Love Field. And due to some crazy rule somewhere, if you fly out of Love Field, you can only fly to one of the states touching Texas. Does anyone know what that is and if it will ever change?

Couldn't resist this one ! Flew SWA once.. didn't impress me but.... I think I have watched TV show &quot;Airline&quot; too many times. IS this real ? I have seen drunk and obnoxious people denied boarding but have also seen people that did not appear out of line at all denied boarding. Realizing they cannot show the entire conversation between passengers, you would think they would at least show the bit where they are doing something that justifies denied boarding. I know it is the 'small print' that says they can deny boarding but do not think I have ever seen or heard of other airlines doing this - at least not enough to have an entire TV show devoted to the subject ! The last time I saw it a woman was denied boarding because the agent at the gate overheard one girl say the &quot;F&quot; word to her friend - no other passengers in the jetway - the only person to hear the comment was the gate agent (and the girl was referring to something she had goofed up earelier in the day) Neither passengers were intoxicated either.

Highbay - I'm curious how you manage to avoid sitting next to that 400 lb. guy on other airlines? Is it just that you always are flying with someone and always get seats on the side of the aisle where there are only two? Traveling alone I don't think you can always count on being so fortunate, SWA or not! :) I think I sat next to him just a couple weeks ago on Independence.

Yes...I usually travel with another person. I know that doesn't guarantee that I won't have to sit next to the 400lb'er, but my odds are a little better!

Did your guy also raise the armrest between you? aaagggghhh!

Clarkboy must be a troll!! This is his only posting. Anyway, Gekko, we have Jet Blue here in So. Cal and in fact just used it to fly to NY. But I just don't think you can beat SWA's service and on-time record. Also, you can't beat their airfares. What other airline gives you the opportunity to fly one way for as low as $39 and has flights that go every hour or so. I use it mostly for short flights, to Phoenix, Las Vegas, Oakland but have also flown on longer trips. Printing your boarding pass on line definitely helps. I don't think you can avoid the 400 lb passenger on other airlines unless you are traveling with others.

I also live in SoCal, and I love Jet Blue and SWA. However, there are a lot of factors for which one I choose: price, where I'm going, and flight times. I wish I had the budget and schedule to make choices like &quot;I'll never fly Southwest&quot; but in my life, that wouldn't be practical.

Kath - The restriction of Love Field operation is known as the Wright Amendment, which is set in place when they decide to open DFW in the 1970's. It has been amended somewhat by the Shelby Amendment a couple of years ago, so now you can fly to KS, AL and MS, which do not touch TX.

It s not just you can't fly non-stop to airports outside the designated states, but you can't even buy a through ticket to those states. You have to hold two seperate reservations.

Also, the Shelby Amendment frees the restriction to planes with 56 seats or less. A few years back, Legend Airlines flew all first-class with DC-9. But AA did the same with their Fokker 100 and ran Legend out of business.

There have been many talks to get Southwest switch to DFW, or simply add flights there. Most recently, right after DL decides to dismantle their hub at DFW. But Southwest decides that a single Love Field operation is the most profitable to them, despite the Wright Amendment restriction. They are free to operate flights at DFW - they just don't want to.

Kath...The &quot;buzz&quot; about the Wright Amendment is that when former Congressman Jim right expires, so will the law.He apparently carried and still does a lot of clout in Texas.
rkkwan....My TA books my tickets LAX-DAL in one reservation...And last time I flew, they even checked my bags thru...From what I hear, Southwest really wants the Wright Amendment peeled back.

Thanks for the clarification Rkkwan and BB. Good to know if I ever need to travel to Kansas City or something.

Beachboi - I'm not surprised you can get baggage checked through. Most airlines, including Southwest, transfer bags on two tickets anyways.

But I didn't know one can get DAL to non-Wright/Shelby cities on the same ticket, TA or not. On www.southwest.com, once you click your &quot;origin&quot; as DAL, then the &quot;destination&quot; window only shows those non-stops to Wright/Shelby cities. And if you have LAX as origin, DAL isn't shown as a destination.

rk.....He's on Sabre(AA's system), and I have a direct link into it....I think for a long time it was totally seperate, but a few years ago it was made possible.The &quot;pricing&quot; still shows a DAL-AUS fare and then AUS-LAX fare, not a &quot;thru&quot; fare.He tried to explain it once, but I just couldnt follow the technical mumbo jumbo.

My DH travels many times each month, and often on SWA.

To solve the 'return-trip-laptop-only-no-printer' situation, I go online and print his boarding pass and then fax it to his hotel or store/business where he is scheduled to be first thing in the morning.

He ALWAYS gets in the A group, then arrives at the airport one hour prior to flight time and immediately gets in the 'A' line, which is usually small or non-existent when he arrives. Result? A good seat EVERY TIME.

And, regardless of which airline we fly, we never sit next to one another. Each of us takes a window seat and sleeps--we've brought our own pillows on board for AGES. Can't sleep? Ask your doctor--better living through modern chemistry.

I like to watch TV -- sports, movies, music -- when I fly. Fortunately, both JetBlue and Song offer personal televisions for all passengers.

Boo Hoo! Your post clarkboy sounds like a joke. If you want to sit next your wife/child that bad, fork out the money that you saved flying SWA and fly with another carrier. If you wanna whine and cry like your child, go post on the airlines board.

Have not flown SWA, but do not like their not giving seat assignments policy,,,Jetblue does it and Airtran too....Jetblue is My very fave airline!!!! Love the Terra blu chips and iced tea and the in flight TV,,,,,not a better airline anywhere.... Best flight attendants too IMO.

Double Boo Hoo! I love SWA, if not for them I'd be paying a lot more to fly back and forth to Sacramento! For a budget airline, I think they are pretty efficient.

if you go to Europe, don't ever fly Ryanair - SWA is luxury compared to it.

I do love Ryanair's fares - I did London to Dublin and return for $6.00 plus tax in 2000!

Actually I prefer SW over Alaska or United. SW gets me there on time. And if they don't it is because of a mechanical problem, which I sure want to get fixed before we depart. And the crew has always been great.